Special Topics Courses
Special Topics are unique courses that are only ever taught once or twice. The topics are selected each semester from recent developments and trends in Computer Science. These courses may introduce new or emerging aspects in the field, or showcase the research and expertise of the computer science faculty and visiting scholars.
Undergraduate Special Topics courses are designated by course code CSCI 499.
Graduate Special Topics courses are designated by course code CSCI 599.
Doctoral Special Topics courses are designated by course code CSCI 699.
Students should meet with their Academic Advisor to determine if a Special Topics course is appropriate for their specific program of study. There are limits to how many special topics courses/units can be counted toward a degree.
Current Offerings - Fall 2024:
CSCI 499 - Undergraduate Special Topics
- Introduction to Distributed Systems
- Natural Language Processing
- Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
CSCI 599 - Graduate Special Topics
- Distributed Systems, a dance between complexity and performance
- Introduction to Blockchain Ecosystems
- Software Engineering for Security
CSCI 699 - Doctoral Special Topics
- Deep Learning for Robotic Manipulation
- The Science of Large Language Models
- Robot Learning
Previously Offered Special Topics:
CSCI 499
Artificial Intelligence for Social Good - Bistra Dilkina
Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development - Bistra Dilkina
Computing and Global Change - Barath Raghavan
Computing for Social Good - Barath Raghavan
Computing for Sustainability and Social Good - Barath Raghavan
Concepts of Programming Languages - Michael Shindler
Cryptography - Fundamentals of Secure Communication & Computation - Shanghua Teng
Ethics in Computing - Tanya Ryutov
Free to Play Game Development - Scott Easley
Introduction to Functional Programming - Mukund Raghothaman
Native Console Multiplayer Game Development - Artjoms Kovalovs
Natural Language for Interactive Artificial Intelligence - Jesse Thomason
Puzzle Games Development - Marc Spraragen
Practical Console Game Development - Mike Zyda
Robust Software Design and Implementation - Barath Raghavan
Robust Systems Design and Implementation - Barath Raghavan
Security Systems - Jelena Mirkovic
Social Game Development - Scott Easley
Theory of Computation - Aaron Cote
CSCI 599
Advanced Big Data Analytics - Yan Liu
Advanced Computer Security - Muhammad Naveed
Advanced Distributed Systems - Wyatt Lloyd
Advanced Game Development - Everett Arey, Khaled Abdel Rahman
Advanced Topics in Machine Learning - Fei Sha
Advanced Topics in Statistical Machine Learning - Fei Sha
Algorithm Design in Strategic Settings - Shaddin Dughmi
Analytics of Social Media - Kristina Lerman
An Introduction to Programming Languages - Mukund Raghothaman
Applications of Natural Language Processing & Information Retrieval - Anton Leuski
Applied Machine Learning for Games - Mike Zyda
Artificial Intelligence for Social Good - Milind Tambe
Automated Reasoning and Verification - Chao Wang
Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems - Jyotirmoy Deshmukh
Blockchain Technology and Applications - Bhaskar Krishnamachari
Complexity - Jiapeng Zhang
Computation and Physics - Aram Galstyan, Greg Ver Steeg
Computational Complexity - Ming-Deh Huang
Content Detection and Analyis for Big Data - Chris Mattmann
Convex and Combinatorial Optimization - Shaddin Dughmi
Coordinated Mobile Robotics - Nora Ayanian
Data Mining and Statistical Inference - Yan Liu
Data Science for Social Systems - Emilio Ferrara, Frederick Morstatter
Deep Learning and Its Applications - Joseph Lim
Digital Geometry Processing - Hao Li
Effective Algorithms in Machine Learning and Statistics - Ilias Diakonikolas
Formal Verification of Computer Systems - Chao Wang
Foundations of Databases, Knowledge Representation, Data Integration & Exchange - Jose Luis Ambite, George Konstantinidis
Game Networking Architectures - Mike Zyda
Hacking for Defense - Clifford Neuman
Heuristic Search in Artificial Intelligence - Ariel Felner
Human Communication and Machine Learning - Louis-Philippe Morency
Immersive Environments - Mike Zyda
Innovation for Defense Applications - Clifford Neumann
Internet Measurement - Ethan Katz-Bassett
Introduction to Holodecks - Shahram Ghandeharizadeh
Machine Learning for Knoweldge Extraction and Reasoning - Xiang Ren
Machine Learning Theory - Ilias Diakonikolas
Memes, Genes, and Cenes - Leonard Adleman
Mobile Social Games - Scott Easley
Modern Distributed Systems - Wyatt Lloyd
Multimodal Probabilistic Learning of Human Communication - Louis-Philippe Morency, Stefan Scherer Natural Language Dialogue Systems - David Traum, David Devault
NewSQL Database Management Systems - Shahram Ghandeharizadeh
Privacy in the World of Big Data - Aleksandra Korolova
Quantum Computing and Quantum Cryptography - Ming-Deh Huang
Security and Game Theory - Milind Tambe
Selected Topics in Data Analytics - Yan Liu
Self-Organization - Aristides Requicha Service Science - Supannika Koolmanojwong
Social Media Analysis - Kristina Lerman, Andrew Gordon Strata - Leonard Adleman
Testing and Analysis of Software Systems - William Halfond
Testing and Analysis of Web Applications - William Halfond
Topics in Algebraic Methods of Computation - Ming-Deh Huang
Trends in Cloud Computing and Data Center Networking - Minlan Yu
CSCI 699
Advanced Computer Security - Muhammad Naveed
Advanced Topics in Deep Learning - Yan Liu
Advanced Topics in Representation Learning for NLP - Xiang Ren
Advanced Topics in Statistical Machine Learning - Fei Sha
Adversarial Machine Learning - Muhammad Naveed
AI and Multiagent Systems Research for Social Good - Milind Tambe
Artificial Intelligence for Social Good - Milind Tambe
Boolean Function Analysis - Jiapeng Zhang
Computational Human Robot Interaction - Stefanos Nikolaidis
Computer-Aided Verification - Mukund Raghothaman
Crafting a Research Agenda - Barath Raghavan
Data-Centric Natural Language Processing - Swabha Swayamdipta
Dynamics of Representation Learning - Greg Ver Steeg
Extreme-Scale Quantum Simulations - Aiichiro Nakano
Formal Methods for Robotics - Jyotirmoy Deshmukh
Grounding Natural Language - Jesse Thomason
Haptic Interfaces and Virtual Environments - Heather Culbertson
Introduction to Information Extraction - Xiang Ren
Introduction to Online Learning - Haipeng Luo
Introduction to Software Synthesis - Chao Wang
Quantitative Information Flow and Side Channels - Chao Wang
Representation Learning for Natural Language Processing - Xiang Ren
Representation Learning: Theory and Practice - Aram Galstyan and Greg Ver Steeg
Robustness and Generalization in Natural Language Processing - Robin Jia
Software Forensics - Nenad Medvidovic
Theoretical Machine Learning - Haipeng Luo
Theory and Algorithms for Formal Verification - Jyotirmoy Deshmukh
Theory of Machine Learning - Vastal Sharan
Topics in Discrete Optimization and Learning - Bistra Dilkina
Topics in Formal Reasoning for Cyber-Physical Systems - Jyotirmoy Deshmukh
Topics in Learning and Game Theory - Shaddin Dughmi, Ilias Diakonikolas
Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces - Evan Suma Rosenberg