The PhD program in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) is designed for those who wish to engage in deep scholarship or to develop artistic, cultural or commercial applications of digital technology and emerging media. With a diverse group of faculty and a curriculum that integrates scholarly study with creative practice, ATEC cultivates creative scholars, scholarly practitioners and interdisciplinary researchers.
ATEC PhD students have backgrounds in a variety of relevant fields and are grouped into transdisciplinary cohorts for their first year of coursework, where they investigate foundational theories, questions and methods that underlie the study of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication. Additional coursework is used to practice methods and explore individual interests, including up to 15 hours in courses from other schools at UT Dallas.
PhD students are expected to participate in the rich, intellectual life of ATEC, including the Dean's Colloquium speaker series and a vibrant lab and studio culture.
Located in the Edith O'Donnell Arts and Technology Building, ATEC is home to a number of research labs and studios embracing the service of creating new knowledge and identifying new horizons of research and creative practice. ATEC research teams and laboratories are engaged in innovative practices in the domains of: cultural sciences, data visualization and representation, modeling and simulation, virtual environments, emerging media and communication, game studies and sound design.