Students in the PhD program in Human Centered Design & Engineering complete a minimum of 90 credits of coursework and research as they progress toward degree completion.

The 90 credits include:

• 30 core course credits
• 10 credits of Directed Research Groups
• 12 credits within a concentration developed collaboratively by the student and the advisor
• 11 credits of free electives
• 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 Coordinator.

Required core courses

• HCDE 541: Introduction to PhD Studies in HCDE (2 credits)
• HCDE 542: Theoretical Foundations (4 cr)
• HCDE 543: Empirical Traditions (4 cr)
• HCDE 544: Methods I (experimental/quasi-experimental) (4 cr)
• HCDE 545: Methods II (verbal data/naturalistic observation) (4 cr)
• HCDE 546: Design Thinking (4 cr)

Additional Requirements

• HCDE 596: Directed Research (minimum total 10 cr)
• 12 credits within a concentration to be developed collaboratively by the student and the advisor.
• 11 credits of free electives
• 27 credits of HCDE 800 Doctoral Dissertation