Hayley Darling

Hayley Darling came to Arizona State University as a transfer student looking for a place to continue learning in a welcoming and exciting environment. In the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU, she found her purpose in human systems engineering, which combines psychology, design and engineering into one program.

“I was looking for a major that would help me learn the whys behind design decisions, which is exactly what human systems engineering has educated me in,” Darling says.

Rod Roscoe, an associate professor of human systems engineering, was particularly instrumental in helping Darling “dig deeper into subjects, ask the hard questions and integrate inclusion into all designs.”

“I have had three courses with Professor Roscoe and each one got me excited to learn, taught me something new and important, and inspired me in my current and future work,” Darling says. “I am so thankful for all that Professor Roscoe has taught me and the role he played in my education. I feel prepared and excited to work in the industry because of the problem-solving skills and knowledge I gained from his courses.”

Darling found one human systems engineering product design group project especially memorable during her time in the Fulton Schools.

“In this project, two other students and I designed a mobile app that helps people discover food and drink places and save them to boards for later,” she says. “We went through all of the steps in the product design process. This allowed me to figure out which steps of the process I would like to work on most in my career.”

Her career at ASU has started with positions as an Entrepreneurial Catalyst with the ASU Kern Grant, and as an instructional design assistant for the Fulton Schools of Engineering Learning and Teaching Hub. A promotion to supervisor in the latter role has been one of her biggest achievements. 

Darling will stay in the greater Phoenix area following graduation and work as a user experience designer. 

Becoming an engineer has been a fun, rewarding and life-changing experience for Darling — from learning how to solve problems to developing her detail-oriented eye and gaining an awareness of the many design issues and successes in the world. 

“Because so much of the world uses technology, my degree impacts the lives of others by constantly improving the usability of interfaces,” Darling says. “Every interaction between humans and computers is therefore impacted by user experience and human systems engineering.”

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ Fall 2021 class here.