Below are the computer science course offerings for one semester. This list primarily includes courses that count without reservation towards CS program requirements, and MSSI program courses (650.xxx). Undergraduate majors might also want to consult the list of non-department courses that may be used as "CS other" in accordance with established credit restrictions.

  • See the calendar layout for a day/time view of this course schedule.
  • Click here for a printable version of this table only.

All undergraduate courses except EN.500.112 will initially be listed as CS/CE majors/minors only, plus some affiliated minors for certain courses. All graduate courses will initially be listed as CS & affiliated MSE programs only (differs by course). After the initial registration period for each group, these restrictions will be lifted. Current restriction expiration dates are the end of the 2nd week of registration for most undergraduate courses and August 9th for most graduate courses (after incoming graduate students have had a chance to register). Please be considerate of our faculty time and do not email them seeking permission to bypass these restrictions.

CS Course Area Designators - CS course area designators are used for various program requirememts and encoded as POS tags in SIS. There are 5 main areas and also 2 extra tags for undergraduates:

  • CSCI-APPL Applications
  • CSCI-RSNG Reasoning
  • CSCI-SOFT Software
  • CSCI-SYST Systems
  • CSCI-THRY Theory
  • CSCI-TEAM Team (undergraduate only)
  • CSCI-ETHS Ethics (undergraduate only)
Course listings will also denote courses that offer options for undergraduates to satisfy various ePortfolio Foundational Abilities requirements.

Course Numbering Note - Grad students must take courses 601.6xx and above to count towards their degrees. Combined bachelors/masters students may count courses numbered 601.4xx towards their masters degree if taken before the undergrad degree is completed. [All co-listed 601.4xx/6xx courses are equivalent.]

Courses without end times are assumed to meet for 50 minute periods. Final room assignments will be available on SIS and the Registrar's website in September. Changes to the original SIS schedule will be noted in red.

500.112 (E)

GATEWAY COMPUTING: JAVA (3) More

This course introduces fundamental programming concepts and techniques, and is intended for all who plan to develop computational artifacts or intelligently deploy computational tools in their studies and careers. Topics covered include the design and implementation of algorithms using variables, control structures, arrays, functions, files, testing, debugging, and structured program design. Elements of object-oriented programming, algorithmic efficiency and data visualization are also introduced. Students deploy programming to develop working solutions that address problems in engineering, science and other areas of contemporary interest that vary from section to section. Course homework involves significant programming. Attendance and participation in class sessions are expected.

MWF 50 minutes, limit 19/section
9a (More), 10a (More), 12p (More), [1p (More)]
?? sections restricted to CS 1st-year majors

601.104 (H)
CSCI-ETHS
FA1.1eP, FA5

COMPUTER ETHICS (1) Leschke

Students will examine a variety of topics regarding policy, legal, and moral issues related to the computer science profession itself and to the proliferation of computers in all aspects of society, especially in the era of the Internet. The course will cover various general issues related to ethical frameworks and apply those frameworks more specifically to the use of computers and the Internet. The topics will include privacy issues, computer crime, intellectual property law -- specifically copyright and patent issues, globalization, and ethical responsibilities for computer science professionals. Work in the course will consist of weekly assignments on one or more of the readings and a final paper on a topic chosen by the student and approved by the instructor.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).
Sections meet during the first 8 weeks of the semester only.

Sec 01: Mon 4:30-6:00p
Sec 02: Mon 6:30-8:00p
Sec 03: Tue 4:30-6:00p
Sec 04: Tue 6:30-8:00p
limit 19 each, CS majors only (no expiration)

601.124 (EH)
CSCI-ETHS
FA1.1eP, FA5, FA5eP

THE ETHICS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & AUTOMATION (3) Garg

The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled use cases across a broad spectrum of domains has underscored the benefits and risks of AI. This course will address the various ethical considerations engineers need to engage with to build responsible and trustworthy AI-enabled autonomous systems. Topics to be covered include: values-based decision making, ethically aligned design, cultural diversity, safety, bias, AI explainability, privacy, AI regulation, the ethics of synthetic life, and the future of work. Case studies will be utilized to illustrate real-world applications. Students will apply learned material to a group research project on a topic of their choice.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

MW 1:30-2:45p
limit 19, CS majors only (no expiration)

601.164 (EH)
CSCI-ETHS
FA1.1eP, FA5, FA5eP

HUMAN & MACHINE INTELLIGENCE ALIGNMENT (3) Ryan

The challenge of ensuring that the actions of individuals and systems — whether human or machine — are consistent with shared goals, reflect our values, and promote societal well-being is known as "the alignment problem." Over millennia, humans have developed many coordination and cooperation "technologies" — such as customs, values, norms, laws, organizations, governments, and markets—that partially solve the problem of human intelligence alignment.
As we develop and deploy advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, we are similarly concerned that their use is consistent with shared goals, reflect our values, and promote societal well-being. In this course we will explore the parallels between human intelligence alignment and machine intelligence alignment to help engineers and technologists become reflective practitioners who can grapple wisely with the alignment problem broadly understood.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Sec 01: TuTh 4:30-5:45p, limit 28, CS majors only
Sec 02: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 28 [open to all]

601.220 (E)

INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMING (4) staff

This course teaches intermediate to advanced programming, using C and C++. (Prior knowledge of these languages is not expected.) We will cover low-level programming techniques, as well as object-oriented class design, and the use of class libraries. Specific topics include pointers, dynamic memory allocation, polymorphism, overloading, inheritance, templates, collections, exceptions, and others as time permits. Students are expected to learn syntax and some language specific features independently. Course work involves significant programming projects in both languages.

Prereq: AP CS or (>=C+ grade in one of 500.112, 500.113, 500.114, 580.200) or (500.132 or 500.133 or 500.134) or equivalent by permission. Students may not register until grades are posted.

CS/CE/EE majors/minors only
Sec 01 (Darvish): MWF 10:30-11:45am
Sec 02 (Darvish): MWF 12-1:15pm, incoming first-years only
Sec 03 (Simari): MWF 1:30-2:45p
Sec 04 (Selinski): MWF 3:00-4:15pm, incoming first-years only
limit 29/section

601.226 (EQ)

DATA STRUCTURES (4) Madooei

This course covers the design, implementation and efficiencies of data structures and associated algorithms, including arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, binary trees, heaps, balanced trees and graphs. Other topics include sorting, hashing, Java generics, and unit testing. Course work involves both written homework and Java programming assignments.

Prereq: AP CS or (>= C+ grade in 601.220 or 500.112) or 500.132 or equivalent by permission. Students may not register until grades are posted.

Sec 01: MWF 12-1:15pm, limit 75
Sec 02: MWF 1:30-2:45pm, limit 75
CS/CE majors/minors + CIS/Robotics minors

601.229 (E)

COMPUTER SYSTEM FUNDAMENTALS (3) Hovemeyer

This course covers modern computer systems from a software perspective. Topics include binary data representation, machine arithmetic, assembly language, computer architecture, performance optimization, memory hierarchy and cache organization, virtual memory, Unix systems programming, network programming, and concurrency. Hardware and software interactions relevant to computer security are highlighted. Students will gain hands-on experience with these topics in a series of programming assignments.

Prereq: 601.220.

Sec 01: MWF 9-9:50am, limit 45
Sec 02: MWF 10-10:50am, limit 45
CS/CE majors/minors

601.230 (EQ)

MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE (4) Gagan

This course provides an introduction to mathematical reasoning and discrete structures relevant to computer science. Topics include propositional and predicate logic, proof techniques including mathematical induction, sets, relations, functions, recurrences, counting techniques, simple computational models, asymptotic analysis, discrete probability, graphs, trees, and number theory.

Pre-req: Gateway Computing (500.112/113/114/132/133/134 or AP CS or 601.220). Students can get credit for at most one of EN.601.230 or EN.601.231.

Sec 01: TTh 12:00-1:15p, Th 4:30-5:20p
Sec 02: TTh 12:00-1:15p, F 10-10:50a
Sec 03: TTh 12:00-1:15p, F 11-11:50a
Sec 04: TTh 12:00-1:15p, F 12-12:50p
Sec 05: TTh 12:00-1:15p, F 1:30-2:20p
Sec 06: TTh 12:00-1:15p, F 3-3:50p
limit 15/section, CS/CE majors/minors only

601.257 (E)
CSCI-TEAM
FA1.2eP, FA6eP

COMPUTER GRAPHICS & 3D GAME PROGRAMMING (3) Simari

In this course, students will program a game of their own design using an off-the-shelf game engine while learning about the 3D computer graphics concepts behind the engine's components. Classes will consist of a mix of theory and practice. The theory will be presented through lectures on topics including transformations, lighting, shading, shape representations, spatial querying and indexing, animation, and special effects. Practice will involve in-class programming exercises and contributions to the game project with periodic in-class presentations of progress to date. Students are expected to have a strong programming background and to be familiar with basic linear algebra concepts.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Prereq: 601.220, 601.226 and linear algebra.

MWF 10a
limit 28, CS majors/minors

601.280 (E)

FULL-STACK JAVASCRIPT (3) Presler-Marshall & Crainiceanu

A full-stack JavaScript developer is a person who can build modern software applications using primarily the JavaScript programming language. Creating a modern software application involves integrating many technologies - from creating the user interface to saving information in a database and everything else in between and beyond. A full-stack developer is not an expert in everything. Rather, they are someone who is familiar with various (software application) frameworks and the ability to take a concept and turn it into a finished product. This course will teach you programming in JavaScript and introduce you to several JavaScript frameworks that would enable you to build modern web, cross-platform desktop, and native/hybrid mobile applications. A student who successfully completes this course will be on the expedited path to becoming a full-stack JavaScript developer.

Prereq: 601.220 or 601.226.

Sec 01 [Crainiceanu]: MW 12-1:15p, limit 39, CS majors/minors
Sec 02 [Presler-Marshall]: MW 1:30-2:45p, limit 39, CS majors/minors

601.315 (E)
CSCI-SOFT

DATABASES (3) Yarowsky

Introduction to database management systems and database design, focusing on the relational and object-oriented data models, query languages and query optimization, transaction processing, parallel and distributed databases, recovery and security issues, commercial systems and case studies, heterogeneous and multimedia databases, and data mining. (www.cs.jhu.edu/~yarowsky/cs415.html)

Prereq: 601.226. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.315/415/615.

TuTh 3-4:15pm
limit 30, CS/CE majors/minors

601.340 (E)
CSCI-SYST
Overview Video

WEB SECURITY (3) Cao

This course begins with reviewing basic knowledge of the World Wide Web, and then exploring the central defense concepts behind Web security, such as same-origin policy, cross-origin resource sharing, and browser sandboxing. It will cover the most popular Web vulnerabilities, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection, as well as how to attack and penetrate software with such vulnerabilities. Students will learn how to detect, respond, and recover from security incidents. Newly proposed research techniques will also be discussed.

Note: This undergrad version will not have the same paper component as the other versions of this course. Prerequisite: 601.226, 601.229 & 601.280. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.340/440/640.

TuTh 12-1:15
limit 10, CS/CE majors/minors

601.405 (E)
CSCI-SYST
NEW!

NETWORK SECURITY Erik Rye

This course focuses on communication security in computer systems and networks. The course is intended to provide students with an introduction to the field of network security. The course covers network security services such as authentication and access control, integrity and confidentiality of data, firewalls and related technologies, Web security and privacy. Course work involves implementing various security techniques. A course project is required.
Pre-requisites: EN.601.220, EN.601.226, EN.601.414/614. Students may receive credit for only one of 650.424/650.624.

MWF 10
limit 15, CS/CE majors/minors

660.410 (E)
CSCI-OTHR

CS INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP I (3) Dahbura & Aronhime

[Counts towards "CS other" credits and is a pre-requisite for 601.411 offered in the Spring.]
This course is designed to give students in CS the requisite skills to generate and screen ideas for new venture creation and then prepare a business plan for an innovative technology of their own design. These skills include the ability to incorporate into a formal business case all necessary requirements, including needs identification and validation; business and financial models; and, market strategies and plans. Student teams will present the business plan to an outside panel made up of practitioners, industry representatives, and venture capitalists. In addition, this course functions as the first half of a two course sequence, the second of which will be directed by CS faculty and focus on the actual construction/programming of the business idea.
Restricted to Juniors and Seniors majoring in Computer Science or by permission of instructor.

