Category Archives: Undergraduate

Courses for All IMA Students

Spring 2020 Spring 2022

Introduction to Fabrication (IMNY-UT 242)

An introductory course designed to familiarize students with all the IMA prototyping shop has to offer. We will cover everything from basic hand tools to the beginnings of digital fabrication. You will learn to use the right tool for the job. There will be weekly assignments, created to develop your fabrication techniques. There will be in class lectures, demos, and building assignments. Emphasis will be put on good design practices, material choice, and craftsmanship.

Undergraduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 11332
Section #: 001
Meets: T 9a-12p

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Spring 2025 Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2022

Big Ideas in the History and Future of Technology (IMNY-UT 203)

“Big Ideas in the History and Future of Technology” is designed to provide students with a critical perspective on current issues in technology in the context of the history, controversies, consequences, and ethical questions in emerging media. This first course in the series includes: in the first half –some seminal early works that imagine a future in which technology enhances/augments human intelligence and capabilities and how that might affect society; in the second half–2 classic works of fiction and some podcasts/ audio lectures that address questions relating to “What is Human.”

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

IMNY-UT 203-000 (22284)01/24/2022 – 03/21/2022 Mon,Wed12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Lim, Jennifer

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate

Augmenting the Gallery (IMNY-UT 9001)

Wall labels, audio guides and informative maps are just some of the ways galleries and museums convey additional information about an art collection. How can we utilize new interactive mixed reality tools to design and deliver immersive experiences that breathe new life into an exhibit. Augmented and virtual reality are powerful tools for new media production and storytelling, but how can these tools serve to enhance our Wall labels, audio guides and informative maps are just some of the ways galleries and museums convey additional information about an art collection. How can we utilize new interactive mixed reality tools to design and deliver immersive experiences that breathe new life into an exhibit. Augmented and virtual reality are powerful tools for new media production and storytelling, but how can these tools serve to enhance our gallery experience without distracting from the power and importance of a pre-existing collection? This production course seeks to experiment with new ways to experience a museum collection through mixed reality. Topics covered include exhibition installation and curation, mixed reality production in Unity, mobile development for Augmented Reality.

Undergraduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 2177
Section #: D01
Meets: W 9:30a-1p

Fall 2025 Featured IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Spring 2025 Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2020 Spring 2020 Spring 2021

Processing Big Data for Analytics Applications (CSCI-UA 476)

This course introduces platforms, tools, and the architectures that facilitate scalable management and processing of vast quantities of data. We will explore open source tools enabling the efficient acquisition, storage, and processing of Big Data. Students will learn about distributed storage solutions such as the Apache Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), which supports storage of Big Data. Students will gain hands-on experience with distributed processing Apache solutions such as Hadoop MapReduce, HBase, Hive, Impala, Pig, core Spark, Spark SQL, and Spark Streaming. Other Apache big data tools covered are Sqoop, Oozie, Zookeeper, Flume, and Kafka

Computer Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

CSCI-UA 476-000 (10054)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Malavet, Ann

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Numerical Computing (CSCI-UA 421)

Introduction to numerical computation: the need for floating-point arithmetic, the IEEE floating-point standard. Importance of numerical computing in a wide variety of scientific applications. Fundamental types of numerical algorithms: direct methods (e.g., for systems of linear equations), iterative methods (e.g., for a nonlinear equation), and discretization methods (e.g., for a differential equation). Numerical errors: How can you tell if you can trust your answers? The use of graphics and software packages such as Matlab. Programming assignments.

Computer Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

CSCI-UA 421-000 (7822)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Overton, Michael

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Theory of Computation (CSCI-UA 453)

This course takes a mathematical approach in studying topics in computer science, such as: regular languages and some of their representations (deterministic finite automata, non-deterministic finite automata, regular expressions); proof of non-regularity. Context free languages and pushdown automata; proofs that languages are not context free. Elements of computability theory. Brief introduction to NP-completeness.

