Artificial Intelligence is an emerging field of science. Its bustling development in the past decades is a result of various potential and actual applications, ranging from biology and medicine to financial sector. Self-driving cars, robots that perform medical operations, internet services based on speech recognition are just some of the examples of AI in action. Roughly speaking, the main goal of AI is to mimic human intelligence in making decisions based on collected data. For example, sensors are employed in order to collect data from the surrounding and help autonomous vehicles to decide which action to take. Behind each turn of the vehicles, stands integrated knowledge of several scientific fields almost inevitably including mathematics and informatics.
The applications of AI can be less grandiose, but still very helpful in every-day life. Digitalization of almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives produces enormous amounts of data which go beyond of human capacities of processing. This is why there is an increasing demand of using well trained machines to help us make optimal decisions. However, AI experts are essential in creating such machines. This was recognized by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and thus a strategy of AI development was adopted which includes several master programs of AI. The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Novi Sad is one of a few that won a prize and acquired an opportunity to create one of the first AI master programs in Serbia.
AI master program at our Faculty integrates basic theoretical knowledge of mathematics and informatics needed for further development of AI, but it also assumes strong collaboration with the industry. Within each vocational-applicative course, students will work on real-world projects coming from the industry together with the experts from the industrial and academic sector. Having strong theoretical background as well as practical skills, students will be well trained to cope with the novel challenges in direct applications, but also to develop the AI fundamentally through innovative scientific solutions. Their expertise will include hidden knowledge extraction from data, application of optimization and deep learning methods, as well as software engineering skills. The elective fields offered within the study program also open possibilities for a specialization in natural language or image processing, or applications of AI in medicine and biology. The Department of Mathematics and Informatics already has experience in similar master programs such as “Applied Mathematics – Data Science”, but this will be a step forward in forming experts for rapidly increasing IT sector and industry that uses AI in general.
Two years master program “Artificial Intelligence” at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad starts in October 2021 when the first 25 students of AI will be enrolled. Novi Sad is a beautiful city on Danube river and good students are always welcome!
Photos by Duško Grgić