On April 30th, the University of Pennsylvania announced the launch of a new graduate programme in artificial intelligence. It’s the first graduate programme among Ivy League universities of this kind. The School of Engineering and Applied Science said that the programme will be offered online and it will be available to students worldwide.
Who are Raj and Neera Singh?
The programme is named the Raj and Neera Singh programme in Artificial Intelligence Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in AI. The first classes will commence in the spring of 2025 and the applications will open next month.
Raj and Neera Singh are philanthropists and visionaries in technology. They are the principal owners of a private investment firm called Telcom Ventures. Their successful business and generosity makes supporting the infrastructure of this programme possibly.
The curriculum focuses on granting students the necessary skills in practical application and ethical foundation. It will equip students with the required mathematical knowledge and algorithmic foundation to build exceptional AI systems.
“Our new master’s programme meets a critical need for AI engineers with advanced degrees who can harness the power of these transformative technologies in positive and beneficial ways.” “Thanks to the generosity of Raj and Neera Singh, Penn Engineering’s B.S.E. in Artificial Intelligence programme, we are preparing the next generation of engineers to create a society where AI isn’t just a tool, but a fundamental force for good to advance society in ways previously unimaginable.”
says Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering.
University of Pennsylvania coursework
The coursework will cover natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), statistics and other related topics. Additionally, it will cover topics about hardware requirements like GPU accelerated computing. Experts from the faculty of engineering will teach students how to harness the power of GPUs for various AI applications. Moreover, the course will teach students how to build AI applications ethically.
The associate professor in computer and information science at Penn engineering and the expert in AI, Chris Callison-Burch, will lead the programme.
“AI is one of the most important areas in technology today. It’s generating an incredible amount of enthusiasm and a massive amount of investment. With this programme, our goal is to educate a new generation of engineers who have the skills to analyze trends as they emerge — not only from the technological perspective, but also from the societal and ethical perspective.”
says Callison-Burch
Students will have the ability to learn and study at their own time and pace since the programme will have an asynchronous model for the courses. The programme is designed for remote students, with a busy schedule and different time zones. Two months ago, Penn engineering introduced an undergraduate programme in artificial intelligence. The undergraduate programme will start the first cohort in the fall of 2024.
