Lectures

The following is a tentative schedule of lectures.

Date Topic Book chapters
Tuesday 1/9 Introduction [2pp, 6pp], Probability Review I [2pp, 6pp] Sections 1.1, 12.1
Thursday 1/11 Probability Review II [2pp, 6pp]
Reading Assignment: Bayesian Networks without Tears by Eugene Charniak
Assignment #1 (due Jan 18, 2007)
Section 1.2
Tuesday 1/16 Overview of Probabilistic Networks [2pp, 6pp] Section 1.4
Thursday 1/18 Markov Networks [2pp, 6pp], Graph/Probabilistic Relationships [2pp, 6pp]  
Tuesday 1/23 Graph/Probabilistic Relationships II [2pp, 6pp]
Reading Assignment: Chapter 2 Building Models from Finn Jensen's book "Bayesian Networks and Decision Graphs".
Section 2.1
Thursday 1/25 Graph/Probabilistic Relationships III [2pp, 6pp]
Assignment #2 (due Feb 1, 2007)
Section 2.2-2.5
Tuesday 1/30 Building Bayesian Networks I [2pp, 6pp] Chapter 2 of Jensen book
Thursday 2/1 Building Bayesian Networks II [2pp, 6pp]
Assignment #3 (due Feb 8, 2007)
Chapter 2 of Jensen book
Tuesday 2/6 Exact Inference: Discrete Variables (Enumeration) [2pp, 6pp]  
Thursday 2/8 Exact Inference: Discrete Variables (Bucket Elimination) [2pp, 6pp] Rina Dechter's paper
Tuesday 2/13 Exact Inference: Discrete Variables (Belief Propagation I) [2pp, 6pp] Section 3.1-3.2
Thursday 2/15 Midterm  
Tuesday 2/20 Exact Inference: Discrete Variables (Belief Propagation II) [2pp, 6pp] Section 3.1-3.2
Thursday 2/22 Approximate Inference: Discrete Variables (Sampling, Likelihood Weighting), Abductive Inference [2pp, 6pp],
Midterm solutions are also available.
Section 4.2, Introduction to 4.3
Tuesday 2/27 Learning Bayesian Networks from Data: Parameter Learning [2pp, 6pp]
Assignment #4 out (due March 6, 2007)
Reading Assignment: A Primer on Bayesian Statistics in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (From Overview to Section 5 inclusive, Pages 9-33
 
Thursday 3/1 Learning Bayesian Networks from Data: Parameter Learning [2pp, 6pp]  
Tuesday 3/6 Learning Bayesian Networks from Data: Structure Learning [2pp, 6pp]
Assignment #5 out (due March 13, 2007)
 
Thursday 3/8 Temporal Models [2pp, 6pp]  
Tuesday 3/13 Causal Networks [2pp, 6pp]
An Introduction to Causal Inference
 
Thursday 3/15 Causal Networks, Review and Evaluations [2pp, 6pp]