Program Overview

Foundations of Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate

The 12-credit Graduate Certificate in Foundations of Artificial Intelligence prepares students for work as AI engineers who analyze, identify, architects, design, and implement AI systems using various techniques.

Program Description

This stackable certificate, embedded within the Master of AI program, helps students master the following skills essential to an AI engineering role:

• Understand how AI works, from intelligent agents to reinforcement learning and more
• Identify problems and develop proofs of concept for AI solutions
• Use Python to analyze and visualize complex data sets
• Build and train machine learning models on large data sets to perform tasks such as classification, forecasting, object detection, automation, and self-adaptation
• Design solutions based on machine learning, computer vision, natural language understanding, search and planning, agent systems, and reinforcement and deep learning techniques
• Identify ethical concerns and establish standards and parameters to provide accountability for AI systems to function fairly and ethically

Career Opportunities

This certificate can prepare students for roles such as:

• AI engineer
• AI researcher
• Data scientist
• Data analyst

Courses

The certificate consists of the following courses:

• A-I 801 - Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
• STAT 500 - Applied Statistics
• IE/DAAN 575 - Foundations of Predictive Analytics (Prerequisite: A-I 500 - Quantitative Methods or STAT 500)
• DAAN 862 - Analytics Programming in Python (Prerequisite: STAT 500)

Completion Requirements

Students can earn this certificate in less than one year or complete it at their own pace. All courses must be completed with a minimum grade of C or better and an overall GPA of 3.0.

Stackable Certificate or Stand-alone Credential

Students may earn this certificate by itself, or they can apply the courses toward a Master of Artificial Intelligence if they apply to the master's program and are accepted. This stackable certificate offers students a valuable credential that shows their new expertise as they progress toward their master's degree.

Transfer Credits

Up to 15 credits earned in any of the AI graduate certificate programs may be transferred to the Master of Artificial Intelligence, subject to restrictions outlined in GCAC-309 Transfer Credit.

Digital Badge

Once students earn their certificate, they will receive a digital badge that they can display to recognize their professional growth. After successfully completing the required coursework, students must submit the Graduate Certificate Completion Form.

Prerequisites and Application

To apply, students must complete the prerequisite math and programming coursework:

• Calculus I (equivalent to Penn State's MATH 140)
• One semester of probability or statistics
• One semester of linear algebra
• Two introductory-level programming courses, both in the same language

If students believe their work experience satisfies the programming requirement, they must include a recommendation letter from a technical colleague describing their coding contributions at work.

Prep Courses

If students have not met these math and programming prerequisite courses, low-cost, non-credit online prep modules are available to provide a strong practical foundation. Based on their academic experience, program advisors will recommend the most suitable modules for students.