MW 12-1:15
limit 19

601.412 (E)
CSCI-SYST
NEW COURSE!

BIG DATA SYSTEMS (3) Crainiceanu

This course introduces students to the field of big data processing, its underlying technologies, managing the inter-relation of components in a system at scale, and the construction of analytical pipelines that provide business value. Key technologies explored in this course will include NoSQL databases, Hadoop ecosystems, distributed processing frameworks like Apache Spark, data warehousing solutions such as Hive, and streaming platforms like Kafka. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the architectural design and operational challenges of big data ecosystems. Prior knowledge of databases or parallel computing recommended but not required.
Prerequisites: EN.601.226 and EN.601.229 or permission. Students can only receive credit for one of 601.412/612.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 20, CS/CE majors/minors

601.414 (E)
CSCI-SYST

COMPUTER NETWORKS (3) Marder

Topics covered will include application layer protocols (e.g. HTTP, FTP, SMTP), transport layer protocols (UDP, TCP), network layer protocols (e.g. IP, ICMP), link layer protocols (e.g. Ethernet) and wireless protocols (e.g. IEEE 802.11). The course will also cover routing protocols such as link state and distance vector, multicast routing, and path vector protocols (e.g. BGP). The class will examine security issues such as firewalls and denial of service attacks. We will also study DNS, NAT, Web caching and CDNs, peer to peer, and protocol tunneling. Finally, we will explore security protocols (e.g. TLS, SSH, IPsec), as well as some basic cryptography necessary to understand these. Grading will be based on hands-on programming assignments, homeworks and two exams. Prerequisites: EN.601.226 and EN.601.229 or permission. Students can only receive credit for one of 601.414/614.

TuTh 3-4:15p
limit 30, CS/CE majors/minors

601.415 (E)
CSCI-SOFT

DATABASES (3) Yarowsky

[Similar material as EN.601.315, covered in more depth for advanced undergraduates.] Introduction to database management systems and database design, focusing on the relational and object-oriented data models, query languages and query optimization, transaction processing, parallel and distributed databases, recovery and security issues, commercial systems and case studies, heterogeneous and multimedia databases, and data mining. (www.cs.jhu.edu/~yarowsky/cs415.html)

Prereq: 601.226. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.315/415/615.

TuTh 3-4:15pm
limit 15, CS/CE majors/minors

601.420 (E)
CSCI-SYST

PARALLEL PROGRAMMING & PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING (3) Burns

This course guides the learner to write efficient software with focus on exploiting hardware parallelism and efficient memory usage. Modern microprocessors are remarkably complex and implement parallelism at many levels, including instruction level, vectorization, pipelining, multicore, and memory. Simple or naïve implementations realize only a fraction of the performance available. Exploiting the capabilities or processors require an understanding of algorithms, computer architecture, systems (compilers, PL, OS) and how they interact. The course programs mostly in C/C++, because most performance-oriented software is written in these languages. It will also touch on at parallel programming in Python and CUDA for GPUs. Familiarity with Python required.
Prerequisites: 601.226 and 601.229. Students can earn credit for only one of EN.601.420/EN.601.620.

TuTh 4:30-5:45pm
limit 45, CS/CE majors/minors

601.421 (E)
CSCI-SOFT, CSCI-TEAM
FA1.2eP, FA6eP

OBJECT ORIENTED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (3) Darvish

This course covers object-oriented software construction methodologies and their application. The main component of the course is a large team project on a topic of your choosing. Course topics covered include object-oriented analysis and design, UML, design patterns, refactoring, program testing, code repositories, team programming, and code reviews.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Prereq: 601.220, 601.226, and (EN.601.280 or EN.601.290). Students may receive credit for only one of 601.421/621.

MW 1:30-2:45p
limit 35, CS/CE majors/minors

601.425 (E)
CSCI-SOFT

SOFTWARE SYSTEM DESIGN (3) Madooei

This course introduces modern software systems design, with an emphasis on how to design large-scale systems, assess common system design trade-offs, and tackle system design challenges. It covers non-functional requirements, API design, distributed systems concepts, modern software building blocks (e.g., load balancers, caches, containers, etc.). Additionally, it includes case studies of common system design problems, some drawn from interview questions. Ultimately, this course helps learners become better software engineers.

Prereq: EN.601.315/415/615 or EN.601.280 or EN.601.290 or EN.601.340/440/640 or EN.601.421/621), or permission. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.425/625.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 20, CS/CE majors/minors

601.428 (E)
CSCI-SOFT
FA1.1eP

COMPILERS & INTERPRETERS (3) Hovemeyer

Introduction to compiler design, including lexical analysis, parsing, syntax-directed translation, symbol tables, run-time environments, and code generation and optimization. Students are required to write a compiler as a course project.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Prereq: 601.226 & 601.229 required; 601.230 or 601.231 recommended

MW 12-1:15pm
limit 20, CS/CE majors/minors

601.429 (E)
CSCI-SOFT

FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (3) Smith

How can we effectively use functional programming techniques to build real-world software? This course will primarily focus on using the OCaml programming language for this purpose. Topics covered include OCaml basics, modules, standard libraries, testing, quickcheck, build tools, functional data structures and efficiency analysis, monads, streams, and promises. Students will practice what they learn in lecture via functional programming assignments and a final project. Pre-req: 601.226 or instructor permission. Students can receive credit for only one of EN.601.429/EN.601.629.

MW 1:30-2:45pm
limit 29, CS/CE majors/minors

601.433 (EQ)
CSCI-THRY

INTRO ALGORITHMS (3) Dinitz & Sorrell

This course concentrates on the design of algorithms and the rigorous analysis of their efficiency. topics include the basic definitions of algorithmic complexity (worst case, average case); basic tools such as dynamic programming, sorting, searching, and selection; advanced data structures and their applications (such as union-find); graph . algorithms and searching techniques such as minimum spanning trees, depth-first search, shortest paths, design of online algorithms and competitive analysis.

Prereq: 601.226 & (553.171/172 or 601.230 or 601.231). Students may receive credit for only one of 601.433/633.

Sec 01 (Dinitz): TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 40
Sec 02 (Sorrell): TuTh 3-4:15p, limit 40
CS/CE majors/minors

601.438 (EQ)
CSCI-THRY

THEORY OF DIFFERENTIAL PRIVACY (3) Lydia Zakynthinou

This course is an introduction to differential privacy as a foundational framework for reasoning about privacy in data analysis. Students will develop a principled understanding of why privacy risks arise when privacy is not an explicit design objective and how differential privacy enables formal, provable guarantees. In this course, we will build on the algorithmic toolkit and statistical techniques for designing and analyzing differentially private methods, and study fundamental tradeoffs and lower bounds that characterize the limits of privacy. Required course background: students should be comfortable writing mathematical proofs involving algorithms, probability, and linear algebra.

Prereq: 601.433/633 or permission. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.438/638.

MW 4:30-5:45p
limit 15, CS/CE majors/minors

601.439 (E)
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

MACHINE LEARNING FOR SINGLE-CELL & SPATIAL GENOMICS (3) Uthsav Chitra

Recent experimental advances enable the measurement of DNA, RNA and other diverse molecular modalities inside individual cells at an unprecedented scale and resolution. Computational and machine learning (ML) methods are essential for analyzing and interpreting these high-dimensional, single-cell genomics datasets. This course introduces computational/ML frameworks that are often used to analyze modern single-cell and spatial datasets. Topics include but are not limited to: matrix factorization; autoencoders and contrastive learning; graphs and manifold learning; graph neural networks; computational optimal transport (OT); Gromov-Wasserstein and dynamic OT.
Expected course background in python programming, probability, linear algebra, and multi-variable calculus. A machine learning/data science course is strongly recommended. No biology background is necessary.

Prerequisite: python programming and (EN.553.310 or EN.553.311 or EN.553.420 or EN.553.421) and (AS.110.201 OR AS.110.212 OR EN.553.291 OR EN.553.295) and (AS.110.202 OR AS.110.211). Students may receive credit for only one of EN.601.439 and EN.601.639.

TuTh 4:30-5:45pm
limit 25, CS/CE majors/minors

601.440 (E)
CSCI-SYST
Overview Video

WEB SECURITY (3) Cao

This course begins with reviewing basic knowledge of the World Wide Web, and then exploring the central defense concepts behind Web security, such as same-origin policy, cross-origin resource sharing, and browser sandboxing. It will cover the most popular Web vulnerabilities, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection, as well as how to attack and penetrate software with such vulnerabilities. Students will learn how to detect, respond, and recover from security incidents. Newly proposed research techniques will also be discussed.

Prerequisite: 601.226, 601.229 & 601.280. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.340/440/640.

TuTh 12-1:15pm
limit 9, CS/CE majors/minors

601.443 (E)
CSCI-SOFT, CSCI-TEAM
FA1.2eP, FA6eP

SECURITY AND PRIVACY IN COMPUTING (3) Rushanan & Martin

Lecture topics will include computer security, network security, basic cryptography, system design methodology, and privacy. There will be a heavy work load, including written homework, programming assignments, exams and a comprehensive final. The class will also include a semester-long project that will be done in teams and will include a presentation by each group to the class.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Prerequisite: 601.229. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.443/643.

MW 12-1:15p
limit 25, CS/CE majors/minors

601.445 (E)
CSCI-SOFT

PRACTICAL CRYPTOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS (3) Green

This semester-long course will teach systems and cryptographic design principles by example: by studying and identifying flaws in widely-deployed cryptographic products and protocols. Our focus will be on the techniques used in practical security systems, the mistakes that lead to failure, and the approaches that might have avoided the problem. We will place a particular emphasis on the techniques of provable security and the feasibility of reverse-engineering undocumented cryptographic systems.

Prereq: 601.226 & 601.229. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.445/645.

MW 3-4:15p
limit 25, CS/CE majors/minors

601.447 (E)
CSCI-APPL, CSCI-TEAM
FA1.1eP, FA1.2eP, FA6eP
Overview Video

COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS: SEQUENCES (3) Langmead

Your genome is the blueprint for the molecules in your body. It's also a string of letters (A, C, G and T) about 3 billion letters long. How does this string give rise to you? Your heart, your brain, your health? This, broadly speaking, is what genomics research is about. This course will familiarize you with a breadth of topics from the field of computational genomics. The emphasis is on current research problems, real-world genomics data, and efficient software implementations for analyzing data. Topics will include: string matching, sequence alignment and indexing, assembly, and sequence models. Course will involve significant programming projects.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Prereq: 601.220 & 601.226. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.447/647/747.

TuTh 9-10:15am
Sec 01: limit 40, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02: limit 5, CompMed minor

601.449 (E)
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS: APPLIED COMPARATIVE GENOMICS (3) Schatz

The goal of this course is to study the leading computational and quantitative approaches for comparing and analyzing genomes starting from raw sequencing data. The course will focus on human genomics and human medical applications, but the techniques will be broadly applicable across the tree of life. The topics will include genome assembly & comparative genomics, variant identification & analysis, gene expression & regulation, personal genome analysis, and cancer genomics. The grading will be based on assignments, a midterm exam, class presentations, and a significant class project.

Prereq: working knowledge of the Unix operating system and programming expertise in R or Python. Students may receive credit for only one of EN.601.449, EN.601.649, EN.601.749.

MW 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 20, CS only
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval

601.454 (E) CSCI-APPL

INTRODUCTION TO AUGMENTED REALITY (3) Munawar

This course introduces students to the field of Augmented Reality. It reviews its basic definitions, principles, and applications. The course explains how fundamentals concepts of computer vision are applied for the development of Augmented Reality applications. It then focuses on describing the principal components and particular requirements to implement a solution using this technology. The course also discusses the main issues of calibration, tracking, multi-modal registration, advanced visualization, and display technologies. Homework in this course will relate to the mathematical methods used for calibration, tracking, and visualization in augmented reality.

Prerequisites: EN.601.220, EN.601.226, linear algebra. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.454/654.

