Time and Location: Tuesday & Thursday, 2:30pm to 3:50pm ET
Lecture Recordings: Lecture recordings are available through Canvas Media Library.
Welcome to CS1420 - Machine Learning!
How can artificial systems learn from examples, and discover information buried in massive datasets? We explore the theory and practice of statistical machine learning, focusing on computational methods for supervised and unsupervised data analysis. Specific topics include empirical risk minimization, probably approximately correct learning, maximum likelihood parameter estimation, kernel methods, neural networks, the expectation maximization algorithm, and principal component analysis.
Time: 2:30 - 3:50pm, Tue & Thu
Location: Metcalf Research Building AUD
Lectures
Schedule
| Date | Topics | Book Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Jan 25 | Intro, ERM framework | 1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 | |
| Tuesday, Jan 30 | Halfspaces and Perceptron | 9.0, 9.1.0, 9.1.2 | |
| Thursday, Feb 1 | Linear and Polynomial Regression | 9.2 | |
| Tuesday, Feb 6 | Logistic Regression | 9.3, 12.1.1, 14.0, 14.1.0 | |
| Thursday, Feb 8 | SGD, Data Prep, and other Practicalities | 14.3.0, 14.5.1 | |
| Tuesday, Feb 13 | PAC Learning | 2.3, 3 | |
| Thursday, Feb 15 | The Bias-Complexity Tradeoff | 5 | |
| Tuesday, Feb 20 | LONG WEEKEND, NO CLASS | ||
| Thursday, Feb 22 | Model Selection, Validation, and Regularization | 11.0, 11.2, 11.3, 13.1, 13.4 | |
| Tuesday, Feb 27 | Boosting | 10 | |
| Thursday, Feb 29 | Decision Trees | 18 | |
| Tuesday, Mar 5 | Learning via Uniform Convergence | 4 | |
| Thursday, Mar 7 | VC Dimension | 6, 9.1.3 | |
| Tuesday, Mar 12 | Naive Bayes | 24.0, 24.1, 24.2 | |
| Thursday, Mar 14 | K-Nearest Neighbors / Fairness in Machine Learning | 19 | |
| Tuesday, Mar 19 | Support Vector Machines | 15 | |
| Thursday, Mar 21 | Kernel Methods | 16 | |
| Tuesday, Mar 26 | NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK) | ||
| Thursday, Mar 28 | NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK) | ||
| Tuesday, Apr 2 | Neural Networks | 20.0, 20.1, 20.2, 20.3 | |
| Thursday, Apr 4 | Backpropagation | 20.6 | |
| Tuesday, Apr 9 | Deep Learning | ||
| Thursday, Apr 11 | K-Means | 22.0, 22.2, 22.5 | |
| Tuesday, Apr 16 | Expectation Maximization | 24.4 | |
| Thursday, Apr 18 | Principal Component Analysis | 23.0, 23.1 | |
| Tuesday, Apr 23 | Ethics in Machine Learning | ||
| Thursday, Apr 25 | Cutting Edge Machine Learning |
Homework Policy
All assignments are due at 12:00pm noon. Written and programming assignments are to be submitted to Gradescope. See the missive for more information on late days and extensions.
Assignments
| Description | Release | Due | Latex | Code | Solutions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1. Review, Python | Jan 25 | Feb 1 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #2. Halfspaces, Linear and Polynomial Regression | Feb 1 | Feb 8 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #3. Logistic Regression | Feb 8 | Feb 15 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #4. PAC Learning and the Bias-Complexity Tradeoff | Feb 15 | Feb 22 | Latex | Solutions | |
| #5. Model Selection, Validation, and Regularization | Feb 22 | Feb 29 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #6. Boosting and Decision Trees | Feb 29 | Mar 7 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #7. Uniform Convergence and VC Dimension | Mar 7 | Mar 14 | Latex | Solutions | |
| #8. Naive Bayes and Fairness | Mar 14 | Mar 21 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #9. SVM and Kernels | Mar 21 | Apr 4 | Latex | Code | Solutions |
| #10. Neural Networks | Apr 4 | Apr 11 | Latex | Code | |
| #11. Deep Learning | Apr 11 | Apr 18 | Latex | Code | |
| #12. Clustering | Apr 18 | Apr 25 | Latex | Code | |
| #13. Dimensionality Reduction | Apr 25 | May 2 | Latex | ||
Final Exam | May 16, 12pm noon | May 17, 11:59pm |
Calendar
Refer to the calendar below for the most up-to-date lecture and office hour schedule.
Meet Our Staff
Stephen Bach
he/him | Professor
🏠 Providence, RI | 💖 Providence, RI
Assistant professor with an awesome team of students. Check out our research group! (link under 'Useful Links')
Emily Ye
she/her | HTA
🏠 Nothern Virginia | 💖 Shanghai
Hi, I'm a senior studying CS + economics! Ask me about Providence cafes, book recs, and the NYT mini :)
Kevin Lu
he/him | HTA
🏠 New Orleans, LA | 💖 Singapore
:)
Matthew Meeker
HTA
🏠 Milton, GA | 💖 Stockholm, Sweden
I'm a senior studying mostly APMA. My interests are in probability, numerics and analysis, and (of course) ML. I play a lot of guitar, own too many hhkb's, and almost studied art history.
