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College of Engineering  ›  Electrical and Computer Engineering  ›  Academics  ›  MS in Artificial Intelligence Engineering  ›  MS in Artificial Intelligence Engineering, Standard Program

MS in Artificial Intelligence Engineering, Standard Program

Curriculum Requirements

The goal of the MS in Artificial Intelligence Engineering–Electrical and Computer Engineering degree is for students to gain exposure to the three domain pillars of artificial intelligence:

Producers—develop tools that go beyond black box and align with physical systems
Enablers—develop infrastructure needed to realize AI-engineered systems
Consumers—use and analyze AI/ML for domain applications

Students will achieve this via the following curriculum:

Students may count up to 27 project units toward their degree requirements.

42 units must be taken from the following College of Engineering Core Courses. One course must be completed from each of the four areas.

*Note that all MS AIE–ECE students must enroll in two Core Courses during their first semester in the program.

AI Systems

  • 18-763 Systems and Tool Chains for AI Engineering (12 units; Enablers)

Machine Learning

  • 18-661 Introduction to Machine Learning for Engineers (12 units; Producers)

Deep Learning

  • 18-780 Introduction to Deep Learning Part I (6 units; Producers) OR
  • 18-790 Introduction to Deep Learning and Pattern Recognition for Computer Vision Part I (6 units; Producers)

*Note that 18-780 is the first half of 18-786 (12 units) and 18-790 is the first half of 18-794 (12 units), so 18-786 or 18-794 satisfies the Deep Learning Core Requirement. The additional 6 units earned by taking 18-786 or 18794 may be counted toward Domain or General Elective Requirements. 

AI Ethics

  • 24-784 Trustworthy and Ethical AI Engineering (12 units)
36 total units must be taken from the following list of ECE AI Domain Courses beyond the Core, at least 12 of which must be from the Consumers Domain (this assures exposure to all domains via Core and Elective Courses).

Consumers Domain Elective Coursework (12 units required)

  • Data Analytics for the Semiconductor Industry (18-663)
  • Advanced Digital Signal Processing (18-792)
  • Image and Video Processing (18-793)
  • Speech Recognition and Understanding (18-781)

Remaining AI Domain Elective Units (24 units required)

  • Foundations of Computer Systems (18-613, Enablers) 
  • Hardware Arithmetic for Machine Learning (18-640, Enablers)
  • Optimization (18-660, Producers)
  • Principles and Engineering Applications of AI (18-662, Producers)
  • Advanced Probability & Statistics for Engineers (18-665, Producers)
  • Algorithms for Large-Scale Distributed Machine Learning and Optimization (18-667, Producers)
  • Applied Stochastic Processes (18-751, Producers)
  • Estimation, Detection, and Learning (18-752, Producers)
  • Information Theory Measures for Artificial and Natural Intelligence Systems (18-753, Producers)
  • Deep Generative Modeling (18-789, Producers)
  • Special Topics - Graph Signal Processing and Learning (18-898D, Producers)
  • Data Analytics for the Semiconductor Industry (18-663, Consumers)
  • Advanced Digital Signal Processing (18-792, Consumers)
  • Image and Video Processing (18-793, Consumers)
  • Speech Recognition and Understanding (18-781, Consumers)
  • MS Graduate Project - AIE (18-985, no domain)*
*Note: A maximum of 12 AI-related research project units (18-985) can be counted toward this 36-unit requirement. AI-related projects are specified by the research instructor and students will be registered for 18-985 by their advisor. 18-985 does not satisfy a specific domain (neither producers, consumers, nor enablers).

18 units of General Elective Courses must be taken as follows.

ECE Technical Elective 

  • 6 units must be fulfilled by any 18-6XX course or above. 

General Technical Elective

  • 12 units must be fulfilled by any course that is 600 level or above from the following approved departments.

*Please note: A maximum of 12 units of undergraduate coursework (XX-300 to XX-599) can qualify to be substituted toward the 18 units of General Elective Courses. Qualifying coursework must be offered by the same departments approved below.

College of Engineering

  • Electrical and Computer Engineering (18)
  • Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) (39)
  • Biomedical Engineering (42)
  • Chemical Engineering (06)
  • Civil & Environmental Engineering (12)
  • Engineering & Public Policy (19)
  • Information Network Institute (14)
  • Integrated Innovation Institute (49)
  • Materials Science & Engineering (27)
  • Mechanical Engineering (24)
  • CMU–Africa (04)

Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Statistics (36)
  • Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (86)
  • Heinz School of Information Systems (95)
  • Heinz College-Wide Courses (94)

Mellon College of Science (MCS)

  • Biological Sciences (03)
  • Chemistry (09)
  • Mathematical Sciences (21)
  • Physics (33)

School of Computer Science (SCS)

  • Computational Biology (02)
  • Computer Science (15)
  • Entertainment Technology Center (53)
  • Institute for Software Research (08)
  • Robotics Institute (16)
  • Human–Computer Interaction Institute (05)
  • Language Technologies Institute (11)
  • Machine Learning (10)
  • Software Engineering (17)

Tepper School of Business (TEP)

  • Tepper School of Business (45)

Additional courses outside of these programs that are approved to be counted toward General Technical Elective Coursework:

  • 46-926, 46-929
  • 47-830, 47-834
  • 51-882
  • 57-947, 57948
  • 80-713
  • 84-688
  • 85-705, 85-777
  • 90-756, 90-808
  • 93-711
  • 99-783

For students interested in pursuing a summer internship, 3 units of Internship for Electrical and Computer Engineering MS Students (18-994) may be used toward the 18 units of additional MS coursework.

1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies (18-989) must be taken.

This course must be completed in your first semester.

MS AIE–ECE students may count up to 27 project units toward their degree requirements as either Domain Elective or General Elective units. A maximum of 15 units of MS Graduate Project can be taken in any given semester.

A maximum of 12 project units can be applied to the ECE AI Domain unit requirement as 18-985. Students must get approval from the instructor that a project is appropriately AI-focused for it to fulfill domain unit requirements. Students can use the Student Project Tracker (SPT) website to apply for a project and work with their primary advisor for course approval and registration.

A maximum of 18 project units (but not to exceed 27 when combined with any domain project units) can be applied to the General Elective unit requirement as 18-980, 18-981, or 18-985. Students can use the Student Project Tracker (SPT) website to apply for a project and work with their primary advisor for course approval and registration.

*Please note that the Intensive Project Option is not available for MS AIE-ECE students.

Students who are pursuing the MS AIE–ECE degree cannot register for their final semester if they have already completed 120 units of coursework. These units include courses taken for audit, pass/no pass, and withdrawal.

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