1. What is Digital Agriculture?
Using digital technologies (e.g., sensors, data analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence, etc.) to make the agricultural system more efficient, more resilient, and more sustainable.
2. How will students choose courses?
Students will work closely with academic and faculty advisors to select courses based on their preferred track.
3. What are ideal areas of expertise/undergraduate majors for this degree?
As a multi-disciplinary program, there are several undergraduate majors that would be a good fit, including but not limited to Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Computer Science, Crop Sciences, Electrical or Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Statistics, Systems Engineering, and more. Please review the curriculum for this program. This will outline the required coursework as well as elective options. Click on these individual courses to see what prerequisites or foundational courses are generally required.
4. Do I need to have programming experience to be successful in this degree?
To succeed in graduate-level computer science courses required for this program, candidates must have prerequisite coursework or commensurate experience in object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, linear algebra, and statistics/probability. Applicants interested in pursuing automation and data science-related themes in this program are strongly encouraged to complete courses in these areas at a local university, via the iCAN Program, or as non-degree online courses from Campus Graduate Certificate Programs before enrolling to this Program. Applicants who can not present transcripted grades for the courses mentioned above would be required to pass the Data Structures Proficiency exam to be eligible for admission.
5. Are there scholarships or financial aid?
This is a self-funded degree and does not come with assistantships or tuition waivers. You can apply for student loans and other government financial aid. Some employers also offer tuition assistance for these types of programs.
- FAFSA Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Federal School Code: 001775) – www.fafsa.ed.gov
- Graduate Student Loans – https://www.salliemae.com/
- Group private and federal loans available to all students with U.S. co-signer – www.accessgroup.org
6. How do I apply?
You can apply for the master’s degree or certificate here.
7. Questions?
Please email Christina Tucker, (lyvers2@illinois.edu), Director of Education for the Center for Digital Agriculture