Professional MS in AI Degree Requirements

This degree is currently not available for international students due to federal document processing limitations.

TheGraduate School provides general requirements for the Master of Science in all departments at CU 91Ҹ. The following requirements specifically pertain to students pursuing a Master of Science in the Department of Computer Science. It supplements the Graduate School requirements; in all cases not specifically mentioned below, the general Graduate School requirements are understood to apply.

Introduction

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the definitive technological development of our time, and higher education must step up to provide professional training in this area for our students. The Professional MS in Artificial Intelligence program (MSAIP) will launch in fall 2027.

Overview

The Professional Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAIP) is a professional degree that prepares engineers, applied scientists and technical professionals for career advancement in advanced technical and technical leadership roles in the rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence engineering. The core curriculum addresses a breadth of areas central to AI engineering expertise including machine learning, statistical learning, data mining and ethics.

Degree Description

The Professional Master of Science in AI is designed for professionals and recent college graduates looking to advance their careers by furthering their knowledge and skill set in the field of artificial intelligence. This professional master's degree can be earned on campus or online. The residential MSAIP will serve students on the 91Ҹ campus, while the online MSAI will expand access to education in artificial intelligence through a fully online, asynchronous professional master’s degree hosted on Coursera.

The residential MSAIP, with a planned start date of fall 2027, will feature an analogous set of courses based on existing courses primarily taught by faculty members from computer science with courses from applied mathematics and information science available as electives.

Degree Structure

To earn the master’s degree, students must complete the designated 30 credits of graduate-level courses with at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

To earn the master’s degree, students must complete the graduate program within four years.

Degree Requirements

While pursuing the residential course based MS degree in AI, you must complete total 30 credits of graduate level coursework with the following requirements:

Core Requirements

Core requirements are designed to accommodate students from a wide variety of academic backgrounds while ensuring that all students gain a common core of knowledge. Students are recommended to complete the core requirement in the first year. All students must earn a B or better in these courses.

Students must complete the following breadth requirement for a total of 12 credit hours. Three credit hours will come from three 1-credit hour courses in AI Ethics, AI Toolkits and AI Professional Skills.

  • CSCI 5622 Machine Learning (3 credit)
  • CSCI 5922 Neural Networks and Deep Learning (3 credit)
  • CSCI 5942 AI Engineering: Building, Scaling, and Deploying Large-Scale Models (3 credit)
  • CSCI 5XXX AI Professional Readiness - AI Ethics, AI Toolkits, and AI Professional Skills (3 credit)

Computer Science Depth Requirements

Students must complete 12 credit hours from the following depth course list. All students must earn a B or better in these courses. Select four 3-credit classes from the list below.

  • CSCI 5202 Introduction to Robotics
  • CSCI 5302 Advanced Robotics
  • CSCI 5322 Algorithmic Human-Robot Interaction
  • CSCI 5352 Network Analysis and Modeling
  • CSCI 5434 Probability for Computer Science
  • CSCI 5502 Data Mining
  • CSCI 5722 Computer Vision
  • CSCI 5832 Natural Language Processing
  • CSCI 5932 Deep Reinforcement Learning
  • CSCI 6414 Information Theory, Statistical Inference, and Experimental Design
  • CSCI 6712 Data-Centric Computer Vision
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (Neuro-Symbolic NLP)
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (NLP for Cultural Analytics)
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (Deep Language Understanding)
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (Systems for Machine Learning)
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (Geospatial and Statistical Machine Learning)
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (Vision Language Models for Robotics)
  • CSCI 7000 Special Topics in Computer Science (Physical Human-Robot Interaction)
  • CSCI 7314 Seminar on Algorithmic Economics and Machine Learning
  • APPM 5490 Theory of Machine Learning
  • APPM 5720 Open Topics in Applied Mathematics (Convex Optimization)
  • ECEN 5672 Digital Image Processing
  • ECEN 5772 Digital Video

Non-CS Electives

Students must complete six credit hours in addition to the core and CS depth requirements. Electives are not required to be selected from the depth course list. These credits must be 5000-level and above and offered through CU main campus.

To complete the degree requirements, students must complete 30 credits of course hours, according to the course requirements listed above. The following rules apply:

  • You must earn a B or better grade in the ethics class and all core and CS-elective courses.
  • Your Plan of Study must be approved by your academic advisor.

Transfer Credit

Master's students may request a maximum of nine credit hours taken at another university or within CU (either taken as a non-degree student or taken as a non-CS student) to be transferred. All transfer requests must have departmental approval; please reach out to your graduate advisor for steps on how to request review of credits. You will need your syllabi, unofficial copy of your transcript, and a confirmation that the classes have not been used towards any other degree (bachelor’s or higher).

Students may not transfer from the Coursera to the residential degree, or vice versa.

