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This August, Florida State University’s College of Arts and Sciences will embrace its inaugural group of students in a fresh interdisciplinary master’s degree pathway designed to equip them for a burgeoning job market that spans sectors such as government, technology, healthcare, business, education, and beyond.  

The newly established track in computational linguistics, forming part of FSU’s Interdisciplinary Data Science Master’s Degree Program, draws upon core principles of data science and computational research techniques to explore novel pathways in the scientific examination of language, its sounds, structures, and meanings.  

“Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence have underscored the essential significance of examining both spoken and written language, alongside other communication forms,” stated Reinier Leushuis, head of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics and a pivotal figure in the track’s inception. “This innovative track exemplifies how interdisciplinary collaboration can result in groundbreaking and inventive research with thrilling real-world applications.”

As the need for professional computational linguists — experts who integrate data science with linguistics for language data processing — rises, this track presents full-time and part-time study alternatives, along with funding opportunities such as tuition waivers for university and state staff, thus opening doors for working professionals in addition to students seeking graduate studies immediately after achieving a bachelor’s degree. 

“AI applications that utilize voice recognition, like Apple’s virtual assistant Siri, are crafted by computational linguists employing natural language processing techniques,” remarked Tom Juzek, assistant professor of computational linguistics. “They also play a critical role in literacy initiatives, language localization, translation, speech data evaluation, knowledge engineering, voice interface development, and language documentation and recovery. Their expertise is highly coveted by government intelligence agencies and tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Duolingo.”

Participants in the computational linguistics track will interact with distinguished educators both inside and outside the academic setting through various opportunities such as the FSU Scientific Computing Artificial Intelligence Seminar in Tallahassee, the annual Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Expo, colloquia, and technological resources available at the FSU Innovation Hub and beyond. 

“As linguists, we acquire significant insights regarding our research that would be challenging or unfeasible to attain without integrating data science and computational methods into our investigations,” Juzek mentioned. “Over the last few decades, for instance, our comprehension of language acquisition, particularly in young children, has greatly expanded with the use of computational techniques to analyze various language datasets, akin to those students will face in their computational linguistics courses.” 

While this track does not require a thesis, students can explore research possibilities with program faculty through Directed Individual Study and access facilities such as the Visualization Laboratory in the Department of Scientific Computing and the Language Processing and Eye-tracking Laboratory located within the Diffenbaugh Building. 

In addition to fundamental data science courses covering machine learning, regression methodologies, ethics, and more, students in the track may also

select electives such as psycholinguistics, text analysis, deep learning, language invention, and additional subjects to remain informed on the latest advances in pioneering language technology.

“Expansive datasets are permeating and influencing every aspect of scientific pursuit, and this track is notably timely as large language models, the driving force of the current AI revolution, draw extensively from the discipline of linguistics,” stated Gordon Erlebacher, director of the Interdisciplinary Data Science program and a professor in the Department of Scientific Computing. “By inaugurating this track, we are equipping FSU learners to be at the forefront of a transformative domain that amalgamates computational strategies with linguistic insights.”

Explore the FSU Computational Linguistics website for further information regarding the new master’s degree track, including application details.

The article FSU unveils new master’s degree track in computational linguistics for Fall 2025 originally appeared on Florida State University News.

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