Computer and Information Science
A focus area is a set of related courses that you can use to specialize in a particular area, and is only for students pursuing a VIC degree. It is somewhat similar to a concentration, except that the focus area will not be formally declared or listed on a student’s academic record. Instead, these are recommended lists of courses (including required and elective choices) that can help guide students interested in pursuing these particular areas.
Focus areas are optional for VIC majors. Those interested in one of these areas are encouraged to consider these lists for potential course suggestions.
This subdiscipline studies how to build tools to help graphic designers create content, and how to build tools to help visualize data in 2D and 3D.
CIS 4620 – Computer Animation
CIS 4610 – Advanced Rendering
CIS 5660 – Procedural Computer Graphics
ESE 3030 – Stochastic Systems Analysis and Simulation
PHYS 2260 – Introduction to Computational Physics
FNAR 0010 – Drawing I
DSGN 2220 – Immersive Media Studio
DSGN 2100 – Computer Animation
DSGN 2540 – Information Design and Visualization
This subdiscipline studies how to take a deep understanding of human abilities, psychology, and needs, and use it to create effective ways to interact with software.
CIS 4120 – Intro to HCI
CIS 3500 – Software Design and Engineering
CIS 1400 – Introduction to Cognitive Science
CIS 5640 – Game Design Theory
NETS 2130 – Crowdsourcing and Human Computation
DSGN 1050 – Typography
DSGN 2570 – User Experience and User Interface Design
DSGN 2230 – Embodied Interfaces for Immersion
COMM 4590 – Social Networks and the Spread of Behavior
COMM 5630 – Doing Media Studies: Theories, Frameworks, and Methods
COMM 2410 – Understanding Communication Networks via Web Based Experiments
This subdiscipline studies how to leverage the latest innovations in generative AI to create immersive content, videos, environments, and full experiences for users.
CIS 3333 – Mathematics of Machine Learning
ESE 2030 – Linear Algebra with Applications to Engineering and AI
ESE 5390 – Hardware/Software Co-Design for Machine Learning
CIS 5810 – Computer Vision & Computational Photography
ESE 5460 – Principles of Deep Learning
CIS 5800 – Machine Perception
CIS 4710 – Computer Organization and Design
DSGN 2580 – Artificial Intelligence in Art: Redefining Creativity in the 21st Century
CIS 4230 – Ethical Algorithm Design
This subdiscipline studies how to create interactive applications like games and augmented reality environments, as well as how to ensure that these experiences are visually stimulating, physically accurate, and performant in existing hardware.
CIS 5650 – GPU Programming and Architecture
CIS 5680 – Game Design Practicum
CIS 4480: Operating Systems OR
CIS 5050 – Software Systems
COMM 2160 – Games, Globalization, and Social Justice
This subdiscipline studies the principles and practical considerations for building interfaces and tools that serve health providers and other safety-critical systems.
CIS 3500 – Software Engineering
CIS 4410 – Embedded Software for Life-Critical Applications
ESE 3600 – TinyML: Tiny Machine Learning for Embedded Systems
CIS 5370 – Biomedical Image Analysis
CIS 4810 – Computer Vision & Computational Photography
CIS 7000 – Health, Health Systems and Technology
BMIN 5010 – Introduction to Biomedical and Health Informatics
