phd in art and technology

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Doctor of Philosophy in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication

Program description.

The PhD program in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) is designed for those who wish to engage in deep scholarship or to develop artistic, cultural or commercial applications of digital technology and emerging media. With a diverse group of faculty and a curriculum that integrates scholarly study with creative practice, ATEC cultivates creative scholars, scholarly practitioners and interdisciplinary researchers.

ATEC PhD students have backgrounds in a variety of relevant fields and are grouped into transdisciplinary cohorts for their first year of coursework, where they investigate foundational theories, questions and methods that underlie the study of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication. Additional coursework is used to practice methods and explore individual interests, including up to 15 hours in courses from other schools at UT Dallas.

PhD students are expected to participate in the rich, intellectual life of ATEC, including the Dean’s Colloquium speaker series and a vibrant lab and studio culture.

Located in the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building, ATEC is home to a number of research labs and studios embracing the service of creating new knowledge and identifying new horizons of research and creative practice. ATEC research teams and laboratories are engaged in innovative practices in the domains of: cultural sciences, data visualization and representation, modeling and simulation, virtual environments, emerging media and communication, game studies and sound design.

Career Opportunities

While academia represents an important professional avenue for ATEC PhD graduates, industry presents numerous career opportunities in such fields as design, research and development for new media, education, communication and information technologies.

The program leading to the PhD in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication is designed both for students wishing to teach arts-and-technology-related courses in colleges and universities and those who wish to develop new artistic, cultural or commercial applications of digital technology/emerging media. This program emphasizes the fusion of creative with critical thinking and theory with practice. Students seeking a PhD in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication will normally complete a minimum of 60 semester credit hours (42 semester credit hours in coursework and 18 semester credit hours in dissertation) beyond a master’s degree, pass doctoral field examinations and complete a dissertation.

For complete admission and degree requirements, view the Graduate Catalog at  catalog.utdallas.edu .

Marketable Skills

Review the marketable skills for this academic program.

Application Requirements

Visit the  Apply Now  webpage to begin the application process.  

Applicants to the Doctoral degree program should have: 

• A master’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education, with either the BA or MA in a related discipline.
• Normally, a 3.3 GPA from previous coursework.
• 3 letters of recommendation.
• A statement of purpose/essay.
• A 10- to 20-page writing sample.
• Any other evidence of scholarly or creative endeavors you would like to provide.
• Each application is considered holistically on its individual merits.
• The Graduate Record Examination is not required. 

Deadline:  The application deadline is Jan. 15. All applications completed by the deadline will be reviewed for admission. Applications submitted or completed after Jan. 15 may be reviewed for admission only if spaces remain within the upcoming cohort and will be reviewed in order by the date the application file became complete.

Contact Information

Graduate Admissions Phone: 972-883-2756 Request Bass School Graduate Program Information

Graduate Advising Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas, JO31 800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, TX 75080-3021 Phone: 972-883-2756 or 972-883-4706 Email:  [email protected]

Bass School Graduate Degrees

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DXARTS Ph.D.

The primary focus of doctoral education in Digital Arts and Experimental Media is to create opportunities for artists to discover and document new knowledge and expertise at the most advanced levels higher education can offer. Creating new art is at the center of all activities in the program. The DXARTS Ph.D. is an intersection of creativity and research-oriented program of study requiring a substantial commitment to graduate-level study and reflection. The Ph.D. degree prepares artists to pursue original creative and technical research in Digital Arts and Experimental Media and pioneer lasting innovations on which future artists and scholars can build.

Application and Admission

Please see the Graduate Admissions  section of this site.

Degree Timeline & Requirements

Learn more about the Degree Timeline & Requirements here .

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Applying to MAT for Fall 2023

The deadline for applying to MAT for Fall 2023 is December 21st, 2022 at 11:59pm (PST).

For more information please visit www.mat.ucsb.edu/admissions

MAT End of Year Show

June 1st at SBCAST June 9th at UCSB

Click here ↓ for more info

Media Arts and Design Minor

Starting Summer 2023

For more information, visit the UCSB Summer Sessions website

Now accepting applications for the 2024-25 MAT Master's & PhD programs.

For more information please visit:

www.mat.ucsb.edu/admissions

The UCSB Admissions Portal

Media Arts and Technology

Graduate program, university of california santa barbara.

• MAT Seminars

End of Year Show

Alumni testimonials.

"HIVE", Sölen Kiratli

"Generative Drift", Paul Jacobs

Graham Wakefield in the AlloSphere

"Time Giver", Yuan Yi Fan, Myles Sciotto

MAT Seminar Series:  Maquinas, Imaginarios y Visiones LatinoAmericanas: Un Panorama de Aportes Profundos . Speaker: Andrés Burbano. Monday, April 15th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom.

Maquinas, Imaginarios y Visiones LatinoAmericanas: Un Panorama de Aportes Profundos

Different Engines Media Technologies from Latin America" investigates the emergence of technologies in Latin America to create images, sounds, video games, and physical interactions. The book contributes to the construction of a historiographical and theoretical framework for understanding the work of creators who have been geographically and historically marginalized through the study of five exemplary and yet relatively unknown artifacts built by engineers, scientists, artists, and innovators. It offers a broad and detailed view of the complex and sometimes unlikely conditions under which technological innovation is possible and of the problematic logics under which these innovations may come to be devalued as historically irrelevant. Through its focus on media technologies, the book presents the interactions between technological and artistic creativity, working towards a wider understanding of the shifts in both fields that have shaped current perceptions, practices, and design principles while bringing into view the personal, social, and geopolitical singularities embodied by particular devices. It will be an engaging and insightful read for scholars, researchers, and students across a wide range of disciplines, such as media studies, art and design, architecture, cultural history, and the digital humanities.

Andrés Burbano is Professor in the Arts and Humanities School at the Open University of Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) and Visiting Lecturer at Donau-Universität (Krems, Austria). He holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from the University of California at Santa Barbara (California, EEUU) and has developed most of his academic career in the School of Architecture and Design at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia). Burbano works as a researcher, curator, and interdisciplinary artist. His research projects focus on media history and media archaeology in Latin America and the Global South, 3D modeling of archaeological sites, and computational technologies' historical and cultural impact. Burbano has been appointed as ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Chair.

Professor Burbano's latest book:

Different Engines - Media Technologies From Latin America

For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu .

The Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) presents a concert at Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Friday, April 19th, 2024 at 7:30pm.

The concert features works by Earl Howard (performing live on synthesizer and saxophone), Paris-based composer Horacio Vaggione, the late Corwin Chair Clarence Barlow, UCSB Music Composition graduate student Dariush Derekshani, and CREATE’s Associate Director Curtis Roads.

Event Details (PDF):

This event is free admission and open to the public.

Realities Altered, Realities Emerging - a show by MAT at SBCAST in downtown Santa Barbara. Thursday, March 7, 2024 from 6 - 10pm.

RARE_vol.02: Realities Altered Realities Emerging

• Sabina Hyoju AHN
• Samuelle Bourgault
• Stejara Iulia Dinulescu
• Devon Frost
• Nefeli Manoudaki
• Ryan Millett
• Erik Mondrian
• Iason Paterakis
• Marcel Rodriguez-Riccelli
• Jazer Sibley-Schwartz

Synthux Hackathon projects:

"Vitrified Sounds"

"TouchPulse BitBox"

Guest Artist:

Professor George Legrady

The Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology (SBCAST) is located at 513 Garden Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

Wave-Mediated Haptics: Leveraging Wave Transport for Dynamic Tactile Feedback , a PhD dissertation defense by Greg Reardon. Tuesday, February 20, 2024 at 10am PST. Room 1601 Elings Hall and via Zoom.

Wave-Mediated Haptics: Leveraging Wave Transport for Dynamic Tactile Feedback

A longstanding goal in haptics is to engineer high-fidelity displays for spatially distributed haptic feedback, specified as digital media. Such haptic displays would make it possible to touch, feel, and interact with dynamic scenes, objects, or information presented anywhere in a continuous display medium, such as an interactive surface or three-dimensional environment. They would thus represent the haptic analogs of two- or three-dimensional video displays. This dissertation advances knowledge in the design and operational principles of such haptic displays, focusing on emerging technologies that harness and control propagating mechanical waves to deliver spatiotemporally distributed haptic feedback. Central to the innovation of wave-mediated haptic display is that the spatial resolution of haptic feedback is governed by the control of wave transmission rather than by the number and density of actuators, as would be the case in conventional approaches. This wave-mediated strategy reduces complexity, enabling practical and scalable displays capable of reproducing dynamic haptic media. This Ph.D. dissertation contributes new display designs exploiting wave transmission, algorithms and methods for wave-mediated haptic display, experimental findings that mechanically and perceptually characterize the proposed display methods, and investigations of the influence of skin biomechanics on display fidelity.

Shared and Exchanged Agencies in Artistic Co-Production , a Master's presentation by Stejara Dinulescu. Wednesday, February 21st, 2024, from 12:30 - 2pm PST, Elings Hall room 2003 (MAT Conference Room).

Shared and Exchanged Agencies in Artistic Co-Production

Our feelings of being in control over our actions and their consequences are broadly referred to as the sense of agency, which is of importance within the disciplines of neuroscience, haptics, and human-computer interaction. However, each field defines and contextualizes agency with unique perspectives, considerations, and applications. This report begins by examining our sense of agency when performing hand movements — referred to throughout as kinesthetic agency — and subsequent sensorimotor consequences affecting our perception of touch. It further explores and contextualizes our sense of agency at the intersection of human-computer interaction, aesthetics, and creative collaboration, highlighting the importance of a user’s perceived agency throughout their interactions with systems, tools, or iterative processes.

While both perceived and kinesthetic agencies of interacting entities are important lenses through which we design and evaluate interactive systems, it is additionally useful to analyze how their intersections and couplings afford co-produced aesthetic outcomes. I distinguish between agency sharing, conceptualized as a continuous collaboration between two or more entities, and agency exchange, conceptualized as the hand-off of decision-making or control between entities. The nuances of – and degrees to which – perceived and/or kinesthetic agency is shared and/or exchanged between entities impact their interactions with the system as a whole, as well as the co-produced outcomes.

Through the presentation and critical analysis of four co-productive systems, tools, or pipelines developed in my own studio and research practice between 2020 and 2023, I impart my perspective and considerations for designing interactions and systems for artistic co-production. Metrics of evaluation include 1) schematic representations of how agency is shared and/or exchanged between agentic entities and systems or processes, 2) aesthetic critique of the outcomes (i.e. drawings, sculptures, live installations, etc.) as artworks in their own right, and 3) developer, user, and audience feedback during iteration and exhibition. Such an analysis, performed during the design and iteration stages of system development, can aid artists, researchers, and developers in engaging with unique co-design and co-productive processes.

Cognitive and Affective Learning through Immersive Story Worlds: Designing Social Virtual Reality for Inclusive Attitudes and Behaviors , a PhD dissertation defense by Enrica Costello. Friday March 1st, 2024 at 3:30pm PST. Experimental Visualizaton Lab (room 2611 Elings Hall).

Cognitive and Affective Learning through Immersive Story Worlds: Designing Social Virtual Reality for Inclusive Attitudes and Behaviors

Virtual reality (VR) perspective-taking experiences focused on imagined intergroup contact with individuals from marginalized groups can increase prosocial behavior toward them (van Loon, Bailenson, Zaki, Bostick, Willer 2018). Intergroup contact theory hypothesizes that reducing anxiety, which is the cause of increased stereotyping against the outgroup, and permeating the social encounter with positive emotions (Miller, Smith, & Mackie, 2004) leads to prejudice mitigation (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Beyond these insights from social psychology, sparse literature has explored how to design immersive story worlds to instill prosocial attitudes and behaviors, including the effectiveness of employing photorealistic techniques. This research fills this gap and challenges the assumption that human perceptions inside virtual and physical worlds are equal if digital assets are photorealistic.

Through the creation of a taxonomy of design for inclusive VR, developed from playtesting six state-of-the-art VR experiences, it identifies which affordances and methodologies are significant to inducing prosocial attitudes in immersive social encounters and contributes a pragmatic approach to the design of VR for bias reduction while considering the craft, ethical and humanistic dimensions of the medium.

MAT Seminar Series:  Speculative Assemblage . Speaker: Weidi Zhang. Monday, March 4th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

Speculative Assemblage

Speaker:  Weidi Zhang

Weidi will present her practice-based research on Speculative Assemblage. She'll introduce her recent experimental visualization artworks, including 'ReCollection,' 'Cangjie's Poetry,' 'Wayfarer,' and 'Astro.' Her discussion will delve into her practices at the intersection of immersive art, AI system design, and experimental visualization.

Weidi Zhang is a new media artist/designer based in Los Angeles and Phoenix. She is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of immersive experience design at the Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) center of Arizona State University. Her interdisciplinary art and design research investigates A Speculative Assemblage at the intersection of immersive media design, experimental data visualization, and interactive AI art.

