DEA at Cornell University

A suggested order for the 40 courses on the map, built from prerequisite chains and how often each course has run in fall and spring across the last 12 regular terms. It is not the department’s plan, and it is not a promise a course will run. Confirm against the department’s own advising material.

Gateway courses

Each of these unlocks the largest share of downstream work on this map. Courses from other departments can appear here when they genuinely gate DEA coursework.

• DEA 3510Ergonomics and Anthropometricsopens 2 courses (2 directly)
• DEA 6510Ergonomics and Anthropometricsopens 2 courses (2 directly)
• DEA 3050Construction Documentation: CAD and BIMopens 2 courses (1 directly)
• DEA 2730Human Centered Design Methodsopens 1 course (1 directly)
• DEA 3030Interior Materials and Sustainable Elementsopens 1 course (1 directly)
• DEA 3301Design UX with Technology Studioopens 1 course (1 directly)

The map

Intro tiers at the top, advanced work below; arrows point from a prerequisite to the course it unlocks. Courses from other departments appear where they gate DEA work. Click any course to see what it requires and unlocks without leaving this page; hovering lights up its neighbors. The lists on this page carry the same courses in text form.

Showing the 40 DEA and feeder courses that have prerequisite links. 60 more DEA courses have no recorded prerequisites. They are listed under Tracks below, not drawn as loose dots here.

Tracks

Upper-level clusters, grouped by the gateway that opens them.

The longest ladders

The deepest prerequisite chains in DEA. These are the routes that take the most semesters to climb.

• 4 courses deep, ending at DEA 4402

  1. DEA 1150Design Graphics and Visualization
  2. DEA 3050Construction Documentation: CAD and BIM
  3. DEA 4401Adaptive Reuse Studio: Recycling the Built Environment
  4. DEA 4402Disruptive Design: Competitions Studio

• 4 courses deep, ending at DEA 6040

  1. DEA 1500Introduction to Environmental Psychology
  2. DEA 3510Ergonomics and Anthropometrics
  3. DEA 4700Applied Ergonomic Methods

• 3 courses deep, ending at DEA 6700

  1. DEA 1500Introduction to Environmental Psychology
  2. DEA 6510Ergonomics and Anthropometrics
  3. DEA 6700Applied Ergonomic Methods

• 2 courses deep, ending at DEA 2025

  1. DEA 1101Visual Literacy and Design Studio
  2. DEA 2025Impactful Graphics: Visual Communication for Social Impact

Grade medians

Teaching in Fall 2026

Instructors on DEA sections in Fall 2026, from the registrar's schedule.

• Armin Mostafavi
• Gary Evans
• Janet Loebach
• Jay Yoon
• John Elliott
• Keith Green
• Leighton Beaman
• Nancy Wells
• Nooshin Ahmadi
• Rana Zadeh
• Renata Leitao
• Roberta Militello
• Saleh Kalantari
• Sang Leigh
• Ying Hua

Clubs & organizations

No clubs or organizations on record under DEA yet.

Clubs students here join

Department events

DEA does not run a page here yet. When it does, its events show up here and on the Cornell campus feed.