Master's in Artificial Intelligence Programs in Virginia

“Silicon Valley of the East.” That’s the moniker Virginia is earning, with 21,000+ tech businesses and counting. The Dulles tech corridor has attracted businesses for years—and the local traffic shows it!

Conveniently located next to DC and Maryland, Virginia still needs to boost its AI academics from just four master’s programs (two at Virginia Tech, one at George Mason University, and one at Hampton University).

If you’re looking for a rewarding future in artificial intelligence, check out these education opportunities in the Old Dominion itself, Virginia.

The Artificial Intelligence Landscape in Virginia

Neighboring Washington, DC, it’s no surprise that Virginia is investing heavily in artificial intelligence. In fact, Virginia’s state IT agency is evangelizing the benefits of AI across the state.

The Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA) offers AI as a service to other state agencies to bring the power of predictive analytics, decision support, and operation management.

It doesn’t stop there though. Take a look at some other AI areas that Virginia is investing in heavily:

• The Department of Veterans Affairs just recently launched the National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII), the “preeminent organization for artificial intelligence research, implementation, policy, and collaboration.” They’re looking to build partnerships across governments, institutions, and communities to spread the power of AI throughout the nation. The NAII will leverage the largest genomic patient database for advanced medical research.
• Commonwealth Cyber Initiative faculty are writing the playbook on “trust and AI.” They’re working closely with Virginia Tech graduates on assurance projects across the state related to public policy, agriculture, cybersecurity, and economics.
• Virginia Tech and Amazon have partnered to bring student-led development and implementation of innovative approaches to machine learning. As part of this endeavor, faculty can submit machine learning research projects and collaborate with multiple federal agencies and global companies on AI-led initiatives.
• The Virginia Department of Transportation is looking to AI to help alleviate traffic in congested areas. And they’ll need an advanced workforce to help them do it!

Artificial Intelligence Education in Virginia

There are plenty of excellent and diverse AI graduate opportunities in Virginia.

Virginia State University was one of five historically Black college universities in the nation to be awarded $200,000 to support health-related and STEM projects. Earning an MS in Computer Science here will prepare you for a career in AI.

You can earn your Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Fairfax University of America. This rigorous program combines fundamental theory with cutting-edge technology trends. Students can also earn “micro-credentials” in related topics like robotics, process automation, and AWS machine learning.

Compete in a hackathon at George Mason University! You can apply for the MS in Computer Science with an emphasis in artificial intelligence, where in addition to AI you’ll learn visual computation and machine learning.

Study at the world-renowned Virginia Tech, where they continually invest in AI research. Their industry-leading researchers and faculty are at the forefront of this new frontier. With federal funding, and global and corporate partnerships, Virginia Tech is poised to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Here are a few of the cool things happening there:

• Virginia Tech was one out of ten universities selected to compete in the Alexa TaskBot Challenge 2, where students compete to develop an advanced conversation agent. The winning students take-home? $500,000.
• The Center for Future Workplaces and Practices recently received funding to research and design workspaces of the future, where technology and productivity align.
• This Virginia Tech researcher is using AI and biomechanical data to detect injuries. The Orthopedic Mechanobiology Laboratory has received over $6M in research funding, using clinical ultrasound images to train computers to detect injuries before the human eye can.
• The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute developed an open-access tool to help governments, industries, and researchers develop automated vehicles. This tool allows vehicle manufacturers to analyze driving environments in any city.

Virginia Tech offers several graduate degrees such as the MS in Engineering – Computer Engineering, which provides all the fundamentals of computer science with an emphasis on machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision. Or study to earn your MS in Engineering – Computer Science.

Hampton University’s School of Science also offers an MS in Computer Science with specializations in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and computational intelligence.

Interested in taking the next step on your AI Journey? Check out more great programs below!