Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Explore Lassonde

Lassonde logo
Close mobile menu

New frontiers in computing

In 2018, the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University introduced a Specialization in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its Master of Science of Computer Science program. While AI-based research is still pursued in the general stream of the program, students in this specialization take six graduate courses, of which at least five are within the area of AI, in their first two terms. In addition, students conduct a research project that applies AI to a practical problem under the supervision of faculty members and in collaboration with partners in the private or public sector. With this knowledge, our graduates will be positioned to successfully deploy AI methodologies across many sectors.

image of code on a screen

Our Specialization in AI is officially recognized by the Vector Institute, giving our students access to the Vector Scholarships in Artificial Intelligence.

Note that the AI specialization is meant as a targeted preparation to apply AI concepts in the workplace, but being non-thesis it is not suitable to further pursue doctoral studies. Those interested in AI-based research in a thesis program should apply to the MSc in Computer Science program.

It will be the student’s responsibility to secure an internship for their research project. The Vector Institute facilitates the process by providing students in this program opportunities to interact with potential employers through networking events and the Vector Digital Talent Hub.

Below you will find a list of faculty members who are part of the Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. It mentions their areas of research interests within AI (many have other research interests as well) and provides a link to their personal homepage or research group for more information about their research.

• An honours degree in Computer Science or equivalent, with at least a B+ average in the last two years of study.

• The equivalent of a senior-level course in the area of theoretical computer science.

• Minimum English language test scores (if required): TOEFL(iBT) 90, IELTS 7, or York English Language Test 4.

• The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general test is strongly recommended, especially for applicants who did their work outside of Canada and/or the United States.
Degree Requirements
• Complete six courses.
− at most two may be integrated courses (EECS course number starts with a 5)

• Complete at least three courses from the following list:
EECS 5326, EECS 5327, EECS 6127, EECS 6327, EECS 6412

• Complete least two courses from the following list:
EECS 5323, EECS 5324, EECS 5326, EECS 5327, EECS 5326, EECS 6127,
EECS 6154, EECS 6320, EECS 6322, EECS 6323, EECS 6325, EECS 6327,
EECS 6328, EECS 6332, EECS 6333, EECS 6340, EECS 6390A, EECS
6412, EECS 6414

• Complete either:
PHIL 5340 (not integrated) OR EECS 6320

• Courses must also satisfy the group requirements for the MSc generally MScAI students must take either EECS 6127 or EECS 6154

• Identify a supervisor and a supervisory committee member by your third
term (12 months)

• Complete a research project in Artificial Intelligence in
collaboration with an external partner


Other Requirements

• A research project that applies AI to a practical problem under the supervision of faculty members and in collaboration with partners in the private or public sector


Students admitted to the Specialization in AI are in the position to apply for institutional and government scholarships, as well as the Vector Scholarships in Artificial Intelligence, valued at $17,500 for one year. No further financial support will be provided.
undefined
Gradient line

AI Specialization Faculty

Robert Allison

Website

Vision and intelligent interfaces

Aijun An

Website
Data mining, machine learning, information retrieval, and AI

Michael Brown

Website

Computer vision and AI

Natalija Vlajic

Website

Machine learning in computer security

Marcus Brubaker

Website

Machine learning, probabilistic methods, computer vision and computational biology

Suprakash Datta

Website

Machine learning for bioinformatics

Kosta Derpanis

Website

Computer vision and machine learning

James Elder

Website

AI and vision

Petros Faloutsos

Website

AI for computer games and virtual humans

Gerd Grau

Website

AI-based materials and process development

Michael Jenkin

Website

Robotics and AI

Hui Jiang

Website

Machine learning, speech and language processing, and computer vision

Ingo Fruend

Website

Human vision and AI

Zhen Ming (Jack) Jiang

Website

Software analytics and software performance engineering

Richard Wildes

Website

AI and vision

Hossein Kassiri

Website

AI-based algorithms for decoding a physiological/neurological function

Matthew Kyan

Website

Machine intelligence approach for virtual environments

Yves Lesperance

Website

Knowledge representation and reasoning, autonomous agents and multi-agent systems, and cognitive robotics

Peter Lian

Website

Circuits and systems for embedded AI and neuromorphic computing

Marin Litoiu

Website

Adaptive software and autonomic computing

Sebastian Magierowski

Website

Hardware acceleration for machine learning

Manos Papagelis

Website

Data mining, graph mining, machine learning, big data analytics, knowledge discovery

Ali Sadeghi-Naini

no link to personal webpage yet

AI in precision medicine; Machine learning in image-guided therapeutics; Quantitative imaging and radiomics

Mikhail Soutchanski

Website

AI planning, planning in hybrid systems, knowledge representation including causality, reinforcement learning for planning

Pirathayini Srikantha

Website

Game theory, large-scale optimization and distributed control for enabling adaptive, sustainable and resilient power grid operations

Zbigniew Stachniak

Website

Automated reasoning and propositional satisfiability

Vassilios Tzerpos

Website

Machine learning and audio

Ruth Urner

Website

Machine learning theory

Franck van Breugel

Website

Reinforcement learning for finding bugs in software