University at Buffalo · Department of Philosophy

Master of Science in Applied Ontology (Fully Online)

A rigorous, career-focused MS that combines philosophical foundations with practical engineering to make complex data and systems interoperate.

How to apply
Aerial view of UB campus by the lake at sunset
  • Built for ambitious beginners and early-career and experienced professionals
  • Learn practical ontology design, knowledge-graph applications, and standards-based integration
  • Flexible pacing, cross-campus electives, and internship opportunities

Fully Online Graduate Degree in Applied Ontology

Search any major employment website and you’re likely to find multiple occurrences of the word “ontology.” But searching for universities that offer degrees in ontology will return a single result: the University at Buffalo.

Beginning in January 2026, the University at Buffalo will offer a fully online MS in Applied Ontology. The program provides opportunities for both STEM and non-STEM students to acquire the skills needed to make data and software systems interoperate across teams, tools, and institutions. Coursework is based in the Department of Philosophy with electives in Computer Science, Linguistics, Management, and Biomedical Informatics. A sister program at the PhD level is under development.

UB’s Department of Philosophy has long been a hub for applied ontological research, connecting philosophical theory with real-world data and information systems. Faculty collaborate with national and international initiatives such as the ISO Top-Level Ontology, the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies project, and the Industrial Ontologies Foundry. We also maintain close connections to the U.S. government, where UB ontology graduates hold leadership positions.

Current research in Buffalo spans applications in medicine and biology, geographic information science, defense and security, and the ontology of artifacts. Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and other agencies, UB offers students the chance to engage in funded projects and develop skills that bridge philosophy and technology.

Where Ontology Began

Classical bust of Aristotle

Ontology is the study of what exists and of how the different categories of entities relate to one another—an inquiry that reaches back to Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Often regarded as the first ontologist, Aristotle sought to classify the fundamental kinds of things in the world, laying the groundwork for contemporary systems of logic and meaning that shape how philosophers and scientists describe reality.

Aristotle identified substances—for example organisms—as the most fundamental kind of entity. Qualities stand in relations to other substances and occupy time and space. These ideas provided a systematic way to think about classification, change, and causation—themes that have occupied philosophers for millennia and continue to influence how we model reality today.

From medieval philosophy to the formal sciences of the modern era, the aim has remained the same: to bring order and clarity to the diversity of what exists. The field of applied ontology builds on this lineage, turning classical insights into computable frameworks for structuring knowledge and enabling reasoning at scale.

What Is ‘Applied Ontology’?

From Aristotle to AI: The questions that began with Aristotle—about what exists and how things relate to each other—evolved alongside logic, mathematics, and computing, shaping how we model the world today. Modern ontology extends those same inquiries into digital reasoning, creating shared structures of meaning that allow humans and machines to understand data in common.

Applied ontology continues this tradition by transforming classical analysis of kinds and relations into computable models that organize and reason over complex data in science, engineering, and everyday domains.

When large information systems were first developed in the 1970s, they used incompatible data structures. This meant that they could not work together—even when they were built for the same purpose. Applied ontology emerged to address this challenge, combining philosophical clarity about meanings with technical methods for structuring definitions and data. As technology advanced, the need for such interoperability only grew—with the rise of AI, large-scale data integration, and global collaboration.

Today ontologies are leveraged to improve contemporary large-language models—for example, to mitigate hallucinations by serving as semantically rich training data.

Applied ontology now provides a common language that allows unrelated systems and disciplines to work together.

You encounter ontology-driven systems every day: the iPhone’s Siri, integration of Human Genome Project data, linked web content, product recommendations, and semantics-aware search all rely on ontological frameworks to make data coherent and usable.

At the University at Buffalo, applied ontology is taught as both a philosophical discipline and a practical toolkit. Students learn to analyze conceptual structure, formalize it using logical methods, and implement it in computational environments where precision of meaning is critical. With the founding of the National Center for Ontological Research (NCOR) in 2005, UB became a world center for ontology research and education—continuing the philosophical project Aristotle began, now at computational scale.

“We are riding a new wave of advances in artificial intelligence, and ontologies are at the forefront of this wave.”

— John Beverley, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Jobs in Applied Ontology

Our graduates are competitive for positions such as Ontologist, Knowledge Engineer, Data/AI Ontology Specialist, and Information Architect. Applied ontologists are in demand across healthcare and pharmaceuticals, government and intelligence, banking and finance, e-commerce, manufacturing, and technology. As Barry Smith notes, “Every government in the world and every intelligence agency needs ontology support.” Starting salaries for UB graduates with ontology-focused degrees can reach as high as $175,000, with an average ontologist salary around $92,000 in industry reports. Employers span both public and private sectors, reflecting a growing demand for experts who can connect data, algorithms, and domain knowledge.

