AI Focus MS Computer Science Courses

[akonlinelearning]

Hello

 

Hope, you all are having great time. I am trying to get information on where should I target to apply for MS Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence as key focus. I have quite a bit of work experience in software development but not research experience. Sooner than later, would like to pursue PhD and research in AI. Since, I do not have exp in AI, I am thinking of joining an MS but get involved in AI research during that course so that can pursue research in that area.

 

Any help from the members in this group to know which universities should i apply?

 

It would be great to get some details of the AI relevant courses and what are the chances of admission...

 

Thanking you!

A

 

[compiler_guy]

A good place to start is:

 

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/artificial-intelligence-rankings

 

and

 

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings

 

Other than that, AI is a very large field so you probably would like to narrow down your interests to a specific sub-field or fields in order to refine your search.

[akonlinelearning]

Thanks for the information. As a matter of fact, my intention to delve into an MS first is to get into details of these sub branches of AI first. Which areas of AI look more promising...I have some inclination to Intelligent Systems and algorithms - having worked in different aspects of software architectures etc

[Iyer_CS]

Wanted to thank the OP & the responder to this thread. I'm also in a similar situation & looking for knowledge on AI-based research. If akonlinelearning or compiler_guy are reading at this response (on April - May 2014), please do let me know.

 

I want to understand how important is MATLAB or LISP in regards to AI-based programming. I have a strong programming (software development, coding-testing) background with over 10 years of industry experience; however, I've been away from college/schools/universities after my 4 year Bachelors in Computer Science Engineering (completed 2002). So any ideas or feedback on where I should focus so I can get into the AI Research field will help me a long way.

[moolriaz]

Hi,

 

I would recommend the masters programmes offered by the University of Edinburgh: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/informatics/postgraduate/msc/msc-ai

 

Under their AI degrees you can specialise in Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Robotics, or classical AI. There are enough courses offered in just one of these areas to constitute an entire masters (for example, there are 6 courses just on ML, 5 just on NLP etc). I have not seen a masters programme that is as comprehensive. The fees are also much more reasonable than what you may have to pay in the USA.

 

From my study in AI so far all I can say that statistics and machine learning are ubiquitous. The more mathematics and statistics you learn, the better. 

[Iyer_CS]

Hi moolriaz,

 

Thank you for the response. However, you seem to have responded to the OP - which was asked many months back. I posted on this thread with hopes of a response from the OP or anyone with some knowledge on AI. My question was related to how much a programming background will be helpful in conducting AI-based research. You may see my post from Apr 21 2014 just a bit above your reply.

[moolriaz]

It will of course be helpful. If you have 10 years of experience in programming, you're not going to have a problem implementing Matlab or LISP scripts. Research is going to be more about coming up with the algorithms, and implementing them is usually not the hard part. This isn't always true though because some problems require very efficient implementations to work with big data, and may require using clusters, servers, distributed algorithms, or rewriting core functions in C++. 

 

If you want to focus on something, focus on learning statistics, mathematics. Take a MOOC course on machine learning, as many as you can. Then decide which subarea of AI you'd be interested in, there are few MOOCS and course resources on things like NLP, vision, bioinformatics..

Edited April 22, 2014 by moolriaz

[Iyer_CS]

Thank you, moolriaz. Appreciate your time & guidance. You've given me a lot of ideas to work on; I feel like I've just discovered a trove of information by searching for MOOC. Previously, I was aware of: "ocw.mit.edu". I'm starting gathering info on Machine Learning as a first-step. 

[PhDerp]

Machine Learning is definitely the buzzword in AI right now. The department I'm heading to mentioned a ridiculous increase of applicants interested in that subfield alone (~3/4 of my visit-day cohort were there for ML). Also, it's wicked fun. Definitely look into basic AI and ML courses!

 

If you're background in probability isn't strong, take MIT's probability course. I think it's taught through their CS department. I looked at the material before, and it's good stuff; exactly what you need to get started down the AI path.
 

 

 

EDIT: I found a course for you, if you're interested: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-041sc-probabilistic-systems-analysis-and-applied-probability-fall-2013/

 

It's exactly what I was describing above. Check it out! And don't be intimidated by the big words; it's pretty simple, you just gotta get used to it. And definitely get the basics down pat. It makes the rest way easier if you're not second-guessing yourself every time you run into a conditional probability!

Edited April 23, 2014 by PhDerp

[Iyer_CS]

Thank you, PhDerp. I'm a good 2-3 months from travelling to Australia; so all of this info is definitely very helpful.