Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
IL · AI Readiness #188 of 227
AIREDEX™ Score: 5.3 /10
A Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence Plus launched at SIU Carbondale in fall 2026, the first such degree at a public university in Illinois, open to all students and combinable with minors in journalism, marketing, music, and more.
SIU Carbondale's AI Plus degree requires 49 credit hours of foundation coursework in machine learning, large language models, and data-driven decision making, plus a discipline-specific minor for every student. Three new AI courses launched in spring 2026 are open to any major with no prerequisites. The Grow with Google initiative extends free Google AI Professional Certificates through Coursera to all students through December 2027, and the BigDawg supercomputer is available at no cost to students supporting research projects.
Pillar grades
- Commitment: D-
- Curriculum: B+
- Partnerships: D+
- Research: C+
A(I)ttitude™: cautious
Selected Highlights
- BS in Artificial Intelligence Plus (BSAIP) launched fall 2026 -- first public university in Illinois to offer this degree; open to all students campus-wide; approved by Illinois Board of Higher Education and Faculty Senate.
- SIU Foundation record fundraising year of $54M in FY2026 and endowment of $262.3M documented; Imagine SIU 2030 campaign at $470M toward $500M goal -- no AI-specific allocation confirmed.
- Pontikes Center for Advanced Analytics and Artificial Intelligence in College of Business and Analytics confirmed with director Jim Nelson; industry advisory board includes Nike, Boeing, and Caesar's Entertainment.
- Grow with Google initiative confirmed campus-wide for students, faculty, and staff through December 2027 via Coursera; Google AI Professional Certificate available at no cost.
- Multiple distinct AI training components confirmed: (1) Grow with Google AI Professional Certificate program, (2) AI @ SIUC free workshop May 2026, (3) three new Spring 2026 AI courses open to all majors (Applied Generative AI, Intro to LLMs, Intro to Prompt Engineering), (4) Teaching and Learning with AI Week (CTE, Feb 2024).