Students researching applied ontology at UB join a long-standing international network of collaborators that has, for decades, been centered in Buffalo. “With this MS degree,” says John Beverley, “we aim to more formally standardize applied ontology education—not just for UB, but as an example for the ontology community worldwide.” Recent commentary from industry leaders underscores this demand: organizations from Amazon and Google to Nike are hiring specialists in semantic technologies such as OWL, SPARQL, and knowledge graphs.

Background

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Applied Ontology MS Degree

The Applied Ontology degree prepares students from around the world for work in a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary branch of information science. It combines philosophical rigor with practical computing skills, enabling graduates to bridge the gap between conceptual modeling and data-driven systems.

Curriculum

The curriculum combines two complementary strands: the human side of ontology, where students work with domain experts (e.g., finance, food science, healthcare) to analyze heterogeneous data and plan interoperability; and the software side, where students use ontology tools to implement, deploy, and integrate rigorously defined models within contemporary computing environments.

Requirements

Admission requires an undergraduate degree. Philosophy graduates—trained in logic and argumentation—are especially well suited, and the program also welcomes applicants from computer science, management, information studies, and other STEM and humanities fields.

Explore the Program

Student & Alumni Perspectives

Sample Lectures & Talks

More from UB Philosophy

Prospective MS students can click below to apply for admission to the Spring 2026 semester.

Apply Here

Where Do Our Students Come From?

Graduates and collaborators of the UB Department of Philosophy come from a wide range of fields—philosophy, computer science, linguistics, information science, healthcare, biomedical research, geography, finance, logistics, defense, engineering, publishing, manufacturing, and data-intensive industries. Some join straight from undergraduate study; others bring research experience or established careers. They now work and study around the world in government, industry, and academia, contributing to funded research and practical applications of ontology. Our research community collaborates closely with institutions such as:

Together, these students and partners form a worldwide network contributing to the continued growth and practical impact of applied ontology.

Our Faculty

UB Philosophers with a primary focus in ontology include:

Barry Smith

Barry Smith PhD, FACMI, FIAOA

SUNY Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Julian Park Chair

Areas of Specialization

Applied Ontology; Artificial Intelligence

Education

  • PhD, Philosophy — University of Manchester (1976)
  • MA, Mathematics and Philosophy — Oxford University (1975)
  • BA, Mathematics and Philosophy — Oxford University (1973)
Sample Courses

Publications

View an up-to-date list of publications on Google Scholar .

John Beverley

John Beverley PhD

Assistant Professor

Areas of Specialization

Logic, Social Epistemology, Ethics, Applied Ontology, Race, Ethnicity, Diversity.

Education

  • PhD, Northwestern University
  • MA, University at Buffalo
  • BS, North Carolina State University
Courses
  • Introduction to Philosophy
  • Logic of Ontology
  • Metaphysics

Publications

View an up-to-date list of publications on Google Scholar .

Regina Hurley

Regina Hurley PhD

Assistant Professor

Areas of Specialization

Applied Ontology; Epistemology.

Education

  • PhD, Northwestern University
Sample courses
  • PHI 637: Special Topics – Ontologies of Solitude and Gerotranscendence
    Seminar clarifying major constructs such as solitude, loneliness, and psychological well-being while engaging students in the development of the Solitude and Gerotranscendence Ontologies. Work extends from the Behavior Change Intervention Ontology and directly supports the NIA–NIH funded PHASES project, providing hands-on training in ontology engineering and contemporary solitude research.

Publications

View an up-to-date list of publications on Google Scholar .

Thomas E. Bittner

Thomas E. Bittner PhD

Associate Professor

Areas of Specialization

Formal and Applied Ontology; Ontology of Space, Time and Spatial Entities; Spatio-Temporal Reasoning; Bio-Medical Ontology.

Education

  • PhD, Technical University of Vienna
Courses
  • Logic
  • Spatial Ontology

Publications

View an up-to-date list of publications on Google Scholar .

Research

Coming soon: highlights of current ontology research projects.

News

Coming soon: program announcements and updates.

Events

Coming soon: upcoming talks, info sessions, and workshops.

Looking for the previous site? See Contemporary Ontology, History of Ontology, Ontological Engineering, and Biomedical Ontology.