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LSU to begin offering bachelor's degree in artificial intelligence this fall
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Baton Rouge — Starting in the fall of 2026, LSU will begin offering a bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence.
LSU said the degree, offered through the University’s College of Engineering, will make it the first university in the state to offer it.
In recent years, LSU has been expanding education on artificial intelligence and workforce development.
"A lot of times when we hear about AI, we don't think about it as something that you could study for four years, but our computer science division put together a really rigorous program that's going to train the next generation of engineers in AI,” Vicki Colvin, the Dean of the College of Engineering, said.
The college said that a bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence covers a range of topics like mathematics, computer science and even the ethics of AI. LSU’s computer science department created 20 new courses to build the new degree program.
"You have courses that are fundamentally related to AI, the way we know it. Being able to use AI to see things, and then you have a lot of electives. We have a course on AI security. Then there are courses that teach the students how to build systems,” Computer Science and Engineering Division Chair Ibrahim Baggili said. “If you think of AI as a wave, and people are riding that wave, we are building the surfboard.”
Baggili said the division’s Assistant Professor Dr. James Ghawaly was the architect of the program.
The university doesn't plan on limiting opportunities to undergrad students either.
"We have a next fast track, which I hope in 2027 we'll announce is going to be a master's in applied artificial intelligence,” Colvin said.
“That’s a very unique program that we're building at LSU that is for people that are out in the industry and want to apply AI to their own sort of business and industry,” Baggili added.
WBRZ spoke with several LSU students who are currently taking AI-centered courses before the degree is offered.
Two of those students are Chase Henderson and Samuel Vekovius.
One thing they learned during their AI and Large Language Models course was how to analyze construction site risks.
"We actually created a risk engine and a risk detection system deployed inside of a construction contractor's business. With that, it speeds up the entire process of observations and allows the insights as quickly as possible, that way they actually have insights to deliver zero-incident operations across their job site,” Vekovius said.
"Over the course of the semester, when we got to work with our sponsor, we got to do a site visit with them and got to experience the job site and see what the employees go through on a daily basis,” Henderson added.
Another student, Dow Draper talked about two of the main topics they learned in the course, one based in computer science and the other in project management.
“On the computer science side, it is using Large Language Models, the AI, think of like ChatGPT, Gemini, using these Chatbots that somebody else has already developed on applications where they are generating some sort of value for a company. It's a lot more focused on now that we have this technology. What do we do with it?” Draper explained.
"On the project management side, it's working with a real company from Baton Rouge. We worked with Neighbors Federal Credit Union. They came to us with a project idea, and then it was sort of our job to implement it. As the project manager, you're acting as the liaison between the company and the engineering team,” Draper said.
Olivia Martin, a College of Business student and Benjamin Goldstein of the College of Agriculture also spoke to WBRZ, saying that technology is changing every day and they are grateful that the university is offering a chance to learn about it.
The College of Engineering said they are working on offering AI as a minor in the coming years.
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