The HCDE Department is currently in the midst of a multi-year undergraduate curriculum review and revision process. We have created this page to help answer some common questions we’ve received from students and other community members regarding these changes. We will continue to update this page with additional information as we proceed through the process of gaining approval for and implementing these curricular changes.

Why is the HCDE Department proposing changes to the Bachelor of Science degree requirements?

HCDE continuously reviews the undergraduate curriculum to identify areas of success and opportunities that will enhance student learning. These program changes are the result of a 3-year comprehensive review that included faculty, staff, and students. An additional motivation for the changes is to bring the program into compliance with the General Engineering Degree requirements specified by ABET.

What are the advantages of graduating with an ABET accredited degree?

The University of Washington is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), one of six regional accrediting organizations recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and thus, HCDE students already graduate from a regionally accredited university. HCDE is seeking additional ABET accreditation, which is the international gold standard for all undergraduate engineering programs. Students with an ABET-accredited degree may be more attractive to employers who specifically seek graduates with human centered design skills within a general engineering degree program.

As we make this transition to a new curriculum, it is important to note that regardless of whether a student graduates with our degree pre- or post-accreditation, we are confident that the HCDE Department consistently offers students access to an outstanding education and excellent employment opportunities.

What kinds of changes have been made to the HCDE graduation requirements for students who enter the major in Autumn 2024 or later?

Some of the changes to the HCDE BS degree requirements include:

• Updates to the HCDE math/statistics, science, and engineering fundamentals course lists
• Requiring all students to complete at least one statistics course
• Removing ENGR 231 from the HCDE degree requirements, which will no longer be taught by the College of Engineering
• Changes to the 300-level core courses for the major
• Changes to the experiential learning credits for the major
• Creating 2 separate categories of HCDE electives

These changes have now been approved, and students planning to apply to begin the HCDE major in Autumn 2024 or later can refer to the HCDE BS degree requirements for students admitted Autumn 2024 onwards for more information.

How do these changes impact course planning for students who will be applying to the major in the future?

The most important change for students who have not yet applied to the HCDE major relates to the HCDE admission prerequisites. Beginning with the students applying to enter HCDE in Autumn 2026, MATH 120, PHYS 114-116, and PSYCH 202 will likely no longer be eligible to meet HCDE admission prerequisites, and these courses, along with the accompanying PHYS labs (PHYS 117-119), will no longer apply towards HCDE degree requirements. Students planning to apply to HCDE for Autumn 2026 or later should therefore plan to select other courses from the HCDE admission prerequisite list to complete the HCDE admission prerequisites.

Students applying to HCDE for Autumn 2025 may still use these courses to meet admission prerequisites; however, if they have not yet taken these courses, we would encourage them to select other courses from the HCDE admission prerequisite list.

Although most of the other changes to our requirements for graduation from the HCDE major will primarily impact courses not taken until after a student has entered the HCDE program, we have also made some changes to the courses that can apply to our math, statistics, science, and engineering fundamentals requirements. Prospective HCDE students who are getting started on these requirements can refer to the course lists linked from the HCDE BS degree requirements for students admitted Autumn 2024 onwards for more information.

Why are the Human-Computer Interaction and Data Science degree options being retired?

There are 3 main reasons why the HCI Option and Data Science Option are being retired:

1. To reduce student confusion: We have found that there is often a disconnect between the expectations of students and employers/graduate programs regarding the impact of transcriptable degree options, and students’ ability to summarize and reflect on their coursework, experiential learning, and skills gained via our degree is more important to employers than their degree option. 
2. To remove redundancy: For the HCI Option specifically, the overwhelming majority of students who complete this option do so by taking 400-level HCDE courses exclusively. This means that a student could complete the HCDE Standard (a.k.a. Individualized) Option or the HCDE HCI Option by taking identical courses. In other words, there is no longer a substantive curricular distinction between these 2 degree options, and HCDE students who are interested in pursuing HCI-related topics can do so within our Standard Option.
3. To meet accreditation requirements: Retiring the options ensures that HCDE students complete the bulk of their upper division coursework within the HCDE Department via courses taught by HCDE faculty. This allows us to continually assess, improve, and modify our courses to make sure they are meeting ABET standards.

It is also worth noting that the retirement of the HCI and Data Science Options does not represent a substantive change in our HCDE course offerings or the topics covered within the HCDE curriculum.

What is the planned timeline for the HCDE Department to seek ABET accreditation?

The Department plans to submit a self study in July of 2027 in preparation for the on-site visit in Autumn 2027. If the process proceeds according to this timeline, we would be notified of the outcome in the Summer of 2028. If ABET accreditation is granted, it would apply to students who completed the accredited curriculum and who graduated in Summer 2026 or later.

How will my coursework be reviewed as part of HCDE’s plan to seek ABET accreditation?

Program evaluators from ABET may sample student assignment submissions as part of the process. Your class assignments are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which safeguards the privacy of student educational records. Although your assignments might be shown to ABET accreditors to demonstrate student learning outcomes, your personally identifiable information will be kept confidential. No personal details will be disclosed in relation to your assignment submissions.

What is the difference between majoring in HCDE and majoring in HCDE: General Option?

The HCDE General Option was created by the HCDE Department as a way to track which students were admitted to the major under our former curriculum. The primary difference between the two options is that the General Option allows students to count MATH 120, PHYS 114-119, and PSYCH 202 towards their HCDE math and science requirements; we anticipate that these courses will not be permitted to apply towards the HCDE admission prerequisites or HCDE math and science requirements for students applying to enter the major in Autumn 2026 or later.

Moving forward, the HCDE degree program will be the primary pathway to earn a Bachelor of Science in Human Centered Design & Engineering degree. Students who were admitted to the Department for Autumn 2025 or earlier and who will graduate in Summer 2026 or later will be moved to the General Option, but may be eligible to petition to switch to the updated curriculum (see below).

Will students who entered the major under the old degree requirements be eligible to switch to the new degree requirements?

Eligibility to pursue the new degree requirements will depend on several factors, including: when a student entered the program, when they will complete their degree, and their course selections.

Students on track to graduate in Spring 2026 or earlier will not be eligible to switch to the new curriculum since they will not be included in the graduating class evaluated by ABET. Students graduating Summer 2026 or later who are in the General Option may be eligible to petition to switch to the new curriculum provided that they can complete the new degree requirements while still graduating within UW’s Satisfactory Progress Policy. These students will be contacted by HCDE regarding steps to complete if they wish to opt into the new curriculum and a deadline by which they must submit this request.