Over 30 AI-related classes made available to UMD students during 2026

Caleb Winters
Home of the university's Robert H. Smith School of Business, the courtyard serves as a central hub for students navigating a constantly changing corporate landscape heavily influenced by advancements in STEM and business. (Sophia Parkins/The Black Explosion)

The University of Maryland added more than 30 new AI-related classes to its class registry in 2026, data shows.

The influx of AI-related classes is the largest the university has added in the last five years, according to the data. These classes teach students how artificial intelligence is used in different industries and job markets.

In the last five years, the university added at least 51 AI-related classes, according to data obtained by The Black Explosion. Many STEM-related departments introduced these new classes this year, like the university’s computer science and agriculture programs, but humanities programs like philosophy and English also added them.

“AI is an emerging technology that is growing in relevance for a number of fields,” said a UMD spokesperson. “Additionally, over the past few years, UMD has launched several new AI degree programs, which has prompted the development of new AI courses.”

In many of these classes, syllabi describe the inevitability of artificial intelligence changing how certain industries function. Artificial intelligence is integrated in tools like data analysis, modeling and artificial cognition, which also require changes in how AI is taught in universities to properly prepare students for their careers. Many of these classes also teach lessons on ethical usage of AI.

Professor Mega Subramaniam teaches the new AI Literacy for Community Empowerment course in the university’s Information Systems department, a class focused on cultivating an AI-literacy mindset for students to take into community and public service settings.

“AI’s growth makes community learning increasingly urgent, and this course, which is centered on community voices, is a deliberate choice,” said Subramaniam. “People deserve a say in what they learn about a technology affecting their lives. This course starts with what communities want to know about AI and helps students work alongside them to make safe, responsible AI use possible.”

Subramaniam said one of her favorite moments in her class so far has been watching her students realize they can design learning experiences such as lessons, training programs and workshops, in ways that allow them to listen and create with one another.

Matthew Gonnerman, a postdoctoral researcher and one of the instructors for the new class titled “Artificial Intelligence: Transforming Food, Agricultural and Environmental Systems,” said this class was his first time teaching AI.

“I’m used to teaching broader statistical applications in ecology, so it’s not that dramatically different. But the material is so new,” said Gonnerman. “I’m literally pulling papers from this year to try and keep up with everything.”

While the course focuses on agriculture, many computer science and other majors are taking the class. Gonnerman hopes more computer science students can enter the agricultural science field, which currently needs computer science expertise, as AI developments begin aiding scientists in crop management, detecting wildlife diseases and aiding climate science research.