The process of invention is integral to art and technology studies. Because emerging technologies bring about new forms, artists in these areas can rely on few traditions. Faculty and students in art and technology studies not only create new aesthetic experiences, but also the very means by which they are achieved. The creation and manipulation of images, sound, text, music, voice, and movement often require new software and new methods of integration with other technologies. Faculty members are artists and inventors familiar with the continual advances in an arena that is composed as much of science as it is of art. Areas of study include computer imaging, digital video, digital sound, interactive media, computer animation, three-dimensional modeling, computer holography, computer-controlled kinetic sculpture, interactive installations, neon, computer-aided and algorithmic composition, and telecommunication arts.

Graduate students in art and technology studies should have a strong background in technology, electronics, computers, and technical experimentation and should be prepared to integrate these skills into the creative process. The art and technology studies department enhances this process by providing an innovative forum for interdisciplinary research in the arts.

Strong conceptual relationships exist among sound, video, computer-aided art and design, filmmaking, electronics, kinetics, and performance, and students may freely select advisers and courses from these time arts areas and more traditional studio departments to pursue ideas that are larger than the scope of any one medium.

Equipment and facilities include: Two Macintosh-based computing environments consisting of 15 graphic workstations equipped with digital video decks, and scanners; a dual boot Windows and Linux-based computing environment consisting of 12 stations for intensive media composting tools and 3-D animation programs such as Maya and Shake; a Digital Audio Lab that unites several components of audio elements such as keyboards and microphones and utilizes both digital and analog capturing techniques; an Experimental Programming Room with an array of various operating systems meant for all scopes of art and technology; shared work space; an Electronics Lab equipped with six NT machines for microprocessor development and programming, ocsilliscopes, various bench supplies both AC and DC, component cabinet, various hand tools, and a small drill press and bandsaw; a Kinetics Lab fully equipped with a fabrication and machining facility, bench supplies, hundreds of components ? both electronic and non-electronic, hardware, and a wide range of hand tools; an Electronics and Kinetics Instructional Display with working demos of both mechanical and electronics examples that students can learn from.