Computer Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

CSCI-UA 453-000 (9017)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Khot, Subhash

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Machine Learning for Language Understanding (DS-UA 203)

This course covers widely-used machine learning methods for language understanding—with a special focus on machine learning methods based on artificial neural networks—and culminates in a substantial final project in which students write an original research paper in AI or computational linguistics. If you take this class, you’ll be exposed only to a fraction of the many approaches that researchers have used to teach language to computers. However, you’ll get training and practice with all the research skills that you’ll need to explore the field further on your own. This includes not only the skills to design and build computational models, but also to design experiments to test those models, to write and present your results, and to read and evaluate results from the scientific literature.

Data Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

DS-UA 203-000 (9643)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Bowman, Samuel

DS-UA 203-000 (9644)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Undergraduate
Spring 2020

Causal Inference (DS-UA 201)

Causal Inference provides students with the tools for understanding causation, i.e., the relationship between cause and effect. We will start with the situation in which you are able to design and implement the data gathering process, called the experiment. We will then define causation, identify preconditions required for A to cause B, show how to design perfect experiments, and discuss how to understand threats to the validity of less-than-perfect experiments. In this course, we will cover experimental design and then turn to those careful approaches, where we will consider such approaches as quasi-experiments, regression discontinuities, differences in differences, and contemporary advanced approaches.

Data Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

DS-UA 201-000 (20565)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Wed,Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Strezhnev, Anton

DS-UA 201-000 (20567)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Mon2:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

DS-UA 201-000 (20568)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Wed11:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Undergraduate

Machine Lab (IM-UH 2113)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

The saying goes, “If all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.” What if all you have is a 3D Printer? In this course, students will be introduced to, and engage critically with, a range of contemporary machines inside and around the Interactive Media Lab. Leveraging historical perspectives, current use-cases, and hands-on making, the course will explore how machines enhance, or limit, our creative processes. Readings and discussion will be paired with practical designing, prototyping, and making of creative computer controlled devices, such as drawing machines, musical instruments, and a collaborative Rube Goldberg contraption. Over the course of the semester, students will be exposed to a variety of tools, materials, and fabrication techniques as well as learn how to use micro-controllers and software to give their machines unique behaviors and abilities. By thinking about machines, using machines, and making machines, the course will offer insight into our creative relationships with our tools.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Understanding Interactive Media – Critical Questions & Theories (IM-UH 1013)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Mon,Wed

This seminar course is an introduction to the theories, questions, and conditions that encompass interactive media. Students will engage in readings that critically examine both the impact that interactive media and technology have on culture and societies as well as the ways in which social contexts shape the development and application of these technologies. The contexts become apparent by examining interactive media and interactivity through the lenses of relevant perspectives including politics, ethics, race, gender, and cybernetics. Throughout the semester students will leverage theory to analyze interactive media works and build a vocabulary for making sense of our increasingly mediated world. The course thus serves to lay a conceptual foundation for students to inform and direct their own creative practice. Readings, discussions, research, and writing constitute the body of this course.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Future Punk (IM-UH 2513)

The future: let’s patch it together from scraps. Future studies and strategic foresight are methods of guiding businesses and politics. Punk means to take the master’s tools apart, repurpose them to serve our own goals, to outsmart our adversaries, and to prevail. The compound of the words future and punk, just like in cyberpunk or steampunk, indicates that in the case of future punk, future itself would be setting the stage for the narrative, provide the condition against which the human beings in the world of the story would have to struggle: So in the good old punk tradition, we, too, want to take futurism and use it for our own creations. This class introduces speculative fiction and the more scientific forms of speculation as a means to students to envision, draft, and draw and paint their own images and imaginations of alternative worlds. Students will apply the futurist methods to creative projects and in addition, discuss and critique the field.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)

IM-UH 2513-000 (13614)

Fall 2025 Undergraduate

Introduction to Digital Humanities (IM-UH 1511)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

What happens when the arts and humanities are represented in digital form? What kind of new insights can we have when by looking at the data of the humanities? This course will look at intersections between computers and the humanities, a form of inquiry known as “digital humanities.” The course is structured around a broad examination of concepts important in today’s society (computational thinking, digital identity, text as data, dataset, pattern, algorithm, network, location). Students will discuss these concepts critically, explore real-life examples and put them into practice in hands-on activities. Examples of such hands on work might include, but are not limited to, creating accessible web design, analyzing text digitally, building and visualizing a dataset, curating an open bibliography, thinking about art as data, building a Twitter bot, teaching a computer to recognize human handwriting, visualizing social networks or making digital maps. The course assumes no prior technical skills, but a willingness to explore new technologies is essential for success.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Politics of Code (IM-UH 3310)

