What is Interactive Computing?

The School of Interactive Computing (IC) aims to redefine the human experience of computing using two primary tools: research and innovation in computing education.

Our School nurtures an open, inclusive, and supportive environment made stronger through multiple perspectives and diverse expertise. Research takes faculty and students on a path to study and invent computational capabilities that empower people and machines to affect the world. Through innovation in education, we are preparing a new generation of computational scholars.

Our faculty conceived the discipline of interactive computing to examine the impacts computation and computing-mediated interactions have on life’s “big issues,” such as health care and national security, but also on the everyday activities in which all of us engage, such as children playing video games, adults keeping in touch with elderly parents, and professionals using computers as tools in the workplace. These interactions take place not in laboratories, but in homes, offices, schools, and hospitals — and computation plays a central role.

Our research focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning; geometry, graphics, and animation; human-centered computing and cognitive science; information visualization and visual analytics; learning science and technology, and computing education; robotics and computational perception; social computing and computational journalism; ubiquitous and wearable computing; and virtual and augmented environments. Together, these areas form a rich, panoramic view of the myriad ways computing and computational devices interact with their human creators and users.

Our School has taken the initiative in creating new, more effective techniques and practices for computing education. At the doctoral level, we led the development of Georgia Tech’s Ph.D. in robotics; we’ve led a national trend in offering a Ph.D. in human-centered computing; and we offer a Ph.D. in computer science. At the undergraduate level, we play a fundamental role in the College of Computing’s Threads program and are responsible for the four most interdisciplinary and outward-facing of the Threads: Media, Intelligence, People, and Devices.

Our 60-plus faculty members strive for scholarly excellence and prominence. We contribute to scientific knowledge. We create technology that focuses the power of computing to address the world’s needs, from the individual all the way to society and everywhere in between.

In short, we redefine the human experience of computing.