Graduate Certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Military Use
Curricula 128 and 129
Computer Science Department, Naval Postgraduate School
Program Overview
Ø This is a four-course sequence offered by distance learning (videoconferencing) in four successive quarters or in residence at NPS. Courses earn graduate-school credit.
Ø The goal is provide military professionals and civilians with basic understanding of artificial-intelligence capabilities to enable good decisions on procurement, implementation, and application of artificial-intelligence technology.
Ø The focus is on the software concepts and technical details that can best support military operations and why.
Ø A Bachelor’s degree is required. No technical background is required beyond high-school algebra. However, students must be prepared to encounter some new mathematics. We send applicants a test with answers for them to check their mathematics knowledge themselves.
Ø Some laboratory exercises will use artificial-intelligence tools, but the curriculum will not require programming. However, students with programming experience can do projects using their knowledge.
Ø This curriculum supports the Federal Training and Development of Artificial Intelligence program.
Administrative Details
Ø Students apply for the program through the NPS Admissions Office.
Ø The first course is on video, and the students can watch it when they like; lectures for the subsequent courses will be given by Zoom or Teams videoconferencing software. They can be viewed while they are given (and questions will be fielded), but lectures will also be recorded for later viewing by those who cannot attend them. Lecture times are generally on weekday evenings around 2000 EDT. No travel is required for this program.
Ø The certificate program will generally be offered in four successive quarters starting in either the Spring quarter or the Fall quarter. The applicant should specify on their application when they want to start. We have maximum class sizes, so we may refer the applicant to a different start quarter than their proposed one.
Ø Completion of the four courses yields an Academic Certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Military Use.
o The certificate requires about 360 hours of total work over the four courses, including lectures, readings, homework, and test preparation.
o The courses total 14 graduate credit hours, 8 at the 3000 (introductory graduate) level, and 6 at the 4000 (advanced graduate) level. Four credit hours means four lecture hours per week plus around six hours outside class per week.
Ø Students must be in the U.S. military, be U.S. Federal government employees, or be students at the Naval Postgraduate School campus. Distance-learning students are in curriculum 128, and in-residence students are in curriculum 129.
Ø NPS distance learning programs are described at DL Programs. The NPS Admissions Office and admissions@nps.edu, can explain how to apply. Generally we need applications for admissions from October 1 through the middle of January to start in the Spring Quarter. There may be an additional offering starting in Fall quarter in some years.
Ø Tuition expected to be $3700 per course, except it is free for active-duty personnel in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine, and for students already admitted to the Naval Postgraduate School. A student must be sponsored by their organization and the organization must have a Student Support Agreement with NPS; contact sponsorededucation@nps.edu if you have questions.
Ø Admission is good for a period of three years. If a student must take a leave of absence due to deployment, medical, or other reasons, they should ask the Admissions Office to “pause” their program.
Ø The Computer Science Department at NPS offers many other programs.
Ø NPS offers the degree Master of Applied Computing (curriculum 367) that can be obtained by achieving several (three or four, depending on the programs) distance-learning certificates approved by the Computer Science Department (a list which includes the AI Certificate.
Ø Contact: Prof. Neil Rowe, ncrowe@nps.edu, (831) 656-2462, (831) 373-1732.
Ø Online copy of this document
Courses in the Certificate Program
Ø First quarter: CS4000 (0-2), Harnessing Artificial Intelligence. This is a broad overview intended to answer the most frequent questions about AI. It can be taken alone if a certificate is not desired. It is taught by many different professors, and involves two hours a week. It has weekly exercises and a final report is required. It is delivered by videos and does not meet at a scheduled time. Instructions for completing the course will be mailed to registered students in the first week of the quarter.
Ø The remaining three courses are traditional graduate courses that have homework, tests, and projects.
Ø Second quarter: CS3331 (4-0), Basics of Applied Artificial Intelligence. Basics of artificial-intelligence concepts illustrated with military examples. Topics include knowledge representation, logical reasoning, probabilistic reasoning, heuristic search, agent-based systems, and social artificial intelligence.
Ø Third quarter: CS3332 (4-0), Applied Machine Learning. Survey of machine-learning techniques of artificial intelligence with a particular focus on military applications. Topics include types of machine learning, training and testing of machine learning, data preparation, decision trees, Bayesian reasoning, linear models, neural networks, case-based reasoning, and reinforcement learning. Each method will be related to important military and government applications.
Ø Fourth quarter: CS4333 (4-0), Current Directions in Artificial Intelligence. A survey of currently important topics in artificial intelligence. Topics include big-data management, advanced topics in neural networks, adversarial machine learning, explainability, testing and verification of artificial-intelligence systems, ethics and privacy issues in artificial intelligence, and other legal issues in artificial intelligence.