While our relationships between ourselves, our environment, and other people are inherently political, computer technologies and technology companies consistently claim to remain “neutral”. This course will assume the opposite – software is political – and focus on how software applications share commonalities with political systems, how they affect their users as political actors and how we can build alternatives to those systems. This course is aimed at deconstructing the design and implementation of software as a political medium, such as Facebook’s timeline algorithm, city officials’ use of computer simulations to orchestrate urban life, blockchain-backed proof of ownership and algorithmic criminal assessment. Along with an introduction to political theory and media studies, coupled with an exploration of the underlying political impacts of those systems, students will work on several hands-on projects to offer functioning alternatives to those systems. To that end, this course will include several workshops in JavaScript and Python.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

IM-UH 3310-000 (18389)

IM-UH 3310-000 (21644)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Blumtritt, Joerg

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2022

Alternate Realities (IM-UH 3311)

This course will introduce students to the design and development of Virtual Reality experiences. We will examine these increasingly popular means of delivering content and social interactions and identify their unique affordances over existing platforms. Students will be challenged to harness the specific advantages of VR from conception through functional prototype. The class will also cover case studies of effective use of VR in information delivery, as well as social and artistic experiences.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

IM-UH 3311-000 (23471)01/24/2022 – 05/17/2022 Tue2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Allison, Michael · Sherwood, Aaron

IM-UH 3311-000 (24132)01/24/2022 – 05/17/2022 Thu1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Allison, Michael · Sherwood, Aaron

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Undergraduate

Introduction to Interactive Media (IM-UH 1010)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

With the advent of digital computation, humans have found a variety of new tools for self-expression and communication. Thinking about how we interface with these tools beyond the mouse and key-board, we can approach software and electronics as artists and designers, exploring new interactions with machines and each other. This introductory course will provide students hands-on experience with screen and physical interaction design through programming and electronics using microcontrollers, electronics, and software development. Weekly exercises encourage students to experiment freely, creating their own novel interfaces and controls for working with machines. The course culminates with a final projects exhibited at the program’s end-of-semester showcase.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Foundation Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Spring 2020

Make Believe (INTM-SHU 217T)

We live in an era of information where the information can be written, accessed, shared, and also eliminated with a single stroke. As a result, the objective “truth” is brought to a question. In the last decade, artists have been experimenting with the fakeness of the truth and the truthfulness of the fake by creating fake documents, staged marriages, an arguably authentic artifact, imaginary advertisements both historical and contemporary. What does it mean to tell the truth in the context of art? How does art cross the boundaries between the real and the fake, truthfulness and misrepresentation? This course will examine social engagement of art and how “truth” is treated, interpreted, and presented. The class will take a field trip to a propaganda museum, have readings and discussions, and analyze artists working with fiction as a medium in art making. Students will work on projects to construct believable reality through object making (3D fabrication) and narrative construction (audiovisual material). Prerequisites: Interaction Lab or Communication Lab or Application Lab

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 217T-000 (23355)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Thu9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Undergraduate
Fall 2020 Fall 2022 Spring 2021

Introduction to Animation (INTM-SHU 243)

Tangible heritage (site, object, and structure) and intangible heritage (motif, icon, character, textile, wardrobe, music, performance, language and ritual) are unseparated parts of the cultural heritage. The narrative and messaging of cultural heritage can be preserved by moving sequences, motion design and animation. The richness of heritage contents can be further disseminated and known by the dynamic media. This course aims to utilize animation and motion media to depict and preserve the richness of cultural heritage contents. 3D animation and motion graphics techniques will be addressed and applied to the storytelling. Students will be guided to research the Asian cultural heritage contents including the tangible and intangible heritage. They will further explore the visual design and production pipeline of animation. Visiting expert of interactive media design and intangible heritage performance will get involved to share the insights to the students. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: IMA/IMB elective.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

INTM-SHU 243-000 (17303)09/05/2022 – 12/16/2022 Mon,Wed4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Chen, Wu Wei

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Undergraduate