HomeFuture StudentsUndergraduatesBS Computer Science – Media Thread

BS Computer Science – Media Thread

The media thread prepares students by helping them to understand the technical and computational capabilities of systems in order to exploit their abilities to provide creative outlets.

The student who pursues media can combine it with intelligence to study real-time animation, or information internetworks to build high performance database systems, or with people to explore visualization of high-bandwidth data streaming, or...

Media

Early Preparation
  • Discrete Structures
  • Programming Fundamentals and Algorithms
  • Object-oriented design and programming
  • Operating Systems fundamentals

Knowledge Goals
  • The principles and technologies for software that acts as an interface between humans and reactive virtual environments that may for example include information, shapes, animations, simulations, sounds, and shared spaces.
  • Performance acceleration techniques for the acquisition, processing, transfer, and rendering of the various media.
  • Representation schemes for various media (geometry, animation, simulation, music) and the corresponding data structures and algorithms

Skill Outcome
  • Able to design, implement, and test environments where humans interact with 3D models and/or audio
  • Able to design and implement data structures for these media environments
  • Able to design and implement architectures controlling the interface between hardware and software in media devices
  • Able to build discrete element simulations
  • Able to describe the impact of presentation and user interaction on exploration using rich media

Resources and Role Models

 

If you are following one of the BSCS Threads study plans implemented before Summer 2012 or one of the BSCS study plans that were in place prior to Threads, click here.

Required Courses (For Students in the Program of Study that begins Summer 2012)

View the course prerequisites for the Media Thread.

  • CS1315 Introduction to Media Computation, 3
  • CS1331 Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming, 3
  • CS1332 Data Structures and Algorithms, 3
  • CS2050 or CS2051 Introduction to Discrete Math for CS, 3
  • CS2261 Media Device Architectures, 4 (When combined with another thread that requires CS 2110, students should take CS 2110 instead of CS 2261.)
  • CS2340 Objects and Design, 3
  • CS3451 Computer Graphics, 3

Pick 2 of Media Technologies:

  • CS4455 Video Game Design and Programming, 3
  • CS4460 Information Visualization, 3
  • CS4464 Computational Journalism, 3
  • CS4475 Computational Photography, 3
  • CS4480 Digital Video Special Effects, 3
  • CS4496 Computer Animation, 3
  • CS4590 Computer Audio, 3

Elective Courses (pick and choose whatever courses you wish) 

Free Electives (9 hours)

  • FREE-ME1 Free Elective-Media, 3
  • FREE-ME2 Free Elective-Media, 3
  • FREE-ME3 Free Elective-Media, 3

Computing Fundamentals

  • CS3240 Languages and Computation, 3
  • CS3510 Design and Analysis of Algorithms, 3

Multimedia Applications and Design

  • CS4464 Computational Journalism, 3
  • CS4475 Computational Photography, 3
  • CS4770 Mixed Reality Experience Design, 3

Media Technologies

  • CS4455 Video Game Design and Programming, 3
  • CS4480 Digital Video Special Effects, 3
  • CS4496 Computer Animation, 3
  • CS4590 Computer Audio, 3

Multimedia Connections

  • CS4230 Distributed Simulation Systems, 3
  • CS4460 Information Visualization, 3
  • CS4470 Introduction to User Interface Software, 3
  • CS4550 Scientific Data Processing and Visualization, 3