G-CMAC-PHD - Computational Media, Arts & Cultures - PhD

The Computational Media, Arts & Cultures Program offers graduate work leading to the PhD in computational media, arts & cultures. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, the Program in Literature, the Information Science + Studies Program, and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. The doctoral program is small, experimental, and interdisciplinary. Its focus is on the intersection of media arts and humanities, sciences, and technology, both in theory and in practice. The program is committed to full and equal funding of its students during their time in residence at Duke, up to five years. Admission to the program is usually limited to two students every two to three years.

The PhD program is affiliated with the interdisciplinary arts and humanities media labs led by the CMAC program faculty. Lab emphases include digital archaeology, emergent media arts, information science + studies, digital art history & visual culture, art, law and markets, digital humanities, media theory, and physical computing. At the core of the program is the computational revolution, and its implications for how humans live, think, work, create, and communicate within and across various disciplines. Critical engagement with the global, social and cultural impact of computational media is a central feature and value of the program, alongside media affordances and effects within existing and emerging fields. In keeping with the program ethos, mentoring in the program is collaborative, though each student also identifies one or two primary advisors. 

The PhD program shares its administrative support with AAHVS and is housed in the historic Smith Warehouse on East Campus. Students in the program are encouraged to participate in activities with PhD students in Art History and Visual Culture, Literature, the MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts, the Digital Art History/Computational Media MA, the Information Science+Studies Certificate, and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute PhD Lab in Digital Knowledge. May of our students also participate in vertically-intergrated Bass Connections teams and other co-curricular activities as collaborators and mentors. In addition, the annual CMAC Exhibition and Symposium features the work of, and is organized by, our students.

For further information on the PhD program, prospective applicants may visit the program’s website at cmac.duke.edu/phd or write to the Director of Graduate Studies.