CHANDLER, Ariz. — An East Valley community college is establishing itself as an authority in the artificial intelligence revolution.
Chandler-Gilbert Community College began offering the first A.I. associate degree of its kind in the U.S. in 2021 and this week, the school is hosting the inaugural A.I. Teaching and Learning Summit for 90 educators from across the country.
“How the internet revolutionized our world, A.I. is going to revolutionize our world and so we need to think about how we’re going to prepare our students for whatever career they step into,” said Greg Peterson, president of the college.
120 students are currently enrolled in the “Associate in Applied Science in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning” degree. Former Intel engineer Habib Matar built the curriculum from scratch.
“It was quite a journey. At first there weren’t any textbooks to work from,” Matar said.
The challenge for Matar was striking a balance between “going to the edge” of A.I. technology while keeping it accessible for a two-year student. Matar says there is high demand from corporations and government for certified graduates with A.I. knowledge at the level of an associate degree.
“Every company I speak with is like, ‘how can I get one of your graduates to work for me’?” Matar said.
Compared to a traditional four-year degree, Chandler-Gilbert offers a less expensive, faster way for students to jump into the growing A.I. workforce.
One of those students is Olivia Marie Henninger.
“If it’s going to be integrated into everything, everyone needs an equal opportunity to be at the table,” Henninger said, who wants to specialize in training the masses to incorporate A.I. skills.
As a student on an award-winning Cesar Chavez High School robotics team in 2011, Henninger later used her tech skills to work in the autonomous vehicle and robotics industries for more than a decade. Now she’s going back to school to be part of the first generation of A.I. employees.
“We’re the first wave ‘for the people’,” Henninger said. “We’re at the forefront of bringing this to America as individuals, as opposed to PhD laureates, those with high level math and high level coding.”
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