A new Bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be offered by the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science (SES), starting in Fall 2026. The degree is a result of the passing of an Undergraduate Studies Committee review in a February 18 meeting, and will be provided by the Department of Computer Science, which is eventually going to be housed within the School of Computing.
The Stute discussed the AI degree’s curriculum with Dakota Van Deursen, Assistant Director within Core Engineering and Science Education in the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science, to learn about what courses students will need to take to graduate with this degree.
According to Van Deursen, there are three different upcoming Artificial Intelligence programs at the undergraduate level: the Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence major, and two Artificial Intelligence minors, one only for students in Computer Science (CS), Cybersecurity, and Quantitative Finance (QF), and the other for students not pursuing any of these disciplines.
The AI degree will provide a way for Stevens students to specialize in AI as industries shift towards using AI regularly in tasks. Moreover, the introduction of the two minors in AI, according to Van Deursen, “will help other students in other majors get to have a sort of first brush with AI, but I imagine this will provide students with a stronger foundation in those techniques, and also give them more context in the technical education aspect.”
Van Deursen outlined the required courses for obtaining the Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence at Stevens, term-by-term.
“Most of the first several terms, as with other programs—undergraduate programs in the School of Engineering and Science—are fairly basic. So, in Terms of 1 and 2, for example, you see a lot of the core math and HASS courses that are required,” said Van Deursen.
First-year students will generally take core math courses like MA 121, MA 122, MA 125, and MA 126. Core humanities courses include HASS 103 and HASS 105. Additionally, students are recommended to take Science I, a core science course, in the first term.
“In Term 3 is the first, like, AI-specific course. This is pretty standard also for undergraduate courses in SES, where in Term 3, there’s one course that’s offered that, like, is an introduction to the material. So, for example, BME [Biomedical Engineering] has an ‘Intro to BME’ course in Term 3. AI will have a new course called CS 367 that’s ‘Introduction to AI,’” explained Van Deursen. “And then that’s also the prerequisite for a couple of other of the AI-specific courses as well.”
Additionally, Term 3 includes the remaining science core courses, namely Science II and Science Lab.
According to Van Deursen, Term 4 will include a new course, CS 368, which will teach students about ‘Data Management and Privacy in AI.’ In Term 5, students will be able to choose between HST 381, HSSC 371, or HPL 455. Term 5 also consists of graduate-level courses like ‘Human-centered AI’ and ‘Machine Learning,’ both from the Department of Computer Science.
“The rest of the Terms are pretty much like the other programs within the CS department–very elective-heavy, both technical and general electives, and then also the humanities, are heavily weighted towards Terms 7 and 8,” said Van Deursen.
In addition to the general core courses and new AI courses, there is overlap with some courses from the Computer Science major.
The program also includes the SUCCESS (Stevens Undergraduate Core Curriculum: Essential Skills for Success) courses, which give students essential skills for college and life beyond, like technological literacy, informational literacy, communications, leadership, ethics, and more. The courses are: a ‘First-Year Experience’ course, the ‘Foundations’ series, and three ‘Frontiers of Technology’ courses.
When asked what class, if he were a student and could take any course in this program, he would take, he said, “I haven’t seen the syllabus for ‘Human-centered AI,’ but just from the name, it sounds like the one I’d be more interested in, because it seems to me, just from name alone, like it would interface more closely with some of the applications aspect, and how that works, like, how AI interfaces with humans. The ‘Intro to AI’ course would probably be the more reasonable one for me to start with, though, because I know nothing, and it would be more helpful to get me up to speed.”
According to Van Deursen, the AI program aligns with Stevens’ goals established in the 2032 Strategic Plan. As industries increasingly demand AI knowledge from employees, including college students and college graduates, introducing the major within the context of current events works to proactively prepare students for industry placement.
“I mean, as an alumnus, I’m excited to hear that there are new programs being introduced that are more in line and in keeping with some of the market trends,” said Van Deursen ‘19 M.S. ‘20.
