Students in the PhD program in Human Centered Design & Engineering complete a minimum of 105 credits of coursework and research as they progress toward degree completion.

The 105 credits include:

• 34 core course credits
• 12 credits of Directed Research Groups
• 30 credits of approved electives representing the department's four thematic areas (Theory, Research Methods, Design & Engineering, and Society & Systems)
• 27 credits of dissertation research 

Students who enter the PhD program with a previous graduate degree relevant to HCDE can petition to have up to 30 credits transferred toward the doctoral program upon approval of the Graduate Program Advisor.

Required core courses

Note: All required courses listed below are 4 credits

• HCDE 541: Grant Writing for Career Development
• HCDE 542: Theoretical Foundations
• HCDE 543: Empirical Traditions
• HCDE 544: Methods I (experimental/quasi-experimental)
• HCDE 545: Methods II (verbal data/naturalistic observation)
• HCDE 546: Design Thinking
• HCDE 548: Advanced Special Topics (minimum of two times)

Additional Requirements

• HCDE 596: Directed Research (minimum total 12 cr)
• HCDE 521: HCDE Seminar Series (1 cr)
• HCDE 523: DUB Seminar (1 cr)
• Electives: minimum of 30 credits including: 
  • HCDE 518: User-Centered Design or equivalent transfer course
  • 1 additional, graded, graduate level course in each of four thematic areas