BMCC CIS Professors Developing CUNY’s First AI Certificate Program

A team of Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) Computer Information Systems (CIS) Professors—Ching Song (Don) Wei, Mohammad Azhar, Hao Tang and Yan Chen—have received a three-year, $645,000 Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop City University of New York’s (CUNY) first Artificial Intelligence (AI) certificate program.

The 30-credit AI certificate program will articulate to an AI associate degree program that is currently under development at BMCC.

More broadly, the proposed certificate program seeks to improve the education of the skilled technical workforce and expand educational and career pathways in AI and machine learning for nontraditional students, women, underrepresented minorities, and others who experience barriers to accessing these fast-growing skilled technical jobs.

During the grant period, the CIS professors plan to create new courses aligned to industry-recognized curricula, modify existing AI and machine learning-related courses, and adapt course materials for online delivery according to Lead Principal Investigator Professor Don Wei.

Developed to serve high school students, incumbent workers, and second-degree seekers, the certificate program will be informed by an industry advisory board, and implement national recommendations for AI education, including teaching computational thinking, integrating real-world projects and using project-based learning.

Students who complete the program will be better prepared to take industry-recognized certificates such as Microsoft AI certificate exams and enter the workforce as entry-level AI technicians. They could also continue toward an AS degree and transfer to a bachelor’s degree program at BMCC’s AI program partner, New York City College of Technology (City Tech/CUNY).

The program will be enhanced with a wide range of enrichment activities and student support such as industry workshops, internship placement and career talk panels to help participants gain knowledge about the industry.  The BMCC AI certificate program will also provide a summer bridge program for high school students as well as professional development for BMCC faculty and high school teachers in coordination with the NSF Artificial Intelligence Institute for Advances in Optimization at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

“There is a critical need to prepare workers for fast-growing jobs as AI technicians AI is everywhere and it is transforming our world,” said Professor Wei.  “With the proliferation of automated systems and smart machines, our every keystroke generates data that is collected, stored, shared and interpreted. Increasingly, companies, governments, advocates, scientists, healthcare providers, insurers, and others seek to enhance the ability of machines to comprehend this data and act intelligently.”

Transforming data into meaningful information and subsequent action requires skills in programming, logic, analytics, and experimentation, and is driving a seismic shift in the workplace, says Wei.

Jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago, including Machine Learning Engineer, Data Engineer, AI Specialist, AI Translators, and Data-Oriented Product Developer, are all expected to experience double-digit growth through 2028. In a recent report, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics names data science as one the top-20 fastest-growing occupations with a projected 31% growth over the next ten years.

“It is important that at BMCC we begin to ensure the next generation of tech workers by equipping our students with AI skills,” said Professor Wei. “The development of AI programs not only satisfies the workforce demand in the industry but also aligns with one of the priorities of BMCC’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025: “Expand career development leading to meaningful work with family-sustaining wages