Entertainment Technology Center

{{Infobox university

| name = Entertainment Technology Center

| image = Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University.jpg

| established = 1999

| director = Derek Ham{{Cite web|url=https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2024/may/derek-ham-named-director-of-cmus-entertainment-technology-center; Entertainment Technology Center}}

| city = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

| campus = Urban

| website = {{URL|http://www.etc.cmu.edu}}

}}

The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) is a department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the Pittsburgh Technology Center.

The ETC offers a two-year Masters of Entertainment Technology (MET) degree, jointly conferred by Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts and School of Computer Science. Students enrolled in the ETC learn interdisciplinary skills in design, art and technology, and are prepared for environments where artists and technologists work hand-in-hand, such as theme parks, interactive museum exhibits, website design and development, and the creation of video games.{{cite journal|last=Pausch|first=Randy|author2=Don Marinelli|title=Creating a Science of Games - Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center: Combining the Left and Right Brain|journal=Communications of the ACM|date=July 2007|volume=50|issue=7|pages=50–57|doi=10.1145/1272516.1272539|s2cid=3229767|doi-access=free}}

History

The ETC was co-founded by Donald Marinelli, a Professor of Drama, and Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science, in 1999. The ETC has a history of having agreements with certain companies, such as Electronic Arts, Activision, and Rockstar Games, where the companies agree to hire a set number of ETC graduates each year.

Curriculum

The ETC's curriculum is split into 4 semesters, with a required industry internship in between the second and third semesters. The first semester includes required classes, such as Building Virtual Worlds, Fundamentals of Entertainment Technology, Improvisational Acting, and a Visual Storytelling class. The next three semesters all consist of a semester-long project course, and one elective class, which can be any other class taught at Carnegie Mellon University. The project course consists of 5 team-based projects, each of which is completed with a scrambled team of students, and in a two-week period.