I Am Driven - Jenifer
My Major: Science, Technology, and Culture (STAC) - Media Studies Track
My Minor: Computer Science
Why I chose my major…
I was really interested in STAC because of its different tracks. STAC is not like traditional communications or English programs. With STAC, you can really tweak the curriculum to fit your interests. For me, the big thing was its media studies program. I participated in video production courses throughout high school and knew that I wanted to study new media.
My most interesting classes so far…
I took a class about Film and Technology, but the whole class was really about Disney. So I got to watch Disney movies all semester long, but it was very appropriate because Disney was innovative for film in so many technological aspects such as the use of sound, color, computer graphics, and the list goes on. I took a class called Construction of the Moving Image. This class ended up being a precursor to work I would later do as a part of my research in machinima. In this class we created 3D objects in Maya, put the objects and animated them in Virtools, and created interactive environments. I created a room with everyday objects that the user could click on and each object would start to make a beat like the performance group "Stomp"!
Who inspires me in liberal arts…
Last semester I was very inspired by my Professor Amy Bruckman. Not only did I love her class and take away so many lessons on community and doing research, but I found a great role model. Dr. Bruckman has an incredible track record. She studied at Harvard and MIT, and her work is well known in her field of online communities. What inspired me most about Dr. Bruckman though, was her ability to manage her work life, being a genius, and her family life as a wife and mother. I have trouble as it is being an undergrad student and making sure to feed my fish.
What will I be doing next?
This fall I'll going into my first year as a full time graduate student in Digital Media, but I've already dabbled a bit in the graduate program. I came into Tech with the intention to do the 5 year BS-MS program in STAC media and Digital Media.
Why it is so cool that I have the option to earn a BS and MS degree in five years?
I was really interested in the projects that the graduate students were doing just from what I had seen on the school website. In my undergraduate program, I always paid attention to graduate projects and different research that professors were doing. I always went to the schools Demo Days where they show off all the cool media projects that people are working on. Even from my freshmen year, I was preparing myself for the BS-MS option by taking a heavy load of media, film, and computer science courses. In my last year, I took two graduate level courses.
The coolest thing to me was the ease of transition into the graduate courses because of the educational training I already had. The graduate work in Digital Media is an extension of studies I have done as an undergrad taking computational media courses and computer science courses. Working with professors on research, my jobs, and internships have been a way for me to practice the things I was learning, gain experience, and make connections.
One of the things that Georgia Tech is big on is learning by doing. Even in the liberal arts at Georgia Tech, where you do a lot of thinking, the application of knowledge is a huge part of the curriculum. You learn along the way by creating a finished product for class projects. The coolest thing is that it helps you create your resume and for me, it has helped me land jobs and internships because I've had concrete examples of work that I've already done.
What do I see myself doing in the future?
I have been dabbling in different areas for some time trying to figure out exactly what I want to do. I've always loved to study media, particularly new media. I like working on the cutting edge and with innovative new products. I think I am most interested in how certain media technologies affect our lifestyles, the way we communicate, and our culture.
This summer I have been interning with an interactive media company doing user experience work like usability testing and market research. I have found my work to be engaging because I find it particularly important that as we find more and more "computers" in our environment, that they are designed for the people who use them. So for the future, I think I'm in the right spot to say that I will be focusing on human computer interaction in an array of digital media areas such as performance, augmented reality, and new uses of interfaces.
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