Prospective Students - Graduate

ATLAS - Technology, Media and Society

Areas of Study and Research

The Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Institute offers an interdisciplinary PhD program in Technology, Media and Society. The program involves dozens of faculty from disciplines ranging from the arts, humanities and social sciences to sciences, engineering, business and law. It is intended for highly motivated students whose interdisciplinary interests at the intersections of technology, media and society are not met well by PhD programs in traditional disciplines.

Degrees Offered

PhD
The PhD in Technology, Media and Society is intended for self-directed, highly motivated students who enter the program having demonstrated high achievement and with a strong sense of the interdisciplinary education and research that they wish to pursue. A key criterion for evaluating potential students for the program will be the nature of the students' research interests. The PhD in Technology, Media and Society is intended only for students whose research objectives cannot be met in any existing department or program available on the Boulder campus.

Each student in the program forms a faculty committee appropriate to his or her interests from the outset and works with that committee to construct a set of courses and candidacy exams customized to those interests. The program has been in operation in pilot mode since fall 2005; it now invites applications from excellent students for enrollment in fall 2010. A sampling of the areas in which students may seek to study and conduct research at the intersection of Technology, Media and Society includes:

• Globalization and the networked information age
• The impacts of information and communication technologies upon education, upon business and scientific practice and/or upon social interactions
• New forms of digital media, arts and entertainment
• Privacy, security and ethics in the information age
• Methods and impacts of human-computer interaction.

Admission

Graduate School Minimum Admissions Standards
Individual graduate departments may have additional or more restrictive standards by which they evaluate graduate applicants. However, the Graduate School at CU-Boulder has established minimum standards for graduate admission. Applicants must:

1. Hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, or have done work equivalent to that required for such a degree.
   
2. Show promise of ability to pursue advanced study and research, as judged by the student's scholastic record.
   
3. Have adequate preparation to enter graduate study in the chosen field.
   
4. Have at least a 3.00 (3.00=B) undergraduate grade point average.
   

ATLAS Technology, Media, and Society Admission Requirements
Applicants must:

1. Send official transcripts from all institutions of higher learning that you have attended via mail to:
   
   University of Colorado at Boulder ATLAS Institute, Attention PhD Program
   ATLAS Building 223
   1125 18th Street
   320 UCB
   Boulder CO 80309-0320
   
    (only one copy of each transcript is required)
   
   
2. Send at least three, and no more than five, letters of recommendation from individuals qualified to judge your potential for success in graduate school. Letters may be submitted by recommenders online via Apply Yourself or mailed directly from the recommender to the address listed below.
3. Submit Graduate Record Exam scores, general exam only. If you have not taken the GRE within the past 2 years, please include a statement explaining your reasons for requesting a waiver of this requirement. Online GRE testing is available frequently; the following URL provides the schedule: www.ets.org.
4. Include a 4-5 page proposed program of study (submitted online via Apply Yourself as an additional document) which includes:
   A.) A statement describing as specifically as you can your interdisciplinary research interests. Note the focus of this statement is on research, rather than artistic projects you may develop. What do you propose to study and why does your area of study require multi-departmental work as opposed to work within a single academic department?
   
   B. ) A tentative program of study (departments you wish to work with, appropriate courses from our existing course list or others that you may know of, any faculty whom you already wish to work with).
   
   C.)  A statement describing your longer-term goals. Why and how would an ATLAS PhD support your long-term career plans?
   
   and
   
   D. ) A description of how your background qualifies you for interdisciplinary, ICT (information communication technology)-related Ph.D. work. How have you demonstrated in the past a commitment to interdisciplinary study? What is your preparation for focusing on ICTIT-related issues?
5. Submit a resume as an additional document to the Apply Yourself website (uploaded with your proposed program of study as one, multiple-page document—follow the online application instructions).
6. If applicable, submit an optional portfolio of your work, submitted either as a URL pointing to online work or as a CD or DVD. This portfolio might comprise design or multimedia production or performance, samples of research papers, or other digital documents relevant to your application. Please clearly credit all authors and collaborators on each work. A URL may be included on your resume and/or in your written statement (please include login and password information if your site is password protected). A CD or DVD may be sent to the ATLAS Institute address listed below.

Application Information and Deadlines   Fall admission Yes Application deadline January 4, 2010, for fullest consideration in funding opportunities; January 29, 2010, for consideration for Fall 2010. International application deadline December 1 Financial assistance application deadline January 15   Spring admission No   Summer admission No

Contact Information

University of Colorado at Boulder ATLAS Institute, Attention PhD Program
ATLAS Building 223
1125 18th Street
320 UCB
Boulder CO 80309-0320
Phone: 303-735-4577
Fax: 303-735-1605
E-mail: cuatlas@colorado.edu
Website: www.colorado.edu/ATLAS