Leena Banga, left, and Christine Antoine, are part of the inaugural class of AI majors at UC San Diego.
The First Class of AI Majors
Students said they enrolled in the new major because they believe that AI is the future of the computer science field. They chose UC San Diego because of its reputation and the opportunities it offers.
Leena Banga said she was looking for an AI major that is anchored within computer science and engineering. The Revelle student became more interested in AI while doing an internship at the University of Pennsylvania last year. “I do think AI is the future,” she said.
She hopes to be able to work as a research intern and is particularly interested in how AI could be applied to quantum computing. She chose UC San Diego for its reputation, which she hopes will help her stand out when it’s time to look for a job.
Nicole Fong, another freshman, is particularly interested in applying AI to healthcare data. She is also interested in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. She chose UC San Diego for its affordability. A native of the Bay Area, she wanted to stay in California.
Meanwhile Aaryan Panda came all the way from Florida. There were no opportunities to study AI or work in the field in this home state, so he decided to make his way to California. He always loved math and coding, so studying computer science was an easy decision. AI is the next step in the field, he said. It’s also in demand in industry. “The market for AI jobs is hot,” he said.
Some, like Christine Antoine, are following in their parents’ footsteps. Both of Antoine’s parents are software engineers. She took an AI course while in high school and one of the projects she worked on in the class was using AI to detect whether a driver was distracted. She was hooked.
UC San Diego was the only campus offering an AI major among the schools she was interested in. “I really wanted to study AI here,” she said.
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