Track 2.0

Experiential Option (Certificate 2.0)

This track is designed to offer students engaged in Bass Connections: Information, Society, and Culture and other research teams an opportunity to earn Certificate credit through their extended engagement with ongoing projects. Students will replace the academic elective requirements with Thematic Experiences, documented through online portfolios. They will also be expected to complete a Capstone Project relevant to their research plan, with the guidance of a relevant research advisor connected to their final project work.

1. ISS Gateway Experience

  • ISS 110: Information, Society, and Culture (Bass Connections Gateway)

2. Information Theory/Methods

  • ISS 240L/VMS 288L/AMI 325L: Fundamentals of Web-Based Multimedia Communications OR
  • Approved QS courses with a technology-production element, such as:
    • COMPSCI 101: Program Design and Analysis
    • COMPSCI 101L: Introduction to Computer Science
    • STAT 101: Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
    • ISS 170/VMS 172/COMPSCI 107: Modeling and Simulation
    • MATH 475S or MATH 477S: Mathematics Modeling
    • COMPSCI 344: Computer Graphics
    • COMPSCI 260: Computer Genomics
    • COMPSCI 408: Delivering Software from Concept to Client
    • COMPSCI 527: Computer Vision

3. 1 Thematically-Related Electives

200 level or above approved elective or approved Independent Study. No courses may count twice within the ISS Certificate; 1 maximum may count twice, i.e. also fulfilling other Majors, Minors, or Certificates. Students are also encouraged to consider courses related specifically to their Thematically Related Experiences.

4. 2 Thematically-Related Experiences

These experiences are to be documented through e-Portfolios and approved in advance by the ISS/ISC Steering Committee. Portfolios must be signed off on by the Bass Advisor (as noted above in the Declaration)

  • One 300 hour experience – typically fulfilled through affiliation with a Bass Connections: Information, Society, and Culture Research Team; participation may extend over multiple years
  • One 150 hour experience – may be fulfilled either through a Bass project or another approved activity

5. Capstone Experience

The Capstone Course project builds upon the research projects undertaken through Bass Connections or similar Experiences. Students affiliated with labs must identify a faculty advisor who will help guide them in their final Capstone projects.

  • ISS 496: Experiential Research Capstone 

Intention to declare the ISS Track 2 option must take place by Fall of the junior year, and be approved by the ISS/Information, Society and Culture Steering Committee before Midterms of that year.*

Declaration must include four components:

  1. written essay outlining the logic and rationale for the pathway
  2. identification of the four courses and two thematically related experiences
  3. establishment of publicly facing e-portfolio
  4. identification of a research advisor within an ISS or Information, Society, and Culture project, or another approved vertically-integrated research team.
NOTES:

No more than two courses that are counted toward the ISS Certificate may also satisfy the requirements of any major, minor, or other certificate program. (NOTE: Pratt students may count additional ISS courses toward their major elective requirements.) Only students who have officially declared their major may enroll in the program, although all students may take ISS courses on a first-come/first-served basis, with ISS certificate students having preference.

To declare an ISS Certificate, fill out the appropriate paperwork with the Registrar's Office and contact Victoria Szabo or Astrid Giugni to schedule an advising session. Please complete an ISS Certificate Plan in advance of the session.