抖M女仆 Launches Florida鈥檚 First Master of Science Degree in AI
This innovative degree program and training curriculum will educate students and train professionals to develop new skills for jobs that are not yet defined and be part of the first generation of an AI-and-autonomy workforce.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming virtually every segment of industry in the United States from agriculture to medicine. To be competitive, companies will have to embrace AI to some extent, which will require a workforce educated and highly trained in this quickly growing field.
To address these needs, 抖M女仆鈥檚 is launching the state鈥檚 first Master of Science with Major in AI (MSAI), administered by its . This degree will prepare students for careers in various education, government and industry positions that require AI skills.
鈥淎s we are experiencing the dawn of the fourth聽industrial revolution that is defined by AI and autonomy, our state and nation strive to lead the world in AI-and-autonomy-driven innovation. And, as there is hardly any industry that is not affected by AI and autonomy, industry investments on AI and autonomy are reaching very high levels,鈥 said , Ph.D., dean of 抖M女仆鈥檚 College of Engineering and Computer 聽Science. 鈥淥ur College of Engineering and Computer Science is engaging in convergence engineering and science research to provide AI, machine learning and autonomy solutions to problems critical for the state and the nation. Pedagogy driven by research and development in our college led to our Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, which is the first such program in Florida. This innovative degree program and training curriculum will educate students and train professionals to develop new skills for jobs that are not yet defined and be part of the first generation of an AI-and-autonomy workforce.鈥
抖M女仆鈥檚 MSAI program provides both thesis and non-thesis options and requires a minimum of 30 credits. Offered on 抖M女仆鈥檚 main campus in Boca Raton, the program includes a strong curriculum that consists of AI theory, methods and technologies, combined with major subfields of vision, data analytics and algorithms, knowledge management and reasoning, machine learning, and applications. The program鈥檚 graduate-level coursework will enable its graduates to enter Florida鈥檚 workforce with the capabilities needed to fill emerging needs. Students also will have laboratory training and access to state-of-the-art facilities, including 抖M女仆鈥檚 recently launched Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning Laboratory, which is Florida鈥檚 first NSF-funded laboratory that serves as a training platform to support graduate student teaching and research.
鈥淪tudents in our Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence program will understand how AI works by combining data with fast, iterative processing and intelligent algorithms, allowing the software to learn from patterns or features of the data,鈥 said , Ph.D., associate dean for graduate studies and a professor in 抖M女仆鈥檚 Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. 鈥淲ith our innovative curriculum, students will have a broad understanding of the theories, methods and technologies that provide the foundation of AI and will be able to take courses in major areas of specialty and applications in this field.鈥
Potential jobs within the AI field include political data scientists, survey statisticians, research analysts, intelligence data analysts, quantitative social scientists, software engineers, research analysts, and solution architects, among others. The median hourly regional and statewide earnings in the five most common occupations for master鈥檚-level AI professionals exceeds the median hourly earnings across all occupations in Florida. For example, computer and information research scientists earn a median of $51.25 an hour regionally, and $46.05 an hour statewide. Comparatively, workers in Florida earn a median hourly income of $16.07 per hour across all occupations. The potential for high earnings with a high return on investment will attract prospective students locally, regionally and nationally to 抖M女仆鈥檚 MSAI program.聽
鈥淭he new Master of Science with Major in Artificial Intelligence degree offered by our College of Engineering and Computer Science aligns well with 抖M女仆鈥檚 vision to provide outstanding graduate education and high quality programs in areas of strategic emphasis such as applied AI and big data analytics,鈥 said Bret Danilowicz, Ph.D., 抖M女仆 provost and vice president for academic affairs. 鈥淭his new program also will support our university-wide research pillars that include healthy aging, neuroscience, ocean and environmental science, and sensing and smart systems, which are expected to adopt AI methods and technologies to remain competitive.鈥
抖M女仆鈥檚 MSAI program also will help to encourage minority and female students to pursue interests in the AI field. Currently, less than 10 percent of African-American, Hispanic and female students are involved in this field.
For the聽third聽year in a row,聽 recently included 抖M女仆 on the list of the most ethnically diverse universities in the U.S. 抖M女仆鈥檚 鈥渄iversity index鈥 score of聽.68聽(out of 1.0) tied with 11 other institutions,聽including Princeton University and Carnegie Mellon University. This score makes 抖M女仆 the highest ranked public university in Florida for diversity.聽In addition, in 2017, the U.S. Department of Education designated 抖M女仆 as a , only awarded to colleges and universities with enrollment of full-time Hispanic undergraduate students of at least 25 percent.
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