Bachelor in Luftfahrt-Humanfaktoren und Sicherheit

What is an Aviation Human Factors and Safety Degree?

Human Factors can be described as the field of study that examines the science behind the human element in human-machine interactions. Students pursuing a human factors degree are truly interdisciplinary, studying aspects of psychology, engineering, science, and design, particularly as it applies to aviation safety.

Students seeking human factors and safety degrees may choose to add the flight option to their major and receive training to become professional pilots at FIT Aviation. Located just a few minutes from the Florida Tech campus at the Melbourne Orlando International Airport, FIT Aviation manages a fleet of over 40 aircraft. The diverse training fleet includes Piper Archer TX aircraft featuring Garmin G1000 avionics as well as the multi-engine Seminole and the complex Arrow. Adventurous flight students can add aerobatics training as an elective. Click here to learn more about this degree option.

Florida Tech’s College of Aeronautics has been consistently recognized as home to the best university-based aviation programs in the country for more than 45 years. With high-tech labs and facilities, expert faculty, and virtually endless research opportunities, the human factors, and safety in aviation program is no exception.

Learn from Human Factors Experts

Florida Tech’s faculty are accomplished researchers, aviators, and engineers—experts in all aspects of human factors and safety. The College of Aeronautics boasts faculty who are experts in at least one other area such as law, avionics, environmental science, aviation management, or air traffic control. Students studying for a human factors degree benefit from learning from educators with backgrounds as diverse as the study of human factors itself. Our classrooms and flight line are staffed with faculty who have years of experience within the industry, including experienced pilots and experts in areas such as airline consulting, airport consulting, design, management, and aviation human factors.

Located in the Heart of Florida’s High-Tech Corridor

Florida Tech is the perfect place for a BS in Human Factors and Safety in Aviation. The 130-acre campus is located on the Space Coast (so named because of the presence of NASA and the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral just north of us), minutes away from the Indian River Lagoon, the most diverse estuary in North America. Florida Tech's prime location on Florida's Space Coast has perfect weather conditions for flying year-round.

The area has the fifth-largest high-tech workforce in the country, with more than 5,000 high-tech corporations and government and military organizations located nearby. This workforce also provides an abundance of internship and employment opportunities.

Florida Tech is just over the causeway from the Atlantic Ocean with its 72 miles of beautiful beaches, and a short trip to the Florida Keys or the Orlando theme parks. We also have a rich campus life that includes a wide range of intramural and collegiate sports, clubs, and social activities.

Build Lasting Professional Relationships through Campus Organizations

Beyond the classroom, human factors and safety degrees in aviation majors build leadership and professional experience through participation in academic organizations like Collegiate Aviation Business Executives, the Human Factors Professional Association, the Falcons Intercollegiate Flight Team, Women in Aviation, student government, and over 100 other campus-wide student organizations.

The Human Factors Professional Association gives students the opportunity to network with local human factors companies, visit labs, identify, and explore human factors internships, and learn about technologies through human factors guest speakers and vendor demonstrations.

The Collegiate Aviation Business Club (CABE) focuses on aviation jobs outside of the cockpit, helping students grow by facilitating a networking relationship with students and the aviation business world. Members of CABE have the unique opportunity to travel to many events including professional conferences, seminars, airport tours, networking events, and airshows.

Human factors and safety degree in aviation from Florida Tech prepares you for a career, not just a test. The College of Aeronautics’ approach to human factors and safety degree focuses not only on understanding the theories behind the discipline but how to apply them to various careers in human factors and safety. Throughout their career, at Florida Tech human factors and safety students can take part in human factors research and hands-on projects that exercise concepts from the classroom to build a portfolio of real-world-applicable experience. Seniors will complete advanced coursework in airport management, aviation security, advanced aircraft systems, and aviation law. You will also get the opportunity to meet recruiters from major airlines, airports, and industry-related companies at university career fairs. Students can build an expanded professional network and impressive résumé before donning that cap and gown; many even receive pre-graduation employment offers.