Aditya Agashe
he/him | UTA
🏠 Edison, NJ | 💖 Edison, NJ
Hi, I'm Aditya. I'm a junior studying APMA-CS.
Alex Liang
UTA
🏠 Shanghai, China | 💖 Shanghai, China
Hi, I'm a junior studying APMA-CS. I enjoy playing and watching basketball, binging Criminal Minds, and eating any microwave foods.
Alex Lin
UTA
🏠 Boston, MA | 💖 Seoul, South Korea
Hey all, I'm a Junior studying CS. I spend my free time cooking, playing tennis, and learning different languages and eating food from around the world.
Andrew Yang
he/him | UTA
🏠 Cincinnati, OH | 💖 Cincinnati, OH
I am a junior studying applied math and computer science. I am originally from Cincinnati, OH.
Jaideep Naik
UTA
🏠 South Windsor, CT | 💖 NYC
Hey! I'm a sophomore from Connecticut studying APMA + CS. I love playing soccer, hiking, and working out.
Johnny Elias
he/him | UTA
🏠 Dallas, TX | 💖 Seoul
Hey guys! My name is Johnny and I'm a sophomore studying Math and CS. In my free time, I really enjoy photography and studying languages/linguistics!
Keitaro Nishijima
he/him | UTA
🏠 Tokyo, Japan | 💖 Barcelona, Spain
frosted caramel nut espresso!
Krishi Saripalli
he/him | UTA
🏠 San Jose, CA | 💖 San Francisco, CA
I'm a senior studying CS and love tropical fruits
Luke Choi
he/him | UTA
🏠 Avon, CT | 💖 Seoul, South Korea
Hi! I'm a junior studying computer science and math. In my free time, I like to follow football and play Tetris :)
Marco Ayala
he/him | UTA
🏠 Manila, Philippines | 💖 Manila, Philippines
International student from the Philippines! I love tennis and basketball
Mason Lee
he/him | UTA
🏠 San Diego, CA | 💖 Provy, RI
Hi, I'm a junior studying APMA-CS. I like to play soccer and try new foods.
Nitin Sreekumar
he/him | UTA
🏠 Thiruvananthapuram, India | 💖 Los Angeles, CA
Hello! I am a junior studying Biology and Computer Science. I enjoy hiking through the wild and people watching in cities. I hope y'all enjoy the class!
Noah Foster
he/him | UTA
🏠 San Leandro, CA | 💖 Melbourne, Australia
I'm a senior double concentrating in MATH-CS and APMA. My research with Ellie Pavlick and Chen Sun focuses on interpretability in large vision and language models and the implications for multimodal models. Talk to me about 1420 or any vaguely statistical course at Brown!
Reggie Zheng
he/any | UTA
🏠 Greenville, Mississippi | 💖 Fuzhou, China
howdy :D i'm a senior studying cs-apma and a lover of coffee, lowercase letters, and video essays on obscure topics. excited to meet y'all!
Sarah Peters
she/her | UTA
🏠 Chennai, India | 💖 Rome
Always happy to talk about dancing, dogs and all things ML (:
Spencer Dellenbaugh
he/him | UTA
🏠 Portsmouth, RI | 💖 Auckland, NZ
I am a senior studying computer science in the AI/ML and theory tracks. Outside of the classroom I enjoy sailing on Brown's club team, playing games with friends, and building robots.
Taishi Nishizawa
he/him | UTA
🏠 Tokyo, Japan | 💖 Tokyo, Japan
Hi guys, I'm a Senior studying APMA-CS. Outside of CS, I'm into soccer, cars, aquatic animals, and traveling. Excited to meet everyone!
Thomas Chang
he/him | UTA
🏠 Pittsburgh, PA | 💖 Seoul
Hi! I'm a junior studying applied math and computer science. When I'm not in the Sci Li, I love reading or playing the viola. Looking forward to a great semester with everyone!
Youjung Koo
UTA
🏠 Seoul | 💖 Gyeongju
Hey everyone! I'm a data science student with a background in electronic engineering. I enjoy swimming, yoga, and trying out different cuisines. This year, I plan to attend more workshops at the Brown Design Workshop!
Zeeshan Bhalwani
he/him | UTA
🏠 Canton, MI | 💖 Mumbai
Hey everyone! I'm a junior studying CS and also have a passion for finance. In my free time, I enjoy playing basketball, practicing archery, and watching cricket and F1.
Emma Huang
she/her | STA
🏠 Short Hills, NJ | 💖 San Francisco, CA
Hi! I'm Emma, and I'm a junior studying CS and IAPA. I enjoy skiing, anything disco ball themed, olive oil on ice cream, and house music (unironically) :)
Julie Qian
she/her | STA
🏠 Bay Area, CA | 💖 Marin Headlands, CA
butter-toasted multigrain bread + thick layer of goat cheese + roughly chopped blackberries + healthy drizzle of honey = key to my daily happiness
Resources
Course Documents
LaTeX