The Brown School has started a post-master’s certificate program in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for health data. The certificate program is designed for professionals interested in modern AI technologies and seeking to apply AI tools on health and other “big data” in their work or research.
“The program will teach state-of-the-art AI technologies, including machine learning and deep neural networks, and how they can be applied to solve real-world problems in public health and beyond,” said Ruopeng An, Associate Professor at the Brown School and co-developer of the program, with Janet Gillow, director of professional development programs at the Brown School, “By the end of the program, participants will master a comprehensive pool of popular, state-of-the-art AI models, and be able to apply them to better understand and address health or other social issues.”
The 15-week program includes online class meetings, and the first session begins on August 31, 2022.
The market demand for professionals with AI skills is growing rapidly. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts such demand to increase by 28% or 11.5 million new jobs through 2026.
“AI is the new electricity. As a general-purpose technology, AI has been applied to every sector in today’s world, and it is just the very beginning. Over the next decades, AI is expected to continuously transform every industry, create enormous economic value, and fundamentally change how the world operates.” An said, “People with interdisciplinary AI training and work experiences, for instance, those who know public health and AI, social work and AI, or finance and AI, are becoming hot pursuit in the job market.”
“Given the numerous AI tools and high-level APIs readily accessible for free, we need to change our ‘fixed’ mindset that only computer scientists, software engineers, or math and statistics experts should mess with AI.” An said, “Today, AI is indeed for everyone, as long as we embrace a ‘growing’ mindset and are eager to learn.”