Northwestern will offer an artificial intelligence major for undergraduate students beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, the McCormick School of Engineering announced in a news release Monday.
Administered through the computer science department, the AI major will teach students “how intelligent systems are built, deployed, and used responsibly,” according to the release. The curriculum will explore aspects such as machine learning, natural language processing and AI systems, the release added.
The AI major will be available as a bachelor’s in science degree in engineering for all McCormick students, except those minoring in computer science or AI. Students enrolled in other schools can add it as a second major while remaining in their current school.
“The AI industry demands specific technical skills that differ from the core CS curriculum, drawing from fundamentals in sub-fields including computer vision, knowledge representation and reasoning, natural language processing, machine learning, and robotics,” McCormick Prof. Sara Owsley Sood, the AI major program director and associate chair for undergraduate education in McCormick, said in the release.
NU launched its AI minor, which is available to all students not pursuing a computer science major, in September 2024. While the minor requires 8 units excluding prerequisite courses, the major will require 18 units for non-McCormick students and 48 units — including core requirements — for McCormick students.
The major’s core faculty team will consist of five computer science professors, including McCormick Profs. Larry Birnbaum, David Demeter, Edith Elkind, Bryan Pardo and Zach Wood-Doughty.
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