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.

Beginning with the Fall 2008 semester, 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 the HCI 591 Seminar in HCI for two years 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 575X Computational Perception
HCI 520 Computational Analysis of English

Phenomena

HCI 655 Organizational and Social Implications of HCI
JLMC 598P Communication Technology-Philosophy and Ethics

Evaluation

Stat 401 Statistical Methods for Research Workers
Stat 430X Empirical Methods for Computer Science
HCI 504 Managing and Evaluating Instructional Technology Programs

Recommended Electives

CI 503 Theories of Designing Effective Learning and Teaching Environments - Design
ArtIS 508 Computer Aided Visualization - Implementation
HCI 603 Advanced Learning Environments Design - Implementation
HCI 558 Introduction to the 3D Visualization of Scientific Data - Implementation
CprE/ME 557 Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling - Implementation
HCI 580X Virtual Worlds and Applications - Implementation
CI 511 Technology Diffusion Leadership and Change - Phenomena
STAT/ENGL 332 Visual Communication of Quantitative Information -

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 240 (IELTS7.0) for nonnative English speakers.
The demonstrated ability to write software competently. For those who do not have the required computing background, we provide an introductory survey course, with appropriate follow up material.

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 .
Send an e-portfolio demonstrating potential for research to .
Ask references to send their letters of reference to . A suggested template for letters of recommendation can be found at http://hci.iastate.edu/Academics/docs/Applicant_Recommendation_Form.doc.
If you are invited to enter the HCI Graduate Program, apply to the ISU Graduate College ($30 US fee for non-ISU students, $70 US for international students) to be formally admitted to the University.

Contact Pam Shill at or 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. For the Spring semester, the application deadline is October 1. These dates are for priority consideration.

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 admit you, the application package is made available to all HCI faculty. Students are accepted into the program throughout the year and are able to begin the program at the beginning of the Fall, Spring, or Summer semesters. Our policy is to send email notifications to those not admitted by June 1 for the Fall semester and by December 1 for Spring.

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

Checklist for Admissions

Fill out the pre-admission form found here.
Send resume to .
Ask references to send their letters of reference to . A suggested template for letters of recommendation can be found at http://hci.iastate.edu/Academics/docs/Applicant_Recommendation_Form.doc.
Send an e-portfolio demonstrating potential for research to .

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 with questions about your admission status.