Announcement · 7 September 2026
A new minor in artificial intelligence at UNR
The College of Engineering has launched a minor in artificial intelligence. It is open to every undergraduate at the University and is designed to be completed alongside any major in four years.
The new minor recognises something that has become obvious across the University: artificial intelligence is no longer only a computer science subject. Students in engineering, business, health, the sciences, journalism and the arts all now meet AI in their fields, and many want more than a single elective.
The minor gives them a route to real competence. Through core courses and electives, students learn programming, data mining, machine learning and deep learning. They learn to use existing AI well and to build new AI tools and techniques, with the judgement to use them responsibly. Research and hands-on projects across the University let them carry that work into their own field. Some students may need prerequisite courses first.
For the Nevada AI Research Institute, the minor matters for a practical reason. Every conversation we have with a Nevada business, hospital, school district or state agency ends at the same question: who is going to do this work? A steady flow of graduates who understand AI and also understand mining, or nursing, or accounting, is how that question gets answered.
Students interested in the minor should speak to an advisor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering about how it fits with their degree. Details are on the University's page for the minor.