Artificial Intelligence as a Second Major for non-McCormick Students

Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.

Double-counting note: Weinberg College prohibits double-counting a major course (those identified as program courses, below) toward some other major or minor, except where this is explicitly permitted in this catalog. Weinberg College allows double-counting a related course (see below) for a major toward some other major or minor. Weinberg College does allow double-counting a major course and related courses for a major toward a general bachelor's degree requirement (i.e. degree requirements other than majors or minors). Other programs or schools may have their own restrictions that supersede this, so check the relevant parts of this catalog for possible limits.  Here are more detail on double count rule - Double-Counting Rules for Non-WCAS Students.

Program Courses (19 units)

Course Title
7 required courses:
COMP_SCI 150-0Fundamentals of Programming and Computational Problem Solving
or GEN_ENG 150-0 Programming for Engineers
or GEN_ENG 151-0 Honors Programming for Engineers
COMP_SCI 180-0Software Design & Composition
or COMP_SCI 111-0 Fundamentals of Computer Programming
COMP_SCI 208-0Data Structures & Algorithms (Formerly Comp_Sci 214)
COMP_SCI 211-0Programming in Systems-Level Languages
COMP_SCI 212-0Math Foundations of CS Part 1: Discrete Math for CS
COMP_SCI 348-0Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
COMP_SCI 349-0Machine Learning
5 breadth courses
1 societal impact course
6 technical electives
Related Courses (Units depend on mathematics sequence taken.)
Mathematics
Probability and Statistics
Physics or biological sciences courses are recommended to satisfy the Weinberg College natural sciences distribution requirement.
1

See general requirements for details.

2

Scores of 4 or 5 on the AP CS A exam or scores of 5, 6, or 7 on the IB CS HL exam transfer to Northwestern as COMP_SCI 1CA.

Breadth Courses

Domain Area requirements (students must take one course in five of the six categories)

Advanced ML/NLP

Course Title
COMP_SCI 337-0Natural Language Processing: Classical Approaches
COMP_SCI 449-0Deep Learning
COMP_SCI 461-0Large Language Models
IEMS 351-0AI-Enabled Sequential Decision Making

Theoretical Foundations

Course Title
COMP_SCI 332-0Online Markets
COMP_SCI 336-0Design & Analysis of Algorithms
COMP_SCI 496-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Foundations of Reliable Machine Learning)
COMP_SCI 496-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Theoretical Foundations of Data Science)

Symbolic AI

Course Title
COMP_SCI 325-0Artificial Intelligence Programming
COMP_SCI 344-0Design of Computer Problem Solvers
COMP_SCI 371-0Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
COMP_SCI 396-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Declarative Programming for Game AI)
COMP_SCI 396-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Reasoning and Planning in the Foundation Model Era)
COMP_SCI 496-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Agent AI)
COMP_SCI 496-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Logic in AI)

Software and Systems Engineering for AI

Course Title
COMP_SCI 303-0Full Stack Software Engineering
COMP_SCI 310-0Scalable Software Architectures
COMP_SCI 358-0Introduction to Parallel Computing
or COMP_ENG 358-0 Introduction to Parallel Computing
COMP_SCI 368-0Programming Massively Parallel Processors with CUDA
or COMP_SCI 468-0 Programming Massively Parallel Processors with CUDA
or COMP_ENG 368-0 Programming Massively Parallel Processors with CUDA
or COMP_ENG 468-0 Programming Massively Parallel Processors with CUDA
COMP_SCI 394-0Agile Software Development
ES_APPM 344-0High Performance Scientific Computing

Systems that Interact with Humans

Course Title
COMP_SCI 317-0Sports, Technology and Learning
COMP_SCI 329-0HCI Studio
COMP_SCI 330-0Human Computer Interaction
COMP_SCI 333-0Interactive Information Visualization
COMP_SCI 347-0Conversational AI
or COMP_SCI 447-0 Conversational AI
COMP_SCI 396-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing)
or COMP_SCI 496-0 Special Topics in Computer Science
COMP_SCI 497-0Special Projects in Computer Science (Explanation and reproducibility in data-driven science)
COG_SCI 207-0Introduction to Cognitive Modeling
DSGN 395-0Special Topics (Designing with AI)

Systems that Navigate the World

Course Title
COMP_SCI 301-0Introduction to Robotics Laboratory
or MECH_ENG 301-0 Introduction to Robotics Laboratory
COMP_SCI 353-0Natural & Artificial Vision
COMP_SCI 396-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Machine Learning and Sensing)
or COMP_SCI 496-0 Special Topics in Computer Science
COMP_SCI 469-0Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence for Robotics
or MECH_ENG 469-0 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Robotics
COMP_ENG 395-0Special Topics in Computer Engineering (Embedded Artificial Intelligence)
or COMP_ENG 495-0 Special Topics in Computer Engineering
ELEC_ENG 332-0Introduction to Computer Vision
MECH_ENG 455-0Active Learning in Robotics
MECH_ENG 495-0Selected Topics in Mechanical Engg (Sensing, Navigation, and Machine Learning for Robotics)

