The MS in HCI is an interdisciplinary program offered collaboratively by four schools:
Students may apply to enter the program through any one of the four participating units, the choice of which usually reflects that student's intended area of specialization and general background. Students with diverse and eclectic backgrounds are encouraged to apply, including those with previous work experience. In fact, about half of our students have worked for anywhere from one or two up to 10 or 15 years before joining us.
The program provides the practical skills and theoretical understandings needed to become leaders in the design, implementation and evaluation of the next generation of human-computer interfaces. Alumni work around the globe for national and international companies.
The degree requires 36 credit hours, which are usually taken over four semesters. All students take the same core courses, a set of courses related to their chosen specialization (Computing, Digital Media in LMC, Industrial Design, Psychology), a broader set of electives and complete a master’s project. Students do an internship in the summer after their first year of study. Students interact with fellow students and faculty from these four (and other) schools, providing the broad base of knowledge and experiences that are so important to successful HCI practitioners. Elective courses can be in a wide variety of areas, such as Architecture, Music Technology, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Human-Robot Interaction, Human Factors, Management of Technology and Cognitive Science. Students can earn the Management of Technology Certificate from the College of Management.
Georgia Tech provides a rich environment for HCI studies—in addition to the roughly 90 MS-HCI students enrolled at any one time, there are over 200 more students earning degrees in related areas—MS and PhD in Digital Media, PhD in Engineering Psychology, Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing, PhD-CS with specializations in HCI or Learning Sciences and Technology or Social Computing, MS-CS with specializations in HCI, Information Visualization and Social Computing, MS in Music Technology.
Well over 50 faculty work in these and closely-related areas, and are associated with research labs and centers such as the GVU Center, the Aware Home, the Health Systems Institute, the Sonification Lab, the Human Factors and Aging Lab, the Experimental Television Lab, and many more. Please explore our web site to learn more, or for a quick overview of our program, see the MS-HCI Overview.
