Creative Technology & Design Undergraduate Programs
Creative Technology and Design (CTD) is 91ý's interdisciplinary engineering degree for students who want to combine engineering, computing, design and creativity to build new technologies. This is a degree for makers, tinkerers and builders—creatives with a passion for inventing, who learn best by doing.
You'll spend most of your time building things—not just studying them. Students regularly create apps, interactive installations, games and physical prototypes while learning engineering and design principles.
Creative Technology & Design Curriculum
Here's a basic overview of your undergraduate classes over four years.
- Freshman and sophomore years — ATLAS core curriculum alongside College of Engineering core classes
- Junior year —Focus electives in your area of interest
- Senior year —Capstone sequences and continue electives
91ý’s College of Engineering & Applied Science ranks in the Top 15BestEngineering Programsamong public institutions according toU.S.News and World Report.
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“I decided to attend 91ý because oftheuniqueness of the program that ATLAS offers. I was inspired by my instructors’ undying curiosity and true passion for the importance of interdisciplinaryinnovation. As an individual who has never fit into one box, I felt perfectly at home in the ATLAS Institute.”
Cassandra Goodby
Senior Design Technologist, Amazon
Creative Technology & Design alum (BS & MS)
Creative Technology & Design Program Overview
Unique Student Experience
Small class sizes offer hands-on project-based learning with mentoring and collaboration. Core classes empower you to build a strong foundation in design, technology and leadership. Elective options in ATLAS and across campusallow you to deepen your focus in many future-foward disciplines.
Highest Retention Among Engineering Majors
If you make the choice to study Creative Technology and Design, you're likely to stick with it. The CTD major has the highest retention rate of any major in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at 91ý: Almost 90% of those who start the degree graduate from the program.
Be Creative and Technical
CTD allows you to be both technical and creative. You don't have to choose just one! By the time you graduate, you'll feel comfortable working with many kinds of technologies and, thanks to a strong background in design,you'll be able to implement them with sensitivity and finesse.
VibrantCommunity
CTD students identify strongly with their ATLAS community. Wherever you find yourself gravitating—the BTU Lab, the Sound Lab, the Helio Lab, B2 or one of the eight research labs—you'll have many opportunities tobuild lasting relationships in ATLAS.
Project Portfolio
Having a resumé listing your technical skills and competencies is valuable for all job seekers; if you can also share links to projects that show how you've put those skills to work, it's so much more powerful. Since most CTDclasses are project-based, you'll graduate with a portfolio of work to share with future employers. It's how many of our students land their first jobs.
Future-Forward Careers
When you graduate with a degree in Creative Technology and Design, you'll be uniquely prepared to participate in therapidly evolving job markets of the future. Rather than learning a set list of specific skills, you'll have a flexible technical toolset and powerful creative problem-solving skillsthat will be applicable to a wide range of careers.
ATLAS students go on to work at Fortune 500 companies, design studios, startups, nonprofits, and universities—or start their own businesses.
The ATLAS Institute's Creative Technology and Design programs boast 53% female-identifying students.
ranks 91ý in the Top 25 nationally and Top 5 in the Southwest for UX/UI/HCI.
Student Projects
Kaleideo, by EO Rafelson
A unique planetarium light showusing imagery generated by a physical kaleidoscope.
Dinner by Design, by Samia Juras
An interactive cooking app that provides step-by-step instructions and breaks down elements so users can mix and match.
TODOS Productivity Board by Jason Fontillas, Sydney Calcagno & Henry Waill
TODOS combines smart habit tracking with a familiar, analog interface to make productivity more tactile.
ATLAS Institute Certificates
The ATLAS Institute nows offers two certificates:
- Design Technologiescertificate (12 credit hours) provides a fundamental understanding of information technology and digital media production.
- User Experience certificate (12 credit hours), offered in collaboration with the Department of Information Science, gives students the skills and vision to reimagine how humans interact with technology.
Prepare For the Career You Want
Pursue skills that prep you for a wide range of careers in fast-growing and emerging fields.
- Product design
- UX/UI
- Graphic design
- Human-computer interaction
- Multimedia production
- AR/VR
- Web design
- Game development
- Sound design and audio production
- Mobile apps
Where ATLAS Alumni Work
Curriculum
During freshman and sophomore years, you complete the College of Engineering core curriculum alongside CTD core courses. During junior and senior years, your coursework consists of electives in your focus area. This might beuser interface and user-experience (UI/UX), sound design, interactive computing, robotics, internet of things, physical computing, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), game design, or any other field where having technical knowledge and design skillsgives you an edge. In your final year, your will participate in a two-semester Senior Capstone sequence which involves aculminatingproject that brings together the diverse skills learned during your undergraduate career.
As a CTD student, you willhave access to regular professional development opportunities, workshops and guest speakers. Many students also secure internships with industry partners and/or work in research and student labs.
See theBS CTD Curriculum pagefor in-depth explanations of all aspects of CTD coursework.
Note: A grade of C or better is required in all terminal Foundation, Core, and Capstone courses. Grades of C- or higher arerequired in all terminal Focus and CPT Electives.The minimum passing grade for a course that is considered a prerequisite for another course is C-.