TuTh 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 10, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02: limit 5, CIS+Robotics minors

601.455 (E)
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTER INTEGRATED SURGERY I (4) Taylor

This course focuses on computer-based techniques, systems, and applications exploiting quantitative information from medical images and sensors to assist clinicians in all phases of treatment from diagnosis to preoperative planning, execution, and follow-up. It emphasizes the relationship between problem definition, computer-based technology, and clinical application and includes a number of guest lectures given by surgeons and other experts on requirements and opportunities in particular clinical areas. Recommended Course Background: 601.220, 601.457, 601.461, image processing. (http://www.cisst.org/~cista/445/index.html)

Prereq: 601.226 and linear algebra, or permission. Students may earn credit for only one of 601.455/655.

TuTh 1:30-2:45pm
Sec 01: limit 37, CS/CE majors/minors + CompMed/CIS/Robotics minors
Sec 02: limit 3, instructor approval

601.457 (EQ)
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTER GRAPHICS (3) Kazhdan

This course introduces computer graphics techniques and applications, including image processing, rendering, modeling and animation.

Prereq: no audits; 601.220 & 601.226 & linear algebra. Permission of instructor is required for students not satisfying a pre-requisite. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.457/657.

MWF 11
limit 25, CS/CE majors/minors, CIS+Robotics minors

601.460 (E)
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

EMBODIED AI WITH WEB-SCALE VIDEO DATA (3) Homanga Bharadwaj

Embodied AI from Web-Scale Multimodal Data examines how modern agents learn perception, prediction, and control by leveraging large, unstructured internet data, especially web video, egocentric human interaction recordings, and vision-language datasets. The course builds a bottom-up understanding of the perception–action loop, focusing on how motion, 3D structure, human pose and interaction cues, and multimodal signals can be extracted and aligned from video to support embodied reasoning and decision-making.
Students will study recent advances in generative video/world models, 3D vision, imitation learning, and offline reinforcement learning, with an emphasis on data curation and alignment at scale. Through paper discussions, hands-on mini-assignments, and an open-ended final project, students will learn to critically evaluate current research and to design scalable learning pipelines that connect web-supervised perception to embodied tasks such as navigation, manipulation, and wearable assistants.
Required course background: machine learning or deep learning; computer vision recommended.

Prereq: EN.601.475/675 or EN.601.482/682. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.460/660.

TuTh 4:30-5:45p
limit 10, CS/CE majors/minors

601.461 (EQ)
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTER VISION (3) Katyal & Hager

This course provides an overview of fundamental methods in computer vision from a computational perspective. Methods studied include: camera systems and their modelling, computation of 3­D geometry from binocular stereo, motion, and photometric stereo, and object recognition, image segmentation, and activity analysis. Elements of machine vision and biological vision are also included.

Prereq: intro programming, linear algebra, prob/stat. Students can earn credit for at most one of 601.461/661/761.

Sec 01 [Katyal]: Mon 4:30-7p, limit 40, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02 [Katyal]: Mon 4:30-7p, limit 5, CompMed/CIS/Robotics minors
Sec 03 [Hager]: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 45, CS/CE majors/minors

601.463 (E)
CSCI-APPL

ALGORITHMS FOR SENSOR-BASED ROBOTICS (3) Leonard

This course surveys the development of robotic systems for navigating in an environment from an algorithmic perspective. It will cover basic kinematics, configuration space concepts, motion planning, and localization and mapping. It will describe these concepts in the context of the ROS software system, and will present examples relevant to mobile platforms, manipulation, robotics surgery, and human-machine systems.

Prereq: 601.226, Calc III, linear algebra & probability. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.463/663/763.

Sec 01: TuTh 12-1:15p, limit 15, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02: TuTh 12-1:15p, limit 10, CIS/Robotics minors

601.464 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (3) Haque

The course situates the study of Artificial Intelligence (AI) first in the broader context of Cognitive Science (i.e., human intelligence) and then treats in-depth principles and methods for reasoning, planning, and learning, including both conventional methods and recent deep learning approaches. The class is recommended for all scientists and engineers with a genuine curiosity about how to build an AI system (in particular, an intelligent agent) that can learn, reason about, and interact with the world and other agents. Strong programming skills and a solid mathematical foundation are expected. Students will be asked to complete both programming assignments and writing assignments.

Prereq: 601.226; Recommended: linear algebra, prob/stat. Students can only receive credit for one of 601.464/664.

Sec 01: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 50, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 8, CIS/Robotics minors

601.465 (E)
CSCI-APPL
Sample Syllabus

NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING (4) Eisner

An in-depth introduction to core techniques for analyzing, transforming, and generating human language. The course spans linguistics, modeling, algorithms, and applications. (1) How should linguistic structure and meaning be represented (e.g., trees, morphemes, λ-terms, vectors)? (2) How can we formally model the legal structures and their probabilities (e.g., grammars, automata, features, log-linear models, recurrent neural nets, Transformers)? (3) What algorithms can estimate the parameters of these models (e.g., gradient descent, EM) and efficiently identify probable structures (e.g., dynamic programming, beam search)? (4) Finally, what kinds of systems can be built with these techniques and how are they constructed and evaluated in practice? Detailed assignments guide students through many details of implementing core NLP methods. The course proceeds from first principles, although prior exposure to AI, statistics, ML, or linguistics can be helpful. (www.cs.jhu.edu/~jason/465)

Prerequisite: 601.226 and basic familiarity with Python, partial derivatives, matrix multiplication, and probabilities. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.465/665.

Lect: MWF 3-4:15
Section: Tu 6-7:30p
limit 30, CS/CE majors/minors

601.467 (E)
CSCI-APPL

INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY (3) Koehn

This course gives an overview of basic foundations and applications of human language technology, such as: morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic processing; machine learning; signal processing; speech recognition; speech synthesis; information retrieval; text classification; topic modelling; information extraction; knowledge representation; machine translation; dialog systems; etc.

Pre-req: EN.601.226 Data Structures; knowledge of Python recommended. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.467/667.

TuTh 9-10:15
limit 25, CS/CE majors/minors

601.468 (E)
CSCI-APPL
FA1.1eP, FA6eP

MACHINE TRANSLATION (3) Koehn

Google translate can instantly translate between any pair of over fifty human languages (for instance, from French to English). How does it do that? Why does it make the errors that it does? And how can you build something better? Modern translation systems learn to translate by reading millions of words of already translated text, and this course will show you how they work. The course covers a diverse set of fundamental building blocks from linguistics, machine learning, algorithms, data structures, and formal language theory, along with their application to a real and difficult problem in artificial intelligence.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Required course background: prob/stat, 601.226. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.468/668.

TuTh 1:30-2:45
limit 25, CS/CE majors/minors

601.469 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

AI SAFETY, ALIGNMENT & GOVERNANCE (3) Hadfield

This course will focus on the alignment and governance challenges posed by advanced frontier/general purpose AI models: why these models may behave in ways that pose significant risk to human welfare and what technical and governance approaches might mitigate these risks. We’ll begin the course studying general results from alignment and governance in human normative systems such as markets, politics, norms and laws. We’ll pay special attention to risks arising from agentic AI. We’ll then look at current technical and position papers in various topics in AI safety and alignment. Topics could include: RLHF, constitutional AI, red-teaming, safety evaluation methods, red lines, jail-breaking, prompt injection, over-optimization, and open-source debates. We’ll conclude with discussion of regulatory frameworks such as regulatory markets, registration of frontier models, international governance organizations, registration of AI agents and legal personhood for AI agents. This is a paper-reading class.

Prereq: A machine learning course: [601.474/674 OR 601.475/675 OR 601.482/682 OR 601.486/686] Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.469/669.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 10, CS/CE majors/minors

601.471 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

NLP: SELF-SUPERVISED MODELS (3) Khashabi

The rise of massive self-supervised (pre-trained) models have transformed various data-driven fields such as natural language processing (NLP). In this course, students will gain a thorough introduction to self-supervised learning techniques for NLP applications. Through lectures, assignments, and a final project, students will learn the necessary skills to design, implement, and understand their own self-supervised neural network models, using the Pytorch framework. Students may receive credit for EN.601.471 or EN.601.671, but not both.

Pre-reqs: EN.601.226, Linear Algebra, and Probability, as well as familiarity with Python/PyTorch.

TuTh 9-10:15a
limit 40, CS/CE majors/minors

601.473 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

COGNITIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (3) Shu

Humans, even young children, can learn, model, and reason about the world and other people in a fast, robust, and data efficient way. This course will discuss the principles of human cognition, how we can use machine learning and AI models to computationally capture these principles, and how these principles can help us build better AI. Topics will include (but are not limited to) Bayesian concept learning, probabilistic programming, intuitive physics, decision-making, Theory of Mind, pragmatics, and value alignment.

Pre-reqs: Prob/Stat & Linear Algebra & Computing [((EN.553.420 OR EN.553.421) AND (EN.553.430 OR EN.553.431)) OR (EN.553.211 OR EN.553.310 OR EN.553.311) AND (AS.110.201 OR AS.110.212 OR EN.553.291 OR EN.553.295) AND (EN.500.112 OR EN.500.113 OR EN.500.114 OR EN.601.220 OR AS.250.205)].
Students may receive credit for only one of 601.473/601.673.
Strongly Recommended: a course in machine learning or artificial intelligence

TuTh 1:30-2:45p
limit 20, Comp Sci + Cog Sci majors

601.475 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

MACHINE LEARNING (3) Oberst

Machine learning is subfield of computer science and artificial intelligence, whose goal is to develop computational systems, methods, and algorithms that can learn from data to improve their performance. This course introduces the foundational concepts of modern Machine Learning, including core principles, popular algorithms and modeling platforms. This will include both supervised learning, which includes popular algorithms like SVMs, logistic regression, boosting and deep learning, as well as unsupervised learning frameworks, which include Expectation Maximization and graphical models. Homework assignments include a heavy programming components, requiring students to implement several machine learning algorithms in a common learning framework. Additionally, analytical homework questions will explore various machine learning concepts, building on the pre-requisites that include probability, linear algebra, multi-variate calculus and basic optimization. Students in the course will develop a learning system for a final project.

Pre-reqs: multivariable calculus (calc III), prob/stat, linear algebra, intro computing. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.475/675.

Sec 01: MWF 3-4:15p, limit 40, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02: MWF 3-4:15p, limit 5, CompMed/CIS/Robotics minors

601.477 (EQ)
CSCI-RSNG

CAUSAL INFERENCE (3) Shpitser

"Big data" is not necessarily "high quality data." Systematically missing records, unobserved confounders, and selection effects present in many datasets make it harder than ever to answer scientifically meaningful questions. This course will teach mathematical tools to help you reason about causes, effects, and bias sources in data with confidence. We will use graphical causal models, and potential outcomes to formalize what causal effects mean, describe how to express these effects as functions of observed data, and use regression model techniques to estimate them. We will consider techniques for handling missing values, structure learning algorithms for inferring causal directionality from data, and connections between causal inference and reinforcement learning.

Pre-requisites: familiarity with the R programming language, multivariate calculus, basics of linear algebra and probability (EN.601.475 OR (EN.553.310 OR EN.553.420)) AND AS.110.202). Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.477/677.

MW 3-4:15p
limit 10, CS/CE majors/minors

601.478 (E)
CSCI-RSNG
NEW COURSE

CAUSAL DISCOVERY Kocaoglu

Data often provides a projection of the inner workings of real-world systems. Many problems require a deeper understanding of the cause-and-effect relations that underlie the data-generating process. Causal discovery refers to the process of learning a graphical representation of these causal relations, called a causal graph. Such representations can be used for causal effect estimation, as well as other applications, such as system monitoring and diagnosis (e.g., root-cause analysis). In this course, we will learn the foundational principles behind causal discovery. We will explore the fundamental limits of causal discovery under well-defined assumptions and discuss algorithmic approaches for learning causal graphs from data.

Pre-requisites: Machine Learning or Data Structures and Linear Algebra and Probability. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.478/678.

