Columbia Engineering will launch an interdisciplinary master’s-degree program this fall in partnership with several other Columbia schools.
The Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program will combine computer science and engineering courses with instruction in another domain of a student’s choice — medicine, public health, the arts, statistics, or architecture.
Students can choose either an in-person or an online version of the thirty-credit program, both of which have the same rigorous requirements, including proficiency in programming; data structures and algorithms; linear algebra; and calculus and probability.
“While we expect many students will have a computer science, computer engineering, or software background, the program is designed to accommodate students from other disciplines and professionals with different backgrounds,” said Garud Iyengar, a Columbia data scientist who is codirecting the new program alongside computer scientist Vishal Misra. “For example, someone with a health-care background and basic programming skills can learn AI to become a specialist in AI for health care, whereas someone with a computer science background may want to deepen their foundation in a domain like finance or policy. The mix of backgrounds will enrich all aspects of the program.”