Her works are featured in international media art and design awards, such as the Best In Show Award in SIGGRAPH (2021,2022), Red Dot Design Award (2022), Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (2022), Juried Selection in Japan Media Arts Festival(2020), Lumen Prize shortlists (2020, 2021), and others. Her works have been exhibited internationally such as Times Art Museum (CN), Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Society For Arts and Technology (CA), SwissNex Gallery (USA), V2_Lab (NL), ISEA, CVPR, IEEE VISAP, Mutek (MX), Mira Fest (Spain), Zeiss Major Planetarium (GE), Planetarium 1 (RUS), and among others. ​She holds her Ph.D. degree in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MFA degree in Art + Technology at the California Institute of the Arts, and a BFA degree in Photo/Media at the University of Washington, Seattle. She lectured at both UC Santa Barbara and The Ohio State University.

MAT Seminar Series:  Song Cycle . Speaker: Chris Kallmyer. Monday, March 11th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

Speaker:  Chris Kallmyer

The lecture will explore how sound and context transform the way we use technology to inspire meaning and change in listeners. Through this talk we will outline the strategies employed by mid-century experimentalists, pre-enlightenment collectivists, and the prospect of a post-industrial revolution. Chris will expand upon the generative work currently installed in Elings Hall, Song Cycle, and the emerging relationships between audience and performer – artist and community – technology and environment.

Chris Kallmyer is an artist working at the intersection of music, architecture, and design. Through his work, he creates collective experiences driven by his interests in listening, landscape, and community. His multi-disciplinary works have been exhibited and performed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and STUDIO TeatrGaleria in Warsaw among other spaces in America, Europe, and Asia. His studio is located on the Silver Penny Farm in Petaluma, CA.

MAT Seminar Series:  Audiovisual/Abstraction Machines . Speaker: Juan Escalante. Monday, April 22nd, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

Audiovisual/Abstraction Machines

Speaker:  Juan Escalante

My work relies on diagrams to parse the inner and outside world. These maps become machines of abstraction. They enable the translation of one medium, domain, or dataset into another. I use sound, drawings, and code to complete a process where computer programming occupies a central role, serving as an orchestration mechanism. Throughout most of my practice, source material, both empirical and speculative, is reinterpreted through a process of stochastic computation.

As a result, the work manifests through a wide range of outputs, such as performances, audiovisual work, graphic notation, print, and screen-based media. Over time, all of these forms rescript one another and keep the creative process in a state of flux. For the MAT Winter 2024 Seminar, I will discuss three recent software art projects using graphic scores, electronic sounds, and artificial intelligence.

Juan Manuel Escalante (b. Mexico City) is a Southern California-based artist and educator working with computer code, modular synthesizers, and analog drawings. His work has been shown in major festivals and exhibitions worldwide. He was a member of the National System of Art Creators (2017-2019 National Endowment for the Arts, MWX) and received the Corwin Award (1st prize) for Electronic-Acoustic Composition in 2016. Escalante holds an MFA in Architecture Design (UNAM) and a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology (University of California, Santa Barbara). He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the California State University, Fullerton.

Equivalence: An analysis of artists’ roles collaborating with Image Generative AI from the perspective of Conceptual Art through an interactive installation design practice , a Masters presentation by Yixuan Li. Thursday, June 15, 2023, 10:30am - 12pm PDT. Experimental Visualization lab (Room 2611, Elings Hall) and via Zoom.

Equivalence: An analysis of artists’ roles collaborating with Image Generative AI from the perspective of Conceptual Art through an interactive installation design practice .

Throughout the past year, the public has witnessed a multitude of high-performance text-to-image Generative AI models pushing the boundaries of image synthesis. These advancements have reshaped the art domain and sparked a great debate surrounding the role of artists and the nature of creativity in artwork created with Image Generative AI. This master's project aims to analyze artists' roles and their relationship with machines when creating artwork with Image Generative AI. Drawing inspiration from Rhodes' 4P model of creativity, an analytical framework of 5P+E (Purpose, People, Process, Product, Press, and Evaluation) has been developed to compare the art-creating processes of Conceptual Art and Image Generative AI. To exemplify this framework, a practical case study titled "Equivalence" has been conducted. Equivalence is a multi-screen interactive installation that converts users' speech input into continuously evolving paintings constructed with Natural Language Processing Algorithms and Stable Diffusion Model. Instead of just using users' text prompts, this installation analyzes the emotion, grammar structure, and word choice, converting this information into architectural structures to investigate the relationship between language and image. Through comprehensive analysis and the execution of the case study, this master's project aims to broaden the understanding of artists' roles and foster a deeper appreciation for the creative aspects inherent in artwork created with Image Generative AI.

The Expressive Computation Lab led by Assistant Professor Jennifer Jacobs, is hosting a guest artist lecture on Friday August 18th from 4-5pm.

In collaboration with the Clay Studio , the lecture will feature our current Experimental Clay Residency artists Eun-Ha Paek and Raina J. Lee .

The lecture will be split into two 30-minute lectures that each include 20-minute talks and 10 minutes left for any questions. Eun-Ha and Raina are both working in the UCSB Expressive Computation Lab for the Summer as a part of our NSF funded research project on Computational Ceramics Fabrication .

Clay studio is located at 351 Holiday Hill Rd, Goleta, CA 93117.

The lecture is free to attend.

"Knot", Pablo Colapinto

"Artificial Nature, Time of Doubles", Haru Ji and Graham Wakefield

"openPOT", Jing Yan

"Extruding Circos", Mohit Hingorani

MAT PhD student Weihao Qiu has been awarded the 2024 Mellichamp Initiative in Mind and Machine Intelligence Graduate Student Fellowship.

Weihao is currently a PhD candidate in the Media Arts and Technology (MAT) program, where his research is centered on improving the modularity, customizability, and interactivity of Generative AI tools. His primary goal is to enhance the diversity, expressiveness, and audience connectedness of AI-based artworks. Weihao's research contributions have been published in conferences, such as Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), and The International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). His artwork has been exhibited in venues such as Beijing Times Art Museum, FeraFile, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation (MOXI), SIGGRAPH, and UCSB MAT End of Year Shows.

The intent of the fellowship is to provide graduate students who are passionate about exploring the intersection of multiple fields related to the initiative with the opportunity to participate in research projects and activities organized as part of the annual summit.

Mellichamp Initiative in Mind & Machine Intelligence Summit 2024

The Second Edition (2023) of a book by Professor Curtis Roads, "The Computer Music Tutorial" has been released.

The Computer Music Tutorial, Second Edition (2023) by Curtis Roads

Curtis Roads, professor in Media Arts and Technology and affiliate faculty in Music at UCSB, has announced the publication of an expanded, updated, and fully revised Second Edition of his textbook The Computer Music Tutorial (2023, The MIT Press, 1257 pages).

Essential and state-of-the-art, The Computer Music Tutorial, Second Edition is a singular text that introduces computer and electronic music, explains its motivations, and puts topics into context. Curtis Roads's step-by-step presentation orients musicians, engineers, scientists, and anyone else new to computer and electronic music.

The new edition continues to be the definitive tutorial on all aspects of computer music, including digital audio, signal processing, musical input devices, performance software, editing systems, algorithmic composition, MIDI, and psychoacoustics, but the second edition also reflects the enormous growth of the field since the book's original publication in 1996. New chapters cover up-to-date topics like virtual analog, pulsar synthesis, concatenative synthesis, spectrum analysis by atomic decomposition, Open Sound Control, spectrum editors, and instrument and patch editors. Exhaustively referenced and cross-referenced, the second edition adds hundreds of new figures and references to the original charts, diagrams, screen images, and photographs in order to explain basic concepts and terms.

Features include:

New chapters on virtual analog, pulsar synthesis, concatenative synthesis, spectrum analysis by atomic decomposition, Open Sound Control, spectrum editors, instrument and patch editors, and an appendix on machine learning.

Two thousand references support the book's descriptions and point readers to further study.

Mathematical notation and program code examples used only when necessary.

Twenty-five years of classroom, seminar, and workshop use inform the pace and level of the material.

As Prof. Roads states: "I finished writing the first edition in 1993. It finally came out in 1996, the year I joined the UCSB Music faculty as a Visiting Associate Professor. Writing the Second Edition required going through the research literature in the field since 1993. It often felt overwhelming but I just had to keep going. In 2017 I devoted all my creative time to the project. I promised myself I would finish it in 2020, and at 10 PM on 31 December 2020 I finished writing. Time for Champagne! The production process took all of 2021 and most of 2022. In a way it was a perfect project for the pandemic lockdown, as it gave me a daily purpose in a time of isolation. The textbook has been the core of my teaching at UCSB."

An article about the release of the 2nd edition was published in the UCSB Current:

news.ucsb.edu/2023/021272/core-textbook-computer-music-distills-vast-information-space-definitive-tutorial

The book can be found at MIT Press:

mitpress.mit.edu/9780262044912/the-computer-music-tutorial

Professor Roads's previous books include Microsound (2001, The MIT Press) and Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic (2015, Oxford University Press).

MAT professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin will give a presentation titled "From Music Composition to Multimodal Interactive Composition - An Historical Overview" at SIGGRAPH SPARKS 2024, Pioneering Interactive Art and Artists from the 1960s to 2000.

This SPARKS session focuses on the innovative interactive digital artwork and pioneering artists prior to the year 2000. Interactive digital art’s roots began forming in the 1960s and blossomed in the following decades. By relinquishing the power to control the outcome of a work of art, digital artists in the 1960-1990s established a democratic, reciprocal relationship with the viewer. Without a defined history, artists were free to experiment and create works that capitalized on the concept of “possibilities”. These individualized personal art experiences took many forms including screen-based art, immersive installation environments, haptic device art, and much more.

Presentations:

Vladimir Bonačić’s interactive digital installations 1969 – 1971 Darko Fritz

Media Art as Thinking Space Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss

Interactive Plant Growing – a journey of an interactive garden created in 1992 Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau

Searching for Conditions of Possibility: Jeffrey Shaw’s Artistic Practice in Expanded Cinema Lukasz Mirocha

Engaging Subjectivity Through Interaction Greg Garvey

The enduring telematic vision of a coexistent third space Paul Sermon

From Music Composition to Multimodal Interactive Composition – An Historical Overview JoAnn Kuchera-Morin

https://dac.siggraph.org/sparks/feb-2024-pioneering-interactive-art-and-artists

This event is co-moderated by MAT alumni Dr. Myungin Lee and co-sponsored by the ACM SIGGRAPH History Committee.

A team of MAT students led by MAT Chair and transLAB Director Professor Marcos Novak designed and installed an immersive and interactive exhibit called the "Synaptic Time Tunnel" for the 2023 SIGGRAPH Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Synaptic Time Tunnel, SIGGRAPH 2023.

Sponsored by Autodesk , the Synaptic Time Tunnel was a tribute to 50 years of innovation and achievement in the field of computer graphics and interactive techniques that have been presented at the SIGGRAPH conferences.

An international audience of more than 14,275 attendees from 78 countries enjoyed the conference and its Mobile and Virtual Access component.

Contributors:

Marcos Novak - MAT Chair and transLAB Director, UCSB Graham Wakefield - York University, UCSB Haru Ji - York University, UCSB Nefeli Manoudaki - transLAB, MAT/UCSB Iason Paterakis - transLAB, MAT/UCSB Diarmid Flatley - transLAB, MAT/UCSB Ryan Millet - transLAB, MAT/UCSB Kon Hyong Kim - AlloSphere Research Group, MAT/UCSB Gustavo Rincon - AlloSphere Research Group, MAT/UCSB Weihao Qiu - Experimental Visualization Lab, MAT/UCSB Pau Rosello Diaz - transLAB, MAT/UCSB Alan Macy - BIOPAC Systems Inc. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin - AlloSphere Research Group, MAT/UCSB Devon Frost - MAT/UCSB Alysia James - Department of Theater and Dance/UCSB

More information about the Synaptic Time Tunnel can be found in the following news articles:

Forbes.com: SIGGRAPH, Autodesk Take Time Tunnel Through Computer Graphics History on 50th Anniversary

Forbes.com: SIGGRAPH 2023 Highlights

PR Newswire: SIGGRAPH 2023 Conference Commemorates 50 Years of Innovations With Growth in Contributed Works and In-person Attendees

s2023.siggraph.org

translab.mat.ucsb.edu/S50_SynapticTimeTunnel

translab.mat.ucsb.edu

MAT alumni Andres Burbano has been selected as chair of the 51st annual ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 conference.

ACM SIGGRAPH is the premier conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques. This year they celebrate their 50th conference and reflect on half a century of discovery and advancement while charting a course for the bold and limitless future ahead.

Burbano is a native of Pasto, Colombia and an associate professor in Universidad de los Andes’s School of Architecture and Design. As a contributor to the conference, Burbano has presented research within the Art Papers program (in 2017), and as a volunteer, has served on the SIGGRAPH 2018, 2020, and 2021 conference committees. Most recently, Burbano served as the first-ever chair of the Retrospective Program in 2021, which honored the history of computer graphics and interactive techniques. Andres received his PhD from Media Arts and Technology in 2013.

Read more from the ACM SIGGRAPH's website and this article on the ACMSIGGRAPH Blog .

The next ACM SIGGRAPH conference is in August 2023 and will be held in Los Angeles, California s2023.siggraph.org .

