Master’s degree in artificial intelligence gets underway

A new master's degree in artificial intelligence (AI) being offered this fall at WSU will provide students with high-demand skills in AI and machine learning to meet industry needs around the state and region.

The new program, which gets underway in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), will enable students to acquire AI skills as well as standards needed to work in industry as an AI professional. Students will learn to apply theories, models, and techniques for AI algorithm design, development, implementation, and evaluation.

"As a sister discipline to computer science, artificial intelligence shares and builds on several foundational topics within computer science," said Jana Doppa, Huie-Rogers Endowed Chair Professor of Computer Science who is leading curriculum development. "The new program will share some of the foundational computer science courses while providing a specialization on various advanced AI and machine learning topics that span the spectrum from theory and fundamentals to its practice and application in various science, engineering, and industrial domains."

The program is intended for students who would like to up their AI skills for employment opportunities as well as for students who are preparing for PhD-level foundational research in AI.

"Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools play a critical role in application development in many real-world engineering, science, and industrial domains, such as health or environmental informatics, physics, chemistry, additive manufacturing, bioinformatics, and cybersecurity," said Doppa. "Some of the advanced elective courses in AI will be of an interdisciplinary nature with high-impact application domains where WSU has significant strengths. We have synergies within the school that will make the program much richer and more unique."

WSU's School of EECS has a critical mass of faculty who are conducting cutting-edge research in AI and applied areas, ranging from AI for science and engineering, trustworthy AI, generative AI, and reinforcement learning, to interdisciplinary applications, such as the agriculture-focused AI Institute for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support institute. The school has a strong cybersecurity program and is ranked among the top computer science programs in the US in design automation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence.

The new program will require either 30 or 33 credits, depending on whether students pursue a thesis or final project. It includes required core courses in AI, machine learning, and neural network design; advanced courses in topics such as computer vision and generative AI; and six credits of electives. Students entering the program have completed courses in calculus, linear algebra and statistics with a basic foundation in computing and programming.

The program will appeal to both students who want to do research in foundational AI as well as those interested in use-inspired work to apply AI across various disciplines.

"The program offers the chance to focus on certain domains, such as AI for agriculture, energy, semiconductors, or for cybersecurity," said Doppa. "Students will be able to formalize a real-world problem and then articulate the underlying AI framework that is best suited to solve this particular problem."

The program is also of interest to industry leaders, said Ananth Kalyanaraman, school director. The school aims to have industry partnership on projects, which provides the chance for the students to get real-world industry training and hands-on experience.

"Companies are interested in introducing some level of AI literacy and modules as part of their existing work environments for professional development," said Kalyanaraman. "Our industry contacts are happy this got approved and are thinking of this as an option for some of their existing employees. Industry will be viewed as a partner in this program, and to the extent possible, we aim to have sponsorships of projects and internship opportunities. I think this creates an opportunity for our students to work on industry-relevant projects as they pursue their master's degree, and at the same time an opportunity for our faculty to build a program that incorporates evolving industry needs in a fast-changing area like AI."