Explore MHCI+D

Why MHCI+D? Students respond

Where you’ll spend your time this year: The Studio

Where to live in Seattle

Here’s a map of neighborhoods where the Class of 2023 (Cohort 10) is living

Short introductions to some of the neighborhood popular with students:

Where to Eat

Seattle

Student Work

Immersion Studio

In the first week in the program, students complete a one week “Immersion Studio.” Each year's challenge is different. For the Class of 2021, the challenge was to use technology to support harmonious cohabitation between humans and non-humans. Sample project write-ups, shared on Medium:

• Algo, by Joan (Class of 2021)
• in Soil, by Alara (Class of 2021)

Ideation Studio

In fall quarter, Ideation Studio has student teams respond to a challenge related to changing human behavior through technology. Recent examples, from student portfolios:

• Marico by Cynthia (Class of 2022)
• Coda, by Eric (Class of 2022)
• Lucid by Lakshmanan (Class of 2022)
• Helply, by Nathan (Class of 2021)
• Sail, by Zara (Class of 2020)

Prototyping Studio

In winter quarter, Prototyping Studio allows students to explore physical computing, hardware and software integration, and alternative input and output modalities. Professors Jon Froelich and Andy Davidson describe the process in this video

• Look Up!, by Dominic (Class of 2022)
• Wishpertree, by Mikaela (Class of 2022)
• The Mint Challenge, by Hannah (Class of 2019)
• Trebuchet Trials, by Javan (Class of 2019)
• Planting Stems, by Eleanor (Class of 2019)

Capstone Studio

Capstone projects are the culmination of the program (not the starting point). Teams typically consist of three or four students, and an industry advisor provides guidance and advice. Capstone projects span three quarters and challenge you to design a solution to a real-world problem using all the skills you have developed. Examples from the most recent Cohort:

• Uplift Airlines, Class of 2023
• Rooted, Class of 2023
• Stream, Class of 2023
• Fox Tracks, Class of 2023
• nOS, Class of 2023
• FlipSide, Class of 2023
• Luminance, Class of 2023
• Cineflow, Class of 2023
• StoryVerse, Class of 2023
• Zocalo Health, Class of 2023
• Caribou, by Amya (Class of 2022)
• Cluster by Lakshmanan (Class of 2022)
• PatchWork, by Dongming (Class of 2022)
• PawPrint by Stephon (Class of 2022)
• Rentable, by Eric (Class of 2022)

Watch and read recent talks and blogs by faculty involved with the program:

Faculty talks

• Ana Pinto da Silva , MHCI+D Program Director, reflects on Design Leadership in this article, Leading Relevance: Design Innovation and the Future Possible
• Jon Froehlich, Computer Science & Engineering, instructor for  “Prototyping Studio” core class, and co-chair of the MHCI+D Faculty Committee. A UW article profiled Project Sidewalk, the accessibility project he has been leading through his lab, the Makeability Lab [link]. A Spring, 2023 CHI Paper Jon CoAuthored: Codesigning Videoconferencing Tools for Small Groups with mixed hearing status. [link[
• Amy Ko, Information School, instructor for  “User Interface” core class, wrote two articles recently about how large language models will change programming either a little , or a lot
• Jeff Heer, Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty Committee member and instructor for “Data Visualization” elective. Podcast interview from ACM discussing his work [link]

Faculty shorts on selected electives

• Axel Roesler, Division of Design, School of Art, Art History + Design. Foundations of Interaction Design elective [link] and Advanced Interaction Design elective [link]
• Daniela Rosner, Human-Centered Design and Engineering. Visual Communication elective [link]
• Gregg Gottesman, Computer Science & Engineering. Entrepreneurship [link]
• Jacob Wobbrock, The Information School. Designing Information Experiences elective [link]
• Jeff Heer, Computer Science & Engineering. Data Visualization elective [link]
• Katharina Reinecke, Computer Science & Engineering. Intro to HCI and Adv. Intro to HCI electives [link]
• Sean Munson, Human Centered Design & Engineering. Usability Studies elective [link]

MHCI+D graduates are in demand. You can expect to leave the program ready to find meaningful and rewarding work.

Be sure to join the Career Overview webinar on April 10 for details. We'll be diving deep on all the career development programming you can expect while a student (or alum!). We'll also talk about career outcomes from recent years and discuss where our alum have been finding work recently. In the mean time, refer to the following pages on our site:

• Career Outcomes
• Career Services

• Financial Aid: In general, as an intense professional program, this is not designed to be work-compatible and because this is a fee-based program, many sources of state funding are not available. The majority of students meet the majority of their financial needs via loans, savings, or family support.
• GSEE supplemental finance awards: Merit-based financing for U.S. students from underrepresented groups. We have had students receive this award in the past. If interested in applying, contact us immediately at mhcid@uw.edu to get started on the award application process.
• Working: You should not plan to have enough time to work full-time while in this program. A few students are able to hold down positions generally asking for 8-10 hours / week, but that is about the maximum you might manage. Some students have started the year with part-time consulting or freelance work, but most have found this is too taxing and distracting and have let these go mid-year. Each year we hire 3-4 students to assist with social media, website design,videography and other tasks. A few students are able to arrange paid work with one of the UW's research projects. This is usually arranged part way through the year and after talking with the professor/research lead. Finally, a few other students have taken other light work-study positions, but these are generally less than 10 hours per week.
• The UW Library provides a clearinghouse of funding opportunities for graduate students, the Graduate Funding Information Service, for opportunities that may arise throughout the year. Be sure to read qualification limitations carefully to see if any opportunity applies to fee-based [not state-sponsored] programs.
• Additional Expenses: We work hard to keep you from having to buy little things throughout the year. So we provide coffee and tea in the studio, a high-quality printer/copier/scanner (although occasionally you may need to print elsewhere to meet a deadline), all in-class and prototyping materials for core classes, access to the studio Cricut cutter, 3-D printer, video-quality hard-drive, and large-screen monitors. Each quarter, your team will have a budget for relevant purchases, such as gratuities for research participants or specialized materials for your capstone project. What we don’t provide is materials or gratuities for your elective courses, meals, housing, dog sitting, etc.

• DUB: Bringing together the broader UW HCI community of faculty and students, “DUB” or “Design Use Build” is the MHCI+D program’s founding organization. DUB holds weekly seminars, an annual retreat, and a chance to network with others from a wide range of disciplines, programs, and departments.

• UW Career & Internship Center: The campus-wide career center offers workshops, industry and employer information sessions and other events nearly daily. They also organize career fairs throughout the year that offer a chance to connect with hundreds of employers.

• Seattle HCI community: Beyond campus, Seattle has a vibrant HCI scene, with hundreds of professionals working in the field at local companies. UX meetups, hackathons and conferences offer students frequent opportunities to get to know their future colleagues.
  

A few of the more active organizations include:

• Puget Sound SIGCHI
• IxDA Seattle
• UXPA Seattle
• AIGA Seattle
• Hexagon Seattle