An undergraduate creative computing course titled "MAT 80XU - (E)Utopian Design Tools" will be offered in Session B of UCSB's Summer Session, August 2nd - September 11, 2021.

MAT 80XU (E)Utopian Design Tools (Mediated Worlds: THEMAS Special Topics)

The course is part of the MAT THEMAS undergraduate course series that incorporates STEM + Arts & Humanities (Technology Humanities Engineering Mathematics Arts Sciences).

Course description

What does it mean to "make the world a better place"? How do we enact eutopias (good, possible places) rather than merely imagine utopias (ideal, impossible places)? (E)Utopian Design Tools is a creative-computing and project-based class that operationalizes positive and innovative change. Working with the 3D graphics program Blender and connected platforms, we leverage digital tools as the arm of our imaginations, addressing contemporary problems as creative opportunities. We engage worldmaking, immersive art, and speculative design through the transdisciplinary pedagogical model of THEMAS (STEM+Arts+creative Humanities) to impart a holistic thinking and making toolbox. Additionally, we train a making reflex to problem-solving through iteration and prototyping. Strategies for designing with impact, ingenuity, and empathy are further refined via concepts from cognitive science, user-centered design, engineering ethics, and information aesthetics, among other areas. A selective survey of the literature of utopias also contextualizes this undertaking. In these ways, we empower students to meet challenges holistically, effectively, imaginatively, and compassionately, with a cutting-edge toolkit supercharged with computation. The "real world" is not fixed but music in motion: we are its composers and performers. In this unique, historical moment, how will you create the future?

The Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) has released a new software app for sound granulation: EmissionControl2 for MacOSX, Linux, and Windows.

EmissionControl2 is a granular sound synthesizer. The theory of granular synthesis is described in the book Microsound (Curtis Roads, 2001, MIT Press).

Released in October 2020, the new app was developed by a team consisting of Professor Curtis Roads acting as project manager, with software developers Jack Kilgore and Rodney Duplessis. Kilgore is a computer science major at UCSB. Duplessis is a PhD student in music composition at UCSB and is also pursuing a Masters degree in the Media Arts and Technology graduate program.

EmissionControl2 is free and open-source software available at: github.com/jackkilgore/EmissionControl2/releases/latest

The project was supported by a Faculty Research Grant from the UCSB Academic Senate.

MAT professor George Legrady is a recipient of a prestigious Graham Foundation Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts grant.

Photos: George Legrady. James Bay Cree, Fort George, James Bay, 1973, Quebec, Canada.

The award is for an upcoming publication titled "James Bay Cree Culture & Architecture", a monograph of documentary photographs created in four coastal Cree First Nation villages in sub-arctic James Bay in 1973. The publication is to consist of introductory texts, approximately 180 black and white photographs of everyday scenes in the Cree communities just prior to their legal negotiations over infrastructure autonomy and land rights in response to the construction of the James Bay Hydro-electric project on traditional hunting lands.

grahamfoundation.org/grantees/5959-james-bay-cree-culture-architecture

Professor Marko Peljhan will represent Slovenia at the 58th Venice Biennale, May 11 - November 24, 2019. Venice, Italy.

" System 319 " at the Venice Biennale.

Marko Peljhan’s work revolves around two fundamental aspects of the world today: the technological developments in communication, transport, and surveillance; and the highly complex systems of political, economic, and military power driving such developments and employing them in administration, control, production or military applications. The potentials of technology are introduced into art as a way of confronting the systems of governance and their strategies. Peljhan’s art has thus evolved into a process involving a cartography of "signal territories," an analysis of the role of technology in society, particularly as it relates to power structures, a reflection on the possibilities of a different, creative and resistant use of technological means, and, ultimately, the creation of socially useful models of resistant behaviors in the contemporary social system. The theatrical dimension of Peljhan’s art plays a crucial role in this; his best-known project Makrolab can in this sense be interpreted as a technological laboratory and a social stage based on the concept of micro-performance.

At the Venice Biennale, Peljhan will present a work from his Resolution series. This series, which has evolved over some 20 years, proposes some specific material and applicable solutions to certain problems in society. It is the artist’s response to the state in which the world finds itself today, calling for a rediscovery of space and a utopian response to the rapid changes in the environment. In this sense, the autonomous vessel produced as part of the " Here we go again… SYSTEM 317 " project is a colonizing, apocalyptic and pirating tool of sorts. In it, Peljhan brings together his vision, the potential for and the impossibility of a final exit from our rapidly deteriorating planetary conditions in a process he calls “reverse conversion.” He first employed this methodology in his " TRUST-SYSTEM " series, which focused on the conversion of cruise missile technology and later, unmanned systems for civil counter-reconnaissance. The artist proposes the construction of a counter-privateering machine intended for the days when the world’s great empires find themselves, once again, in confrontation—and one characterized by a grave lack of responsibility together with great destructive potential.

The X-43A Hypersonic Experimental (Hyper-X) Vehicle in Benefield Aenechoic Facility at Edwards Air Force Base radio January 2000. Photo: Tom Tschida. Image courtesy of NASA.

www.makery.info/en/2019/05/15/les-hyperstitions-hypersoniques-de-marko-peljhan-a-la-biennale-de-venise

www.labiennale.org/en

MAT PhD candidate Sihwa Park will present a paper titled " Multimodal Data Portrait for Representing Mobile Phone Use Behavior " at the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2019), June 22-28, 2019 in Gwangju, South Korea. Sihwa is also a member of the International Program Committee for ISEA 2019.

" BeHave " by Sihwa Park

This paper presents BeHAVE, a web-based audiovisual piece that explores a way to reveal the author’s mobile phone use behavior through multimodal data representation, considering the concept of indexicality in data visualization and sonification. It visualizes the spatiality and overall trend of mobile phone use data as a geographical heatmap visualization and a heatmap chart. On top of that, BeHAVE presents a mode for temporal data exploration to make a year of data perceivable in a short period and represent the temporality of data. Based on a microsound synthesis technique, it also sonifies data to simultaneously evoke visual and auditory perception in this mode. As a way of indexical visualization, BeHAVE also suggests an approach that represents data through mobile phones simultaneously by using WebSocket. Ultimately, BeHAVE attempts to not only improve the perception of self-tracking data but also arouse aesthetic enjoyment through a multimodal data portrait as a means of self-representation.

isea2019.isea-international.org

MAT PhD student Yin Yu has designed a course for the Science & Engineering Research Academy (SERA) at UCSB that she will teach in the summer of 2019. Th​e​ course, titled " In the Digital Age​ - ​Experiencing Architecture and Music Through STEM ", ​is an introduction to Media Arts and Technology​ through the lens of architecture and music​, and adds humanities (H) and arts (A) to the STEM model, to produce the THEMAS model.​ The SERA program introduces qualified high school students to the research enterprise through project-based, directed research in STEM related fields, including machine learning, marine biology, evolutionary biology, global conflicts, and media arts & technology​.

In the Digital Age​ - ​Experiencing Architecture and Music Through STEM - Course Description

In this course, we will challenge what you think architecture and music are by examining how the intersection of these topics evolved over time through the lens of human experience and the digital age. For example, the way in which theme parks are intentionally designed or the role that a musical score plays in movies to enhance or manipulate the audience's experience. You will learn the basic concepts of digital architecture and computer music through exercises using physical and digital modeling, 3D fabrication, haptics (touch sound), and interactive design highlighting how new media technologies and fabrication tools have allowed for the integration of STEM and the fine arts. Students will attend a field recording workshop and develop a hands-on studio project to learn creative techniques in music composition and sound making. In addition, students will develop oral communication and formal presentation skills through a series of workshop project presentations. By the end of the course, you will develop the methodologies for an interdisciplinary research project. This is an excellent opportunity for participants interested in both science and art, to increase their skills and knowledge towards their college education.

www.summer.ucsb.edu/pre-college/science-engineering-research-academy-sera

" Lavin ", an art installation by MAT PhD students Weidi Zhang and Jieliang Luo, has been selected to be included in the SIGGRAPH 2019 art gallery, July 28th - August 1st, in Los Angeles.

This VR project is a conceptual response to "Ground Truth" in the modern AI age. From a neural network (NN) that is trained to recognize thousands of objects, to a NN that can only generate binary outputs, each NN, like human beings, has its own understanding of the real world, even when the inputs are the same. LAVIN provides an immersive responsive experience, that allows you to visually explore one understanding of a NN in which the real world is mapping to less than a hundred daily objects. LAVIN constantly analyzes the real world via a camera, and outputs semantic interpretations in which the audience navigates, in a virtual world that consists of all of the fluid abstract structures that are designed and animated based on the photogrammetry of daily objects that the NN can recognize.

www.zhangweidi.com/lavin

s2019.siggraph.org

Exhibition Catalogs

Student Projects

"Take Flight", Qian Liu, Yun Teng

Muhammad Hafiz Wan Rosli

"VOSIS", Ryan McGee

David Gordon

"Stoicheia", Jean-Michel Crettaz and Myles Sciotto

"S-Phase", Lance Putnam

"Trees", Tim Wood

Media Arts and Technology (MAT) at UCSB is a transdisciplinary graduate program that fuses emergent media, computer science, engineering, electronic music and digital art research, practice, production, and theory. Created by faculty in both the College of Engineering and the College of Letters and Science, MAT offers an unparalleled opportunity for working at the frontiers of art, science, and technology, where new art forms are born and new expressive media are invented.

In MAT, we seek to define and to create the future of media art and media technology. Our research explores the limits of what is possible in technologically sophisticated art and media, both from an artistic and an engineering viewpoint. Combining art, science, engineering, and theory, MAT graduate studies provide students with a combination of critical and technical tools that prepare them for leadership roles in artistic, engineering, production/direction, educational, and research contexts.

The program offers Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Media Arts and Technology. MAT students may focus on an area of emphasis (multimedia engineering, electronic music and sound design, or visual and spatial arts), but all students should strive to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and work with other students and faculty in collaborative, multidisciplinary research projects and courses.

"With a deep interest in exploring sound, not only creatively, but technically and scientifically, I began my studies at MAT at UCSB. It was here, through academic discipline and perseverance, alongside professors and colleagues, that I was able to hone my skills and begin my successful career.

Years later, I am leading development of game audio and augmented reality technology at Apple.

The strong academic foundations that I gained in spatial audio, sound synthesis, and audio engine architecture have allowed me to achieve even greater success in my career. I will always be grateful to those who helped me take those first steps to success!"

David Thall Lead Audio Programmer Game and Augmented Reality Technology Apple

"As a UCSB MAT Master's student (2002-2004), I benefited greatly from the required and elective courses taught by professional leaders with broad perspectives, both technical and humanistic. This helped me to improve my research skills, and to refine my academic vision, which culminated in a PhD (2009) from UCSB Electrical and Computer Engineering specializing in Digital Signal Processing. Since that time I have been employed at several academic institutions around Europe, where my broad technical and humanistic perspective has been unique and advantageous."

Bob L. Sturm, Associate Professor School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Royal Institute of Technology KTH Stockholm, Sweden

"As one of the first graduates of the Media Arts and Technology PhD program, I have found the experiences provided by the MAT community invaluable to both my professional development and personal enjoyment of creating technology-based experiences, throughout life. I have been employed for more than 10 years now in the department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology at Aalborg University Copenhagen, where I teach both interaction design and real-time signal processing for audio and music performance. As Associate Professor, I guide students to create their own software and hardware tools, concepts, and practices for creating new sonic and embodied interactions, as well as running the Augmented Performance Lab. Together with my colleagues, I helped start the Sound and Music Computing masters program in 2014, and co-chaired the international New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) conference in 2017."

Dan Overholt Associate Professor Aalborg Univeristy, Copenhagen Denmark

"MAT is a rare graduate program in that it operates more like an creative ecosystem -- your work as a researcher is significant and connects to others.  People care a lot about what you are doing, and invest thought into your own thinking.  Throughout my eight years of study, from 2007 to 2015, and as a postdoctoral student afterwards, this supportive environment provided the technological, financial, and intellectual resources necessary for me to take risks in my work.  As a result, I was able to dive deep into subjects I thought were off limits to my cognitive function, and achieve the great satisfaction of learning how to learn better.  It is a testament to the culture fostered there that an experimental filmmaker such as myself entering the program with very basic programming skills can now make regular contributions to mathematics journals, work as a real-time computer graphics programmer in the DTLA arts district, be asked to consult on science fiction television dramas, and innovate novel geometrical algorithms of use in architecture.  I think the MAT program at UCSB is a hidden gem -- you enter it with one direction in mind, and come out brilliantly refracted into a spectrum of possibilities."

Pablo Colapinto Oblong Industries Inc & Independent Artist Los Angeles

"The education and mentorship I received as an MAT student gave me the skills to discuss my work critically and in the context of the rich history of media arts; and has been pivotal in having my work accepted in exhibitions around the world, including Dubai, Montreal, Tehran, Hong Kong, New York and cities throughout the US. Further, my PhD in MAT was instrumental in securing my position as Curator of Interactive Media for MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation. In that capacity, almost half of the artists I have curated into MOXI have been MAT alumni, MAT faculty, MAT students, and distinguished media artists who I met as part of my work in the MAT program. My collaborations with MAT students and alumni are ongoing, and I continue to be grateful for the education, mentorship and community of the UCSB MAT program."

