Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Launches New MS in Computational Cognitive Science to Prepare Graduates for the Human-Centered AI Era

As artificial intelligence transforms how organizations make decisions, a critical question remains: how do people think, learn, decide, and interact with intelligent systems? Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences designed the new Master of Science in Computational Cognitive Science to answer that question and more. 

This interdisciplinary program equips students with the technical, analytical, and scientific skills needed to understand human cognition and behavior in an era increasingly shaped by data and AI. Positioned at the intersection of cognitive science, computational modeling, data analytics, and machine learning, the program prepares students for emerging careers where understanding people is just as important as understanding algorithms. 

This program is designed for students with undergraduate experience in the fields of psychology, cognitive science, philosophy, neuroscience, computer science, engineering and/or related areas who seek graduate training that integrates cognitive theory, experimental methods, and computational modeling. The program can be completed in as little as 15 months and includes two semesters of coursework followed by an internship or experiential learning opportunity. 

As part of its academic and professional training, the program includes preparation in project management, interdisciplinary collaboration, communication, and ethical research and data practices. Through the required experiential learning experience, co-op or internship, students graduate with practical experience applying these skills in real-world environments.

The demand for professionals who understand how people interact with technology has never been greater. “Any organization that builds products, runs experiments, or makes decisions from data eventually has to ask what that data says about people," states Ariel Goldberg, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Studies for Cognitive Science Programs. "Our students learn to answer that question rigorously, combining the science of how people think, learn, and decide with the computational tools to measure and model it. That might mean designing an A/B test that isolates what actually matters to users, making sense of how people use a product over time, or studying how people work alongside AI systems. The common thread is a human lens on data."

Graduates will be well positioned for a new generation of careers at the intersection of human behavior, data science, and AI, including roles such as Cognitive Task Analyst, UX Researcher, Quantitative UX Researcher, Cognitive Engineer, Human-AI Interaction Data Scientist, Product Data Scientist, Decision Scientist, Learning Scientist, and EdTech Designer.