TuTh 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 15, CS majors

601.479 (E)
CSCI-THRY

ML: REINFORCEMENT LEARNING (3) Braverman & Chiu

Tremendous success of reinforcement learning (RL) in a variety of settings from AlphaGo to LLMs makes it a critical area to study. This course will study classical aspects of RL as well as its modern counterparts. Topics will include Markov Decision Processes, dynamic programming, model-based and model-free RL, temporal difference learning, Monte Carlo methods, multi-armed bandits, policy optimization and other methods.

Prereqs: [601.464/664 OR 601.475/675 OR 601.482/682] machine learning, [AS.110.201 OR AS.110.212 OR EN.553.291 OR EN.553.295] linear algebra and [EN.553.211 or EN.553.310 or EN.553.311 or EN.553.420 or EN.553.421] probability. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.479/679.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 30, CS/CE majors/minors

601.482 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

MACHINE LEARNING: DEEP LEARNING (4) Unberath

Deep learning (DL) has emerged as a powerful tool for solving data-intensive learning problems such as supervised learning for classification or regression, dimensionality reduction, and control. As such, it has a broad range of applications including speech and text understanding, computer vision, medical imaging, and perception-based robotics.
The goal of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of deep learning (DL). The course will include a brief introduction to the basic theoretical and methodological underpinnings of machine learning, commonly used architectures for DL, DL optimization methods, DL programming systems, and specialized applications to computer vision, speech understanding, and robotics.
Students will be expected to solve several DL problems on standardized data sets, and will be given the opportunity to pursue team projects on topics of their choice.

Pre-req: Data Structures, Linear Algebra, Probability, Calc II required; Statistics, Machine Learning, Calc III, numerical optimization and Python strongly recommended. Students can receive credit for EN.601.482 or EN.601.682, but not both.

MW 4:30-5:45p, F 4:30-5:20p
Sec 01: limit 45, CS/CE majors/minors
Sec 02: limit 5, CompMed/CIS/Robotics minors

601.483 (E)
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

GENERATIVE VISION: THE ART & SCIENCE OF VISUAL SYNTHESIS Bhattad

This advanced course covers the evolution of generative modeling – from early Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to modern Autoregressive models and Diffusion-based systems. Students will investigate how these models represent the visual world, how they can be controlled, and how they are transforming tasks like image editing, 3D scene synthesis, and video generation.
Pre-requisites: EN.601.492/692 OR (EN.601.461/661 AND EN.601.482/682). Students can only receive credit for one of EN.601.483/683.

TuTh 3-4:15p
limit 15, CS/CE majors/minors

601.485 (Q)
CSCI-APPL

PROBABILISTIC MODELS OF THE VISUAL CORTEX (3) Yuille

[Co-listed as AS.050.375/AS.050.675/EN.601.685.] The course gives an introduction to computational models of the mammalian visual cortex. It covers topics in low-, mid-, and high-level vision. It briefly discusses the relevant evidence from anatomy, electrophysiology, imaging (e.g., fMRI), and psychophysics. It concentrates on mathematical modelling of these phenomena taking into account recent progress in probabilistic models of computer vision and developments in machine learning, such as deep networks.

Pre-requisites: Calc I, programming experience (Python preferred). Students can receive credit for at most one of EN.601.485/EN.601.685/AS.050.375/AS.050.675.
To seek approval, request enrollment in the course. You'll be added to a 'Pending Enrollments' list. Then, take the placement test

TuTh 9-10:15
limit 15 [of 68]
instructor approval only

EN.601.487 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

ML: COPING WITH NON-STATIONARY ENVIRONMENTS AND ERRORS (3) Liu

This course teaches machine learning methods that 1) consider data distribution shift and 2) represent and quantify the model uncertainty in a principled way. The topics we will cover include machine learning techniques that deal with data distribution shift, including domain adaptation, domain generalization, and distributionally robust learning techniques, and various uncertainty quantification methods, including Bayesian methods, conformal prediction methods, and model calibration methods. We will introduce these topics in the context of building trustworthy machine learning solutions to safety-critical applications and socially-responsible applications. For example, a typical application is responsible decision-making under uncertainty in non-stationary environments. So we will also introduce concepts like fair machine learning and learning under safety constraints, and discuss how robust and uncertainty-aware learning techniques contribute to such more desired systems. Students will learn the state-of-the-art methods in lectures, test their understanding in homeworks, and apply these methods in a project.

Pre-req: 601.475/675. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.487/687, and may not take this course after taking EN.601.787.

MW 3-4:15p
limit 12, CS/CE majors/minors

601.489 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP MACHINE LEARNING (3) Nalisnick

Machine learning (ML) is being deployed in increasingly consequential tasks, such as healthcare and autonomous driving. For the foreseeable future, successfully deploying ML in such settings will require close collaboration and integration with humans, whether they be users, designers, engineers, policy-makers, etc. This course will look at how humans can be incorporated into the foundations of ML in a principled way. The course will be broken down into three parts: demonstration, collaboration, and oversight. Demonstration is about how machines can learn from 'observing' humans---such as learning to drive a car from data collected while humans drive. In this setting, the human is assumed to be strictly better than the machine and so the primary goal is to transmit the human's knowledge and abilities into the ML model. The second part, collaboration, is about when humans and models are near equals in performance but not in abilities. A relevant setting is AI-assisted healthcare: perhaps a human radiologist and ML model are good at diagnosing different kinds of diseases. Thus we will look at methodologies that allow machines to ‘ask for help' when they are either unconfident in their own performance and/or think the human can better carry out the task. The course will close with the setting in which machines are strictly better at a task than humans are, but we still wish to monitor them to ensure safety and alignment with our goals (oversight). Assessment will be done with homework, quizzes, and a final project.

Pre-req: EN.601.475/675.

MW 1:30-2:45
limit 30, CS/CE majors/minors

601.490 (E)
CSCI-SOFT, CSCI-TEAM
FA1.2eP, FA6eP

INTRO TO HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION (3) Xiao & Reiter

This course is designed to introduce undergraduate and graduate students to design techniques and practices in human-computer interaction (HCI), the study of interactions between humans and computing systems. Students will learn design techniques and evaluation methods, as well as current practices and exploratory approaches, in HCI through lectures, readings, and assignments. Students will practice various design techniques and evaluation methods through hands-on projects focusing on different computing technologies and application domains. This course is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in Computer Science/Cognitive Science/Psychology. Interested students from different disciplines should contact the instructor before enrolling in this course.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Pre-req: basic programming skills. Students may receive credit for EN.601.490 or EN.601.690, but not both.

Sec 01 (Xiao): TuTh 3-4:15, limit 35, CS majors/minors
Sec 02 (Xiao): TuTh 3-4:15, limit 5, KSAS students, instructor approval
Sec 03 (Reiter): M 4:30-7p, limit 40, CS majors only

601.493 (E)
CSCI-SOFT

ACCESSIBLE COMPUTING (3) Huang

This course is designed to introduce students to the principles, challenges, and opportunities in designing computing systems that are accessible to people with diverse abilities. Students will learn about assistive technologies, inclusive design methodologies, and the incorporation of accessibility in computer applications through lectures, readings, and projects.

Pre-req: EN.601.290 or EN.601.490/690. Students may receive credit for EN.601.493 or EN.601.693, but not both. Interested students from non-CS disciplines should contact the instructor before enrolling in this course.

MW 12-1:15p, limit 18, CS/CE majors/minors

601.497 (E)
CSCI-APPL
FA1.1eP, FA1.2eP, FA6eP

NEW COURSE!

HUMAN-CENTERED ROBOTICS: MODELS & ALGORITHMS (3) Haimin Hu

In this course, we will study fundamental concepts in human-centered robotics, with an emphasis on mathematical models of human–robot interaction and decision-making algorithms for safely deploying robots in human-populated environments. We will ground these ideas in applications such as drones, autonomous vehicles, and home robots. After introducing the main technical tools for robot planning and control in interactive, safety-critical settings through a game-theoretic lens, we will turn our attention to two tightly coupled challenges in modern robotics: safely enabling robots that learn from humans and help humans learn. The course will combine seminar-style discussions of research papers and whiteboard-style lecture to introduce the key theoretical concepts, and the class project will give you an opportunity to explore the approaches covered in class and possibly combine them with your own research. After this class, you will be familiar with the state of the art and open challenges in safe and performant human–robot interaction, and you will understand the guarantees and tradeoffs offered by different algorithmic frameworks for human-centered robotics.
The ePortfolio tag(s) on this course signify that there are one or more assignments offered in the course that provide students with the opportunity to be assessed for proficiency in completion of the relevant ePortfolio requirement(s).

Pre-req: EN.601.220, EN.601.226, Calc III, Linear Algebra, Probability. Students may receive credit for EN.601.497 or EN.601.697, but not both.

MW 3-4:15p, limit 10 CS/CE majors/minors

601.498 (E)
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

HANDS-ON ROBOT LEARNING (3) Krishna Murthy Jatavallabhula

This course provides a comprehensive, hands-on introduction to the design and implementation of modern learning-based robotic systems. The primary objective of this course is to equip students with the theoretical skills and practical tools necessary to succeed as world-class robot learning engineers and scientists.
This course involves equal amounts of in-classroom teaching and outside-the-classroom practical work. Students will work in small groups (approx 3 students per group) to build a physical SO-101 arm from a provided equipment kit, and develop key software stack components to enable robot learning from data. The first two modules of the course will cover the ‘nuts and bolts’ of robot learning and data curation strategies, including a variety of teleoperation methods. The remainder of the course will then delve into learning ‘policies’ that determine how a robot acts in response to sense data. The course will cover state-of-the art policy learning approaches, including generalist techniques such as vision-language-action (VLA) models, in detail.

Pre-req: (EN.601.475/675 or EN.601.482/682) and (EN.601.463/663 or EN.601.495/695 or EN.530.420). Students may receive credit for EN.601.498 or EN.601.698, but not both.

Thu 3-5:30p
limit 10, CS/CE majors/minors

601.501

COMPUTER SCIENCE WORKSHOP

An applications-oriented, computer science project done under the supervision and with the sponsorship of a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Computer Science Workshop provides a student with an opportunity to apply theory and concepts of computer science to a significant project of mutual interest to the student and a Computer Science faculty member. Permission to enroll in CSW is granted by the faculty sponsor after his/her approval of a project proposal from the student. Interested students are advised to consult with Computer Science faculty members before preparing a Computer Science Workshop project proposal.

Perm. of faculty supervisor req'd.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.503

INDEPENDENT STUDY

Individual, guided study for undergraduate students under the direction of a faculty member in the department. The program of study, including the credit to be assigned, must be worked out in advance between the student and the faculty member involved.

Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.507

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Independent research for undergraduates under the direction of a faculty member in the department. The program of research, including the credit to be assigned, must be worked out in advance between the student and the faculty member involved.

Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.509

COMPUTER SCIENCE INTERNSHIP

Individual work in the field with a learning component, supervised by a faculty member in the department. The program of study and credit assigned must be worked out in advance between the student and the faculty member involved. Students may not receive credit for work that they are paid to do. As a rule of thumb, 40 hours of work is equivalent to one credit. S/U only.

Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.513

GROUP UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT

Independent learning and application for undergraduates under the direction of a faculty member in the department. This course has a regular project group meeting that students are expected to attend. The individual project contributions, including the credit to be assigned, must be worked out in advance between the student and the faculty member involved.

Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.517

GROUP UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Independent research for undergraduates under the direction of a faculty member in the department. This course has a weekly research group meeting that students are expected to attend. The program of research, including the credit to be assigned, must be worked out in advance between the student and the faculty member involved.

Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.519

SENIOR HONORS THESIS (3)

For computer science majors only. The student will undertake a substantial independent research project under the supervision of a faculty member, potentially leading to the notation "Departmental Honors with Thesis" on the final transcript. Students are expected to enroll in both semesters of this course during their senior year. Project proposals must be submitted and accepted in the preceding spring semester (junior year) before registration. Students will present their work publically before April 1st of senior year. They will also submit a first draft of their project report (thesis document) at that time. Faculty will meet to decide if the thesis will be accepted for honors.

Prereq: 3.5 GPA in Computer Science after spring of junior year and permission of faculty supervisor.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers

601.556

SENIOR THESIS IN COMPUTER INTEGRATED SURGERY (3) Taylor

The student will undertake a substantial independent research project in the area of computer-integrated surgery, under joint supervision of a WSE faculty adviser and a clinician or clinical researcher at the Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Prereq: 601.455 or perm req'd.