Marco Pinter Computational Artist Curator of Interactive Media, MOXI (The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation) Director of Software Innovation, InTouch Health

PhD Program

The Media Arts and Practice PhD program offers a rigorous and creative environment for scholarly innovation as students explore the intersections of cinema, design, emerging media and critical thinking while defining new forms of cinematic experience, research and scholarship for the 21st century.

Core to the program is its transdisciplinary ethos, its open curriculum and its commitment to the union of critical thinking and making. After completing foundational coursework, students design their own curricula, drawing on expertise within all of the divisions and research labs within the School of Cinematic Arts, and in other schools across the USC campus. The areas of research investigated by MA+P PhD students are broad, and currently include attention to these core themes: interactive architecture; media activism; affect; wearables; world building; database documentary; embodiment and tangible interfaces; sustainability and technology; technology and ethics; critical and creative code; sound; design and speculative fiction; games and interactivity; digital historiography; neuro-cinematics; expanded and spatialized cinema; multimodal scholarship; performativity; pervasive/locative media; and immersive journalism.

• View Degree Requirements in the USC Catalogue
• Application Instructions
• Current PhD Student Directory
• PhD Alumni Directory

Program Objectives

• Knowledge of the history, theory and evolution of 20th and 21st century media art, critical theory and digital scholarship in the humanities context.
• Understanding of the diverse types of practices within the broad concept of media art, including new media, electronic art, internet art, media installation, immersive media, pervasive and locative media, ambient storytelling, media activism and social media.
• Understanding of arts-based research practices, and the development of the ability to articulate an appropriate research methodology for a given research question.
• Development of diverse media production skills appropriate to specific research projects, including collaboration, project planning, budgeting and scoping, and skills in visual storytelling, design fiction, audio design, tangible media and other emerging forms of media production.
• Ability to articulate ideas and concepts using written, oral, visual and interactive communication skills and an appreciation of emerging forms of textuality and digital scholarship that facilitate the sharing of ideas within scholarly networks.
• Understanding of disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and the formation of new fields of inquiry and objects of study.
• Understanding of the legal and ethical rights and responsibilities associated in working with digital media.
• Appreciation of core cultural themes related to contemporary digital media, including access, surveillance and privacy, participation and global citizenship.
• Ability to unite theory and practice in the creation of a dissertation project that includes a clear and appropriate research methodology; that embodies concepts or communicates ideas through interaction with the project; and that exemplifies innovative scholarly research and communication.

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Creative Technology and Design - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The PhD program at CU Boulder’s ATLAS Institute emphasizes out-of-the-box invention and radical inquiry, attracting students whose interests and knowledge span multiple disciplines and domains. Conducting compelling and relevant research, ATLAS PhD students are central to the institute’s thriving academic community of engineers, artists and designers.

Structurally, the ATLAS PhD program is like any other research-based doctoral program: a student forms an advisory committee, takes courses, takes a qualifying examination, proposes a dissertation, performs research, writes a dissertation and defends it.  

However, unlike most U.S. doctoral programs, the ATLAS PhD program has few required courses; instead, the curriculum is crafted individually, with  students working with their advisory committees to identify the expertise needed to research their area of focus.

For more information, visit the ATLAS Institute's PhD Program webpage.

Requirements

Course requirements.

• A minimum of 30 credit hours of courses numbered 5000 or above where students earn a minimum of 3.00 GPA.
• A minimum of 30 credit hours of dissertation credit are required for the degree.  
• Students must complete the following two courses: Research Methods and PhD Research Professional Seminar, and attend the ATLAS Colloquium three semesters over the span of their time in the PhD program. ​

Program Proposal

To maintain good standing in the program, all students must complete their academic program plan/program proposal by the end of the second semester.  In general, ATLAS academic plan/program proposals i nclude general research area and the courses to be taken and other research/disciplinarily appropriate activities planned.

Preliminary Examination

To maintain good standing in the program, all students must complete their preliminary examination by the end of the second year. The preliminary examination will demonstrate the student's preparation for scholarly work in his/her chosen area. 

Comprehensive Examination

To maintain good standing in the program, all students must complete their comprehensive exam by the end of the second semester of their fourth year in the program. The comprehensive examination will outline the student's completed research and proposed research agenda. This includes both an oral and written exam delivered  to their dissertation committee and open to the larger community. 

PhD Dissertation

Students must write a dissertation based on original research conducted under the supervision of a graduate faculty member. The dissertation must fulfill all CU Boulder Graduate School requirements. After the dissertation is completed, an oral final examination on the dissertation and related topics is conducted by the student's doctoral committee.

Plan(s) of Study

Due to the highly interdisciplinary nature of the program, each student's plan of study is developed in consultation with their advisor to address their unique research goals.

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The Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program at MIT offers a Master of Science in Art, Culture and Technology (SMACT), a rigorous and selective two-year graduate program.

At MIT, admission to each graduate program is coordinated by the academic department to which the graduate program belongs. The Art, Culture, and Technology program is a discipline group within the Department of Architecture. Therefore, all applicants seeking admission to the SMACT degree program apply through the Department of Architecture admissions office. Application information can be found on the Architecture website .

Learn more about ACT’s admissions process by reviewing our Frequently Asked Questions . Prospective students are encouraged to attend our fall Open House before applying. If you have questions email us at [email protected].

ACT Graduate Open House Fall 2023

Applicant Mentorship Program (AMP)

ACT 2nd Year Merit Fellowship

Cross-Registration

Degree Requirements

SMACT Thesis

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Phd digital art and technology.

i-DAT’s underpinning research concerns making ‘data’ palpable, tangible and accessible. It involves creating new experiences through the design and construction of networked, sensing and intelligent ‘things’ and software. Digital Practice is central to exploring the significance that data, its harvesting, processing and manifestation, can play in contemporary culture.

The research is collaborative and participatory at its core, engaging audiences and communities and cultivating a rich transdisciplinary approach through collaborations across the arts and sciences.

Course details

Core modules.

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT1)

Research Skills in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (DRTS800)

This module provides research students the opportunity to explore the creation and interpretation of new knowledge within their field; develop the students’ ability to conceptualise, design and present their theses to merit publication; advance the students’ academic enquiry skills and techniques; and to generate and share the new knowledge within their academic discipline and professional practice.

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT2)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT3)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT4)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT5)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT6)

Entry requirements

Fees, costs and funding, how to apply.

• ) Apply online
• / Contact us
• u Doctoral College
• 6 Studentships

If you would like to discuss your application, at any stage, please contact Professor Mike Phillips . Additionally, the Doctoral College is able to answer any questions you may have about applying for or undertaking a postgraduate research degree at the University of Plymouth: [email protected] or +44 1752 587640 .

The Doctoral College works with staff and students across the entire University to ensure that our diverse community of postgraduate and postdoctoral early career researchers is offered the best possible experience. Find out more about becoming a research student and the University's Researcher Development Programme on the Doctoral College webpages .

Visit Postgraduate research studentships to search for studentships currently available for this programme. 

Postgraduate research opportunities

i-DAT’s research themes and projects provide a rich context for Full Time and Part Time research students from a variety of disciplines, who can either engage with these major initiatives or build their research activity grounded in their own creative practice. i-DAT’s core supervisory team have more than 40 PhD completions in a broad range of areas, such as design, software development, interactive architecture, education/play, architecture, performance and robotics.

Supervisory teams can draw on collaborating research groups (such as eHealth, Geography, Robotics) and i-DAT contributes to the supervision of Professor Roy Ascott’s Planetary Collegium in Plymouth and Shanghai DeTao Node (as well as the historic Nodes in Milan, Zurich, Greece, and Lucern).  i-DAT is the catalyst behind the CODEX international Postgraduate Research network operating in collaboration with Jiangnan University, Nanjing University of the Arts and Soochow University in China.

i-DAT's core research themes:

Phd completions:.

We co-create and share technological prototypes and practices, that push and challenge the boundaries of digital arts and creative media practice.

Some of our people

Professor Mike Phillips

Professor of interdisciplinary arts.

Dr Gianni Corino

Associate professor in interactive media.

Dr Sana Murrani

Associate professor (spatial practice).

Dr Guido Bugmann

Visiting associate professor (reader).

Dr Jane Grant

Associate professor in visual arts.

Dr Mathew Emmett

Associate professor in architecture.

Professor Iain Stewart MBE

Professor of geoscience communication, sustainable earth institute.

Dr Alejandro Veliz Reyes

Associate head of school - knowledge exchange.

Dr Helen Pritchard

Associate professor in queer feminist technoscience and digital design.

Mr Chris Booth

Lecturer in user experience design.

Mr Joel Hodges

Lecturer in game arts & design.

Mr Luke Christison

Researcher - data visualisation.

Mr Musaab Garghouti

Lecturer in 3d visualisation, immersion and simulation.

Dr Andrew Prior

Associate professor digital art & technology.

Dr James Sweeting

Lecturer in game studies, funding for postgraduate research students.

Media Arts & Sciences About Media Arts & Sciences

The program in media arts & sciences at the mit media lab.

The Media Lab is a community of designers, researchers, and inventors who work together as members of research teams, doing things that conventional wisdom says can’t or shouldn't be done. The approximately 400 projects underway at the Lab are as varied as the students who conduct them: from tools for learning and expression, to innovative devices for human adaptation and augmentation, to new modes of transportation for tomorrow's smart cities.

Students come to the Media Lab through the Program in Media Arts and Sciences (MAS), based within MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning. Each year, the program accepts approximately 50 master’s and PhD candidates with backgrounds ranging from computer science to psychology, architecture to neuroscience, mechanical engineering to material science, and more.

MAS offers approximately 30 graduate courses  and several undergraduate subjects . Media Lab courses explore several themes, including, for example, human-computer interaction, communications, learning, design, and entrepreneurship .

MIT’s  Center for Bits and Atoms , an interdisciplinary initiative investigating the interface between computer science and physical science, also admits students through the Program in Media Arts and Sciences. The Center is known for its global network of digital fabrication facilities.

Image copyright Andy Ryan 

Fall 2023 Media Arts and Sciences Course List

Classes offered by the Program in Media Arts and Sciences for the Fall 2023 semester

Spring 2023 Media Arts and Sciences Course List

Classes offered by the Program in Media Arts and Sciences for the Spring 2023 semester

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

 MIT (and Wellesley) undergrad students can work for credit, pay, or as volunteers. You can learn more about policies and deadlin…

Fellowship & Scholarship Opportunities

​OGE Administered Fellowships Many fellowships that MAS students apply to are administered through the Office of Graduate Educati…

PhD General Exam

Everything you need to know about the General Exam for MAS Doctoral Students

MAS Degrees and Course Requirements

MAS Students: Learn more about your course and degree requirements here.

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The Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) Program is an academic program and hub of critical art practice and discourse within the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P). ACT is headed by distinguished artist-professors and supported by a dynamic cast of practitioner graduate students and staff, visiting artist-lecturers, affiliates, and guests. Through an integrated approach to pedagogy, hosting, public event programming, and publication, ACT builds a community of artist-thinkers around the exploration of art’s complex conjunctions with culture and technology. It is not an art school in the traditional sense. The program’s mission is to promote leadership in critical artistic practice and deployment, developing art as a vital means of experimenting with new registers of knowledge and new modes of valuation and expression; and to continually question what an artistic research and learning environment can be and do.

Born out of the 2009 merger between MIT’s influential Center for Advanced Visual Studies (founded in 1967 by György Kepes) and Visual Arts Program (founded in 1989), ACT shares in a rich heritage of work expanding the notion of visual studies and pushing the capacity of art to enlist science and technology in cultural production, critique, and dissemination at the civic scale. As part of SA+P, ACT inhabits a vibrant ecosystem of programs, centers, and labs that continue to promote this interplay between science, technology, art, and design.

A cornerstone of the ACT program is what we call “embedded research,” engaging sites and publics beyond the MIT campus. CAVS inspired this commitment with its sustained, culturally significant engagement with the city of Boston. Embedded research is not only a way for our program to build bridges to other sites and communities in flux or in conflict, it is also a way for us to encourage our students to foster meaningful, sustained engagements as part of their practice, as artists and as citizens. This emphasis on embedded research, we believe, is part of what makes ACT unique.

ACT offers a rigorous and highly selective two-year graduate program, the Master of Science in Art, Culture, and Technology , as well as an undergraduate minor and concentration. It also offers a variety of introductory courses to the general MIT student population and subjects tailored to undergraduates majoring in architecture. Advanced courses related to specific media and topics are offered as electives for both undergraduate and graduate students. ACT studio courses are complemented by practical workshops and discussions in theory and criticism, often provided by fellows and visitors to the program. Studios also regularly involve research field trips, which, in addition to their research/pedagogical value, help ACT promote new circuits of artistic and scholarly collaboration.

For further information, contact ACT , Room E15-212, 617-253-5229, fax 617-253-3977.

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• Staff & students

MPhil/PhD Arts & Computational Technology

Course information.

3-4 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

Course overview

This is the only programme in the University of London in which students can include creative work and an arts-based context of their practice within the distinctive field of arts and creative technologies.

