The undergraduate major in HCI is available as a 2nd major only. This site explains the curriculum, how to apply, the accelerated masters program, and other features of the major. If you have questions after reading through it, please contact the Academic Program Coordinator at hciibachelors@cs.cmu.edu.

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is devoted to the design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive computer-based technology. Examples of HCI products include intelligent computer tutors, wearable computers, and highly interactive web sites. Constructing an HCI product is a cyclic, iterative process that involves at least three stages.

The Design stage involves principles of design and human behavior, the Implementation stage principles of computer science, and the Evaluation stage empirical research methods common to several disciplines. There are thus four topical areas to cover in this major: Human Behavior, Design, Implementation, and Evaluation. In slightly more detail, each of the stages in the picture above involves the following sorts of knowledge and skill:

Design

Eliciting from the client, formulating, and articulating functional specifications

Knowing how human factors and cognitive models should inform design

Knowing the principles of, and having experience with, communication design

Understanding how implementation constraints should inform design

Incorporating evaluation results into iterated designs

Implementation

Programming skills

Familiarity with standard languages - e.g., C++, Java, HTML

Rapid prototyping skill (e.g., Visual Basic)

Computational literacy, i.e., knowledge sufficient for effective communication and decision making about:

interface construction tools and languages - e.g., Garnet, SUIT, Java

multimedia authoring tools - e.g., Director, Premiere

data structures and algorithms

operating systems, platforms, etc.

Evaluation

Experimental design

Survey methods

Usability Testing (Cognitive Walkthroughs, Heuristic Evaluation, GOMS)

Statistical Analysis

There are over 45 courses relevant to these areas that are now offered by eight different departments in four different colleges at CMU (the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Computer Science, the College of Fine Arts, and the School of Industrial Administration). For a list of these courses, refer to the curriculum section.