601.612
CSCI-SYST
NEW COURSE!

BIG DATA SYSTEMS (3) Crainiceanu

This course introduces students to the field of big data processing, its underlying technologies, managing the inter-relation of components in a system at scale, and the construction of analytical pipelines that provide business value. Key technologies explored in this course will include NoSQL databases, Hadoop ecosystems, distributed processing frameworks like Apache Spark, data warehousing solutions such as Hive, and streaming platforms like Kafka. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the architectural design and operational challenges of big data ecosystems.
Required Course Background: data structures and computer system fundamentals or permission; prior knowledge of databases or parallel computing recommended. Students can only receive credit for one of 601.412/612.

TuTh 12-1:15p
Sec 01: limit 20, CS + MSEM grads
Sec 02: limit 5, Data Science grads

601.614
CSCI-SYST

COMPUTER NETWORKS (3) Marder

Topics covered will include application layer protocols (e.g. HTTP, FTP, SMTP), transport layer protocols (UDP, TCP), network layer protocols (e.g. IP, ICMP), link layer protocols (e.g. Ethernet) and wireless protocols (e.g. IEEE 802.11). The course will also cover routing protocols such as link state and distance vector, multicast routing, and path vector protocols (e.g. BGP). The class will examine security issues such as firewalls and denial of service attacks. We will also study DNS, NAT, Web caching and CDNs, peer to peer, and protocol tunneling. Finally, we will explore security protocols (e.g. TLS, SSH, IPsec), as well as some basic cryptography necessary to understand these. Grading will be based on hands-on programming assignments, homeworks and two exams. Required Course Background: C/C++ programming and data structures, or permission. Students can only receive credit for one of 601.414/614.

TuTh 3-4:15p
limit 30, CS+MSEM

601.615
CSCI-SOFT

DATABASES Yarowsky

Introduction to database management systems and database design, focusing on the relational and object-oriented data models, query languages and query optimization, transaction processing, parallel and distributed databases, recovery and security issues, commercial systems and case studies, heterogeneous and multimedia databases, and data mining. (www.cs.jhu.edu/~yarowsky/cs415.html)

Required course background: data structures. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.315/415/615.

TuTh 3-4:15
Sec 01: limit 35, CS+MSSI
Sec 02: limit 10, MSEM+Data Science

601.620
CSCI-SYST

PARALLEL PROGRAMMING & PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING (3) Burns

This course guides the learner to write efficient software with focus on exploiting hardware parallelism and efficient memory usage. Modern microprocessors are remarkably complex and implement parallelism at many levels, including instruction level, vectorization, pipelining, multicore, and memory. Simple or naïve implementations realize only a fraction of the performance available. Exploiting the capabilities or processors require an understanding of algorithms, computer architecture, systems (compilers, PL, OS) and how they interact. The course programs mostly in C/C++, because most performance-oriented software is written in these languages. It will also touch on at parallel programming in Python and CUDA for GPUs. Familiarity with Python required.

Required course background: 601.226 and 601.229 or equiv, familiarity with Python. Students can earn credit for only one of EN.601.420/EN.601.620.

TuTh 4:30-5:45pm
Sec 01: limit 35, CS
Sec 02: limit 10, MSEM + Data Science

601.621
CSCI-SOFT

OBJECT ORIENTED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Darvish

Same material as EN.601.421, for graduate students. This course covers object-oriented software construction methodologies and their application. The main component of the course is a large team project on a topic of your choosing. Course topics covered include object-oriented analysis and design, UML, design patterns, refactoring, program testing, code repositories, team programming, and code reviews.

Required course background: intermediate programming, data structures, and experience in mobile or web app development. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.421/621.

MW 1:30-2:45p
limit 20, CS + MSEM grads, instructor approval only

650.624
CSCI-SYST

NETWORK SECURITY Erik Rye

This course focuses on communication security in computer systems and networks. The course is intended to provide students with an introduction to the field of network security. The course covers network security services such as authentication and access control, integrity and confidentiality of data, firewalls and related technologies, Web security and privacy. Course work involves implementing various security techniques. A course project is required.
Required Course Background: intermediate programming (C/C++), data structures, computer networks. Students may receive credit for only one of 650.424/650.624.

MWF 10
limit 30, CS + MSSI + MSEM grads

601.625
CSCI-SOFT

SOFTWARE SYSTEM DESIGN Madooei

This course introduces modern software systems design, with an emphasis on how to design large-scale systems, assess common system design trade-offs, and tackle system design challenges. It covers non-functional requirements, API design, distributed systems concepts, modern software building blocks (e.g., load balancers, caches, containers, etc.). Additionally, it includes case studies of common system design problems, some drawn from interview questions. Ultimately, this course helps learners become better software engineers.

Required course background: (EN.601.315/415/615 or EN.601.280 or EN.601.290 or EN.601.340/440/640 or EN.601.421/621), or permission. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.425/625.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 19, CS grads only

601.628
CSCI-SOFT

COMPILERS & INTERPRETERS Hovemeyer

Introduction to compiler design, including lexical analysis, parsing, syntax-directed translation, symbol tables, run-time environments, and code generation and optimization. Students are required to write a compiler as a course project.

Required Course Background: intermediate programming (C/C++), data structures, computer system fundamentals. Recommended: automata & computation theory.

MW 12-1:15
limit 15, CS+MSEM

601.629
CSCI-SOFT

FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (3) Smith

How can we effectively use functional programming techniques to build real-world software? This course will primarily focus on using the OCaml programming language for this purpose. Topics covered include OCaml basics, modules, standard libraries, testing, quickcheck, build tools, functional data structures and efficiency analysis, monads, streams, and promises. Students will practice what they learn in lecture via functional programming assignments and a final project.
Required course background: data structures. Students can receive credit for only one of EN.601.429/EN.601.629.

MW 1:30-2:45pm
limit 30, CS+MSEM

601.633
CSCI-THRY

INTRO ALGORITHMS Dinitz & Sorrell

Same material as 601.433, for graduate students.

Required Background: Data Structures and (Discrete Math or Automata/Computation Theory). Students may receive credit for only one of 601.433/633.

Sec 01 [Dinitz]: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 30, CS+MSSI
Sec 02 [Dinitz]: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 10, MSEM+Robotics+DataSci
Sec 03 [Sorrell]: TuTh 3-4:15p, limit 30, CS+MSSI
Sec 04 [Sorrell]: TuTh 3-4:15p, limit 10, MSEM+Robotics+DataSci

601.638
CSCI-THRY

THEORY OF DIFFERENTIAL PRIVACY (3) Lydia Zakynthinou

This course is an introduction to differential privacy as a foundational framework for reasoning about privacy in data analysis. Students will develop a principled understanding of why privacy risks arise when privacy is not an explicit design objective and how differential privacy enables formal, provable guarantees. In this course, we will build on the algorithmic toolkit and statistical techniques for designing and analyzing differentially private methods, and study fundamental tradeoffs and lower bounds that characterize the limits of privacy. Required Course Background: students should be comfortable writing mathematical proofs involving algorithms, probability, and linear algebra.

Prereq: 601.433/633 or permission. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.438/638.

MW 4:30-5:45p
limit 30, CS + MSSI + AMS grads

601.639
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

MACHINE LEARNING FOR SINGLE-CELL & SPATIAL GENOMICS (3) Uthsav Chitra

Recent experimental advances enable the measurement of DNA, RNA and other diverse molecular modalities inside individual cells at an unprecedented scale and resolution. Computational and machine learning (ML) methods are essential for analyzing and interpreting these high-dimensional, single-cell genomics datasets. This course introduces computational/ML frameworks that are often used to analyze modern single-cell and spatial datasets. Topics include but are not limited to: matrix factorization; autoencoders and contrastive learning; graphs and manifold learning; graph neural networks; computational optimal transport (OT); Gromov-Wasserstein and dynamic OT.

Required Course Background: python programming, probability, linear algebra, and multi-variable calculus. A machine learning/data science course is strongly recommended. No biology background is necessary. Students may receive credit for only one of EN.601.349 and EN.601.639.

TuTh 4:30-5:45pm
Sec 01: limit 15, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval

601.640
CSCI-SYST
Overview Video

WEB SECURITY (3) Cao

This course begins with reviewing basic knowledge of the World Wide Web, and then exploring the central defense concepts behind Web security, such as same-origin policy, cross-origin resource sharing, and browser sandboxing. It will cover the most popular Web vulnerabilities, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection, as well as how to attack and penetrate software with such vulnerabilities. Students will learn how to detect, respond, and recover from security incidents. Newly proposed research techniques will also be discussed.

Required course background: data structures, computer system fundamentals and javascript/web development. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.340/440/640.

TuTh 12-1:15
limit 50, CS+MSEM+MSSI

601.643
CSCI-SOFT

SECURITY AND PRIVACY IN COMPUTING Rushanan & Martin

Same material as 601.443, for graduate students. Lecture topics will include computer security, network security, basic cryptography, system design methodology, and privacy. There will be a heavy work load, including written homework, programming assignments, exams and a comprehensive final. The class will also include a semester-long project that will be done in teams and will include a presentation by each group to the class.

Required course background: C programming and computer system fundamentals.

MW 12-1:15p
limit 35, CS+MSEM+MSSI

601.645
CSCI-SOFT

PRACTICAL CRYPTOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS Green

Same material as 601.445, for graduate students.

Prereqs: data structures & computer system fundamentals. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.445/645.

MW 3-4:15p
limit 30, CS+MSEM+MSSI

601.647
CSCI-APPL
Overview Video

COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS: SEQUENCES Langmead

Same material as 601.447, for graduate students.

Required Course Background: Intermediate Programming (C/C++) and Data Structures. Students may earn credit for at most one of 601.447/647/747.

TuTh 9-10:15
Sec 01: limit 15, CS
Sec 02: limit 5, MSEM + Data Science + Non-ASEN
[Sec 03: limit 5, instructor approval, closed for now]

601.649
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS: APPLIED COMPARATIVE GENOMICS (3) Schatz

[Formerly EN.601.749.] The goal of this course is to study the leading computational and quantitative approaches for comparing and analyzing genomes starting from raw sequencing data. The course will focus on human genomics and human medical applications, but the techniques will be broadly applicable across the tree of life. The topics will include genome assembly & comparative genomics, variant identification & analysis, gene expression & regulation, personal genome analysis, and cancer genomics. The grading will be based on assignments, a midterm exam, class presentations, and a significant class project.

Prereq: Prereq: working knowledge of the Unix operating system and programming expertise in R or Python. Students may receive credit for only one of EN.601.449, EN.601.649, EN.601.749.

MW 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 19, CS only

601.654
CSCI-APPL

INTRODUCTION TO AUGMENTED REALITY (3) Munawar

This course introduces students to the field of Augmented Reality. It reviews its basic definitions, principles, and applications. The course explains how fundamentals concepts of computer vision are applied for the development of Augmented Reality applications. It then focuses on describing the principal components and particular requirements to implement a solution using this technology. The course also discusses the main issues of calibration, tracking, multi-modal registration, advanced visualization, and display technologies. Homework in this course will relate to the mathematical methods used for calibration, tracking, and visualization in augmented reality.

Required course background: intermediate programming (C/C++), data structures, linear algebra. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.454 or 601.654, but not both.

TuTh 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 20, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 10, Robotics & MSEM

601.655
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTER INTEGRATED SURGERY I Taylor

Same material as 601.455, for graduate students. (http://www.cisst.org/~cista/445/index.html) This course focuses on computer-based techniques, systems, and applications exploiting quantitative information from medical images and sensors to assist clinicians in all phases of treatment from diagnosis to preoperative planning, execution, and follow-up. It emphasizes the relationship between problem definition, computer-based technology, and clinical application and includes a number of guest lectures given by surgeons and other experts on requirements and opportunities in particular clinical areas.

Required Course Background: data structures, linear algebra, or permission. Recommended Course Background: intermediate programming in C/C++, computer graphics, computer vision, image processing, prob/stat. Students may earn credit for 601.455 or 601.655, but not both.

