The major will be offered in the department of computer science at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and aims to prepare students for careers in fields with high demand for AI expertise, including tech, health care, government and more, according to the university’s news release.
“We aim to prepare students for the future of a quickly changing and expanding field,” said Sara Owsley Sood, associate chair for undergraduate education at the McCormick School of Engineering. “The AI industry demands specific technical skills that differ from the core CS curriculum.”
The program’s curriculum will emphasize fluency across programming languages and AI paradigms, as well as the human and societal dimensions of AI. The major will also focus on how AI intersects with law, society and ethics.
Carnegie Mellon offered the first-ever bachelor’s degree in AI in 2018. Since then, other universities have followed suit, including the University of Pennsylvania and Illinois Institute of Technology.
The specialization is open to all Northwestern undergraduate students as a new major and a change in major. Students can also pursue a second degree in AI.
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