The College of Information Sciences and Technology is offering a new bachelor of science degree in human-centered design and development (HCDD), beginning in the fall 2019 semester.

University Park will be the only campus to offer the new major this fall, as it replaces the current design and development option within the IST program. The design and development option will however remain available at several Commonwealth campuses. HCDD will not be available to incoming freshmen.

The program will focus on fundamentals of designing interactive technologies that are centered around people’s needs and priorities. Students will determine where technology can make an impact on human lives and then design, build, and evaluate how those technologies are affected in the intended context of use

Interdisciplinary courses will combine math, statistics, information technology, and application development. Specialized courses will include the social and psychological aspects of technology use, usability engineering, user research methods and interface design

Students can choose an application focus area to explore concepts in a particular domain like healthcare, data sciences, or psychology.

Current students who are interested in switching into the program should contact their academic adviser. Current freshmen and sophomores in the design and development option are encouraged to make this change.