TuTh 1:30-2:45
Sec 01: limit 40, CS, WSE + Non-ASEN grads
Sec 02: limit 10, instructor approval

601.657
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTER GRAPHICS Kazhdan

Same material as 601.457, for graduate students.

Prereq: no audits; Intermediate Programming (C/C++) & Data Structures & linear algebra. Permission of instructor is required for students not satisfying a pre-requisite. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.457/657.

MWF 11
limit 24, CS+MSEM+Robotics

601.660
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

EMBODIED AI WITH WEB-SCALE VIDEO DATA (3) Homanga Bharadwaj

Embodied AI from Web-Scale Multimodal Data examines how modern agents learn perception, prediction, and control by leveraging large, unstructured internet data, especially web video, egocentric human interaction recordings, and vision-language datasets. The course builds a bottom-up understanding of the perception–action loop, focusing on how motion, 3D structure, human pose and interaction cues, and multimodal signals can be extracted and aligned from video to support embodied reasoning and decision-making.
Students will study recent advances in generative video/world models, 3D vision, imitation learning, and offline reinforcement learning, with an emphasis on data curation and alignment at scale. Through paper discussions, hands-on mini-assignments, and an open-ended final project, students will learn to critically evaluate current research and to design scalable learning pipelines that connect web-supervised perception to embodied tasks such as navigation, manipulation, and wearable assistants.
Required course background: machine learning or deep learning; computer vision recommended. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.460/660.

TuTh 4:30-5:45p
Sec 01: limit 15, CS [+ECE?] grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval

601.661
CSCI-APPL

COMPUTER VISION Katyal & Hager

Same material as 601.461, for graduate students. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.461/661/761. (https://cirl.lcsr.jhu.edu/Vision_Syllabus)

Required course background: intro programming & linear algebra & prob/stat

Sec 01 [Katyal]: Mon 4:30-7p, limit 30, CS+MSEM
Sec 02 [Katyal]: Mon 4:30-7p, limit 20, Robotics + Data Science
Sec 03 [Hager]: TuTh 1:30-2:45, limit 50, CS + Robotics

601.663
CSCI-APPL

ALGORITHMS FOR SENSOR-BASED ROBOTICS Leonard

Same material as EN.601.463, for graduate students.

Required course background: data structures, Calc III, linear algebra & prob/stat. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.463/663/763.

Sec 01: TuTh 12-1:15p, limit 35, CS grads
Sec 02: TuTh 12-1:15p, limit 30, WSE + Non-ASEN grads

601.664
CSCI-RSNG

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Haque

Same as 601.464, for graduate students.

Required course background: data structures, linear algebra & prob/stat. Students can only receive credit for one of 601.464/664.

Sec 01: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 80, CS + MSEM grads
Sec 02: TuTh 1:30-2:45p, limit 40, Robotics + Data Science grads

601.665
CSCI-APPL
Sample Syllabus

NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING Eisner

Same material as 601.465, for graduate students. (www.cs.jhu.edu/~jason/465)

Prerequisite: data structures and basic familiarity with Python, partial derivatives, matrix multiplication, and probabilities. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.465/665.

Lect: MWF 3-4:15
Section: Tu 6-7:30p
Sec 01: limit 65, CS & HLT only
Sec 02: limit 30, Data Science only
[Sec 03: limit 5, instructor active approval]

601.667 (E)
CSCI-APPL

INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY (3) Koehn

This course gives an overview of basic foundations and applications of human language technology, such as: morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic processing; machine learning; signal processing; speech recognition; speech synthesis; information retrieval; text classification; topic modelling; information extraction; knowledge representation; machine translation; dialog systems; etc.

Pre-req: EN.601.226 Data Structures; knowledge of Python recommended. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.467/667.

TuTh 9-10:15
Sec 01: limit 75, CS + HLT only
[Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval]

601.668
CSCI-APPL

MACHINE TRANSLATION Koehn

Same material as 601.468, for graduate students.

Required course background: prob/stat, data structures. Student may receive credit for at most one of 601.468/668.

TuTh 1:30-2:45
Sec 01: limit 60, CS + HLT only
Sec 02: limit 30, MSEM + Data Science
[Sec 03: limit 5, instructor approval, closed for now]

601.669
CSCI-RSNG

AI SAFETY, ALIGNMENT & GOVERNANCE (3) Hadfield

This course will focus on the alignment and governance challenges posed by advanced frontier/general purpose AI models: why these models may behave in ways that pose significant risk to human welfare and what technical and governance approaches might mitigate these risks. We’ll begin the course studying general results from alignment and governance in human normative systems such as markets, politics, norms and laws. We’ll pay special attention to risks arising from agentic AI. We’ll then look at current technical and position papers in various topics in AI safety and alignment. Topics could include: RLHF, constitutional AI, red-teaming, safety evaluation methods, red lines, jail-breaking, prompt injection, over-optimization, and open-source debates. We’ll conclude with discussion of regulatory frameworks such as regulatory markets, registration of frontier models, international governance organizations, registration of AI agents and legal personhood for AI agents. This is a paper-reading class.

Required Course Background: A machine learning course (equivalent to 601.474/674 OR 601.475/675 OR 601.482/682 OR 601.486/686) or permission. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.469/669.

TuTh 12-1:15
Sec 01: limit 30, CS+MSEM+MSSI grad students
[Sec 02: limit 10, instructor approval, closed initially]

601.671 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

NLP: SELF-SUPERVISED MODELS Khashabi

The rise of massive self-supervised (pre-trained) models have transformed various data-driven fields such as natural language processing (NLP). In this course, students will gain a thorough introduction to self-supervised learning techniques for NLP applications. Through lectures, assignments, and a final project, students will learn the necessary skills to design, implement, and understand their own self-supervised neural network models, using the Pytorch framework. Students may receive credit for EN.601.471 or EN.601.671, but not both.

Required course background: data structures, linear algebra, probability, familiarity with Python/PyTorch.

TuTh 9-10:15a
limit 50, CS + HLT grads only

601.673 (E)
CSCI-RSNG

COGNITIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (3) Shu

Humans, even young children, can learn, model, and reason about the world and other people in a fast, robust, and data efficient way. This course will discuss the principles of human cognition, how we can use machine learning and AI models to computationally capture these principles, and how these principles can help us build better AI. Topics will include (but are not limited to) Bayesian concept learning, probabilistic programming, intuitive physics, decision-making, Theory of Mind, pragmatics, and value alignment.

Required Course Background: Prob/Stat & Linear Algebra & Computing; prior course in ML/AI strongly recommended.
Students may receive credit for only one of 601.473/601.673.

TuTh 1:30-2:45p
Sec 01: limit 30, Comp Sci + Cog Sci grads only
[Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval]

601.675
CSCI-RSNG

MACHINE LEARNING Oberst

Same material as 601.475, for graduate students.

Required course background: multivariable calculus (calc III), prob/stat, linear algebra, intro computing. Student may receive credit for only one of 601.475/675.

Sec 01: MWF 3-4:15p, limit 30, CS + MSEM grads
Sec 02: MWF 3-4:15p, limit 20, Robotics + Data Science masters

601.677
CSCI-RSNG

CAUSAL INFERENCE Shpitser

Same material as 601.477, for graduate students.

Pre-requisites: familiarity with the R programming language, multivariate calculus, basics of linear algebra and probability. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.477/677.

MW 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 30, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 20, MSEM + Data Science + AMS + Non-ASEN
Sec 03: limit 10, instructor permission

601.678
CSCI-RSNG
NEW COURSE

CAUSAL DISCOVERY Kocaoglu

Data often provides a projection of the inner workings of real-world systems. Many problems require a deeper understanding of the cause-and-effect relations that underlie the data-generating process. Causal discovery refers to the process of learning a graphical representation of these causal relations, called a causal graph. Such representations can be used for causal effect estimation, as well as other applications, such as system monitoring and diagnosis (e.g., root-cause analysis). In this course, we will learn the foundational principles behind causal discovery. We will explore the fundamental limits of causal discovery under well-defined assumptions and discuss algorithmic approaches for learning causal graphs from data.

Required Course Background: a graduate level course in machine learning or basics of data structures, linear algebra and probability. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.478/678.

TuTh 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 25, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 15, instructor permission

601.679
CSCI-THRY

ML: REINFORCEMENT LEARNING (3) Braverman & Chiu

Tremendous success of reinforcement learning (RL) in a variety of settings from AlphaGo to LLMs makes it a critical area to study. This course will study classical aspects of RL as well as its modern counterparts. Topics will include Markov Decision Processes, dynamic programming, model-based and model-free RL, temporal difference learning, Monte Carlo methods, multi-armed bandits, policy optimization and other methods.

Required course background: machine learning, linear algebra and probability. Students may receive credit for at most one of 601.479/679.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 60, CS grad students

601.682
CSCI-RSNG

MACHINE LEARNING: DEEP LEARNING Unberath

Same as 601.482, for graduate students.

Required course background: Data Structures, Linear Algebra, Probability, Calc II required; Statistics, Machine Learning, Calc III, numerical optimization and Python strongly recommended. Students may receive credit for 601.482 or 601.682 but not both.

MW 4:30-5:45p, F 4:30-5:20p
Sec 01 [Unberath]: limit 40, CS + MSEM grads
Sec 02 [Unberath]: limit 20, Robotics + Data Science masters

601.683
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

GENERATIVE VISION: THE ART & SCIENCE OF VISUAL SYNTHESIS Bhattad

This advanced course covers the evolution of generative modeling – from early Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to modern Autoregressive models and Diffusion-based systems. Students will investigate how these models represent the visual world, how they can be controlled, and how they are transforming tasks like image editing, 3D scene synthesis, and video generation.
Required Course Background: students must have a strong background in both computer vision and deep learning. Students can only receive credit for at most one of EN.601.483 and EN.601.683.
Pre-requisites: EN.601.492/692 OR (EN.601.461/661 AND EN.601.482/682).

TuTh 3-4:15p
Sec 01: limit 18, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 7, WSE grads
Sec 03: limit 5, instructor permission

601.685
CSCI-APPL

PROBABILISTIC MODELS OF THE VISUAL CORTEX Yuille

[Co-listed as AS.050.375/AS.050.675/EN.601.485.] The course gives an introduction to computational models of the mammalian visual cortex. It covers topics in low-, mid-, and high-level vision. It briefly discusses the relevant evidence from anatomy, electrophysiology, imaging (e.g., fMRI), and psychophysics. It concentrates on mathematical modelling of these phenomena taking into account recent progress in probabilistic models of computer vision and developments in machine learning, such as deep networks.

Pre-requisites: Calc I, programming experience (Python preferred). Students can receive credit for at most one of EN.601.485/EN.601.685/AS.050.375/AS.050.675.
To seek approval, request enrollment in the course. You'll be added to a 'Pending Enrollments' list. Then, take the placement test.

TuTh 9-10:15
limit 40 [of 68]
instructor approval

EN.601.687
CSCI-RSNG

ML: COPING WITH NON-STATIONARY ENVIRONMENTS AND ERRORS Liu

This course teaches machine learning methods that 1) consider data distribution shift and 2) represent and quantify the model uncertainty in a principled way. The topics we will cover include machine learning techniques that deal with data distribution shift, including domain adaptation, domain generalization, and distributionally robust learning techniques, and various uncertainty quantification methods, including Bayesian methods, conformal prediction methods, and model calibration methods. We will introduce these topics in the context of building trustworthy machine learning solutions to safety-critical applications and socially-responsible applications. For example, a typical application is responsible decision-making under uncertainty in non-stationary environments. So we will also introduce concepts like fair machine learning and learning under safety constraints, and discuss how robust and uncertainty-aware learning techniques contribute to such more desired systems. Students will learn the state-of-the-art methods in lectures, test their understanding in homeworks, and apply these methods in a project.

Required course background: 601.475/675 Machine Learning. Students may receive credit for only one of 601.487/687, and may not take this course after taking EN.601.787.