• The opportunities for artists and technologists working in artistic domains have long encountered difficulties in finding appropriate ways to ‘measure’ artistic practice in ‘practice-based research’ terms
• The aim of the programme is to support students in their creation of new forms of artistic expression, and in their invention and application of new technologies that help make the art form possible
• We therefore expect you to take a novel and personal path of exploration. This path will be determined by the shifts you make between artistic, technical, practical, conceptual and theoretical domains in relation to your own unique vision
• You will have two supervisors (one from arts practice, and one from computer science), and can attend weekly PhD research seminars where students can present their findings to peers and staff; you are expected to give two presentations per year
• You also present your work at College level through interdisciplinary Graduate School seminars and at Spring Review week
• We have established a forum with the Creativity and Cognition studios at the  University of Technology, Sydney  for characterising practice situated across arts and computational technology, which offers the potential for collaborative research

Assessment is by: 

• written thesis (60,000 - 80,000 words)
• practical/technological component in an appropriate form

Find out more about our  research degrees , including information about starting your research, upgrading to PhD registration, and submitting your thesis.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Akshi Kumar .

Entry requirements

Normally upper second class honours degree in a creative practice (eg art, design, music, technology, social sciences) or computer-based discipline (including studio arts) or an MA/MFA and/or equivalent technical and artistic experience in arts and computational technology.

You should normally be competent in the language and applications of working with technologies as appropriate to your practice.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification ) of 7.0 with a 7.0 in writing and no element lower than 6.5 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study .

Fees, funding & scholarships

Annual tuition fees.

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

• Home - full-time: £TBC
• Home - part-time: £TBC
• International - full-time: £TBC

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment .

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments.

Funding opportunities

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities . If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

Department of Computing Alumni Fee Waiver PhD Scholarship

In order to encourage world-leading research activity within the Department of Computing, we're pleased to offer a scholarship to those wishing to pursue a PhD with us. If you choose to continue to study with us for a PhD program, you can apply for this scholarship which provides a 30% fee waiver for three years (or part-time equivalent). We are looking for candidates that we believe, based on previous track record, have the potential to do high-profile and high-impact research, including high-quality publications or other outputs. 

Eligibility criteria The award is available to the following Goldsmiths graduates:

• UG (BA/BSc) and PG (MA/MSc) Home and international graduates (full-time and part-time) from the department of Computing
• You're an offer holder of a PhD programme within the department of Computing

Application

Please send the following to the Deputy Head of Computing, Dr Golnaz Badkobeh , copying your supervisor:

• Your research proposal
• Email address of your supervisor (we will contact them for reference)

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you'll need to have: 

• Details of  your education history , including the dates of all exams/assessments
• The  email address of your referee  who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
• Contact details of a second referee
• A  personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online

           Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement

• If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)
• Details of your  research proposal
• A portfolio of your practical work (see below for details) 

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Before you apply for a research programme, we advise you to get in touch with the programme contact, listed above. It may also be possible to arrange an advisory meeting.

Before you start at Goldsmiths, the actual topic of your research has to be agreed with your proposed supervisor, who will be a member of staff active in your general field of research. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body. 

If you wish to study on a part-time basis, you should also indicate how many hours a week you intend to devote to research, whether this will be at evenings or weekends, and for how many hours each day.

Research proposals

Along with your application and academic reference, you should also upload a research proposal at the point of application. 

This should be in the form of a statement of the proposed area of research and should include: 

• delineation of the research topic
• why it has been chosen
• an initial hypothesis (if applicable)
• a brief list of major secondary sources

Submitting your portfolio

We prefer that you send up to 20 images (via the online application system) as your portfolio.

However, if you wish to post your portfolio, do so on a CD (Mac compatible) saved as JPG, or on DVD as a PAL format video showreel of no longer than 10 minutes (please do not send QuickTime movies; only DVD format).

Supporting material should be securely packaged and clearly labeled with your name and address; Goldsmiths cannot accept responsibility for any loss/damage.

Post portfolios to:  MPhil & PhDArts & Computational Technology Portfolios, Admissions Office, Goldsmiths, New Cross, London SE14 6NW. You must write 'MPhil & PhD Arts & Computational Technology Portfolio' and your name on the outside of the envelope so that it can be matched with your application.

Only complete applications together with portfolios can be considered. We examine portfolios, and may then invite you to attend an interview. We'll invite international (non-EU) students who are invited for an interview, but can't attend Goldsmiths, for an interview via Skype.

You'll be able to arrange for collection of your portfolio up to three months after receiving a decision or by 31 July at the latest. Due to space limitations, portfolios not collected by this date will be disposed of.

When to apply  

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification.  

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified. 

Selection process 

Admission to many programmes is by interview, unless you live outside the UK. Occasionally we'll make candidates an offer of a place on the basis of their application and qualifications alone. 

Find out more about applying .

Find out about staff in the Department of Computing .

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The UC San Diego Visual Arts PhD Program grants two PhD degrees: Art History, Theory and Criticism and Art History, Theory and Criticism with a Concentration in Art Practice . The program embodies the department's commitment to innovative research by embracing the close intersection of art, media, and design practice with history, theory, and criticism, and by offering training in the history, theory, and criticism of a range and mix of areas represented in our MFA faculty, including studio art, film, video, photography, computational media, performance art, public art, design, visual culture, and socially engaged art practice. Regional and cultural frameworks of study include European and Latin American art, Chinese art, nineteenth-century French visual culture, Mesoamerican, Native American, and Indigenous art and material culture, Medieval art and culture, queer and feminist art, material culture, science, technology, and art; and ocean, environmental, and land art.

The Art Practice Concentration degree, which must be applied for at the time of application to the PhD program, follows the same course of scholarly training, research, and writing as the Art History, Theory and Criticism degree, with additional requirements in research-based art practice that span all years of coursework, qualifying, and doctoral research. Two students are admitted to this concentration annually.

Information for Current and Prospective Students

Requirement overview, program requirements.

• Coursework, 88 units

Language Requirement

• Qualifying Materials and Exams

Dissertation and Defense

• For VA77 Only- Art Practice Project and Exhibition

Full Time Enrollment

In order to remain eligible for financial support all graduate students must be enrolled   in 12 units of upper-division (100-199) or graduate level (200 and above) courses each quarter during the regular academic year. Graduate students must also maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 to maintain good academic standing. The majority of students will choose to complete the majority of their academic coursework for a letter grade.

Pre-Candidacy

Coursework should be chosen in consultation with the Advisor and should be taken in preparation for the Qualifying phase. During the first three years in the program, students should aim to fulfill the following requirements:

• MA en Route Requirements (if interested and eligible)
• Qualifying Materials and Exams (year 3)

Advancing to candidacy occurs when the student has passed all course, language, and qualifying requirements and is ready to research and write a dissertation. Doctoral candidates, sometimes referred to as “all but dissertation” or ABD, work on their dissertation with Advisor and Committee consultation and feedback for two or more years. During this time, Art Practice candidates additionally produce the required art practice components. Each quarter, most doctoral candidates typically enroll in 8-12 units of VIS 299 and/or 4 units of a 500, in consultation with their Advisor. Candidacy concludes when the candidate completes and successfully defends the dissertation (and, for VA77, the additional Art Practice requirements) and is awarded the doctorate.

Degree Paths

The program consists of two degree paths: Art History, Theory and Criticism (VA76) and Art Practice (VA77), a concentration designed for artists engaged in advanced research who wish to pursue their work in an environment geared to doctoral study, and to produce studio, media, performance or public facing work alongside a written dissertation. See Handbook for further details.

Interdisciplinary Specializations

Students within the PhD program who are interested in the opportunity to undertake specialized research may apply to participate in an interdisciplinary specialization. Students accepted into a specialization program would be expected to complete coursework in addition to those required for their PhD program. The department offers interdisciplinary specializations with the following campus programs.

• Anthropogeny:   for students with an interest in human origins
• Critical Gender Studies:   providing specialized training in gender and sexuality
• Interdisciplinary Environmental Research : for students interested in environmental solutions

Curriculum: VA76 Art History, Theory and Criticism

VA76- 22 courses, 88 units

GENERAL FIELD EMPHASIS

During the first year of study, students declare a general area of study in consultation with their Advisor and with the approval of the Faculty Director. This general field emphasis will be considered as they choose courses and, toward year three, plan their qualifying materials. See the Handbook for general field options.

CORE REQUIREMENTS (8 courses, 32 units)

Required (4 courses, 16 units):

• VIS 200- Methods and Theories
• VIS 204- Rethinking Art History
• VIS 500 (1 course, 4 units)- Apprentice Teaching
• VIS 502- Graduate Teaching in Visual Arts

Breadth (4 courses, 16 units), choose from 4 different areas with 3 different faculty:

• Medieval, Renaissance or Early Modern Art- VIS 251, VIS 252
• Modern and Contemporary Art- VIS 254, VIS 255
• Media Studies- VIS 256
• Meso-American Art or North American Indigenous Art- VIS 257, VIS 260
• Asian Art- VIS 258
• Latin American Art- VIS 259
• Material Culture- VIS 261
• Design Studies- VIS 262

ELECTIVE REQUIREMENTS (14 courses, 56 units), choose from the following options:

• Art History Seminars (VIS 230-269), a minimum of 6 MUST be taken for the elective area
• Graduate Research (VIS 299), during 1st year with provisional advisor
• Professional Practice Seminar (VIS 220)
• Art Theory/Practice (VIS 206, VIS 210-219), a maximum of 2 may be taken
• Other Department, a maximum of 3 graduate level courses may be taken 
• Reading Courses (approved undergrad courses), a maximum of 4 may be taken 
• Directed Group Study (VIS 298), a maximum of 1 may be taken
• Individual Studies (VIS 295), a maximum of 12 units may be taken with Advisor

Curriculum: VA77 Art History, Theory and Criticism- Art Practice

VA77- 22 courses, 88 units

CORE REQUIREMENTS (12 courses, 48 units)

Required (9 courses, 36 units):

• VIS 206- Seminar in Art Practice Research
• VIS 207 (repeat 3 times for 12 units)- Working Practice for Art Practice
• VIS 210-219, 1 course from Art Theory/Practice 

Breadth (3 courses, 12 units), choose from 3 different areas with 3 different faculty:

ELECTIVE REQUIREMENTS (10 courses, 40 units), choose from the following options:

• Art History Seminars (VIS 230-269), a minimum of 3 MUST be taken for the elective area
• Art Theory/Practice (VIS 210-219), a maximum of 2 may be taken
• Other Department, a maximum of 3 may be taken 
• Reading Courses (approved undergrad courses), a maximum of 2 may be taken 
• Directed Group Study (VIS 298), a maximum of 4 units may be taken

For the VA76 PhD students, competency in reading, understanding, and interpreting texts in two languages other than English is required before advancement to candidacy (Qualifying Exam stage), and competency in at least one language is expected at the time of application to the program. Art Practice Concentration students (VA77) will be required to satisfy competency in one language other than English before advancing to PhD candidacy. The student and their Advisor will jointly determine examination languages. 

The Program’s language requirement may be met in one of three ways: 

• Passing the department’s in-house Language Exam  
• Passing one approved graduate-level language course 
• Passing two approved upper-division undergraduate language courses 
• Passing a two-year sequence of approved undergraduate language courses in a single language  

Required Paperwork

For each language exam or course sequence taken to satisfy a language requirement, a Language Completion form must be completed by the student, the proctor/instructor and submitted to the Student Affiars Manager in order to receive credit for completion of the language requirement. Submitted forms are automatically routed via DocuSign for approval and processing.

In-House Language Exams

In-house Language Exams test ability in reading and comprehension (by translation into English) only, not writing or spoken fluency in the designated language. The exam consists of two short texts, one less difficult to be translated into English without a dictionary, and one more difficult to be translated with a dictionary. The dictionary may be either a printed volume or an on-line resource. One hour is allowed for each section (total test time: 2 hours). The translations may be written on a computer or by hand. Exams are corrected by the faculty member responsible for designing the exam, who also invigilates the test. If adequate reading knowledge is not demonstrated, the student’s Advisor will review with the student and the faculty setting the exam the steps necessary to master the language and a new exam will be scheduled within a reasonable amount of time. 

Students requesting an in-house language examination should consult with faculty responsible for particular languages:

• Chinese and Japanese : Professor Kuiyi Shen 
• French : Professors. Jordan Rose and John Welchman 
• German : Professor Alena Williams 
• Italian : Professor William Tronzo 
• Korean : Professor Kyong Park
• Mayan languages : Professor Elizabeth Newsome 
• Spanish : Professors Elizabeth Newsome and Mariana Wardwell 
• Turkish: Professors Memo Akten and Pinar Yoldas

Individual arrangements for determination of competency will be made for those languages that cannot be tested by department faculty . 

Committee Constitution and Management

About the committee.

This is the group of four faculty who agree to the student’s request for mentorship and evaluation during the qualifying and doctoral years. The Committee is chaired by the Advisor(s). In addition to mentoring and guiding the student’s research, this team serves as the Qualifying Committee and the Doctoral or Dissertation Committee, conducting the Qualifying Exam and the Dissertation Defense. The committee must be formally appointed by Graduate Division in the process outlined below.

