UCSB LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE GRADUATE PROGRAM

The convergence of electronic art, media, and technology is transforming our society and the demand for creative practitioners in the new media industries is high. In response, the University of California, Santa Barbara is offering a new interdisciplinary graduate degree program designed to train artists and engineers in the media industries of the 21st century.

"Media Arts and Technology program is one of the most exciting and innovative new programs on campus and in the UC system," said David Marshall, UCSB Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts College of Letters and Science. "It will bring technology and the arts together as musicians and visual artists create new forms and new media, and it will provide unique training for the engineers and artists who will be crucial to the media and entertainment industries in the next century."

Beginning this fall quarter, the Media Arts and Technology (MAT) program provides the University of California system with a unique graduate program that offers both a Masters of Sciences and Master of Arts degrees in Media Arts and Technology. Students will be taught by faculty from the departments of art studio, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and music. The three areas of emphasis are: Multimedia Engineering, Electronic Music and Sound Design, and Visual and Spatial Arts. In addition to their area of emphasis, the students will engage in both technical and artistic aspects of multimedia creation.

"We're responding to strong student and industry demand for programmers, engineers, artists, composers, designers, directors, and producers who have the skills for the new media industries---the media technology inventors of the future," said JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, chair of the MAT program, professor of music, and associate dean of computing and technology in the College of Letters & Sciences.

"The program will foster aesthetically trained engineers and spawn electronic media artists who can work with a high degree of sophistication to enrich our cultural heritage," added Kuchera-Morin, who has been the force behind many forward-thinking programs at UCSB. She is also the founder and director of the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE, website is http://www.create.ucsb.edu/create.php) and program director of the universitywide Digital Media Innovation (DiMI, http://www.create.ucsb.edu/create.php) program.

"The media arts and technology program is an inspiring example of the creative approaches to teaching and research across disciplines for which UCSB is well-known," said Matthew Tirrell, who is the Richard A. Auhll Professor and Dean of the College of Engineering at UCSB.

For information about the MAT program, e-mail is info@mat.ucsb.edu or phone (805) 893-4586 or assistant researcher Anne Deane at anne@dimi.ucsb.edu or phone (805) 893-8798. Website: http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/

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