Societal Impact Course

Societal Impact course list

Course Title
Majors must take one course from this list.
COMP_SCI 260-0Introduction to Law and Digital Technologies
COMP_SCI 265-0AI and International Security
COMP_SCI 311-0Inclusive Making
COMP_SCI 314-0Technology and Human Interaction
COMP_SCI 387-0Responsible Software Engineering
COMP_SCI 396-0Special Topics in Computer Science (Computing, Ethics, and Society)
COMM_ST 358-0Algorithms and Society
COMM_ST 378-0Online Communities and Crowds
COMM_ST 379-0Digital Propaganda and Repression

Technical electives

Majors must take six technical electives.  Any 300- or 400-level COMP_SCI course may be taken as a technical elective.  In addition the following courses may also be taken as technical electives:

Technical electives list

Course Title
COMP_SCI 213-0Introduction to Computer System
IEMS 301-0Introduction to Statistical Learning
IEMS 304-0Statistical Learning for Data Analysis
IEMS 305-0Foundations of Modern Machine Learning
ES_APPM 345-0Applied Linear Algebra
ES_APPM 479-0Data Driven Methods for Dynamical Systems
COMP_ENG 303-0Advanced Digital Design
COMP_ENG 329-0The Art of Multicore Concurrent Programming
COMP_ENG 334-0Fundamentals of Blockchains and Decentralization
or ELEC_ENG 334-0 Fundamentals of Blockchains and Decentralization
COMP_ENG 346-0Microcontroller System Design
COMP_ENG 355-0ASIC and FPGA Design
COMP_ENG 356-0Introduction to Formal Specification & Verification
COMP_ENG 357-0Design Automation in VLSI
COMP_ENG 358-0Introduction to Parallel Computing
COMP_ENG 361-0Computer Architecture I
COMP_ENG 362-0Computer Architecture Projects
COMP_ENG 364-0CyberPhysical Systems Design and Application
or COMP_ENG 464-0 Cyber-Physical Systems Design and Application
COMP_ENG 365-0Internet-of-things Sensors, Systems, And Applications
or COMP_ENG 465-0 Internet-of-things Sensors, Systems, And Applications
COMP_ENG 366-0Embedded Systems
or COMP_ENG 466-0 Embedded Systems
COMP_ENG 368-0Programming Massively Parallel Processors with CUDA
or COMP_ENG 468-0 Programming Massively Parallel Processors with CUDA
COMP_ENG 452-0Adv Computer Architecture
COMP_ENG 453-0Parallel Architectures
COMP_ENG 456-0Modern Topics in Computer Architecture
COMP_ENG 459-0VLSI Algorithmics
ELEC_ENG 326-0Electronic System Design I
ELEC_ENG 332-0Introduction to Computer Vision
ELEC_ENG 375-0Machine Learning: Foundations, Applications, and Algorithms
ELEC_ENG 433-0Statistical Pattern Recognition
ELEC_ENG 435-0Deep Learning: Foundations, Applications, and Algorithms

Related Courses

Double-counting note: Weinberg College allows double-counting a related course toward some other major, minor, or general bachelor's degree requirement. Other programs or schools may have their own restrictions that supersede this, so check the relevant parts of this catalog for possible limits.

Mathematics

Course Title
MATH 220-1
MATH 220-2
Single-Variable Differential Calculus
and Single-Variable Integral Calculus
or MATH 218-1
MATH 218-2
MATH 218-3
Single-Variable Calculus with Precalculus
and Single-Variable Calculus with Precalculus
and Single-Variable Calculus with Precalculus
MATH 230-1Multivariable Differential Calculus
or MATH 228-1 Multivariable Differential Calculus for Engineering
MATH 240-0Linear Algebra
or GEN_ENG 241-0 Linear Algebra for Engineers

Probability and Statistics1

Course Title
COMP_SCI 262-0Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science - Part 2
or GEN_ENG 231-0 Probability and Statistics for Engineers
or IEMS 201-0 Introduction to Statistics
or MATH 310-1 Probability and Stochastic Processes
or STAT 210-0 Introduction to Probability and Statistics
1

STAT 202-0 Introduction to Statistics and Data Science is not accepted.

Note

Many courses are eligible to count toward more than one requirement for the major; for example, all breadth courses are also technical elective courses. A student who completes such a course must choose which requirement area to apply that course. A single course does not satisfy more than one requirement at a time.