About Us
An IMGD Artist, by Britt Snyder
Art + Technology = Games
The IMGD program at WPI is built around the idea that if you put artists and technical people together in an atmosphere where they can share ideas, new ways of looking at traditional media will happen, and new media will be created.
To that end, we want our artists to know enough programming to be able to appreciate the problems that programmers face, and we want our programmers to be versed in the language of art in order to work with their colleagues. Basically, we want to train technical artists and artistic programmers. It is through communication that new things are discovered, and it always seems to be on the borders between art and technology that new ideas form.
Our students start working in groups during their freshman year, and carry through on projects and collaboration their entire time here. At WPI hands on learning has always been a part of the curriculum, and we’ve embraced that in the IMGD program. Our students don’t just study how to make things, they make things. Whether those things are games, interactive fiction, virtual environments, art installations, collaborative performances, or forms of new media that haven’t been invented yet we expect our students to be at the forefront of exploring worlds that we can currently only imagine.
IMGD by the numbers
1st classes offered in 2005
1st graduating class in 2009
150 IMGD majors
16 full-time faculty (2 IMGD, 7 CS, 6 HUA, 1 Physics, 1 ECE)
11 Industry Advisors
4 IMGD-specific laboratories
Last modified: August 24, 2009 14:03:08