Iowa Board of Regents approves artificial intelligence degree program for Iowa State

A new artificial intelligence graduate degree program at Iowa State University will be the first of its kind in the state. The Iowa Board of Regents approved the two-year master's of science degree program Thursday through consent agenda after being presented with the program Wednesday in committee. The graduate program is expected to begin this fall. Hridesh Rajan, a professor and chairperson of ISU's Department of Computer Science, said the new program seeks to produce graduates that can work on building and enhancing components of artificial intelligence -- not only to be able to understand and make practical use of machine learning and big data, but also be able to communicate the capabilities and limitations of AI. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the study of techniques that help incorporate intelligence into software, Rajan said.