2025-2026 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
Master of Science in Human Centered Computing
Master of Science in Human Centered Computing
The M.S. in human centered computing program is an interdisciplinary program focused on designing and developing user centered products that align with industry standards and theories of design. Students acquire advanced expertise in understanding user needs, designing user experiences and interfaces, conducting mixed methods user research, and developing innovative technologies. This will equip students for careers in creating user centered products centering on the needs of all users.
Requirements for the M.S. in Human Centered Computing
All candidates for the degree must complete a total of 34 credits, including the following:
- Core courses (13 credits)
- Track courses (12 credits)
- Electives (3 - 6 credits)
- Capstone (3 or 6 credits)
No more than twelve (12) credits earned from dual-listed graduate courses (4xx/5xx) may be applied toward the degree. If students choose the thesis option, they will complete only three credits as electives and 6 credit hours for the capstone.
The Graduate Program Director (GPD) will work closely with admitted students to develop clear study plans, ensuring they can complete their degree requirements without exceeding 12 dual-listed credit hours.
Note: (*) Students are limited to 12 credits of courses that are dual-listed.
Core Courses
Students are required to complete 5 courses for a total of thirteen credits:
Required
- *HCC 502 - User Experience Research (3 credits)
- *HCC 503 - User Experience Design (3 credits)
- HCC 601 - HCC Synthesis: Foundations and Trajectories in Social Computing (3 credits)
- HCC 602 - Design for Creative Learning Experiences (3 credits)
- HCC 605 - Professional Development for Human Subjects Research (1 credit)
Tracks
All candidates are required to complete one of the following tracks:
Choose a track and take 4 courses from that track.
Human Centered Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The human centered AI track prepares students with skills to design and apply AI in diverse contexts focused on the needs of the users. Specifically, students will be able to apply AI within domain of interest to deploy critical infrastructure to augment human machine intellect. Courses in this track focus on introduction to AI, human AI interaction, and information visualization.
Required
- AI 501 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
- *HCC 531 - Human AI Interaction (3 credits)
Choose 2 of the following
- *AI 502 - Generative Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
- *AI 511 - AI Ethics and Bias (3 credits)
- *AI 531 - Natural Language Processing (3 credits)
- CIS 671 - Information Visualization (3 credits)
- CIS 678 - Machine Learning (3 credits)
Augmented and Virtual Reality Development
The augmented and virtual reality track equips students with skills to design and develop multi-modal applications for innovative user interactions and interfaces. Courses in this track emphasize AR/VR design and research, AR/VR development, and mobile application development.
Required
Choose 2 of the following
- CIS 657 - Mobile Application Development (3 credits)
- CIS 678 - Machine Learning (3 credits)
- SE 511 - Introduction to Software Engineering (3 credits)
Human Centered Software Development
The human centered software development track prepares students to create user-centered, reliable, and scalable software products for diverse computing applications. Students gain expertise from courses on software engineering, requirement specification, software quality assurance, and machine learning.
Required
- SE 511 - Introduction to Software Engineering (3 credits)
- SE 512 - Requirements Specification (3 credits)
Choose 2 of the following
- *AI 521 - Applied Computer Vision (3 credits)
- *AI 531 - Natural Language Processing (3 credits)
- CIS 678 - Machine Learning (3 credits)
- *SE 522 - Software Architecture and Design (3 credits)
- *SE 537 - Software Quality Assurance (3 credits)
Elective Courses
Students must complete at least three elective credits. Additional elective credits will be required if the project option is chosen to meet the capstone requirement (instead of the thesis option). In this case, up to six credits of electives may be needed. Any College of Computing 500 or 600 level course can be used as an elective toward the M.S. in Human Centered Computing degree. Note: If students have already completed 12 credit hours of 5xx dual-listed courses, they must not take additional 5xx dual-listed courses to fulfill the elective course requirement. In case students take additional dual-listed courses above the allowed 12 credits hours, they will not count toward their degree.
Capstone
Each candidate must complete either the three-credit project course, or the six-credit thesis sequence. Please contact the graduate program director one semester prior to starting any of these.
OR