MW 3-4:15p
limit 18, CS grads

601.689
CSCI-RSNG

HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP MACHINE LEARNING (3) Nalisnick

Machine learning (ML) is being deployed in increasingly consequential tasks, such as healthcare and autonomous driving. For the foreseeable future, successfully deploying ML in such settings will require close collaboration and integration with humans, whether they be users, designers, engineers, policy-makers, etc. This course will look at how humans can be incorporated into the foundations of ML in a principled way. The course will be broken down into three parts: demonstration, collaboration, and oversight. Demonstration is about how machines can learn from 'observing' humans---such as learning to drive a car from data collected while humans drive. In this setting, the human is assumed to be strictly better than the machine and so the primary goal is to transmit the human's knowledge and abilities into the ML model. The second part, collaboration, is about when humans and models are near equals in performance but not in abilities. A relevant setting is AI-assisted healthcare: perhaps a human radiologist and ML model are good at diagnosing different kinds of diseases. Thus we will look at methodologies that allow machines to ‘ask for help' when they are either unconfident in their own performance and/or think the human can better carry out the task. The course will close with the setting in which machines are strictly better at a task than humans are, but we still wish to monitor them to ensure safety and alignment with our goals (oversight). Assessment will be done with homework, quizzes, and a final project.

Prerequisite: EN.601.475/675 or equivalent.

MW 1:30-2:45
limit 30, CS only

601.690
CSCI-SOFT

INTRO TO HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION Xiao & Reiter

Same material as EN.601.490, for graduate students.

Pre-req: basic programming skills. Students may receive credit for EN.601.490 or EN.601.690, but not both.

Sec 01 (Xiao): TuTh 3-4:15, limit 18, CS only
Sec 02 (Xiao): TuTh 3-4:15, limit 12, instructor approval
Sec 03 (Reiter): M 4:30-7p, limit 30, CS + MSEM only

601.693
CSCI-SOFT

ACCESSIBLE COMPUTING (3) Huang

This course is designed to introduce students to the principles, challenges, and opportunities in designing computing systems that are accessible to people with diverse abilities. Students will learn about assistive technologies, inclusive design methodologies, and the incorporation of accessibility in computer applications through lectures, readings, and projects.

Required Background: programming and knowledge in human-computer interaction. Students may receive credit for EN.601.493 or EN.601.693, but not both. Interested students from non-CS disciplines should contact the instructor before enrolling in this course.

MW 12-1:15p, limit 20, CS grad students

601.697
CSCI-APPL

NEW COURSE!

HUMAN-CENTERED ROBOTICS: MODELS & ALGORITHMS (3) Haimin Hu

In this course, we will study fundamental concepts in human-centered robotics, with an emphasis on mathematical models of human–robot interaction and decision-making algorithms for safely deploying robots in human-populated environments. We will ground these ideas in applications such as drones, autonomous vehicles, and home robots. After introducing the main technical tools for robot planning and control in interactive, safety-critical settings through a game-theoretic lens, we will turn our attention to two tightly coupled challenges in modern robotics: safely enabling robots that learn from humans and help humans learn. The course will combine seminar-style discussions of research papers and whiteboard-style lecture to introduce the key theoretical concepts, and the class project will give you an opportunity to explore the approaches covered in class and possibly combine them with your own research. After this class, you will be familiar with the state of the art and open challenges in safe and performant human–robot interaction, and you will understand the guarantees and tradeoffs offered by different algorithmic frameworks for human-centered robotics.

Required student background: C/C++, data structures, calc III, linear algebra, probability. Students may receive credit for EN.601.497 or EN.601.697, but not both.

Sec 01: MW 3-4:15p, limit 10 CS+MSEM grads
Sec 02: MW 3-4:15p, limit 10 WSE grad students

601.698
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

HANDS-ON ROBOT LEARNING (3) Krishna Murthy Jatavallabhula

This course provides a comprehensive, hands-on introduction to the design and implementation of modern learning-based robotic systems. The primary objective of this course is to equip students with the theoretical skills and practical tools necessary to succeed as world-class robot learning engineers and scientists.
This course involves equal amounts of in-classroom teaching and outside-the-classroom practical work. Students will work in small groups (approx 3 students per group) to build a physical SO-101 arm from a provided equipment kit, and develop key software stack components to enable robot learning from data. The first two modules of the course will cover the ‘nuts and bolts’ of robot learning and data curation strategies, including a variety of teleoperation methods. The remainder of the course will then delve into learning ‘policies’ that determine how a robot acts in response to sense data. The course will cover state-of-the art policy learning approaches, including generalist techniques such as vision-language-action (VLA) models, in detail.

Required Course Background: machine learning or deep learning, and robotics. Students may receive credit for EN.601.498 or EN.601.698, but not both.

Thu 3-5:30p
Sec 01: limit 10, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 5, Robotics grads
Sec 03: limit 5, instructor approval

601.713
CSCI-SYST

FUTURE NETWORKS Sabnani

Early networks were used for short message exchanges (Telegraph), and then the world moved to voice telephony. Today, the Internet’s dominant traffic is entertainment video. More and more objects (IoT devices) are connected to the Internet for control and monitoring. With the need for enormous AI computations, new networks with gigantic capacity are being designed and built. These transformations require transferring large amounts of information, rapidly deploying new features, and simpler management.
The course will start with a brief introduction to the past networks: telegraph and telephone networks. Then, it will move to today's Internet. Endpoints are not just humans but also objects and machines; the Internet is increasingly becoming a network of objects.
The course will mostly focus on how these networks will evolve in the future. New applications such as autonomous driving require networking and computing to be embedded together. This feature is already beginning to be implemented in 5G and 6G networks; 6G will also allow networks to be used as sensors. New technologies such as mobile edge computing, software-defined networking (SDN), network slicing, digital twins, and named-data networking (NDN) enable these advances. Two timely topics – Web 3 and the application of machine learning to networking – have been added. V2X networks will be a strong focus.
Students will be required to participate in discussions on this topic. Students will be asked to study new papers and do course projects, which should result in longer-term research projects.
Recommended Course Background: A course in computer networks (e.g., EN.601.414/614 Computer Network Fundamentals).
Undergrads are encouraged to contact the instructor for permission to register.

Tu 4:30-7p
limit 30, CS grads

601.714
CSCI-SYST

ADVANCED COMPUTER NETWORKS Ghorbani

This is a graduate-level course on computer networks. It provides a comprehensive overview on advanced topics in network protocols and networked systems. The course will cover both classic papers on Internet protocols and recent research results. It will examine a wide range of topics, e.g., routing, congestion control, network architectures, datacenter networks, network virtualization, software-defined networking, and programmable networks, with an emphasize on core networking concepts and principles. The course will include lectures, paper discussions, programming assignments and a research project.
Required Course Background: One undergraduate course in computer networks (e.g., EN.601.414/614 Computer Network Fundamentals or the equivalent), or permission of the instructor. The course assignments and projects assume students to be comfortable with programming.

TuTh 3-4:15p
limit 20

601.716
CSCI-SYST

ADVANCED TOPICS IN INTERNET OF THINGS Zhao

This course explores the convergence of computer networks, mobile computing, and embedded systems, with a specific focus on the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT represents a paradigm shift in computing, aiming to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Its development has opened up new possibilities, including mobile health, smart homes, industrial automation, and more. Throughout the course, students will delve into advanced topics such as IoT networking, mobile and edge computing, embedded machine learning, wireless sensing, human-computer interaction, and mobile health applications. To excel in this course, students are expected to engage in pre-class readings and in-class discussions, and complete a semester-long project. The focus of the course will be on training research philosophy and principles instead of papers' technical details. The course covers multiple disciplines and encourages interdisciplinary projects; students with diverse backgrounds such as computer science/engineering, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering or other related areas are welcomed.

Recommended Course Background: familiarity with computer system fundamentals, computer networks, signal processing, and mobile computing.

TuTh 1:30-2:45p
limit 25, WSE grads

601.727
CSCI-SOFT

MACHINE PROGRAMMING Ziyang Li

Programs are the fundamental medium through which humans interact with computers. With the advent of large language models (LLMs), the automated synthesis of programs is rapidly transforming how we build software. Instead of manual code writing, we specify intent through examples, specifications, and natural language.
This course explores both the foundations and frontiers of program synthesis, covering traditional symbolic techniques alongside LLM-driven approaches. Students will study a variety of synthesis paradigms, including example-based, type- and specification-guided, and interactive methods. We will examine how LLMs are applied to general-purpose programming tasks as well as to specialized domains such as theorem proving, program repair, planning, and verification.
Throughout the course, students will gain exposure to a wide range of programming languages, from widely-used ones like Python and C, to emerging and domain-specific languages such as Rust, Lean, CodeQL, and PDDL. The course offers a research-oriented perspective combined with hands-on assignments and projects, providing students with both conceptual understanding and practical experience at the intersection of programming languages and machine learning.

Required course background: Python proficiency and LLM familiarity.

TuTh 12-1:15p
limit 35

601.734
CSCI-THRY

NEW COURSE!

TOPICS IN MACHINE LEARNING-AUGMENTED ALGORITHM DESIGN Nicolas Christianson

Artificial intelligence and machine learning hold significant promise for improving algorithmic decision-making across domains. This course will survey recent advances in integrating AI/ML models into algorithm design. We will focus on two different paradigms: algorithms with predictions, which seek to leverage black-box, potentially unreliable predictions to improve performance while maintaining robustness; and learning-based approaches, where AI/ML models are trained to directly perform algorithmic reasoning. Throughout, we will emphasize settings where provable guarantees – such as robustness to prediction error and generalization bounds – can be obtained.

Required course background: 601.433/633 Algorithms and 601.475/675 Machine Learning or equivalent.

TuTh 9-10:15a
Sec 01: limit 20, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor permission

601.762
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

MULTIMODAL UNDERSTANDING AND GENERATION Jaemin Cho

This course provides a deep dive into modern Multimodal AI, focusing on models that integrate vision and language data. Topics include visual question answering, generative media (images/video), neuro-symbolic AI, and embodied AI agents. Through weekly paper reviews and a hands-on independent research project, students will gain the technical skills to understand and advance the state-of-the-art in multimodal deep learning.
Required Course Background: at least one upper-level/grad course in vision, NLP or machine learning.

MW 1:30-2:45p
Sec 01: limit 20, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor permission

601.768
CSCI-RSNG
NEW COURSE

LANGUAGE MODEL AGENTS (3) VanDurme

Recent advancement in language models have given rise to a new generation of autonomous reasoning agents capable of executing valuable and challenging tasks. This advanced graduate course covers the emerging space of agentic systems with an emphasis on “safely confident reasoning". We will jointly study the design of agents and the development of the foundational models that power these systems. We will discuss topics integral to real-world agent deployments, such as efficiency and security concerns, uncertainty quantification and explainability for accountable decision making, indexing and retrieval tools that power agent memory. We conclude by discussing future directions for this emerging technology.

Required Course Background: Machine Learning, ML: Deep Learning, ML: Learning Theory, ML: Reinforcement Learning, ML: Artificial System Design and Development, NLP: Self-Supervised Models, or equivalent (grad course in machine learning).

TuTh 9-10:15a
Sec 01: limit 25, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval

601.770
CSCI-APPL

AI ETHICS AND SOCIAL IMPACT Field

AI is poised to have an enormous impact on society. What should that impact be and who should get to decide it? The goal of this course is to critically examine AI research and deployment pipelines, with in-depth examinations of how we need to understand social structures to understand impact. In application domains, we will examine questions like “who are key stakeholders?”, “who is affected by this technology?” and “who benefits from this technology?”. We will also conversely examine: how can AI help us learn about these domains, and can we build from this knowledge to design AI for "social good"? As a graduate-level course, topics will focus on current research including development and deployment of technologies like large language models and decision support tools, and students will conduct a final research project.
Required Course Background: At least one graduate-level computer science course in Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (including NLP, Computer Vision, etc.), two preferred, or permission of the instructor.

Mon 9-11:30a
limit 29, CS grads

601.772
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

ADV TOPICS IN AI FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCOVERY Gligoric

This advanced course explores state-of-the-art AI methods for social science research, focusing on LLM-based approaches including synthetic participants, AI-augmented surveys, and computational simulations of human behavior, including historical participants. Students will critically evaluate recent work (2023-2026) through paper discussions and an original research project. Projects will involve empirical work with publication potential, such as replication studies comparing synthetic to human data, meta-analyses of field practices, or development of validation frameworks for the emerging field of AI-augmented social science.
Required Course Background: At least one graduate-level computer science course in Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (including CSS, NLP, Computer Vision, etc.), two preferred, or permission of the instructor. Students must be comfortable with reading recent research papers and discussing key concepts and ideas.

