德克薩斯大學(xué)奧斯汀分校

Our 21st century information age offers tremendous new opportunities for individuals who can master both cutting-edge technologies and human-centered design. However, obtaining such dual mastery is difficult to achieve under traditional educational programs, requiring students to pursue disjointed study in separate disciplines, with lack of integration extending time to graduation and requiring students to build the bridges between the technical and social sciences for themselves.

To address this growing need, the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information (iSchool) and the Department of Computer Science have teamed up to offer an innovative, integrated five-year program which provides a combined educational path toward obtaining the knowledge necessary to build the information tools of the future. We invite highly-motivated students with strong academic records to pursue this new integrated program of study, with the unique opportunity to earn two university degrees in only five academic years: both a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Science in Information Studies. This program is ideal for students who seek to combine knowledge of back-end, cutting-edge technologies with the front-end, human-centered design skills needed to create productive user experiences. Graduates of the joint program will be uniquely qualified for advanced placement in both the expanding job market and competitive Ph.D. programs in information and computer science.

This cross-disciplinary 5-year program offers students a wide range of diverse course offerings, coupled with the flexibility to tailor their individual programs of study to focus on topics of greatest interest. The program culminates in a final capstone project challenging students to tackle open problems in research or professional practice, and often involving industry engagement. Course topics include (but are not limited to): human-computer interaction, user experience and usability design, information architecture, leadership and management, information policy, social-cultural studies, work practice studies, and organizational processes of governmental, corporate, and cultural-heritage institutions. Many other advanced topics are also offered on a rotating-basis (e.g., visualization, crowd sourcing, data mining, etc.).