Committee Constitution

The Committee Chair is the student’s Faculty Advisor/Co-Advisors and is selected by Year Two through mutual agreement with the student. The rest of the Committee is constituted through request and consent between the student and other faculty, with the guidance and approval of the Advisor(s). 

Makeup of the committee:

• 3 Visual Arts Faculty (including the Chair/Co-Chairs), 1 member may be a non-PhD faculty
• 1 tenured or emeritus faculty from outside the department

For each option, Assistant or Acting-Associate Faculty may serve as a general member or Co-Chair but not as sole Chair. The Graduate Division website has  additional information  about committees and a  Committee Membership Table  which may be helpful in determining what role a faculty member may serve on a committee.

Submitting Your Committee

After faculty have agreed to serve on the Committee, and the Faculty Advisor has approved the list, the student must complete and send the  Committee Constitution form  which will be routed to the Student Affiars Manager for processing.  This form must be approved by the Graduate Division by Week 5 BEFORE the Qualifying Exam .

Changing Your Committee

There are times when committee membership must change after the intial review and approval. All changes to committee membership need to be approved by the Department and then Graduate Division. Committee reconstitution must be completely reviewed and approved by Week 5, the quarter PRIOR to QE/Defense. When changing committee membership:

• Review the Committee Membership requirements 
• Discuss the change in committee membership with the Committee Chair/Co-chairs
• Discuss the change in committee with impacted committee members
• Complete the   Committee Reconstitution form   which will be routed to the Student Affairs Manager for processing.

Committee Management

It is the responsibility of the student, in consultation with their advisor/committee chair, to engage with and request feedback on drafts of written materials and (for VA77) documentation of artwork progress with all committee members during research and writing of their qualifying materials and dissertation. The student also must email final copies of all materials to their Committee prior to their Qualifying Exam and Dissertation Defense. 

Qualifying Exam, Advancement to Candidacy

About the qualifying process.

The Qualifying process occurs throughout Year Three. The student, under the supervision of the Advisor and with the advice of the Committee, prepares two bibliographies (one on the chosen field of emphasis and the second pertaining to the proposed dissertation); writes a qualifying paper and a dissertation prospectus; and takes written and oral examinations pertaining to these documents. The Art Practice PhD additionally requires a practice prospectus and a third bibliography.

Qualifying Exam

The Qualifying Examination has two parts: A Written Examination in which the student writes two essays over five days in response to questions provided by the Committee; and two weeks later,  a 2- or 2.5-hour Oral Examination led by the Committee, during which the student is asked questions and put in dialog about all of the qualifying materials.

Qualifying Timeline

A student must have completed all required course work and passed all language examinations before taking the qualifying examination, which will be held no later than the end of the third year. Upon successful completion of the qualifying examination, the student will be advanced to candidacy.

Qualifying Exam Administrative Checklist  

Qualifying Exam Failure

Should a student fail the examination, the Faculty Committee will clarify the weaknesses in the exam, so that the student can prepare to take it a second time. If a second oral examination is warranted, they will have to re-take and pass the exam prior to the end of the Pre-Candidacy Time Limit (or they need an extension approved to continue). They can always take a leave and return but if the PCTL is expired, they will have to advance before returning or an exception to extend the time would be need to be approved prior to retuning. If the student fails the oral examination a second time, their graduate studies in the department will be terminated.

MA en Route

• Five Art History seminars 
• VIS 200 Methods and Theories
• VIS 204 Re-Thinking Art History 
• One Theory/Practice seminar (chosen from VIS 210-219)
• Four breadth courses, from four different breadth areas

We do not offer an MA with an Art Practice concentration. Therefore, Art Practice concentration students must make a formal change in their degree aim to designate Art History, Theory, and Criticism (VA76). This change must take place at least two quarters prior to the Qualifying Exam. 

Note:   Students who wish to receive an MA as part of the Ph.D. program   must apply for master’s degree candidacy by the end of the second week of the quarter in which they expect to receive the degree.   Please see the Graduate Coordinator regarding this process.

Necessary Documents for the Qualifying Exam

• Report of the Qualifying Exam

Necessary Documents for the MA on the Way

• Application for MA (due week two) 
• Final Report for MA 

Best Practices for Completing the Report of the Qualifying Exam and Final Report via DocuSign:

• Ahead of your exam/defense ask faculty to add [email protected] as a “safe sender” so those emails are less likely to go to junk/spam. Although campus IT has taken steps to identify DocuSign as a safe sender, it is still recommended that individual users do so as well.
• At the end of your Exam/Defense ask your committee members to check their email for the DocuSign email with the link to the form and sign while you're all online together. 
• ask the faculty to check their junk folder, spam quarantine, or other spam folders
• next, ask them to log into their DocuSign account using their @ucsd.edu email address and SSO credentials to access the form/s directly (https://docusign.ucsd.edu) *some people have personal DocuSign accounts so ask them to ensure they are logging into the UCSD DocuSign account
• Get verbal confirmation of who has signed and who has not, then follow-up with the Student Affairs Manager to resolve any issues your committee members have with signing the form.
• Once the appropriate form is submitted to the Graduate Division, the appropriate fee will be charged directly to the student’s financial TritonLink account. 

About the Dissertation

Following successful completion of the qualifying examinations, the candidate will research and write a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of their Advisor and with the input of the Committee. Students in the art practice concentration (VA77) will submit a written dissertation that observes the same regulations and conventions as VA 76, except that the length requirement is slightly shorter and there must be one additional chapter devoted to discussion of the art practice. In addition, Art Practice candidates will additionally produce and exhibit a visual component. See the Handbook for details. 

About the Defense

After the committee has reviewed the finished dissertation (and art practice components, for VA 77), the candidate will orally defend their dissertation (and art practice work and exhibition), responding to questions from the Committee in a meeting that may be public (the student may invite visitors), as per university policy. The Dissertation Defense is the culmination of all of your work within the Ph.D. program. Please read all of the information on the Graduate Division's website about " Preparing to Graduate " and make an appointment to speak with the Student Affairs Manager one year prior to when you plan to defend.

Roles and Responsibilities for the Defense

Student will:

• Schedule the Dissertation Defense with their committee. This is normally scheduled for three hours. (You are responsible for reserving a room or scheduling the zoom meeting). 
• Complete the PhD Dissertation Defense Notificaiton form which will notify the Student Affairs Manager of the date and time of the defense. This form is required so that the Final Report paperwork can be initiated and sent to your committee members on the date of the defense.
• Follow-up with your committee, the Graduate Division, and the Student Affairs Manager about any issues surrounding the completion of your degree.

Faculty Advisor will:

• Ensure the   policy   appropriate participation of all members of the committee at the Dissertation Defense. It is also helpful to remind all committee members to sign the forms by checking their inboxes for the DocuSign request to sign the forms. These sometimes end up in a person's spam folder.

Student Affairs Manager will:

• Fill out the Final Report form via DocuSign and route the form the morning of the exam/defense for signature to all committee members, the department chair, and the Graduate Division.
• Follow-up with committee members regarding signatures on the Final Report and general petition forms (if needed).
• Send out the announcement of the defense to department faculty and graduate students.

Additional Information and Tasks

Preliminary Dissertation Appointments with the Graduate Division: Students will schedule their preliminary and final appointments with Graduate Division Academic Affairs Advisors utilizing the online calendaring system they have in place:   https://gradforms.ucsd.edu/calendar/index.php

Committee Management : If you need to make any changes to your doctoral committee please follow the instructions above in the "Committee Management" drawer. 

Embargo Your Dissertation:   Talk to your faculty advisor about embargoing your dissertation. You may want to embargo your dissertation if you are planning to turn it into a book. The embargo will delay the university's publication of your dissertation and prevent other academics from using your research.   https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/academics/DissertThesisReleaseTemplate.pdf

Necessary Documents for the Dissertation Defense

• Final Report (routed for signature by the Student Affairs Manager)

Best Practices for Completing the Final Report via DocuSign:

• At the end of your Defense ask your committee members to check their email for the DocuSign email with the link to the form and sign while you're all online together. 
• Get verbal confirmation of who has signed and who has not, then follow up with the Student Affairs Manager to resolve any issues your committee members have with signing the form.

Paying Associated Fees:  For students who will need to pay fees (advancement to candidacy, thesis submission fee, filing fee, re-admit fee), they will be charged on the financial TritonLink account once the form is received by the Graduate Division. There is no need for students to go to the cashier’s office.

Grades and Evaluations

Only courses in which a student received grades of A, B, or S are allowed toward satisfaction of the requirements for the degree. Note that a “C” is generally regarded as unsatisfactory within this department. In satisfaction of all program requirements and electives, A, A-, and B+ are regarded as acceptable grades for seminars and courses. Grades of B, B- indicate weaknesses and are cause for concern. Grades of C+ or below are regarded as unsatisfactory and may lead to academic probation. University policy states that any student with more than 8 units of “U” and/or “F” grades is barred from future registration including the next available quarter. It is not recommended that VIS 295/298/299 are taken for a letter grade.

Grade Point Average

A graduate student must maintain a minimum grade point average of at least 3.0 (B average) to continue in good standing. A student is subject to dismissal if the overall grade point average falls below 3.0 at any time.

Spring Evaluation

Every Spring quarter, Advisors (in the first year Provisional Advisors) will submit an evaluation of their advisee’s progress to Graduate Division. Students are expected to submit a summary of the past academic year to their advisor. These evaluations serve as an important tool for students and advisors in assessing student progress, while also providing suggestions and goals for students’ successful completion of their projects.   

The Graduate Division will review the evaluations when student/departments are making specific requests for exceptions

The duration of the Ph.D. program is five to eight years. University and departmental regulations stipulate that the maximum tenure of graduate study at UC San Diego or Total Registered Time Limit (TRTL) is eight years; while seven years is the limit for receiving any type of university financial support or a student's Support Time Limit (SUTL). For the Department of Visual Arts, the "normative" time to degree is 6 years. Students are expected to pass their qualifying exam and advance to candidacy in year three, but no later than year four which is the university's Pre-candidacy time limit (PCTL).

To learn more about time limits please visit the Graduate Division website.

Time Limits:  https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/progress-to-degree/time-to-doctorate-policy.html

You can check your time limit by logging into the Graduate Student Portal.

Graduate Student Portal:  https://gradforms.ucsd.edu/portal/student/

PhD Current Students

Phd handbook.

The department website and catalog are great resources for students to learn generally about the PhD program and progress towards their degree. There are detailed instructions and robust program information available in the full PhD Handbook. Each student should refer to this resource throughout their academic career.

2023-24 Academic Year

2022-23 Academic Year  

2021-22 Academic Year

How to Apply

• Join our PhD Art History Program (VA76)
• Join our PhD Art Practice Program (VA77)

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Media Arts and Technology

Media Arts and Technology (MAT) is an interdisciplinary graduate program that offers an unparalleled opportunity for working at the frontiers of art, science, and technology, where new art forms are born and new expressive and analytical media and technologies are invented. MAT offers MS and Ph.D. degrees and includes exploration and research in a range of topics spanning but not limited to electronic audio and music, visual and spatial arts, human-computer interaction, haptics, data visualization and multimedia engineering.

Please visit the Department website for specific information on application materials at  https://www.mat.ucsb.edu/admissions/ . Applications for 2024 admission are due December 20, 2023, 11:59 pm PST.

Media Arts and Technology University of California, Santa Barbara Phelps Hall, Room 3309 Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6065 (USA)

Website  http://www.mat.ucsb.edu

Email  [email protected]

Department Phone Number (805) 893-5439

• December 20, 2023, 11:59 pm (PST)

Requirements

• Online application : https://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/eapp
• Statement of Purpose, Personal History and Diversity Statement, and Resume or CV (submitted in the online application)
• MAT Portfolio Submission & Supplemental Information (submitted in the online application under the Statements and Supplemental Documents section. See detailed instructions on the MAT website https://www.mat.ucsb.edu/admissions)
• Three Letters of Recommendation (submitted online)
• Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended (submitted online)
• English Language Exam Scores (if applicable): TOEFL Internet-Based Test (IBT) total score of 80, or TOEFL Paper-Based Test (PBT) total score of 550, or IELTS Overall Band score of 7, or Duolingo English Test total score of 120, or higher
• See department website for additional information: www.mat.ucsb.edu , click on Admissions . 
• Final/Official transcripts will be required for all applicants who are admitted and have indicated their intent to enroll at UC Santa Barbara by submitting a Statement of Intent to Register (SIR). UC Santa Barbara reserves the right to require official transcripts at any time during the admissions process, and rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between uploaded and official transcript(s) are found.

Optional Ph.D. emphasis in Cognitive Science or Ph.D. emphasis in Technology and Society.

Jason Corey

Paul Dooley

Jeremy Edwards

Jonathan Edwards

John Granzow

Michael Gurevich

Sile O’Modhrain

Zeynep Özcan

Stephen Rush

Eric Wojahn

From large ensembles in celebrated concert halls to chamber groups in intimate recital spaces, performance opportunities across all disciplines abound, with nearly 900 student performances each academic year. Whether your focus is on early, classical, or contemporary music, whether your passion is for jazz, electronic, or world music, there is an ensemble—or in many cases, multiple ensembles—to suit your interests, including specific opportunities for percussion, piano, and organ & carillon. For students in theatre & drama, musical theatre, dance, and opera, opportunities abound in both professionally produced and student-run presentations.

Application for 2023-2024 Due December 10

Cost, scholarships & financial aid.

We are committed to admitting the most talented and promising performing artists and scholars, regardless of financial means.

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Art & Technology is an interdisciplinary area of study focused on the creative use, misuse and investigation of technology through art making. Graduate and Undergraduate Students and faculty in this research area explore the relationship between art, science and technology with  project-based learning, creating interactive installations, inventing electronic objects and interfaces, producing moving image and 3D animations, 3D modeling / rapid prototyping, art games, virtual reality, hacking, bio-art, tactical media, digital imaging, internet art, sound, and emerging experimental forms.

Our curriculum is designed to help students invent and discover new forms of art, while developing an individual aesthetic and artistic vision through conceptual, theoretical, and historical frameworks, while critically engaging the use of technology.

• See student animations and videos .
• See student work in our current online exhibition

Industrial, scientific, and social technologies are explored as creative tools and agents that lead to the production of new meanings, ideas, and artistic invention. Students pursue their own research interests and consider contexts and approaches that may differ from traditional fine art as it explores new technologies and their potential for art/invention.

The Art & Tech area is located in the Department of Art and offers a 3-year MFA degree as well as 4-year BFA.

Our courses are interdisciplinary in nature; drawing research, techniques, and inspiration from the arts and sciences and our classes are taken by grads and undergraduates from Computer Information Sciences, Design students, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,  Biosciences, Humanities and students pursuing the BA degree in Art  and a minor in Studio Art as well as Majors in Film Studies.

Students from these departments bring their research agendas to our courses promoting an informed collaborative dialogue, fostering a classroom environment that better reflects the trans-disciplinary nature of technology in our contemporary world.

Many of our courses are open to non-art majors. All knowledge from our courses results in project-based learning and intensive production, which is showcased in an exhibition of artwork/projects/inventions each semester celebrating students’ final creations.

The exhibition component of all courses, allow our students and faculty to engage the question of the value of artistic and creative approaches to working with technology.

We seek to create a critical and ethical dialogue with our students to have them question the value of technology as an expressive tool and to look at technologies impacts on culture and environment.

With our research questions and the exhibition themes, we create and encourage students to engage the key strategic initiatives of the Ohio State University surrounding sustainability, food security, energy etc. We ask questions about what artists can contribute to expressive cultural output, and also how can we foster invention and creation of real solutions.

Artists have pioneered in both the development and creative use of new technologies. A great example would be Charles Csuri , an Ohio State University Professor who was named as the father of digital art and computer animation by Smithsonian magazine. The history and creation of media arts and technology aligns with the invention of computer graphics, animation, virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D rapid prototyping, and interactive interfaces.

BFA alumni enter a wide variety of careers, including UI/UX design, animation, exhibit fabrication, video production, game design, motion graphics, museum art preparation, freelance art/design, and teaching. Visit our BFA alumni page for more .

MFA alumni enter careers as fine artists, art directors, college professors, animators, and UX designers. Visit MFA alumni page for more. 

Art & Technology students have formed an active, student organization, the Art + Tech Club , which open to all OSU students to join, attend and participate in.

Faculty in Art and Technology exhibit their artwork worldwide and collaborate with faculty across the university. Professor Amy Youngs regularly collaborates with Dr. Iris Meier, Professor of Molecular Genetics, to co-teach an art-science topics courses, such as Underground Symbiosis , Art/Science & Environment , and Harvesting Color: the Art and Science of Plant/Human Relationships .

Professor Rinaldo co-taught with Classics Professor Tom Hawkins   Odysseus in the Oculus Rift to allow Grecian classics to inspire the production of virtual reality productions within Game engines and VR to explore ancient and modern myth-making.

Professor Todd Slaughter worked with alum Andrew Frueh create a Photogrammetry studio for the Department of Art.

Our courses and theme-based curriculum are focused on ethical practices incorporating cultural, socio/political, and ecological issues.

Students utilize state of the art facilities, equipment, and interdisciplinary expertise in our many specialized labs.

Learn more about updates regarding the 2024–2025 FAFSA process.

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Pratt Institute Ranked Sixth in World’s Top Art & Design Universities

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024 also place Pratt in the top five universities for art and design in the United States.

Pratt Institute is ranked #6 out of 241 US and international art and design universities in the QS World University by Subject 2024. The listing also ranks Pratt #4 in the United States. Additionally, Pratt was ranked #17 in the History of Art category.    

Published annually, the rankings assess the world’s top universities in 55 individual subjects based on academic reputation, employer reputation, and research impact. They are published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), one of the world’s leading sources of comparative data about university performance.

Pratt has been rated one of the world’s top 10 art and design universities by QS World University Rankings by Subject every year since QS added the category to its rankings in 2015.

Explore the QS World R ankings by Subject 2024: Art & Design and learn more about their criteria and methodology . 

Commencement - May 3 & 4

Plan for your visit to campus to celebrate your graduate. All event details are located HERE . 

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A Palette of Possibilities and Diverse Career Paths for Art Degree 

What is a Bachelor of Arts degree? While, technically, this general undergraduate degree type can apply to a wide spectrum of majors ranging from history and communications to sociology and psychology, many might think of this title as a designation for someone who studied the fine arts and earned an “art degree.”  

In fact, a student can pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Art. However, that same student may also opt for a Bachelor of Science in Art, as the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS) are the two most common four-year undergraduate degree designations in the United States. Although the overarching differences between these degree types can be hazy, the BA may focus more on abstract ideas and theoretical concepts, whereas the BS tends to focus more on technical specifics and practical applications.  

What can you do with an art degree? Depending on the institution that offers it, a university BA or BS art program might focus on anything from traditional painting and sculpture to modern computer imaging and graphic design. Because most undergraduate programs have a relatively broad purview and provide a foundation of artistic education that spans genre and medium, they can prepare students for a variety of available career paths.  

What Can You Do With an Art Degree? Exploring Career Options  

Practicing the arts requires tremendous talent, focus, and dedication. And though competition for success at the professional level is certainly fierce, pursuing a career as an artist isn’t as financially unwise as some make it out to be, you could travel any number of exciting and rewarding professional paths with an art degree. These may include longstanding traditional positions such as:  

Professional Artist  

Quality college art programs help prepare students to succeed as professional artists by developing their own skills while exploring the creative styles of others. Furthermore, an art degree encourages artists to view themselves as professionals with the ability to showcase their work in exhibitions.  

Illustrator  

Talented visual artists who create pictures can lend their illustrations to books, magazines, advertisements, and other forms of media. This work should be tailored to appropriately enhance its accompanying media or emphasize its most key elements.  

Photographer  

While modern technology has allowed us all to take and process impressive photos, professional photographers with camera knowledge and artistic expertise will remain invaluable in today’s image-driven society.  

Digital Art Careers  

From the tools artists use to the ways people consume art, the digital revolution has profoundly influenced the art world in countless ways. Here are several among many career options for digital artists:  

In the past, animators had to draw and color each cell by hand. Although animation remains a meticulous process, digital technology has made it far more manageable.  

Graphic Designer  

Today’s graphic designers almost universally use computer-aided design (CAD) software to create their illustrations and layouts for various purposes — from publications to websites and social media campaigns.  

Art Director  

An art director is responsible for overseeing the visual aspects of a creative project, ensuring the aesthetic and artistic vision is cohesive and effectively communicates the intended message or concept. They might work in publishing, on marketing campaigns, in video production, or with product and packaging design.  

Art in Academia and Museums  

One of the most valuable things any artist can do is train other artists and spread the love of art among the public at large. You can accomplish remarkable things in the academic and museum environments.  

Art Teacher/University Lecturer  

Experts in art of all kinds, instructors teach others the philosophies, techniques, and best practices necessary to achieve mastery in one or more artistic disciplines. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the occupation of  art teacher  keeps pace with the expected growth rate for US occupations as a whole.  

Art curators compile, organize, and care for highly valuable collections of artwork for museums and major galleries. The BLS predicts a healthy job growth of 10% for  curators  through 2032.  

Art Historian  

Museums and educational institutions alike employ art historians for their expertise in various artistic traditions. Auction houses are also common employers of art historians.  

Art in Production and Design  

Artists are in considerable demand as designers in a range of contexts. Product manufacturing, contemporary fashion, and interior design are just a few.  

Product Designer  

From sketching ability to mastery of aesthetic principles, artists have areas of expertise that are of great value to all kinds of product manufacturers.  

Fashion Designer  

From off-the-rack consumer items to high-end runway couture, the fashion industry makes products that definitely require an artistic eye from clothing designers.  

Interior Designer  

Interior designers use the homes of their clients as a creative canvas. Though both interior designers and fashion designers may need specialized training to achieve high levels of success, a foundational undergraduate degree in art is an ideal place to start.  

Therapeutic and Healing Arts  

As the English poet and playwright William Congreve famously wrote, “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast.” In fact, the therapeutic and healing benefits of creating and consuming numerous forms of art are well established.  

Art Therapist  

While it typically takes a master’s degree to find work as an art therapist, the rewards and overall job satisfaction can be significant for these professionals, who leverage the relaxation and healing power of art as an outlet to address client needs.  

Art Careers in the Entertainment Industry  

Of course, the entertainment industry has long been a major employer of artists. When it comes to the static and plastic visual arts, makeup artists and special effects artists are in particularly high demand.  

Makeup Artist  

The BLS reports that working as a  makeup artist  in various corners of the entertainment industry is generally lucrative and widespread in the U.S.  

Special Effects Artist  

Special effects artists are also typically well-paid in the entertainment industry. Placing  special effects artists  in the same category as animators, the BLS ties them to an annual median pay of nearly $100,000 per year and a projected employment growth rate of 8% through 2032.  

What Are Some Art Careers in High Demand?  

Beyond the careers mentioned above, the  Houston Chronicle  lists design architects and film and video editors among the most lucrative and in-demand art occupations in the U.S. today. Additionally, the BLS reports a median income of $62,500 per year and an employment growth rate of 7% for  film and video editors  as well as a median annual income of roughly $83,000 and an employment growth rate of 5% for  architects .  

For More Information on Earning an Art Degree  

If you have wondered, “What is a Bachelor of Arts degree?” and are interested in gaining the refined knowledge and skills needed to cut a successful career path in the arts, University of the Cumberlands encourages you to closely examine both our  Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Art and Bachelor of Science (BS) in Art  degree programs. Art students can earn their BS after just 24 credit hours of coursework or their BA with the addition of 12 foreign language credits. To learn more, contact a representative today by filling out our  contact form .   

RIT graduate programs ranked among best in nation by ‘U.S. News & World Report’

Scott Hamilton/RIT

'U.S. News & World Report' ranked RIT’s Saunders College of Business among the best graduate programs in the nation.

Graduate degree programs at Rochester Institute of Technology were named among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

In the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools 2024 , RIT’s Saunders College of Business tied for 97th as one of the top full-time MBA programs .

New methodologies for ranking full-time MBA programs placed more emphasis on earnings. This ranking factor assessed how each school’s post-graduate salaries across different professions compared with other schools’ post-graduate salaries in those professions.

This change was made to account for the importance of compensation for prospective business school students, the varying vocational interests of students at different schools, and to more fully refine the impact business schools have on their graduates’ starting salaries.

U.S. News is delaying the publication of this year’s best engineering schools due to questions about new ranking indicators pertaining to bibliometric data. Concerns arose about the consideration of affiliated institutions in this area. Results for the best medical schools are also under review.

Typically, US News & World Report ranks annually graduate programs in six fields—business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing to help prospective students make informed decisions. These data-driven rankings have been based on enrollment numbers, job placement rates, faculty statistics, and other indicators.

U.S. News also periodically ranks programs in 12 academic disciplines based on academic reputation. This year, RIT’s computer science MS program in the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences tied 70th in the nation.

RIT programs ranked in prior years, based on peer assessment, remain tied:

• 65th for the health care management MS program offered by the College of Health Sciences and Technology;
• 78th for physics ( astrophysical sciences and technology Ph.D. program) offered by the College of Science;
• 188th for the physician assistant MS program offered by the College of Health Sciences and Technology .
• 6th for photography and 23rd among fine arts MFA program, offered in the College of Art and Design ; and
• 119th for the bioinformatics MS program offered by the College of Science.

Peer assessment data regarding the academic quality of programs came from deans, program directors, and senior faculty. U.S. News also surveyed professionals who hire or work with new graduates with degrees from the six disciplines ranked annually.

The complete rankings are available at U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools .

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RIT spices up Imagine RIT with an exciting scavenger hunt exclusively for students. Participants can follow clues to discover selected exhibits, snap selfies with QR codes, and compete for a chance to win one of three $100 Tiger Bucks prizes.

Rochester Institute of Technology breaks ground on new Tiger Stadium   

The Democrat and Chronicle speaks to Jacqueline Nicholson, executive director of Intercollegiate Athletics, along with alumni, coaches, and lacrosse players about the excitement of a new home for men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams.

