Students Earn Unique Degree Combining Study of Computers, Art and Psychology

DePaul Computer Science Professor Rosalee Wolfe maintains a web page with dozens of technology job openings for human factors engineers, usability analysts, graphic user interface designers and information architects. The web page is posted to illustrate the growing demand for technology professionals with training in human-computer interaction (HCI), a newer field that combines skills in computer science, psychology and art. Under the direction of Wolfe, DePaul began offering a bachelor’s and master’s degree program in HCI two years ago and 12 students will graduate with HCI degrees this June.

The program uses an interdisciplinary approach to teach students how to design and evaluate software and web pages for ease for use, Wolfe explained. "A key element to the commercial success of any software product is its ease of use," she said. "People won't buy a software upgrade or use a web page that's difficult or annoying. Because of this economic necessity, industry is keen to hire HCI specialists. The result is a strong demand for people who have had experience with user interface design, prototyping and testing."

Full-time employees in the field are paid between $69,400 to $71,140 annually and HCI consultants make between $60,000 to $74,340 a year, according to a survey of 345 HCI professionals conducted last year at a conference sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.

Wolfe said companies such as Motorola, AT&T, SPSS, and McDonald’s Corp. have contacted the university seeking HCI students for job openings. Meanwhile, the program has added another professor for the fall term because the number of students entering HCI has increased by 40 percent.

Kara Salganik, of Lincoln Park, a programmer/analyst at the benefits consulting firm Hewitt Associates, said she chose to enroll in the graduate HCI program because it combined her interests in computer programming, art and psychology. "I knew I wanted to go back to school and get a master’s degree in computer science," Salbanik, 27, said. "A few other schools offer concentrations in HCI but most don’t offer degrees like DePaul does."

"The program provides graduates with a lot of possibilities. If you like art, you can go into design, or if you like working with people you can become an evaluator," working with people to evaluate and test software or web designs, she said.

Salganik said she was impressed with the number of job opportunities available to HCI students. Like her, most of the graduate students in the program already have jobs, but the program has expanded their skills and future opportunities. Many of the HCI undergraduates received job offers shortly after they enrolled, even before they had earned their degrees, she said.

Last year, Salganik’s used her HCI knowledge to design the winning entry in Ravinia music festivals’s annual poster contest -- a computer enhanced graphic of a festival picnic scene. Salganik drew the picnic scene by hand, scanned it into a computer and modified it using computer graphics programs she studied in the HCI program. The image, chosen from 63 entries, appeared on Ravinia’s program covers, posters and magnets distributed all over the Chicago area.

Salganik said the HCI program has helped her look at computer software and web design in a whole new way. "When I come into contact with web pages, I can spot if they are unusable right away. Even if I stay in programming, it’s beneficial for me to know how to make things more usable," she said.

Note: More information on CTI and HCI is available at www.cs.depaul.edu/navbar/default.asp