*This article is part of the series “Artificial Intelligence and Its Applications: Perspectives From Across Kent State,” highlighting the applications of AI in different fields and includes insights from students and faculty. Stay tuned for future articles covering topics such as law enforcement, manufacturing, healthcare, translation and design.
It’s hard to deny the integral role artificial intelligence (AI) plays in individuals’ lives and its impact across industries today.
According to DemandSage, ChatGPT, OpenAI’s popular AI language model, averages 123.5 million daily active users and processes over 1 billion queries per day. AI can be widely applied in nearly every industry, including healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, education and more.
Master's in AI
Kent State is working to equip its students with the knowledge they need to navigate this increasingly AI-driven world.
Mikhail Nesterenko, Ph.D., interim chair of the Computer Science Department, said undergraduate and graduate students can study concentrations in AI.
“Students take several courses in AI and that will make them better prepared for careers or research in this area,” Nesterenko said. “It’s a growing area of interest; there are plenty of places where artificial intelligence applies.”
The Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence dives deep into AI and prepares graduate students to work and research with emerging AI technologies. Graduates can apply their knowledge in industries such as healthcare, retail, biology and psychology, as well as in military and community settings.
Neha, who preferred to provide only her fist name, is a computer science doctoral candidate with a specialization in AI and a student of Arvind Bansal, Ph.D., coordinator of the Master of Science in AI, who teaches a core course and has previously taught database system design and big data analytics. Her dissertation revolves around kidney cancer and the use of image processing in MRI and CT scans.
Neha said students in the program must complete a core subject course, then an advanced course of their choice such as image processing, machine learning or deep learning. Then they can branch off into subjects such as big data analytics, data mining and business analytics.
Students use proxy servers provided through a grant from the Ohio Supercomputer Center to handle the computationally intensive requirements of the work they do.
One of the main focuses of the Master of Science in AI is to prepare students to work in the healthcare field, but Neha said alumni have also gone on to work in fields such as banking and robotics.
Neha said AI is advancing extremely fast and over the course of time the program has evolved from the use of basic neural networks to large language models (LLMs) such as Deepseek, with certain research groups solely focused on them.
“Overnight there is something new coming, and you cannot expect to have a coursebook for that,” Neha said. “Coursebooks can give an idea of where to start, but eventually you have to shift your mindset to exploring in the world and on the internet.”
Neha recommends students utilize resources like Medium, GitHub, Hugging Face and LinkedIn to keep up with news and trends in AI.
While Neha recommends students in the program rely on outside resources to succeed, she also credits the department’s efforts to keep in step.
“Our faculty is trying really hard to keep up with the pace,” Neha said. “[For example], we are talking about Deepseek in our department - about how we can use it and how we can build upon it.”
To learn more about the M.S. in AI, please visit https://www.kent.edu/cs/ms-degree-artificial-intelligence-ai.
Beyond the confines of the classroom, Kent State faculty and doctoral students are using their expertise to research and apply AI in specific practical applications. Learn more about these endeavors in future articles in this series coming soon!
This series of articles only scratches the surface of the applications of AI—we’d love to hear from you! Fill out the following survey to share how you use AI in your work: https://qualtricsxmzdylfvsq5.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dgxPLoD72Goc6eq
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