MSE students at CAI are embedded in one of our research groups: Explainable AI, Industrial AI, Intelligent Vision Systems, Machine Perception and Cognition, Natural Language Processing, or Responsible AI Innovation. This provides you the opportunity to complement the theoretical modules with applied research projects, familiarize with academic research and generate practical benefit side by side with our industry partners. 

In addition to high-quality training on technical skills, CAI offers multiple opportunities for improving additional skills crucial for advancing your professional career. They include invited talks and colloquia, courses on scientific communication, workshops on soft skills, and social and cultural activities.

Examples of student projects and theses completed at CAI can be found at: https://www.zhaw.ch/en/engineering/institutes-centres/cai/completed-student-projects/

Profile Data Science

In the Data Science profile at the CAI, you will acquire advanced knowledge in various fields within machine learning, from the fundamentals to neural networks to reinforcement learning, and discover the related applications for modalities such as images (computer vision), text (natural language processing) or time series (e.g. acoustic data).

Relevant research groups: Explainable AI, Industrial AI, Intelligent Vision Systems, Machine Perception and Cognition, Natural Language Processing, and Responsible AI Innovation.

Profile Electrical Engineering

Students of the Electrical engineering profile at CAI will have the opportunity of combining theoretical formation on design and development of electrical equipment with applied research on the use of AI techniques for the optimization, operation and improvement of these systems. During your studies, you will have the opportunity to be conduct your own practical projects on areas such as automation, robotics, predictive maintenance, digital signal processing, brain-machine interfaces, among others.

Relevant research groups: Industrial AI, Natural Language Processing, and Responsible AI Innovation.

Profile Medical Engineering

In the Medical Engineering profile at the CAI, you will acquire advanced expertise in developing trustworthy, multimodal AI-driven systems for medical applications, along with the essential skills needed for their successful practical implementation. You will engage in applied research, exploring innovative, cutting-edge AI solutions for early disease diagnosis, treatment optimization, medical imaging, electronic health records, brain-machine interfaces, and medical devices. You will also work on designing AI methods to enhance our understanding of health and disease.  Moreover, you will refine your presentation and scientific writing skills and engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with hospitals and industry partners, preparing you to make impactful contributions to the field of healthcare.

Relevant research groups: Explainable AI, Intelligent Vision Systems, Machine Perception and Cognition, Natural Language Processing, and Responsible AI Innovation.

Profile Mechatronics and Automation

The profile Mechatronics and Automation at the CAI, focuses on the future of standard manufacturing technologies. Students develop expertise for enabling robots to autonomously perform various tasks and adapt to their environment, which is a highly relevent goal for industry applications. Merging control and AI improves the industrial systems so that they can self-adjust to indivudual and customized parts productions, and to various disturbances and changes in the environment or in the requirements. MSE projects allow students to work on projects covering both hardware- and software-centered development, including collaboration with industry partners.

Relevant research groups: Industrial AI, Machine Perception and Cognition, and Responsible AI Innovation.

Modules

You can find the key modules including the context modules (CMs), extended fundamental theoretical principles (FTPs) and technical scientific specialisation modules (TSMs) in the module browser (link). In addition, the centre offers the following decentralised specialisation modules (EVAs): 

• EVA Artificial Intelligence Seminar(PDF 141,8 KB) (3 ECTS, spring semester): The goal of the AI Seminar is to learn the art of scholarship, specifically, to read and write original scientific work. To this end, each participant picks an AI research paper according to his or her research interests that serves as an example throughout the course.
• EVA  Machine Intelligence Lab(PDF 60,5 KB) (3 ECTS, autumn semester): You will complete a public MOOC in the area of reinforcement learning, supervised by your ZHAW lecturers. After successful completion, you will be able to put your acquired skills to the test in a one-week hackathon, gaining valuable application know-how in a specialised area of machine learning.

Master’s Theses

One key success factor for an exceptional master’s project or thesis is the right research question, that is, the right question at the right time, combined with a good idea, might lead to unimagined progress in both research and practice. Our researchers keep lists of such good ideas that often lead to the publication of original papers and to industry solutions when combined with the skills of our master’s students. Sometimes, they even win awards.

Previous theses include

• Pathological-Llama: an Explainable Medical Visual Question Answering System, Master Thesis 2023
• Quis metietur ipsos metitores? Automated Metrics for Natural Language Generation in Theory and Practice , Master thesis 2023
• Leveraging Neuroscience for Deep Learning Based Object Recognition, Master thesis, 2022
• Text Classification of Service Desk Tickets, Master thesis, 2021
• Reinforcement Learning in a Multi-Agent System for Train Scheduling, Master thesis, 2019

The full list of previous student projects at CAI can be found here.