The ways animals use and benefit from technology are the focus of our minor in animal-computer interaction. Students can learn how technology can improve the lives and health of animals in the wild, in zoos, on farms, in shelters, or in our homes. This minor will teach you how to put cutting-edge technology to use for core areas of research on animal cognition, wildlife and poacher tracking and monitoring, maker applications for animals, and more.
An ACI minor will introduce the types of research and skills needed for jobs in local, state, federal, and global organizations for wildlife conservation and management; research laboratories; animal-centered nonprofits such as shelters and sanctuaries; zoos and aquariums; livestock care and management; and the commercial pet care industry. It also will teach a suite of valuable technical skills, such as maker applications, app development, data analytics, VR/AR, and more, that are well-suited for a variety of career paths.
The 15-credit minor in ACI requires five courses, one of which is selected from a list of skill-based courses integral to ACI. Students can start exploring this minor by taking any of the four required courses:
This course provides students with a general introduction to the scientific study of animal behavior, including a broad overview of how developmental, physiological, and ecological factors determine behaviors and the evolutionary forces that shape those behaviors.
What are the origins and computational foundations of intelligence? How close are we to building machines that think like humans and animals? We will explore how cognitive abilities are distributed across the animal kingdom, investigate which abilities are uniquely human, and discuss progress building artificial intelligence that mimics biological intelligence.
This course introduces cutting-edge Animal-Computer Interaction methods with a focus on how they are used to enhance animal welfare, enrichment, husbandry, and cognitive research opportunities. It will also take a critical approach and consider key challenges relating to access, ethics, implementation, scale, and evaluation of ACI methods.
This exploratory seminar is an introduction to ACI. We will draw on faculty- and student-selected readings, multimedia materials, and guest lectures from current ACI practitioners to discuss what we think about the ethics, history, state-of-the-art, and possible futures for this broad field of practice.
One maker, app, virtual reality, data, or artificial intelligence course also is required from the following offerings:
