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Other Major Modified with Human-Centered Design

Any Dartmouth major may be modified with human-centered design (HCD), with necessary approvals. The human-centered design portion requires a total of six courses: one from Section 1, two from Section 2, and three from Section 3. The modified major should be planned as a unified, coherent whole, and not consist of a series of unrelated courses.

For additional information about majors, courses, and degree requirements:

Guide to Programs & Courses

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Student Testimonials

Students discuss the benefits of adding human-centered design (HCD) to their Dartmouth education.

Human-Centered Design at Dartmouth

HCD is for students who want increased confidence in their ability to think and act creatively through interdisciplinary collaboration, ideation, and prototyping.

Required Courses

Please note that some courses may require prerequisites in addition to those noted. Check with the registrar for Dartmouth’s School of Arts & Sciences for exact requirements.

Unless otherwise prohibited, prerequisites may be taken under the non-recording option. Any course being used to satisfy major or minor requirements beyond the prerequisites, may not be taken under the non-recording option.

Please note: The information below reflects degree requirements, effective as of fall 2026.

COURSE TYPENUMBER OF REQUIRED COURSESCOURSES
Section 1: 
Design Foundation *		1 courseENGS 12: Design Thinking
Section 2:
Ethnographic Methods and
Human Factors/ Psychology **		2 courses

Choose two courses from the following with one course from outside the student's major department:  

ANTH 3: Intro to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 18: Intro to Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
ENGS 15.07: Research Methods for Human-Centered Design
GEOG 11: Qualitative Methods and the Research Process in Geography
PSYC 22: Learning
PSYC 23: Social Psychology
PSYC 28: Cognitive Psychology
PSYC 38: Cognitive Neuroscience
PSYC 43: Emotion
PSYC 50.02: Decision Making
PSYC 51.11: Thinking
PSYC 53.10: Social and Affective Motivations in Decision-Making
PSYC 53.12: The Behavior of Groups
PSYC 53.13: Social Neuroscience
SOCY 11: Research Methods 

Section 3: Design Electives ***3 courses

Choose three courses from the following:

ENGS 15.01: Senior Design Challenge I
ENGS 15.02: Senior Design Challenge II
ENGS 15.09: Design Ethics
ENGS 15.11: Design & Education
ENGS 15.12: Design & Entrepreneurship 
ENGS 18: System Dynamics in Policy Design and Analysis
ENGS 19.01: Future of Energy Systems
ENGS 21: Introduction to Engineering
ENGS 44: Sustainable Design
CSDA 23.01: Augmented and Virtual Reality Design
CSDA 25.01: UI/ UX Design I
CSDA 25.02: UI/ UX Design II
CSDA 27: Projects in Digital Arts
CSDA 28: Advanced Projects in Digital Arts
CSDA 29.06 Digital Tangible User Interfaces 
COSC 63.01 Augmented and Virtual Reality Development
COSC 67: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
COSC 89.34: Human-Centered Generative AI 
FILM 51: Game Design
PBPL 43/ ECON 77: Social Entrepreneurship
SART 65: Architecture I
SART 66: Architecture II
SART 68: Architecture III

* It is recommended that students take ENGS 12 first. 

** Students majoring in cognitive science, cultural anthropology, neuroscience, psychology, and sociology may substitute an additional course from Section 3 in place of a second course from Section 2. 

*** When possible, it is recommended that students complete the course under Section 1 and at least one course under Section 2 before taking courses under Section 3. 

Course Planning

Due to the potential overlap between the human-centered design courses and existing majors, there is potential for creating a program of study that does not add significant value beyond a straight major. Students wishing to modify their major with HCD should have a proposed plan showing the following:

  1. a strong intellectual rationale
  2. something new and significant that is not possible with the straight major
  3. no significant overlap in courses between the modifier and the primary field of the major

Students wishing to modify their major with HCD should discuss their plans with their major advisor and the director for minor, Professor Peter Robbie. Formal proposals for the modified major require approval of both the major department and the HCD minor director.

For additional information about majors, courses, and degree requirements, see:

Guide to Programs and Courses

Questions? Contact undergraduate.engineering.advising@dartmouth.edu.