Natural Language Processing (NLP) focuses on the development of computer programs to understand, generate, and learn from human language. It is a fundamental capability of artificial intelligence, and provides algorithms, methods and tools for analyzing text or speech for applications including conversational agents, machine translation, question answering, knowledge discovery, and sentiment analysis. The University of California, Santa Cruz professional Master of Science in Natural Language Processing program provides an education that has both depth and breadth in the core algorithms and methods used for NLP, and integrates foundational skills in data science and linguistic theory to prepare graduates to work in the field of natural language processing in industry, governmental agencies or nonprofit organizations. The degree is offered through the UCSC campus in Silicon Valley, enabling connection and collaboration with local industry and a focus on career development. Students are expected to complete coursework in four to five academic quarters, without leaves of absence.