Principles and Methods in Machine Learning - 605.649

Analyzing large data sets (“Big Data”), is an increasingly important skill set. One of the disciplines being relied upon for such analysis is machine learning. In this course, we will approach machine learning from a practitioner’s perspective. We will examine the issues that impact our ability to learn good models (e.g., inductive bias, the curse of dimensionality, the bias-variance dilemma, and no free lunch). We will then examine a variety of approaches to learning models, covering the spectrum from unsupervised to supervised learning, as well as parametric versus non-parametric methods. Students will explore and implement several learning algorithms, including logistic regression, nearest neighbor, decision trees, and feed-forward neural networks, and will incorporate strategies for addressing the issues impacting performance (e.g., regularization, clustering, and dimensionality reduction). In addition, students will engage in online discussions, focusing on the key questions in developing learning systems. At the end of this course, students will be able to implement and apply a variety of machine learning methods to real-world problems, as well as be able to assess the performance of these algorithms on different types of data sets. Prerequisite(s): EN.605.202 – Data Structures or equivalent.

Course Prerequisite(s)

EN.605.202 – Data Structures or equivalent, EN.605.621 – Foundations of Algorithms or EN.685.621 – Algorithms for Data Science or 705.621 – Introduction to Algorithms