Assignment Descriptions

All written assignments are to be done with a word processor and be neat and professional. Good writing, grammar, punctuation, etc. are important and can affect your grade.

Topic Suggestions

Jan 6, 2010

Do some thinking about your own research, some surfing on the web, some looking over recent journals and conference proceedings and make a short list of topics you think would be beneficial to both you and the class. These topics should be appearing in the recent literature and should ideally have a potentially broad impact and appeal. Prioritize this list, both in terms of impact and in terms of which topic you'd like to be responsible for, and write a brief description and justification for their inclusion in the course. Send me the prioritized list, and we will discuss which topic would be best for you to present, and when on the schedule you would like to do so. You will then be responsible for collecting a set of readings (one primary plus several secondary) and getting them to me at least a week in advance of the week of your discussion.

Some good sources for potential topcis include (but are not limited to):

  • Proceedings of Neural Information Processing Systems
  • Proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Learning
  • Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
  • Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence
  • Neural Networks
  • IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks
  • Neural Computation
  • Machine Learning
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
  • Journal of Machine Learning Research

Topic Teaching

Jan 4 -- Apr 12, 2010

Take one (maybe) to two (more likely) class periods to give an in-depth presentation of a topic of your choice (in consultation with me). For this topic, you will be responsible for leading the class discussion, explaining difficulty concepts, soliciting feedback and analysis of the work from the class, etc.

Midterm Exam

Mar 1, 2010

For each topic covered to date, write approximately one page describing in depth how that topic might be useful in your own research. This should be carefully thought-out and presented in a polished manner. You may work on this throughout the semester or during the midterm week as you choose. You will be graded on the depth and creativity of your ideas as well as the quality of your presentation.

Final Exam

April 17, 2010

For each topic covered since the midterm, write approximately one page describing in depth how that topic might be useful in your own research. This should be carefully thought-out and presented in a polished manner. You may work on this throughout the semester or during the midterm week as you choose. You will be graded on the depth and creativity of your ideas as well as the quality of your presentation.