I am a freshman at Kettering University in MI, majoring in computer science, and I was wondering if anyone knew of any good colleges to get my masters at. My goal is to get a phD in Artificial Intellegence, and I was looking for recommendations or advice. Thanks.
You’re a freshman worrying about graduate school already? Focus on your undergrad first or there won’t be any grad school.
I haven’t taken any AI courses, save a philosophy course, but most of the stuff I’ve heard about comes out of MIT.
Well, you’ll most likely want to get your Master’s and PhD at the same time if at all possible – it’ll save you a year or two.
As Shadowfyre said, there’s no particular hurry in choosing a grad school. Figure out what area of AI you are interested in and find researchers working in that area. You can check out the main conferences, IJCAI and AAAI (National Conference on Artificial Intelligence) to find out what people are doing. The papers tend to be focused and dry, so you’ll want to check out individual web pages as well. A good starting place is the web page for AAAI (American Association for Artificial intellgence, aaai.org).
From a quick glance at their web page, Kettering seems to have a good coop program. Try to find a coop with a research group, or see if there are any professors on campus doing AI-related research. Work experience and grades will be very important in getting into a good grad school – they tend to be very competitive.
Chekmate, you earn my respect for thinking this far in advance.
Networking around your current campus is probably the best strategy for now.
Meet your professors during their office hours and join any student-based AI clubs on campus. If you qualify for work study then you’ll have a good chance of landing a research assistant job in a related field.
Yes, I am a freshman “worrying” about graduate school already. I just like to think that far in advance, so I don’t have to worry about it so much later.
I already have a Co-Op Job at Entivity, Inc. in Ann Arbor, MI doing QA Testing. I was looking at Purdue University for it, because I could get my masters and phD in a year and a half there, but I a not sure if they have an AI Dept.
The problem with networking around campus is that this is mainly an engineering school, and there really isn’t very much in the way of computer research going on here. Theseare the current research studies going on here in computer science, and as you can see, there is no AI research.
Finangle: Thanks for the site there. It’s nice. Gives me a lot to think about too.
Anyway, Thanks for the info. Anyone else got any opinions on this, let me know.
Thanks
Bump
Start reading the relevant peer-reviewed journals that publish academic work in the fields you’re interested in. Because the top-level journals can be very exclusive clubs (political, more than scientific) and the time-lag for review is fairly high, try to read several mid-level journals as well. If there’s a national/international conference that publishs proceedings of papers, read that too. These things will give you an overview of who is doing what in the field. It’s likely that a few names will start to catch your eye, not just because they’re prominent but because they do work which strikes a chord with you. A purely objective view might say “go to MIT for AI”, but a review of the actual work being done might lead you to a certain professor at another university doing exactly the kind of work which sparks your imagination.
At worst, reading the papers and abstracts will give you a feel for the players in the field. This can be even more important than networking locally at your university when you start going to the conferences or visiting grad schools.
Also, you might try to find online forums or mailing lists on high-level AI, not just pop-sci stuff. If there are some in your field, lurk extensively to get an overview of the work going on. Don’t post any questions you haven’t already researched and know to be “hard”, and don’t post any answers unless you’re absolutely sure you know the entire answer, in depth. Making a bad impression in that kind of forum can be a career-killer, but eavesdropping on the proceedings of giants can be the best school of all.
I agree, it is a bit early to worry about it, but I had a roommate years ago who was interested in such things, and he went to Carnegie-Mellon University in PA, which has a great program in robotics, AI, etc.
I don’t think you can go wrong with MIT. I wonder if Marvin Minsky is still teaching Society of Mind?
Seems like young Chekmate’s being true to his handle, and looking several steps ahead. [Darth Vader/] Beware, young Chekmate, you are not a Jedi yet." [/Darth Vader]
[flippancy hijack/]
I can’t resist. The wording of Chekmate’s OP reminded me of an old joke:
A freshman from Hicksville, USA is wandering around, a bit lost, on the Harvard campus. Eyeing a courtly senior BMOC-type, he approaches him and poses the awkward question,
“Excuse me, but can you tell me where the Frye Library’s at?”
The senior fixes him with a coolly disdainful gaze, before intoning,
“At Hahvahd, one never ends a sentence with a dangling preposition.”
The hick thought about that one for a moment, before retorting,
“Well could you tell me where the Frye Library’s at, asshole?”
