2025-2026 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence
Requirements for the M.S. in Artificial Intelligence
The M.S. in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Grand Valley State University is an applied, industry-focused program designed to equip students with practical, hands-on experience and technical expertise, preparing them for high-impact roles in AI-driven sectors.
All candidates for the degree must complete a total of 33 credits, including the following:
- Core courses (12 credits)
- Tracks courses (12 credits)
- Electives (3 to 6 credits)
- Capstone (3 or 6 credits)
Students must complete at least three elective credits. Additional elective credits will be required if the project option is chosen to meet the capstone requirement (instead of the thesis option). In this case, up to six credits of electives may be needed. Any College of Computing 500 or 600 level course can be used as an elective toward the M.S. in Artificial Intelligence degree.
Note: If students have already completed 12 credit hours of 4xx/5xx dual-listed courses, they must not take additional 4xx/5xx dual-listed courses to fulfill the elective course requirement.
The College of Computing faculty work closely with our Computing Advisors to ensure that our curriculum pathways are clearly articulated to students entering the degree. During a student's time at GVSU, they are assigned a faculty advisor. Both advisor and faculty member are knowledgeable about the specific requirements of the major and can provide guidance to students through email, electronic, or in-person meetings to ensure a student is on track to graduate. In addition, our professional advisors have developed plans of study that show a pathway for students to complete their degree. Plans of study are robust, with unique pathways for the various math starting points in the major. Our advising staff also perform significant communication outreach to students through regular newsletter communications and engagement with students on electronic platforms like the Computing Student Discord.
Note: (*) Students are limited to 12 credits of courses that are dual-listed.
Core Courses
Students are required to complete 4 courses for a total of twelve credits:
Required:
- AI 501 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
- CIS 635 - Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (3 credits)
Choose 2 of the following:
- *AI 502 - Generative Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
- *AI 511 - AI Ethics and Bias (3 credits)
- *AI 545 - Machine Learning Operations (3 credits)
- CIS 678 - Machine Learning (3 credits)
- SE 511 - Introduction to Software Engineering (3 credits)
*Designates classes that are dual-listed courses.
Tracks
All candidates are required to complete one of the following tracks:
Choose a track and take 4 courses from that track.
Human Centered Artificial Intelligence
Required
Choose 3 of the following
- *AI 502 - Generative Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
- *AI 521 - Applied Computer Vision (3 credits)
- *AI 551 - Reinforcement Learning (3 credits)
- CIS 671 - Information Visualization (3 credits)
- *HCC 502 - User Experience Research (3 credits)
*Designates classes that are dual-listed courses.
Edge and Cloud Artificial Intelligence
Required
Choose 3 of the following
- *AI 521 - Applied Computer Vision (3 credits)
- CIS 654 - Computer Networking (3 credits)
- CIS 655 - Cloud Applications Development (3 credits)
- *SE 531 - Software Virtualization (3 credits)
*Designates classes that are dual-listed courses.
Artificial Intelligence Systems
Required
Choose 2 of the following
- *AI 502 - Generative Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
- *AI 521 - Applied Computer Vision (3 credits)
- *AI 531 - Natural Language Processing (3 credits)
- *AI 541 - Edge AI (3 credits)
- *AI 551 - Reinforcement Learning (3 credits)
- CIS 641 - Systems Analysis and Design (3 credits)
- SE 512 - Requirements Specification (3 credits)
- *SE 530 - Software Construction and Delivery (3 credits)
- *SE 536 - Data Analytics in Software Engineering (3 credits)
- *SE 537 - Software Quality Assurance (3 credits)
*Designates classes that are dual-listed courses.
Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence
Choose 4 of the following:
- *AI 511 - AI Ethics and Bias (3 credits)
- *CIS 518 - Secure Software Engineering (3 credits)
- CIS 616 - Data Security and Privacy (3 credits)
- CIS 619 - Data Analytics for Cybersecurity (3 credits)
- *CYB 520 - Trustworthy AI (3 credits)
*Designates classes that are dual-listed courses.
Elective Courses
Students must complete at least three elective credits. Additional elective credits will be required if the project option is chosen to meet the capstone requirement (instead of the thesis option). In this case, up to six credits of electives may be needed. Any College of Computing 500 or 600 level course can be used as an elective toward the M.S. in Artificial Intelligence degree. Note: If students have already completed 12 credit hours of 4xx/5xx dual-listed courses, they must not take additional 4xx/5xx dual-listed courses to fulfill the elective course requirement.
Capstone
Each candidate must complete either the three-credit project course, or the six-credit thesis sequence. Please contact the graduate program director one semester prior to starting any of these.
OR