The Department of Computer Science will consider petitions from students currently admitted to various residential MS degrees in the Department of Computer Science to the newly proposed residential MS in AI degree after the degree is launched. The criteria for approving transfers will include the following information to be reviewed by the graduate committee: academic background, grades, statements of purpose, letters of recommendation, and work experience. Additionally, transfer courses will be evaluated by the graduate committee of the Department of Computer Science in collaboration with the faculty of record teaching the relevant classes.

Plan of Study

Students will be expected to submit a plan of study, in consultation with their departmental advisor, during their second semester of study. Changes to the plan of study must be approved by the advisor.

The MS AI degree is a professional MS degree, which is a course-based degree. As such, it does not offer the option to do a thesis or independent study research.

The Graduate School requires that to receive a master's degree a student must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 in all courses taken as a graduate student.

Advising

Please check thestaff directory to see who your advisor is. The person in this role serves as their academic advisor throughout a student’s academic program. Students consult with their advisor to plan their course of study.

Adequate Progress

Any student who does not enroll for any coursework relevant to computer science in any one semester (summer semesters excluded) must supply the department with a written statement describing the reasons for such inactivity and the student's current intentions concerning work towards the degree. This statement must be received by the department by the end of the eighth week of the semester in question. Failure to do so will be regarded as evidence of a lack of interest in continuing in the program. Similarly, any student who does not enroll for any computer science coursework for three consecutive semesters (summer semesters excluded) will be regarded as showing a lack of interest in continuing in the program. In either case, the student may be asked to explain to the department why the student should not be removed from the degree program, with the department making the final decision on the removal.

Grades

The Graduate School requires that to receive a master's degree, a student must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in all courses taken as a graduate student. No grade lower than a C can be counted toward the master's degree. No grades lower than B can be counted towards the ethics and breadth requirements.

Time Limit

All requirements for the course-based MS degree must be completed within four years of the start of course work.

Switching to the 91Ҹ-Based Computer Science MS

You may switch to the research-based computer science MS degreefor genuine academic reasons on a case-by-case basis via petition to the Graduate Committee and upon recommendation from the faculty member willing to supervise/advise the research work. This can happen only once during your academic tenure at CU 91Ҹ. You may not switch during the term you plan to graduate. Your last term officially begins after the census date of the prior term.

We do not offer a research-based MS option within the MS-AI degree program. Since the requirements of the two degrees are different, students will have to follow the MS-CS research based degree requirement to the fullest if they decide to switch. No petitions for exemptions will be entertained.

Process you request for the switch:

  • Look for a faculty advisor who is willing to be your research advisor. Students have many opportunities to make connections with the faculty, such as pre-research advising sessions (in Fall), research expos, research talks, attending that faculty's class, etc.
  • Reach out to the faculty and discuss your plans.
  • Faculty advisor emails the research grad advisor their letter of support and requests for your switch.
  • Student then fills out the petition form and uploads this form to the online petition when submitting. They must upload the faculty advisor's letter with their petition.

Academic Standards

Minimum Grades & GPA Requirements

Students must complete a total of 30 credit hours of approved graduate level coursework with a grade of C or better and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00.

Any student, who fails to maintain a 3.00 grade point average or to make adequate progress toward completing a degree, as assessed by the student’s academic/research advisor, will be subject to suspension or dismissal from the Graduate School upon consultation with the major department. The final decision on suspension or dismissal will be made by the Dean of the Graduate School. See theGraduate School Rules for additional information.

Incomplete (I) Grades

An incomplete (I) grade is given only when students, for documented reasons, beyond their control, have been unable to complete course requirements in the semester enrolled. A substantial amount of work must have been satisfactorily completed before approval of such a grade is given. The final grade (earned by completing the course requirements or by retaking the course) does not result in the deletion of the (I) from the transcript. A second entry is posted on the transcript to show the final grade for the course. At the end of one year, (I) grades for courses that are not completed or repeated are regarded as (F) and are shown as such on the student’s transcript. Courses with grades of (I) are not included in the computation of grade point averages until a final letter grade has been awarded in that course.

Graduation Checklist

The following Graduate School forms must be submitted to the Computer Science Department for approval.

Important: Check the Graduate School deadlines prior to the start of the semester.

  • Apply to Graduate.Students must apply through the to graduate. This notifies the Graduate School and your department that you intend to graduate. If you do not complete the requirements for graduation, you must log back in and re-apply to graduate for the new graduation date. You must apply to graduate online whether or not you plan to attend the ceremony.
  • Candidacy Application for Advanced Degree

Professional Internship Credit

The Department of Computer Science has the option of completing three credits of professional internship credit (CSCI 6930) and count these toward your degree requirements.More information on the Professional Internship credit. These credits count toward the elective requirements.