Undergraduate Certificate Programs
certificate programs
Students may pursue some certificate programs along with a major and other certificate programs independently. To declare a minor or pursue a certificate, please complete the undergraduate certificate form and consult your academic advisor or an advisor in the unit offering the minor for more information.
Technology Entrepreneurship
This ASU 15-credit-hour technology entrepreneurship certificate program is limited to students in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and is designed to help technically oriented students analyze, launch and operate an entrepreneurial venture. Courses are approached from the perspective of the student whose primary interest is in technological innovation, whose primary concentration is on engineering, and who has little or no prior business education.
By providing knowledge and skills important to the creation and leadership of such startups, the certificate program in technology entrepreneurship aims to train the founders and leaders of tomorrow's high-technology ventures.
Computer Gaming Certificate
This 18-credit hour certificate is open to any student at ASU (undergraduate, graduate and non-degree seeking) and is designed to provide a comprehensive game development skill set that the student can apply to his or her major. The goal is not to teach the student to create recreational video games, but to apply gaming technology to domain-specific problems. The certificate can also be used as one of the areas of concentration for the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (B.I.S.) degree.
In addition to the six semester hours of core courses, students will take nine credit hours of upper division courses, with a final culmination in a three credit hour capstone project. Upper division courses are offered in three areas: programming, art and education. Students are able to take courses in one area, or mix and match courses.
Programming courses focus on how game engines work and writing software to work within the game engine. Courses in programming have direct industry applicability in a number of areas. For example, a student might create a game architecture to help patients with physical therapy or design a game platform that incorporates geographic information systems. Art courses allow students to focus on the visual aspects of game design, including 2D/3D modeling, animation and texturing. Real world applications might include creating an interactive virtual world for corporate training, inventing a surgical simulation to educate medical students or creating content for the film industry. Education courses allow students to discover how to apply game design skills to achieve educational goals, learning to build virtual worlds that complement an educational setting. For example, a student might build a game that teaches linear algebra by incorporating trigonometric rules into the game design, or a game that teaches correct sentence construction to early English learners.
Core Courses: (to be taken by all students)
CPI 111 Game Development I
CPI 211 Game Development II
CPI 441 Gaming Capstone
Upper Division Courses – choose three courses:
Programming Courses:
CPI 311 Game Engine Development
CPI 411 Graphics for Games
CPI 412 Cognitive Systems and Intelligent Agents
Art Track:
CPI 321 Fundamentals of Game Art
CPI 421 Modeling and Texturing
CPI 422 3D Animation and Rigging
Education Track:
EDT 329 Games, Simulations and Virtual Environments
RDG 440 Computer Gaming Learning and Literacy
DCI 451 Design Research and Educational Gaming
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All students are eligible to take CPI 111. Students that want to continue in the Computer Gaming Certificate must be enrolled in the computer gaming certificate in order to take classes by completing the Undergraduate Certificate form. BIS students can contact their advisor to add the Computer Gaming concentration to their degree program.
Informatics Certificate
Informatics is defined as the study of the ways in which computer technology can be used to gather, synthesize, store, visualize and interpret information. This certificate is available to students in noncomputing majors and will provide them with an understanding of the capabilities and technologies of informatics as it applies to domain-specific problems in their field of study. The certificate can also be used as one of the areas of concentration for the B.I.S. degree.
Students completing this certificate will be able to use methods for and understand the basic computational principles behind the operation of:
Storing, indexing and retrieving information.
Representing, creating and running routine activities.
Modeling, inference and visualization.
Decision-making and problem solving.
Communication, networking and interaction.
Core Courses: (to be taken by all students)
CPI 101 Introduction to Informatics (3) (CS)
CPI 200 Mathematical Foundations of Informatics (3) (MA)
CPI 310 Information and Data Management (3)
CPI 360 Decision Making & Problem Solving (3)
STP 226 Elements of Statistics (3) *
*Please consult an advisor about alternate statistics courses
Electives*
(Students will select two from the following list*)
ART 345 3D Visualization and Rapid Prototyping (3)
BIO 355 Introduction to Computational Molecular Biology (3)
CPI 400 Scientific Computing and Visualization (3)
CPI 420 Technology and Society (3)
CPI 430 Social Simulation (3)
ENG 374 Technical Editing (3)
GPH 370 Geographic Information Technologies (3)
*Certain departments may offer courses which could satisfy this elective requirement. Please consult with an advisor for approvals.
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Students that want to complete the Informatics certificate must complete the Undergraduate Certificate form. BIS students can contact their advisor to add the Informatics concentration to their degree program.