PhD Program

The PhD in Human Computer Interaction is an interdisciplinary degree program that prepares students for careers in business and industry as well as academia. In addition to the required HCI courses, students take electives from a wide variety of disciplines and conduct research for their dissertation under the direction of their major professor and Program of Study Committee. Specific requirements for the program are outlined below.

PhD Course Requirements

Iowa State University requires a minimum of 72 graduate credits to earn a PhD. At least 36 graduate credits, including all research credits, must be earned at ISU. Up to 36 credits from a student's master's degree can be applied to the POS.

PhD students will be required to choose any four courses, one each from the Design, Implementation, Phenomena, and Evaluation categories, plus two additional courses of their choice from the list of core courses or the list of recommended electives. PhD students will therefore be required to take a total of six courses. In addition to these courses, PhD students will be required to take four credits of the HCI 591 Seminar in HCI plus a minimum of 9 research credits.

Core Courses

Design

HCI 521 — Cognitive Psychology of HCI
ArtGR 672B — Graphic Design and Human Interaction: Design for Social Inclusion

Implementation

HCI 573X — User Interface Implementation for Web Application
HCI 575 — Computational Perception
HCI 574X — Computational Implementation and Prototyping
CprE/ME 557 — Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling

Phenomena

HCI 655 — Organizational and Social Implications of HCI
HCI 589X — Design and Ethics

Evaluation

ENGL/STAT 332 — Visual Communication of Quantitative Information
HCI 504 — Evaluating Digital Learning Environments
PSYCH 501X — Foundations of Behavioral Research
STAT 480 — Statistical Computing Applications

HCI 591 Seminar, 1 credit

Recommended Electives

ArtIS 508 - Computer Aided Visualization - Implementation
CI 503 - Theories of Designing Effective Learning and Teaching Environments - Design
CI 511 - Technology Diffusion Leadership and Change - Phenomena
HCI 520 - Computational Analysis of English - Implementation
HCI 522 - Scientific Methods in HCI - Evaluation
HCI 558 - Introducation to the 3D Visualization of Scientific Data - Implementation
HCI 580X - Virtual Worlds and Applications - Implementation
HCI 585X - Developmental Robotics - Implementation
HCI 594 - Organizational Applications of Collaborative Technologies and Social Media
HCI 595 - Visual Design for HCI - Design
HCI 596 - Emerging Practices in Human Computer Interaction - Evaluation
HCI 603 - Advanced Learning Environments Design - Implementation
HCI 681X - Cognitive Engineering
IE 577 - Human Factors
ME/FLNG 584 - Technology, Globalization and Culture - Phenomena
STAT 401 - Statistical Methods for Research Workers - Evaluation

Admission to the PhD HCI Program

Admission into the HCI graduate degree program depends on a combination of your academic qualifications, area of interest, research specialties and the current research needs of the faculty. Evidence of creative talent, the ability to speak and write English clearly, and promise for a successful career are also important considerations for entry into the HCI Graduate program.

Other admission requirements include:

Transcripts, test scores and other indicators that the student applicant can be successful at the graduate level.
3.0 GPA.
GRE for all international students.
TOEFL score of 95 iBT or greater or IELTS of 7.0 or greater for nonnative English speakers.
The demonstrated ability to write software competently. This requirement can be met during your course of study in the program.

In addition to the above requirements, the following conditions apply when reviewing your application for admission.

Meeting or exceeding these guidelines does not guarantee admission.
An HCI faculty member must agree to work with and support you as a major professor.
Your complete file is made available for member of the HCI faculty to review. (See the faculty page to learn more about the diverse members of the HCI faculty.)

The PhD Graduate Program Application Process

Using the resources found on this web site, determine which faculty members and related fields of study departments best match your interests. You will be asked to specify up to three faculty members on the pre-admission application.

Fill out and submit the online HCI pre-admission form. No costs are associated with this step. (Please complete this form and wait for notification from the HCI Graduate Program before applying to the Iowa State University Graduate College.)
Send your resume to gradapp@hci.iastate.edu.
Send an e-portfolio demonstrating potential for research to gradapp@hci.iastate.edu.
Ask references to send their letters of reference to gradapp@hci.iastate.edu. A suggested template for letters of recommendation can be found at Applicant Recommendation Form
If you are invited to enter the HCI Graduate Program, apply to the ISU Graduate College to be formally admitted to the University. This is the time that you will pay your application fee and submit your official transcripts and test scores.

Contact Pam Shill at pshill@iastate.edu or hci@iastate.edu if you have any questions about the program, Iowa State University, or any part of the process.

Deadlines

The application deadline for the Fall semester is January 15.

Faculty Notification and Review

After all of the pre-application materials are received, the three faculty members listed on the pre-application are notified of your application. If those faculty members are not able to support your admission, the application package is made available to all HCI faculty. Students are admitted for the Fall semester. Our policy is to send email notifications to those not admitted by June 1 for the Fall semester.

If you need to know if you will be admitted before those deadlines, please contact Pam Shill at pshill@iastate.edu and she will update you on your admission status.

Checklist for Admissions

Fill out the pre-admission form found here.
Send resume to gradapp@hci.iastate.edu.
Ask references to send their letters of reference to gradapp@hci.iastate.edu. A suggested template for letters of recommendation can be found at Applicant Recommendation Form
Send an e-portfolio demonstrating potential for research to gradapp@hci.iastate.edu.

If you believe that you can add value to this process by contacting the faculty member directly with additional information about yourself, please feel free to do so.

Contact Pam Shill at pshill@iastate.edu with questions about your admission status.