Graduate Certificate in Cognitive Science

under the semester system.

Introduction

Cognitive Science is concerned with understanding intelligence, both natural and artificial, and developing tools that enhance intelligence. It is a multidisciplinary field with many loci of interdisciplinary interaction. It has conceptual and methodological roots in several disciplines and fields: artificial intelligence, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, intelligent systems, robotics, human-machine systems, anthropology, sociology, and neuroscience. At Georgia Tech, cognitive science faculty, students and researchers reside in Computing; Psychology; Industrial and Systems Engineering; Literature, Communications, and Culture; Public Policy; Architecture; Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Economics. One distinctive aspect of our program is the presence of several research programs that study cognitive science in the context of real-world problems. Our program provides students the diversity of methods and approaches necessary to study the range of phenomena involved in cognition and to apply their understanding of these phenomena in their area of study.

Graduate students who plan to approach their graduate training from a Cognitive Science perspective are encouraged to obtain a Certificate in Cognitive Science. Doing so provides an integrated set of courses and a peer group of other students interested in cognition from a variety of disciplines. The certificate can also be used to meet the Ph.D minor requirement.

Students receive their MS or PhD degrees in a home discipline at Georgia Tech while participating in an interdisciplinary curriculum tailored to their specific interests in Cognitive Science. Students from any unit on campus may receive a Certificate in Cognitive Science upon completion of the certificate requirements and their degree. Students enter the certificate program after first being admitted to a disciplinary MS or PhD program at Georgia Tech.

Cognitive Science Faculty

Program Coordinator: Nancy Nersessian.
Education Coordinator: Alex Kirlik.
Professors: Ronald Arkin, Al Badre, Randy Engle, Chris Hertzog, Kenneth Knoespel, Janet Kolodner, Chris Mitchell, Nancy Nersessian, Christine Ries, Tim Salthouse, Andy Smith.
Associate Professors: Nelson Baker, Dorrit Billman, Ann Bostrom, Richard Catrambone, Ashok Goel, T. Govindaraj, Alex Kirlik, Colin Potts, Ashwin Ram, Andrew Ward, Craig Zimring.
Assistant Professors: Amy Bruckman, Irfan Essa, Mark Guzdial, Sven Koenig, Jeffrey Toth.
Research Faculty: David Crismond, Kurt Eiselt, Ute Fischer, Mike McCracken, Hari Narayanan, Wendy Newstetter.

Logistics

Click here to retrieve the form used to petition for the certificate.

Requirements

To earn a certificate in Cognitive Science, students must fulfill graduate degree requirements in some unit on campus and, in addition, must take Introduction to Cognitive Science (3 semester hours) and 9 semester hours of courses from the courses listed below, for a total of 12 semester hours. In addition, students must participate regularly in the Colloquium in Cognitive Science as described below. The choice of courses must be approved in advance by a faculty committee consisting of the Cognitive Science education coordinator and three members of the Cognitive Science faculty from at least two different units; these would typically be the student's advisor and members of the student's committee. Courses not listed below may be substituted with approval of this faculty committee.

Courses

Cognitive Science core courses:

CS/Psych/ISyE 6795: Introduction to Cognitive Science (3 units; required). This is an introductory course with wide appeal, presenting multiple coherent perspectives on Cognitive Science. It is typically taken in a student's second or third quarter. It is taught by different instructors which rotate through the various disciplines involved in Cognitive Science, often team-taught or individually-taught with guest lectures, in a mixed lecture/discussion/problem-solving format.

CS/Psych/ISyE 8795: Colloquium in Cognitive Science (1 unit; required). This on-going seminar alternates weekly between a colloquium series and a brown bag series. Colloquia are typically presented by leading researchers in the field from all over the world, and include specific time for a student meeting with the speaker. Brown bags are informal discussions led by our own faculty and students. These usually focus on in-progress research and new directions. All Cognitive Science students are required to enroll in this seminar on an on-going basis, unless they are excused by the education coordinator due to an unavoidable conflict. In addition, one brown bag presentation of the student's research is required, and additional presentations are encouraged. Students from the various disciplines that comprise Cognitive Science but who are not specifically aiming for the Cognitive Science certificate are also encouraged to attend and participate.

