Introduction to Machine Learning

Contact Information

• Tim Oates
• Office: ITE-336
• Email: oates@umbc.edu
• Office hours: TBD

TA:

• Krishna Bunga
• Office: ITE 340
• Email: eu03337@umbc.edu
• Office hours: Mon/Wed 4:00-5:00pm

Grader:

• Mohit Patil
• Email: mohitp1@umbc.edu

We will rely on Slack for asynchronous communication. Please use this link to sign up for the class Slack. You can use Slack for discussions between yourselves and to ask questions of me or the TA. If you want to ensure that I see your post, please use @oates in it so that I get a notification. Most discussions tend to take place in the general channel, but feel free to ask me to create other channels.

Grading

The weights on the various items are as follows:

• exams - 15% each, 30% total
• homeworks - 9% each, 54% total
• project - 16%

Grades will be assigned as follows based on your class average:

• [90, 100] = A
• [80, 90) = B
• [70, 80) = C
• [60, 70) = D
• [0, 60) = F

All assignments will be submitted via slack.

Late Policy

Once the late days are used, a penalty of 33% will be imposed for each day (or fraction thereof) an assignment is late (33% for one day, 66% for two, 100% for three or more). An assignment is late by one day if it is not turned in at beginning of class on the day that it is due. It is late by two days if I do not have it by 11:30am the following day, and so on. It is your responsibility to keep track of how many late days you have used.

Project

Projects may be done by individuals or teams of two people. However, teams of two will be expected to do significantly more work than what is expected of an individual project. More information on projects can be found here.

Academic Honesty

I will actively monitor all student work, as will the TA, for instances of academic misconduct. The penalty for any such misconduct on the first instance will be a zero on the assignment. The penalty for the second instance will be an F in the class. I will report all instances of academic misconduct to the graduate school.

Accessibility and Disability Accommodations, Guidance and Resources (required)

Accommodations for students with disabilities are provided for all students with a qualified disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA & ADAAA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act who request and are eligible for accommodations. The Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) is the UMBC department designated to coordinate accommodations that creates equal access for students when barriers to participation exist in University courses, programs, or activities.

If you have a documented disability and need to request academic accommodations in your courses, please refer to the SDS website at sds.umbc.edu for registration information and office procedures.

SDS email: disAbility@umbc.edu

SDS phone: (410) 455-2459

If you will be using SDS approved accommodations in this class, please contact the instructor to discuss implementation of the accommodations. During remote instruction requirements due to COVID, communication and flexibility will be essential for success.

Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, and Gender Based Violence and Discrimination (required)

UMBC Policy and Federal law (Title IX) prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in University programs and activities. Any student who is impacted by sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sexual exploitation, gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, gender-based harassment or retaliation should contact the University’s Title IX Coordinator to make a report and/or access support and resources:

Mikhel A. Kushner, Title IX Coordinator (she/they)

410-455-1250 (direct line), kushner@umbc.edu

You can access support and resources even if you do not want to take any further action. You will not be forced to file a formal complaint or police report. Please be aware that the University may take action on its own if essential to protect the safety of the community.

If you are interested in or thinking about making a report, please use the Online Reporting/Referral Form. Please note that, if you report anonymously,  the University’s ability to respond will be limited.

Notice that Faculty are Responsible Employees with Mandatory Reporting Obligations:

All faculty members are considered Responsible Employees, per UMBC’s Policy on Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Harassment, and Gender Discrimination. Faculty are therefore required to report any/ all available information regarding conduct falling under the Policy and violations of the Policy to the Title IX Coordinator, even if a student discloses an experience that occurred before attending UMBC and/or an incident that only involves people not affiliated with UMBC.  Reports are required regardless of the amount of detail provided and even in instances where support has already been offered or received.

While faculty members want encourage you to share information related to your life experiences through discussion and written work, students should understand that faculty are required to report past and present sexual assault, domestic and interpersonal violence, stalking, and gender discrimination that is shared with them to the Title IX Coordinator so that the University can inform students of their rights, resources and support.  While you are encouraged to do so, you are not obligated to respond to outreach conducted as a result of a report to the Title IX Coordinator.

If you need to speak with someone in confidence, who does not have an obligation to report to the Title IX Coordinator, UMBC has a number of Confidential Resources available to support you: 

• The Counseling Center (Main Campus): 410-455-2472 / After-Hours 410-455-3230 [Monday – Friday; 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.]
• Center for Counseling and Consultation (Shady Grove Campus): 301-738-6273 (Messages checked hourly)  Online Appointment Request Form
• University Health Services: 410-455-2542 [Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.]
• Pastoral Counseling via Interfaith Center: 410-455-3657; interfaith@umbc.edu [7 days a week; Fall and Spring 7 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Summer and Winter 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.]

Other Resources:

• Women’s Center (for students of all genders): 410-455-2714; womenscenter@umbc.edu. [Monday – Thursday 9:30am-6pm and Friday 9:30am-4pm]
• Shady Grove Student Resources, Maryland Resources, National Resources.

Child Abuse and Neglect:

Please note that Maryland law and UMBC policy require that faculty report all disclosures or suspicions of child abuse or neglect to the Department of Social Services and/or the police.

Textbook

• ESL: Elements of Statistical Learning: https://web.stanford.edu/~hastie/ElemStatLearn/printings/ESLII_print12.pdf
• ITILA: Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms: http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/itprnn/book.pdf
• UML: Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms: http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~shais/UnderstandingMachineLearning/
• CIML: A Course in Machine Learning: http://ciml.info/

Tools

Syllabus