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Majors & Degrees

DSU to offer advanced AI degrees

April 4, 2024

MADISON, S.D., April 4, 2024 – Dakota State University is elevating its emerging technology offerings with advanced degrees in Artificial Intelligence.

DSU has offered AI bachelor’s degrees for three years. On April 4, the S.D. Board of Regents approved a master’s degree in AI, which will be offered beginning this fall, both online and on-campus. Recently, the M.S. in Analytics degree was expanded to include analytics and applied AI (MSAA).

“Technology is moving forward at an ever-accelerating pace, and while it is useful, we need to keep the human in the loop,” said Dr. Rebecca Hoey, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs. “Governments, businesses, organizations, and citizens need highly-trained individuals with the knowledge and skills to develop artificial intelligence that will increase efficiency and productivity, improve safety and security, and enhance the human condition in an ethical manner.’   

DSU’s MSAI graduate program will provide these foundations for students to be successful and agile at the state, national, and international levels by introducing them to the core foundations of AI. This will allow them to create practical applications for various industry and academic purposes.

Because the MSAI degree will be the only one of its kind in the state, and one of a few in the region, it will also help build South Dakota’s technology industry, and keep graduates in the state to work as machine learning engineers, data analysts, data scientists or researchers, and software engineers.

A large number of graduates can benefit from this program of study. While there is a technical component necessary for this program of study, requiring some background in programming and mathematics, it also offers an option to those who may have bachelor’s degrees from an Arts & Sciences field, such as Philosophy, Social Sciences, or Linguistics. This will allow students to apply AI to fields related to their backgrounds, and will expand the benefits of AI to numerous industries, including business, agri-business, leadership, and healthcare.