Peerless Study and Internship Opportunities

The students of Human factors and safety in Aviation have a world of opportunities to choose from Human factors internships abound in many different industries, and students who are interested in human factors in aviation may find opportunities right here in Melbourne with Avidyne Corporation. Students may also find opportunities for human factors internships with organizations such as the US Department of Labor, JetBlue Airways, and Garmin.

Stunning Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Florida Tech gives students extensive opportunities for research and field study: it is at the core of every degree at Florida Tech, giving students real-world, hands-on experience. The College of Aeronautics participates as part of the Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility, and Sustainability, more commonly known as PEGASAS. The ten-year grant-funded nationwide program involves work in a variety of areas. Current human factors research through PEGASAS focuses on exploring the effects of installing an angle-of-attack instrument in fixed-wing aircraft as well as studying flight data management systems in rotorcraft.

It All Started With 37 Cents

Florida Tech was founded in 1958 as "Brevard Engineering College." It all started as an idea in the mind of Jerome P. Keuper, a visionary physicist working at Cape Canaveral.

As university lore would have it, Keuper expressed his desire to create a scientific and technological university to a friend over drinks at a local pub. Overhearing the conversation, a fellow patron pushed 37 cents in change across the bar and said, “There’s your first donation, Jerry. Now, go and build that college.”

So, Keuper did. And what started with 37 cents as a night school for the early “missilemen” of the U.S. space program is now a comprehensive national research university recognized worldwide for excellence in preparing students for careers of the future.

Core Values

• Research for the Benefit of All Humankind
• Education for a Lifetime of Success
• Global Citizenship for a Better World

Mission Statement

Florida Institute of Technology’s mission is to provide high-quality education to a culturally diverse student body in order to prepare students for entering the global workforce, seeking higher-education opportunities, and serving within their communities. The university also seeks to expand knowledge through basic and applied research and to serve the diverse economic, cultural, and societal needs of our local, state, national and international constituencies.

In support of this mission, we are committed to:

• Promoting student development by fostering and sustaining a productive institutional culture of assessment that leads to the continuous improvement of academic and administrative programs
• Developing an organizational culture that values and encourages intellectual curiosity, a sense of belonging and shared purpose among faculty, students, and staff, and the pursuit of excellence in all endeavors
• Recruiting and developing excellent faculty to become leaders in their respective fields and internationally recognized scholars
• Achieving recognition as an effective, innovative, technology-focused educational and research institution
• Recruiting and retaining an excellent, highly select, and culturally diverse student body
• Continually improving the quality of campus life for all members of the university community
• Providing personal and career growth opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students and members of the faculty and staff
• Securing and maintaining professional accreditation for all appropriate programs

We Are Florida Tech

What we are is a private, coeducational, residential, research-intensive, doctoral-granting university located in Melbourne on Florida’s sunny “Space Coast.” But who we are is so much more. We are a community of researchers, scholars, and learners hailing from all around the world. We are engineers, aviators, innovators, leaders, educators, athletes, and astronauts. We have the brains of rocket scientists and the hearts of Panthers. We are Florida Tech.

We Are Relentless

Florida Tech is a university of leaders and learners—a diverse community of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who are united in the relentless pursuit of greatness.

We Are International

Students from more than 90 countries worldwide choose to live and learn at Florida Tech, making us a truly global university. When we say #YouAreWelcomeHere, we mean it.

We Create The Future

One of the primary tenets of Florida Tech’s mission is advancing science and technology for the benefit of Earth and all of its inhabitants. So, that’s what we do.

We Have Panther Pride

You may feel it the first time you visit the campus, the day you graduate, or at some point in between. But when you do, you’ll see that Panther Pride is more than school spirit. It’s a family.

We Make Connections

Florida Tech is proud to be part of the Brevard County community and welcomes its neighbors to explore the many personal, professional, corporate, and cultural opportunities we have to offer.

We Are STEM

There's a reason Florida Tech is known as Florida's STEM University™. To put it simply: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are in our DNA. This makes STEM a driving force behind who we are, what we do, and why we exist.