Students who want to prepare for a career or graduate study in artificial intelligence (AI) can now choose Christopher Newport’s pioneering major.
The School of Engineering and Computing (SEC) plans to offer this major starting in the 2026-27 academic year.
SEC professors Keith Perkins and Roberto Flores led the development of the new major. “Students build a complete artificial intelligence stack in our program,” Perkins said. “We will move from data science and machine learning to cloud infrastructure, neural networks, and the large-scale language models that power today’s AI.
“Students will graduate with hands-on experience training computer vision models, building agent AI systems, deploying real-world applications in the cloud, and shaping the future of intelligent technology,” he said.
Graduates with this major are prepared to advance their education or begin a career in AI, machine learning engineering, data science, and software development. Perkins said this is one of the first majors offered in this field by a Virginia university.
Much of the coursework and laboratory work will take place at CNU’s new Science and Engineering Research Center (SERC). The center features a two-story drone lab, makerspace, and state-of-the-art technology facilities for research and collaboration.
At the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year, President William G. Kelly addressed the importance of AI in his Honors Convocation speech, stating, “As a university, it is our responsibility to ensure that our students know how to use AI effectively and, most importantly, ethically.”
Not only is this major a step toward achieving that goal, but an associated university-wide quality improvement plan (QEP) is also underway. It focuses on when and how to use AI effectively and responsibly. QEP emphasizes the core values of a liberal arts education as a means of preparing students for a world increasingly influenced by AI.
