In the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department, the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) is a STEM program with two options: thesis and non-thesis. A thesis degree is a research degree, meaning a thesis and final examination (thesis defense) are required. A non-thesis degree is a professional, terminal degree and does not include a thesis, project or final examination.
Currently, only the non-thesis option is slated for remote or online learning.
Advisory Committee
Non-thesis advisory committee
The default advisory committee (actually, the chair) for non-thesis students is our department's graduate advisor. If you are a non-thesis student, you meet with your advisory chair before filing your degree plan.
Thesis advisory committee
If you are a thesis student, you must select an advisory committee chair from the department’s graduate faculty. Note that IF you want a chair who does NOT have an appointment with our department, your committee must have two co-chairs, one who is a member of our department’s graduate faculty and the one you selected from another department’s faculty.
You and your chair work together to select the remainder of your advisory committee. Your advisory committee for the MSAI degree consists of at least three members from the Texas A&M University graduate faculty (your chair counts as a member). Most are from our department, and at least one member is from another or an outside department. Note that all faculty members with full joint appointments in our department are considered departmental faculty when evaluating the composition of your committee. Faculty who hold courtesy appointments count as outside members of the committee. Our graduate advising office can provide you with information on which faculty hold joint appointments.
Your advisory committee can have supplemental members who are not members of the Texas A&M graduate faculty and do not count when evaluating the composition of your committee. These supplemental members are usually added because they have some special expertise that is relevant to your research topic. Such members are added by “special appointment” requests. Check with our graduate advising office for more information.
Once you and your chair agree on a tentative advisory committee, you will meet with each prospective committee member to determine whether this committee assignment is agreeable and then file your degree plan.
Degree Plan
Complete your degree plan in consultation with your chair and committee (thesis degree) or with your chair (non-thesis degree).
Two of the following prerequisite courses are required for both degrees. If you are an incoming student and do not have these courses or an equivalent, take them in your first semester. The courses will be applied toward your elective hours.
- CSE Prerequisite:
- CSCE 411 (Analysis of Algorithms) or equivalent
- STAT Prerequisite (one of the following):
- STAT 436 (Multivariate Analysis and Statistical Learning)
- STAT 438 (Bayesian Statistics)
- STAT 601 (Statistical Analysis)
- STAT 608 (Regression Analysis)
- STAT 638 (Introduction to Applied Bayesian Methods)
Six hours (two courses) of the following core courses list are required for both degrees and must be passed with a grade of B or better.
- CSCE 625 Artificial Intelligence
- CSCE 633 Machine Learning
Nine hours (three courses) for the thesis degree or 15 hours (five courses) for the non-thesis degree are required from the following prescribed AI electives list.
- CSCE 636 Deep Learning
- CSCE 630 Speech Processing
- CSCE 635 AI Robotics
- CSCE 638 Natural Language Processing: Foundations and Techniques
- CSCE 642 Deep Reinforcement Learning
- CSCE 666 Pattern Analysis
- CSCE 676 Data Mining and Analysis
- CSCE 752 Robotics and Spatial Intelligence
- CSCE 753 Computer Vision and Robot Perception
- Additional special topics (CSCE 689) courses may be designated among the prescribed AI electives. (The Graduate Advising office will maintain a list of these.)
Nine hours (generally 3 courses) of additional graded graduate level (numbered 600 or higher) can be chosen as electives.
- Elective courses should be chosen to support the AI focus of the degree, either through AI-related topics or an application area of AI. Elective courses are subject to approval by the graduate advising office.
- 400-level courses may be taken as part of these elective courses only if being used to meet the prerequisite requirement. Students needing the CSE prerequisite should generally take CSCE 629 instead of CSCE 411.
- For non-thesis students, 3 credits of CSCE 685 (Directed Studies) may be used. Other than that, no 681, 684, 685, or 691 credits may be used.
- For thesis students, NO 681, 684, 685, or 691 credits may be used toward elective hours.
For thesis students only:
- You are required to take 3-6 credit hours of CSCE 691 (Research)
- You may take up to three credit hours of CSCE 685 (Directed Studies). Note: the combination of 685 and 691 courses cannot exceed seven credit hours.
For both degrees, this should total at least 30 credit hours.
Courses That Cannot Be Used on Any Degree Plan
- In CSCE, we do not allow 601, 602, 603, 701, 705, 706, 707, 708 and 709.
- In ECEN, we do not allow 714 and 749.
- In STAT, we do not allow 624 and 654.
- In MATH, we do not allow 679.
- In CYBR, we do not allow 601.
- In ISTM, we do not allow 601.
- Any course that contains material required of our undergraduate computer science (CPSC) or computer engineering majors.
- CSCE undergraduate courses 481, 482 and 483.
Other Degree Plan Information
- If you took CSCE 420 while a Texas A&M undergraduate and received a B or better, you should not take CSCE 625. Instead, take an additional prescribed elective class.
- If you took CSCE 421 while a Texas A&M undergraduate and received a B or better, you should not take CSCE 633. Instead, take an additional prescribed elective class.
- For stacked courses: If you have credit for an undergraduate class, you cannot get credit for the graduate class, except via Fast Track.
When a graduate and undergraduate course is stacked, graduate students must take the graduate course in the stacked pair. If there are seats in the undergraduate section but not in the graduate section, you should contact the graduate advising office to request that a seat be reallocated. Reallocation can be requested but will have to be approved. Not all reallocations may be approved.
- The common stacked pairs are:
- 402/702 (always stacked)
- 410/611 (sometimes stacked)
- 411/629 (sometimes stacked)
- 413/713 (always stacked)
- 421/633 (always stacked)
- 433/627 (always stacked)
- 435/735 (always stacked)
- 440/640 (sometimes stacked)
- 445/656 (always stacked)
- 447/679 (sometimes stacked)
- 448/748 (always stacked)
- 451/652 (always stacked)
- 452/752 (always stacked)
- 463/612 (always stacked)
- 465/765 (sometimes stacked)
- 469/614 (sometimes stacked)
- 477/703 (always stacked)
- Texas A&M undergraduates can receive credit for both courses in an undergrad/grad course pair under Fast Track.
- Prerequisites listed for CSE graduate coursework are given to inform you of the knowledge you are expected to have to be successful in the graduate course. While our department does not block registration based on prerequisites for graduate courses, you are still responsible for ensuring you are prepared to meet course prerequisites. If you have concerns regarding preparation for a particular class, you should contact the graduate course instructor for more information regarding expectations.
CSCE 684 Hours
- Any international student who wishes to go on curricular practical training must have one credit hour for each semester they are on the internship of CSCE 684 on their degree plan. Any CSCE 684 hours are in addition to the required total credit hours of the degree plan.
- If you are an international student, we recommend you place at least one credit hour of CSCE 684 on your degree plan when you submit it. This way, if you receive an internship offer, you will not be rushing to have 684 added to your degree plan.
- Domestic students do not need to register when they are on an internship. However, if they are gone for a year without registering, they must apply for a leave of absence. Otherwise, they will need to reapply for admission.