• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

HomePage

Instructor

Chuck Anderson Office hours to be announced.

Time and Place

CS641 will meet Mondays, 12:00-1:50 pm in Computer Science Building 425.

Grading

CS641 semester grades will be weight average of the following requirements:

• 35% Weekly paper critiques
• 30% One in-class presentations of papers
• 10% Two presentations on status of project.
• 10% Final project presentation.
• 15% Final project report.

Description

CS640 and CS641 is a two-semester sequence of two-credit courses. For fall 2008 and spring 2009 we will study research articles from the current literature that span the machine learning and neuroscience fields. Other topics may be covered, depending on students' interests. Many interesting, recent publications can be found by googling with combinations of these search terms:

• brain
• fmri
• reinforcement
• "pattern recognition"
• network topology
• oscillation
• synchronization
• "supervised learning"
• electroencephalogram EEG
• "goal-directed"
• "self organization"

We will cover one to four papers per week. Discussions of these papers will be led by a student designated in advance. That student will be responsible for organizing a short summary of the paper which explains the key concepts, places it in the larger context of related work, and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the writing, methodology, results, and conclusions. All students will be expected to be active participants in these discussions. Occasionally, the instructor will lead discussions of new material.

In addition to the readings and class discussions, during the Fall Semester all students are required to develop a concise plan for a research project of their own design to be carried out in the spring in CS641. These plans must include a clear motivational statement explaining why the significance of the research. They must include a research plan and evaluation plan. The former will discuss resources needed to carry out the experimental plan as well as descriptions for specific experiments. The latter will discuss how the results of the research are to be evaluated.

During the spring semester in CS641, students are expected to present updates on the progress of their projects, select papers for the class as a whole to read on topics related to their research, and to lead the discussions of these papers. Students will be responsible for leading an in-depth discussion of two papers. The discussion will be conducted as a mock Ph.D. qualifying exam, in which the instructor and other students ask probing questions.

Prerequisites for this course are CS540 or instructor permission.