RIT breaks ground on new soccer, lacrosse stadium   

WHAM-TV covers the groundbreaking of the new Tiger Stadium on the RIT campus.

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WROC-TV talks to Christy Tyler, professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, about how climate change will impact microplastics.

Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio

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UCA Performing Arts Graduate Showcase 2024

03 May 2024, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm

University of the Creative Arts presents a showcase of work by upcoming graduates of our Acting & Performance, Music Composition & Technology, and Design for Theatre & Screen courses.

Event Information

Availability.

UCA’s Performing Arts programme presents a showcase of work by upcoming graduates from our Acting & Performance, Music Composition & Technology, and Design for Theatre & Screen courses. Age guidance  18+ This event will be filmed. By buying a ticket you consent to be filmed.

Tickets Free event but booking essential

This event is being filmed. By buying a ticket you consent to being filmed.

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Undergraduate creative arts

Study creative arts and be part of the creative economy. Meet like-minded peers in our exciting community, work on real-world projects, and graduate with a unique and employable skill set.

Explore our courses

Bachelor of fine arts.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree provides in depth knowledge in one of nine study areas - the largest combination of creative disciplines in Australia. Collaborate with students and teaching staff from across disciplines to reflect industry practice, and work on real-world projects briefed by real clients.

Bachelor of Creative Industries

Study across creative practice, design and communication in one degree. Our Bachelor of Creative Industries, the first degree of its kind in Australia, allows you to choose a combination of study areas to suit your creative interests and aspirations.

Double degrees

A double degree can help develop a portfolio of skills and capabilities so you will be flexible and prepared for change in the real world. Save time and money instead of completing two separate degrees. Maximise your career opportunities and create your own specialist career niche within the creative industries by combining your degree with a complementary study area that interests you.

Discover double degrees

Why study creative arts?

Tour the creative industries precinct, creativity for the real world, explore our fine arts study areas, creative industries precinct.

The Creative Industries Precinct is made up of purpose-built teaching and learning spaces, including performance spaces, visual art galleries and music studios. The spaces are designed to make the creative process more visible, with windows and viewing panels allowing anyone to watch the work as it happens.

Explore more

Double degree. Double opportunities.

A double degree can help you develop a portfolio of skills and capabilities to prepare you for the real world. Maximise your career opportunities and create your own specialist career niche within the creative arts by combining a degree with a complementary study area.

Find the right double degree for you

Check out our latest blog posts

14 September, 2023

The job-ready skills you’ll learn in creative industries

Learn all the secrets of studying creative industries, and the job-ready skills you'll pick up along the way.

1 August, 2023

Virtual production powerhouse Vizion gives students industry-leading experience

Learn about the experience QUT Creative Arts students were given to collaborate with Vizion, an industry-leading virtual production powerhouse.

Rainbow Reid: Bringing industry insights into QUT fine arts

QUT’s exclusive Rainbow Reid program helps fund directors, writers, actors and more from industry to help train students for the real world.

Want to study across the creative arts?

QUT is a global leader in the creative arts. Our Bachelor of Creative Industries, the first degree of its kind in Australia, allows you to choose a combination of study areas to suit your creative interests and aspirations.

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Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Clinical Embryology and Assisted Reproductive Technology

Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Clinical Embroyology and Assisted Reproductive Technology

          Hybrid

     12 Months*

The Certificate in Clinical Embryology and Assisted Reproductive Technology at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) prepares individuals to work in facilities as trained laboratory professionals who specialize in helping infertility case treatment via the use of in vitro-fertilization (IVF) and assisted reproductive technology (ART). 

This program includes a combination of online coursework and hands-on labs in human embryology, and andrology.  The required in-person lab courses at the GW Virginia Science and Technology Campus, VSTC, are completed in the final semester.

The CEART program explores the latest in clinical embryology. Over the duration of the program, students will explore the interconnected sciences of endocrinology, embryology, cryobiology, and andrology. 

To learn more about our programs, you can register for our upcoming events . 

* The total number of credits and duration of the program depend on the number of transferred credits

* Indicates required field

By providing your phone number on this request information form, you have authorized the George Washington University, and its representatives, to send you SMS/Text messages in conjunction with the services you have requested. Message and data rates may apply.

If you no longer wish to receive SMS/Text communications from GW SMHS, you will have the option to opt-out.

By submitting this form, you confirm you have read the Privacy Notice .

Accreditation and Rankings

• GW is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education
• #62 Best National University*
• #13 Best Online Bachelor's Programs*
• #7 Best Online Programs for Veterans*

* The U.S. News & World Report – 2024 Rankings

Program Highlights

• GW has one of the only ART program at the undergraduate level with hands-on laboratory skills in the country.
• Learn from experienced laboratory scientists who are experts in their field.
• Complete a professional program at an accredited, prestigious university that can give you not only a degree, but a career.
• Become eligible to take several board certification examinations in the areas of embryology and andrology.
• Excellent foundation for those wishing to progress to advanced degrees or health professions, such as medicine.
• Rolling admissions Fall, Spring, and Summer.

The CEART program requires 20 credits, minimally, of GW coursework. 

Coursework provides a blend of online lecture and on-campus laboratory courses. The lab courses are held at our Ashburn, VA campus are completed in the final semester.   

VIEW COURSES

Program Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, learners will be able to:

• Evaluate current trends in embryology and andrology as they relate to human reproduction.
• Evaluate solutions and corrective actions for effective problem resolution with regard to embryology and assisted reproductive technology protocols.
• Assess the use and impact of advanced molecular and genetic technologies on clinical outcomes regarding fertility.
• Apply best practices in laboratory management and operations within an IVF lab.

Who Is the Ideal Student for This Program?

Individuals that have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a science, pre-medicine, applied science, or equivalent, who want to move into a highly-rewarding career would be ideal for this program.  In a field typically offered only at the master’s level, you’ll need to be independent, organized, and able to manage your time effectively.

Career Outlook

When you graduate from this program, you’re prepared to work as a laboratory scientist in:

• Assisted reproduction technology laboratories and fertility clinic laboratories.
• Biotechnology companies.
• Research institutes.

Assisted Reproductive Technology/In-vitro Fertilization Technologists earn between $50,000 and $95,000 a year, based on experience, position, location, and certifications.

Nationally there is a critical shortage of experienced clinical embryologists due to the lack of educational training programs in the United States as well as an increased need for IVF and ART across the country. As a result, the job demand in this field is high.

Admission Requirements

To be accepted into this program, you must meet all program requirements.  

SEE ALL REQUIREMENTS

Tuition Details

The Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Clinical Embryology and Assisted Reproductive Technology program at GW consists of 20 credit hours. Please find the cost per credit hour and total estimated program costs  here .

Note: Tuition rates are subject to change and additional fees may vary by program.

GET TUITION DETAILS

Meet the Program Director

GW’s experienced faculty provide you with the rich, practical knowledge and support needed for you to succeed in the program and in your career.

Marcia A. Firmani, PhD, MSPH, MT(ASCP)MBCM

Chair of the Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, Director of the MSHS in Clinical Microbiology program, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Marcia Firmani has more than 20 years of experience in teaching and research. In addition to her administrative duties, Dr. Firmani both directs and teaches several courses within the BLS department, including Clinical Bacteriology, Molecular Diagnostic Sciences, Molecular Epidemiology, and Plagues, Pandemics & Epidemics. She also mentors undergraduate and graduate research projects and has published peer-reviewed articles with students.

Prior to her arrival at The George Washington University, Dr. Firmani was a principal investigator at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC), where she conducted and managed several research projects involving biothreat agent characterization. Dr. Firmani also held two previous faculty appointments.

From 2002–2007 she was an assistant professor in the CLS department at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans. She taught lecture and laboratory courses and directed a research lab where she performed basic and applied research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis and MRSA and mentored master’s student thesis projects.

From 2007–2010, Dr. Firmani was an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM) where she taught various undergraduate CLS courses and graduate-level Biomedical Sciences courses. She also directed a research laboratory where she conducted NIH-funded research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis and mentored both undergraduate and graduate student research projects.

Dr. Firmani has taught numerous continuing education courses in the laboratory science field, including a DVD for the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) on emerging infections. She has authored several chapters focusing on infectious diseases in textbooks and has also published her research in peer-reviewed journals, such as Infection and Immunity, and the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

The CEART (hybrid) program requires 20 credits of online lecture and on-campus laboratory courses. The lab courses are held at our Virginia Science and Technology Campus (VSTC) in Ashburn, VA and may be completed in one semester. 

Online Didactic Courses

CERT 3004 Endocrinology for Health Sciences (3) CERT 4010 Clinical Human Embryology (3) CERT 4012 Clinical Human Andrology (3) CERT 4014 Human Reproductive Cryobiology (3) MLS 4151 Molecular Diagnostics (3) MLS 4158 Laboratory Management and Operations (3)

In person Laboratory Courses

CERT 4011 Clinical Human Embryology Lab (1) CERT 4013 Clinical Human Andrology Lab (1)

Prerequisites

*If you have an associate degree from a participating D.C., Maryland, Virginia community college, you may be eligible for guaranteed admission to this program. Review the list of participating institutions .

To apply for the Certificate in Clinical Embryology and Assisted Reproductive Technology program (hybrid) , you'll need:

• English Composition (3 credits)
• College Algebra, Statistics, or higher (3 credits)
• Biology (lecture and ‘hands-on’ lab) (8 credits)
• Microbiology (General or Clinical/Medicine - lecture and ‘hands-on’ lab) (4 credits)
• Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, or Clinical Chemistry (3 credits)
• Minimum cumulative and science GPA of 2.5
• Official Transcripts
• Letter of recommendation

International Students

International students should check with individual programs regarding eligibility for visa sponsorship. Generally, online and hybrid programs are not eligible for student visa sponsorship from GW. This would include transfer students from any other institution with an existing visa.

Official transcripts from institutions outside the U.S. must be accompanied by an official transcript evaluation from an accredited independent evaluating agency. Please be sure you request a detailed evaluation that includes all course titles, credit hours, grades, U.S. degree equivalency, grade-point averages (GPA), and date of degree conferral. For a list of acceptable foreign credential evaluation services, please visit NACES .

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24 Hours of Science: Activity Booklet 'From Seeds to Trees' (2024 edition)

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Come discover the secrets of trees!

The Office of Student Academic Services in collaboration with the Sonia Bujold Initiative and Let’s Talk Science, has put together a lovely  free online booklet of self-paced activities on trees .

Trees are the unsung heroes of the plant world. They provide food and shelter to a diverse community of mammals, birds, insects, lichen, and fungi. They absorb carbon dioxide and produce breathable air. They improve soil quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce noise pollution. They even fight climate change! But the very best thing about trees is how they add beauty to our world.

Learn to identify native tree species of Quebec, discover fun historical facts, do arts and crafts, play games, and much more. There is something for everyone to enjoy!

• For children and adults of all ages.
• The activity booklet is available in both French and English.
• Register now to receive your booklet on Friday May 3!
• For questions or additional information, please contact  ingrid.chiraz [at] mcgill.ca (Ingrid Chiraz) .
• Registrations will be accepted through May 2.

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This event is part of  24 Hours of Science , a day-long event filled with science and technology activities for everyone (children, teens, young adults, families, seniors, etc.). Over 400 activities take place throughout Quebec! The event starts on Friday at noon and ends 24 hours later, giving room for evening and late-night activities.

Telling Science!

This year we are looking at how science organizations relate to you, the public! Transmission, testing, discovery, and participation of novices are an integral part of the scientific community, regardless of the field. We therefore invite all science organizations in Quebec to help you discover the heart of their work by offering you exciting activities to satisfy your curiosity!

The  Sonia Bujold Initiative   is an outreach initiative established in 2021 by Ms. Sonia Bujold, a recent retiree from the McGill Department of Biology, to “reach out” and break the isolation that students, individuals living alone, and families experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Initiative offers engaging and educational activities on the fascinating world of biology through a series of free online self-paced activity booklets for children and adults.  

The  McGill Chapter of Let's Talk Science  is a volunteer-based group of graduate and undergraduate students from a wide range of faculties at McGill University. Our volunteers deliver hands-on classroom presentations, host public STEM events, mentor for and evaluate projects at regional science fairs, and provide STEM outreach to a range of urban and indigenous schools!

Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Department and university information.

• Agricultural Economics
• Animal Science
• Bieler School of Environment
• Bioresource Engineering
• Farm Management & Technology Program
• Food Science
• Natural Resource Sciences
• Parasitology (Institute of)
• Plant Science
• School of Human Nutrition
• Positions available
• Campus Security
• Room bookings
• Shuttle Bus
• Brace Centre for Water Resources Management
• Centre for Host-Parasite Interaction
• Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment
• Macdonald Campus Farm
• Clinical Nutrition Research Unit
• Margaret A. Gilliam Institute for Global Food Security
• Student Affairs Office
• Office of Student Academic Services
• Office of Graduate and Postoctoral Studies
• Career Planning Service (CaPS)
• Internship Office
• Macdonald Campus Library
• Macdonald Campus Graduate Students' Society
• Macdonald Campus Students' Society
• Student Services
• Continuing Professional Development