- The University of Pennsylvania has announced a new degree in AI.
- The program offers courses in AI algorithms, programming, and advanced robotics.
- Penn is the first Ivy League school to offer an engineering degree in AI.
University of Pennsylvania students will be able to officially major in AI starting this fall.
Penn announced a new AI program on Tuesday, the first of its kind in the Ivey family.
The program, called the Raj and Neela Singh Artificial Intelligence Program, is named after the owner of Telcom Ventures, LLC, a private communications investment company.
The program will begin this fall and will be available for transfer to students enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. Fall 2025 applicants will be able to apply directly to the program.
“Data, including AI, is a critical focus area for our strategic framework,” J. Larry Jameson, Interim President of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement, adding, “This new degree program will lead the development and deployment of “This represents a breakthrough for engineers at the University of Pennsylvania.” These powerful technologies serve humanity. ”
Robert Grist, Penn Engineering’s associate dean for undergraduate education, told BI that the major was developed during his last semester. However, over the past decade, engineering programs have further tailored their AI and AI course onboarding.
“This is really something that has evolved naturally over a long period of time,” Grist said.
BSE in AI offers courses in machine learning, computing algorithms, data analysis, and advanced robotics. The program so far has 59 courses focused on AI, including 31 electives listed on the curriculum site. Grist said those courses are already staffed, but the program will continue to add courses and utilize existing and new instructors.
Electives include self-driving racing cars, human-computer interaction, and brain-computer interfaces. In this program, students must choose a focus in either Machine Learning, Vision and Language, Data and Society, Robotics, or AI and Health Systems.
In addition to being the first Ivy League school to offer an AI degree, Penn is also the first to offer an AI engineering degree. Other schools offer similar programs, but most don’t list it as an undergraduate major, and none currently have an engineering program in AI.
Carnegie Mellon University was one of the first schools to launch an AI undergraduate program in 2018. However, their program offers a degree in AI computing, which is different from engineering.
Grist said Penn offers a blend of programs in electrical engineering and systems engineering, as well as computing and information science. He said this is a unique product that will allow people to enter various fields that utilize AI.
Several other schools, including MIT and Stanford, offer online AI certificates. Some graduate programs, such as Northwestern MBAi, combine AI courses with business.
“We’re training students for jobs that don’t yet exist, in fields that may be completely new or even revolutionary by the time they graduate,” says Penn Engineering Undergraduate Education. Associate Dean Robert Grist said in a statement announcing the program.
Penn State’s College of Engineering typically has 400 to 450 students. Grist said he expects that number to increase with the new major. According to Grist, the School of Engineering is particularly selective, and the acceptance rate is lower than the general admission rate of about 6%.