Students must complete 9 units of courses (i.e., 3 courses) from the list below. The courses may be chosen from any category. It is normally expected that these courses will lie outside of the student's disciplinary area and that courses will be selected from at least two categories. The choice of courses must be appropriate to the student's educational program, and must be approved by a faculty committee consisting of the student's advisor, two additional members of the Cognitive Science faculty (including at least one faculty member from a unit other than the student's home unit), and the education coordinator. Students may substitute a course at another institution for one listed here with approval of this faculty committee.

Cognitive Science methods courses:

CS/Psych/ISyE 7790: Cognitive Modeling
Psy 6018: Principles of Research Design
Psy 6019: Statistical Analysis of Psychological Data I
Psy 6020: Statistical Analysis of Psychological Data II
Psy 7101: Methods in Engineering Psychology
ISyE 6401: Statistical Modeling and Design of Experiments
ISyE 7210: Real-Time Interactive Simulation

Disciplinary courses:

ISyE 6205: Cognitive Engineering
Psy 6011: Cognitive Psychology
CS 6610: Cognitive Systems
CS 7695: Philosophy of Cognition

Cognitive Science topical courses:

CS/PST 4752: Philosophical Issues in Computation
CS 7696: Cognitive Models of Science
Psy 6014: Sensation & Perception
Psy 6015: Developmental Psychology
Psy 7102: Engineering Psychology II: Displays, Controls, & Workspace Layout
Psy 7104: Psychomotor & Cognitive Skill Learning and Performance
Psy 7020: Survey of Cognitive Aging
Psy 8010: Seminar in Cognitive Psychology (topic to vary)
Psy 8020: Seminar in Cognitive Aging
Psy 8030: Seminar in Cognitive Neuropsychology
Psy 8060: Seminar in Quantitative Psychology
ISyE 6215: Models of Human-Machine Systems
ISyE 6231: Design of Human-Integrated Systems
ISyE 6232: Safety-Critical Real-Time Systems
ISyE 6223: Understanding and Supporting Human Decision Making
ISyE 6224: Topics in Human-Integrated Systems
ISyE 6232: Measurement and Evaluation of Human Interface Systems
LCC 6210: Studies in Culture and Communication
LCC 6213: Educational Applications of New Media
PUBP 6416: Critical Perspectives on Science and Technology
CS 4610: Knowledge Systems
CS 4630: Intelligent Robotics and Computer Vision
CS 4640: Machine Learning
CS 4650: Natural Language
CS 6450: Human-Computer Interaction
CS 6455: User Interface Design and Evaluation
CS 6460: Educational Technology: Design and Analysis
CS 6660: Intelligent Agents
CS 6670: Distributed Control Algorithms
CS 7020: Introduction to Cognitive Aging
CS 7495: Computer Vision
CS 7610: Modeling and Design
CS 7615: Knowledge Agents
CS 7620: Case-Based Reasoning
CS 7630: Autonomous Robotics
CS 7635: Computational Perception
CS 7640: Learning in Autonomous Agents
CS 7645: Numerical Machine Learning

Cognitive Science special topics: The faculty regularly offers relevant special topics courses and seminars, which may be counted towards the requirements for the certificate if approved by the student's committee as described earlier.

CS 8890: Special Topics in Cognitive Science
LCC 8801-6: Special Topics in Information Design and Technology
PST 4801-3: Special Topics in Philosophy, Science, and Technology
CS 8803: Special Topics in Computing

Additional guidance can be obtained from the Cognitive Science education coordinator and the Cognitive Science faculty. Check with the offering departments and/or the education coordinator and/or the faculty for information about when courses are offered. Information on the Cognitive Science program is also available electronically from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/cogsci/.