IN THE FALL OF 2021, Oregon State University launched the nation’s first graduate program offering both master’s and doctoral degrees in artificial intelligence. This program not only prepares graduates for the fast-growing AI job market but also positions the university at the forefront of AI education and research. This is thanks in part to a strategic decision made about 20 years earlier when the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, led by Terri Fiez, Ph.D. ’91, made building the AI faculty one of its top priorities. Not only did that help the department retain strong faculty like Thomas Dietterich and Prasad Tadepalli, Fiez said, but it attracted “red hot” new talent. “That was well before AI was a hot topic,” said Professor Alan Fern, who was one of those early hires, “and it is because of that decision that we have such a core strength in AI today.” Before the new graduate program was established, Oregon State students interested in artificial intelligence pursued degrees in computer science or electrical and computer engineering with an AI specialty. But this traditional structure posed challenges for top candidates with unconventional backgrounds — such as an undergraduate physics major largely self-taught in program- ming or AI — who faced hurdles in admissions, as well as remedial coursework requirements. Creating a new program meant being able to offer flexibility. Students can count relevant coursework from other disciplines toward a degree, making it easier for them go deeper into their research interests and to foster interdisciplinary partnerships. For example, researchers in microbiology and artificial intelligence are working on a project that uses a deep language model to better understand links between disease and human gut microbiomes. The result is graduates prepared to tackle complex real-world challenges that transcend the boundaries of traditional computer science. (See “AI in Our Orbit” on p. 40 for a sampling of Oregon State projects.) 1.OREGON STATE WAS THE FIRST UNIVERSITY IN THE NATION TO OFFER BOTH MASTER’S AND DOCTORAL DEGREES IN AI. W H E T H E R you see artificial intelligence as a game-changer, a cause for concern or just another tech buzzword, one thing is certain: AI is reshaping our world.And Beavers are play- ing a major role in that transformation — developing fundamental technology be- hind it, creating the chips that power it and pushing the boundaries of AI- driven robotics.To bring you up to speed (and supply you with bragging rights) we’ve rounded up six things you might not know about Oregon State and AI. But that’s not all. Keep reading for a crash course on what AI is, why it matters and how it’s changing education for today’s students.
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