Teacher

Prof. Zhirong Yang

Course content

You may have known how to build a machine-learning application using existing tools. Are you curious about how these tools are developed from scratch? If you're driven to create an innovative ML tool that could redefine the landscape, this course is tailored for you.

Crafting a pioneering machine learning tool is a task that blends brilliance with innovation, demanding not only a strong foundation in mathematics and programming but also a deep well of inspiration. In this course, we will review and discuss the development clue of some selected milestone algorithms and models. By exploring these success stories, you will gain valuable insights into making strategic choices in direction, formulating problems, fitting models, and executing software implementations.

Course grading

• Presentation (70%)
• Opponent and discussion (10%)
• A small group research proposal (20%)
• No exam

Lectures

Attendance is mandatory! Classroom Adolf Øien-bygget A31

• Friday 05.09.2025 12:00-14:00
• Friday 03.10.2025 12:00-14:00
• Friday 10.10.2025 12:00-14:00
• Friday 17.10.2025 12:00-14:00
• Friday 24.10.2025 12:00-14:00

Office hours (Tuesdays 10-12, please make an appointment by email)

• Zhirong Yang

Recommended prerequisites

• Solid university mathematics
• Programming (We mainly use Python; some other languages are possible)
• Machine learning basics

Enroll

• Register for the course here.
• CS students have to register for a project and get approval from their supervisor to access the theory modules.
• Non-CS students can choose "Informatics" in the dropdown.
• For students who are not in computer science, please consult your own department to see whether they have the same format of specialization courses. Otherwise, we may not grant credits to you.

Microsoft Teams

• We will mainly use Microsoft Teams for the course materials, announcement, Q&A, and other discussions.