Important: Design Course Changes for Fall 2023

05-651: Interaction Design Studio 1 and 05-392/692: Interaction Design Overview are being retired and combined into one new course: 05-360/05-660: Interaction Design Fundamentals (12 units).

Any undergraduate student who would normally take 05-651 OR 05-392 will replace that course with 05-360. It will be offered both semesters beginning fall 2023.

(Note: students who have already successfully taken 05-651 OR 05-392 have already completed this requirement and will not need to take the new replacement course, 05-360.)

Bachelor of Science in HCI Degree Requirements

The primary major in HCI supports students by preparing them with very strong technical knowledge, skills, and understanding. HCI majors must take a minimum of 360 units (35 courses) distributed as follows:

  • CS Core:  5 courses + freshman immigration course
  • Computing @ Carnegie Mellon: 3 units
  • Mathematics and Statistics:  4 courses
  • HCI Core: 6 courses
  • HCI Electives: 4 courses
  • HCI Capstone Project: 1 course
  • Free Electives: 4 courses
  • Science and Engineering: 4 courses
  • Humanities and Arts (Gen Ed):  7 courses

Total: 35 courses

 

Computer Science Core  (5 courses + immigration course)

After each course name, the number of units for the course is shown [in square brackets].

Please note that many courses have prerequisites or corequisites, documented in CMU’s course catalog.

  • Prerequisites:
    • 15-112: Fundamentals of Programming and Computer Science  [12]
    • 07-131: Great Practical Ideas in Computer Science  [2]
       
  • Required Courses:
    • 07-128: Freshman Immigration Course  [3]
    • 15-122: Principles of Imperative Computation  [12]  
    • 15-150: Principles of Functional Programming  [12]
    • 15-151: Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science  [12]
    • 15-210: Parallel and Sequential Data Structures and Algorithms  [12] 
    • 15-213: Introduction to Computer Systems  [12]
       

Mathematics and Statistics Core  (4 courses)

  • Prerequisite: 21-120: Differential and Integral Calculus  [10]
     
  • Required Courses:
    • 21-122: Integration and Approximation  [10]
    • 21-259: Calculus in Three Dimensions  [10] 
       
  • Select one of the following courses in Probability and Statistics:
    • 15-259: Probability and Computing  [12]
    • 21-325: Probability  [9]
    • 36-218: Probability Theory for Computer Scientists  [9]
    • 36-225: Introduction to Probability Theory [9]
       
  • And one of the following courses:
    • 15-251: Great Ideas in Theoretical Computer Science [12]
    • 21-241: Matrices and Linear Transformations [11]
    • 21-242: Matrix Theory [11]
    • 36-226: Introduction to Statistical Inference [9] 
    • 36-401: Modern Regression [9]
       

HCI Core  (6 courses)

Research and Evaluation  (2 courses)

Ideation and Design  (2 courses)

Technical Core  (2 courses)

Psychology  (1 course)

  • Select one:  
    • 85-211: Cognitive Psychology  [9]
    • 85-213: Human Information Processing and Artificial Intelligence  [9]
    • 85-241: Social Psychology  [9]
    • 85-251: Personality  [9]
    • 85-370: Perception  [9]
    • 85-408: Visual Cognition  [9]
    • 85-421: Language and Thought  [9]
    • 88-120: Reason, Passion and Cognition  [9]

      Note: The Psychology course fulfills the Category 1: Cognition, Choice and Behavior requirement for HCI majors.

HCI Electives (4 courses)

  • Select one Design elective:
    Note: Cannot choose the same course used to count towards the Ideation and Design HCI core requirement listed above
  • Select one Technical elective:
    • 05-318: Human AI Interaction  [12]
    • 05-333: Gadgets, Sensors and Activity Recognition in HCI  [12]
    • 05-434: Machine Learning in Practice  [12]
    • 05-839: Interactive Data Science  [12]
    • 10-315: Introduction to Machine Learning (SCS Majors)  [12]
    • 11-411: Natural Language Processing  [12]
    • 15-281: Artificial Intelligence: Representation and Problem Solving  [12]
    • 15-365: Experimental Animation  [12]
    • 15-388: Practical Data Science  [9]
    • 15-462: Computer Graphics   [12]
    • 15-464: Technical Animation  [12]
    • 15-466: Computer Game Programming  [12]
    • 15-494: Cognitive Robotics: The Future of Robot Toys  [12]
    • 16-467: Human Robot Interaction  [12]
    • 17-428: Machine Learning and Sensing  [12]
    • 17-437: Web Application Development   [12]
    • 17-537: Artificial Intelligence Methods for Social Good  [9]
       
  • Select 2 more electives: The remaining 2 electives can be chosen from the above lists or from this pre-approved list of HCI electives. Other options will require approval from the program director.
     

HCI Capstone Project  (1 course)

Science and Engineering  (4 courses)

Four courses in the domain of science and engineering are required, of which at least one must have a laboratory component and at least two must be from the same department. These courses typically come from the Mellon College of Science and the College of Engineering (CIT). Courses with a primary focus on programming, computation or mathematics are not acceptable for science or engineering courses. Requirements for this component of the degree are listed under the SCS General Education Requirements.
 

Humanities and Arts  (7 courses)

These requirements follow the SCS General Education requirements for Humanities & Arts. Requirements for this component of the degree are listed under the SCS General Education Requirements.

NOTE: The Psychology requirement of the HCI core will satisfy the General Education requirement for Category 1: Cognition, Choice & Behavior.

 

Free Electives (4 courses)

A free elective is any Carnegie Mellon course. However, a maximum of 9 units of Physical Education and/or Military Science (ROTC) and/or Student-Led (StuCo) courses may be used toward fulfilling graduation requirements. These could be used for optional Research Track or an optional minor or concentration.

 

Computing @ Carnegie Mellon 99-10x course (3 units)