MW 4:30-5:45p
Sec 01: limit 25, CS grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval

601.779
CSCI-RSNG

MACHINE LEARNING: ADVANCED TOPICS (3) Arora

[Formerly called Advanced topics in Representation Learning]
This course will focus on recent advances in theory, methods and applications of representation learning. We will take a stochastic optimization view of representation learning, and explore various learning objectives and optimization algorithms for representation learning. In this stochastic optimization framework, we will present a unified view of different approaches to representation learning including function approximation, probabilistic, and information theoretic. We will study the optimization problems that result in each of these approaches and study algorithms for solving these optimization problems, both theoretically and empirically. Finally, we will discuss applications of these techniques to speech and language processing, computational healthcare, social media analytics, and computational neuroscience.

Pre-requisites: Representation Learning or permission (requiring all of the following):

  1. Linear algebra (vector spaces, orthogonality, basis, singular value decomposition)
  2. Probability and Statistics (random variables, probability distributions, expectation, mean, variance, covariance, conditional probability, Bayes rule)
  3. Introductory machine learning (classification, regression)
  4. Convex optimization (differentiation, chain rule, unconstrained optimization)
  5. Machine learning (differentiation, chain rule, unconstrained optimization)

MW 12-1:15
limit 30

601.794
CSCI-APPL

PRIVACY TECHNOLOGY, DESIGN, AND LAW Yaxing Yao

Privacy has long been considered as a fundamental human right. Emerging technologies such as social media, smart grid, Internet of Things, drones, and self-driving cars have raised heightened privacy issues. Recent developments of regulations such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is also drawing increasing attention from technologists, policymakers, and the media. How to protect people's privacy is a key challenge of our time.
This course provides an in-depth look into privacy, privacy laws and regulations, privacy-enhancing technologies and mechanisms, and privacy design. Privacy will be examined from historical, philosophical, cultural, legal, economic, behavioral, and technical perspectives. This course is designed primarily for graduate students who are interested in privacy and are from a wide range of disciplines such as information science, computer science and engineering, law, business, media studies, economics, politics, and psychology.

Recommended course background: EN.601.443/643 Security & Privacy or equivalent.

MW 12-1:15p
limit 36, CS + MSSI

601.796
CSCI-APPL
NEW COURSE!

SOCIAL COMPUTING Piccardi

This course is designed for graduate students, particularly PhD students, to provide a comprehensive introduction to social computing research. The course covers how social computing systems shape human interaction, information exchange, collaboration, and collective behavior in online environments. Core topics include social influence and network effects, collaborative and peer production systems, algorithmic curation, content amplification, and online social dynamics. Additional topics include governance and content moderation, online information integrity, auditing of sociotechnical systems, antisocial behavior online, and social AI systems.
Students will read research papers and engage in writing, group discussion, and oral presentations. The goal of the course is to provide students with the foundations for understanding and extending the current state of the art in social computing research.
Required Course Background: At least one graduate-level computer science course in a related area such as HCI, data science, machine learning. Students must be comfortable with reading recent research papers, critically analyzing empirical methods and discussing key concepts and ideas.

TuTh 4:30-5:45p
Sec 01: limit 20, CS + MSEM grads
Sec 02: limit 5, instructor approval

601.801

COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR

Attendance recommended for all grad students; only 1st & 2nd year PhD students may register.

TuTh 10:30-12
limit 90

601.803

MASTERS RESEARCH

Independent research for masters students. Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers.

601.805

GRADUATE INDEPENDENT STUDY

Permission required.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers.

601.806

CS GRADUATE PRACTICUM Smith

Computer science graduate students engaging in external internships to gain practical experience in the field should enroll in this course. Permission required.

limit 30, P/F only

601.807

TEACHING PRACTICUM Selinski, Smith

PhD students will gain valuable teaching experience, working closely with their assigned faculty supervisor. Successful completion of this course fulfills the PhD teaching requirement. Permission required.

limit 30

601.809

PHD RESEARCH

Independent research for PhD students.

See note at end regarding faculty section numbers.

AS.050.814

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN COMPUTER VISION Yuille

This course covers advanced topics in computational vision. It discusses and reviews recent progress and technical advances in visual topics such as object recognition, scene understanding, and image parsing.

tba

601.826

SELECTED TOPICS IN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES Smith

This course covers recent developments in the foundations of programming language design and implementation. topics covered vary from year to year. Students will present papers orally.

Fri 11
limit 12

601.831

CS THEORY SEMINAR Dinitz, Li

Seminar series in theoretical computer science. Topics include algorithms, complexity theory, and related areas of TCS. Speakers will be a mix of internal and external researchers, mostly presenting recently published research papers.

W 12
limit 30

601.857

SELECTED TOPICS IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS Kazhdan

In this course we will review current research in computer graphics. We will meet for an hour once a week and one of the participants will lead the discussion for the week.

W 3p
limit 8

601.864

SELECTED TOPICS IN MULTILINGUAL NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING Yarowsky/Murray

This is a weekly reading group focused on Natural Language Processing (NLP) outside of English. Whereas methods have gotten very strong in recent years on English NLP tasks, many methods fail on other languages due to both linguistic differences as well as lack of available annotated resources. This course will focus on Cross-Language Information Retrieval, Cross-Lingual Information Extraction, Multilingual Semantics, Massively Multilingual Language Modeling, and other non-English NLP sub-fields. Students will be expected to read, discuss, and present papers. Required course background: EN.601.465/665.

Th 12-1p
limit 15

601.865

SELECTED TOPICS IN NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING Eisner

A reading group exploring important current research in the field and potentially relevant material from related fields. In addition to reading and discussing each week's paper, enrolled students are expected to take turns selecting papers and leading the discussion.
Required course background: EN.601.465/665 or permission of instructor.

W 12-1:15p
limit 15

601.868

SELECTED TOPICS IN MACHINE TRANSLATION Koehn

Students in this course will review, present, and discuss current research in machine translation.

Prereq: permission of instructor.

M 11-noon
limit 15

520.807

CURRENT TOPICS IN LANGUAGE AND SPEECH PROCESSING staff

CLSP seminar series, for any students interested in current topics in language and speech processing.

M & F 12-1:15

500.745

SEMINAR IN COMPUTATIONAL SENSING AND ROBOTICS Kazanzides, Whitcomb, Vidal, Etienne-Cummings

Seminar series in robotics. Topics include: Medical robotics, including computer-integrated surgical systems and image-guided intervention. Sensor based robotics, including computer vision and biomedical image analysis. Algorithmic robotics, robot control and machine learning. Autonomous robotics for monitoring, exploration and manipulation with applications in home, environmental (land, sea, space), and defense areas. Biorobotics and neuromechanics, including devices, algorithms and approaches to robotics inspired by principles in biomechanics and neuroscience. Human-machine systems, including haptic and visual feedback, human perception, cognition and decision making, and human-machine collaborative systems. Cross-listed with Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering.

Wed 12-1:30
limit 80

650.601

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION SECURITY Xiangyang Li

This course exposes students to the cross-disciplinary and broad information security field. It surveys a range of fundamental topics of information security principles, architecture, policy and standard, risk management, cryptography, physical, operation, system and network security mechanisms, and law and ethics, among others. This course includes lectures, case studies, and homework. Students will also complete independent study class projects. Recommended Course Background: Basic knowledge of computer system and information technology.

TuTh 12-1:15
limit 50

650.614

RIGHTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE Michael Jacobs

This course will examine various legal and policy issues presented by the tremendous growth in computer technology, especially the Internet. The rights that various parties have with respect to creating, modifying, using, distributing, storing, and copying digital data will be explored. The concurrent responsibilities, and potential liabilities, of those parties will also be addressed. The course will focus on intellectual property issues, especially copyright law, and other legal and economic considerations related to the use and management of digital data. Copyright law and its role within the framework of intellectual property law will be presented in a historical context with an emphasis on its applicability to emerging-technology issues. Specifically, the treatment of various works, such as music, film, and photography that were traditionally, analog in nature will be analyzed with respect to their treatment in the digital domain; works that are by their nature digital, such as computer software, will also be analyzed. The current state of U.S. copyright law will be presented, as will relevant international treaties and foreign laws. The goal of the course is to provide those involved or interested in digital rights management with a general awareness of the rights and obligations associated with maintaining and distributing digital data. (This course will be taught in Washington, DC and video-cast on Homewood Campus.)

W 4:30-6:30p
limit 25, MSSI only

650.621

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION Lanier Watkins

This course focuses on understanding the history, the vulnerability, and the need to protect our Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR). We will start by briefly surveying the policies which define the issues surrounding CIKR and the strategies that have been identified to protect them. Most importantly, we will take a comprehensive approach to evaluating the technical vulnerabilities of the 18 identified sectors, and we will discuss the tactics that are necessary to mitigate the risks associated with each sector. These vulnerabilities will be discussed from the perspective of ACM, IEEE or other technical journals/articles which detail recent and relevant network-level CIKR exploits. We will cover well known vulnerable systems such the Internet, SCADA or PLC and lesser known systems such as E911 and industrial robot. Also, a class project is required. Recommended Course Background: EN.650.424 or equivalent or permission by instructor.

Th 4:30-7p
limit 30

650.656

COMPUTER FORENSICS Timothy Leschke

This course introduces students to the field of computer forensics and it will focus on the various contemporary policy issues and applied technologies. Topics to be covered include: legal and regulatory issues, investigation techniques, data analysis approaches, and incident response procedures for Windows and UNIX systems. Homework in this course will relate to laboratory assignments and research exercises. Students should also expect that a group project will be integrated into this course.

W 6:30-9:00p
limit 45

650.658

INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOGRAPHY Xiangyang Li

Cryptography has a rich history as one of the foundations of information security. This course serves as the introduction to the working primitives, development and various techniques in this field. It emphasizes reasoning about the constraint and construction of cryptographic protocols that use shared secret key or public key. Students will also be exposed to some current open problems. Permission of instructor only.

MW 12-1:15p
limit 50, instructor approval

650.660

SOFTWARE VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS Reuben Johnston

Competent execution of security assessments on modern software systems requires extensive knowledge in numerous technical domains and comprehensive understanding of security risks. This course provides necessary background knowledge and examines relevant theories for software vulnerabilities and exploits in detail. Key topics include historical vulnerabilities, their corresponding exploits, and associated risk mitigations. Fundamental tools and techniques for performing security assessments (e.g., software reverse engineering, static analysis, and dynamic analysis) are covered extensively. The format of this course includes lectures and assignments where students learn how to develop exploits to well-known historical vulnerabilities in a controlled environment. Students will complete and demonstrate a project as part of the course.

Fri 4:15-6:45p
limit 30, MSSI + CS

650.673

MOBILE AND WIRELESS SECURITY Ashutosh Dutta

The past few decades have seen a rapid evolution of wireless LAN and cellular technologies. In addition to wireless access technologies, various types of network layer and application layer mobility protocols have been developed to provide seamless connectivity to mobile users. Maintaining end-to-end security for these mobile users needs to take into account authentication, authorization, integrity and confidentiality as mobile devices change their point-of-attachment. This course will provide an overview of various wireless access technologies, mobility protocol taxonomy and will describe end-to-end security including mobile end point, radio access network, network core, and application services. In addition, this will include hands-on lab experiments to examine security over wireless and mobile networks and a research group project. Overall objective of this course is to impart both theoretical and practical knowledge to the students, and at the same time make them ready for any future research to solve complex problems. Recommended Course Background: Knowledge of TCP/IP, Linux, Fundamentals of Networking.

Tu 4:30-7p
limit 35, MSSI + CS

650.683

CYBERSECURITY RISK MANAGEMENT Javad Abed

Data breaches, cyber attacks, cybercrime, and information operations in social media continue to increase in frequency and severity, causing businesses and governments to focus more resources on cybersecurity risk management and compliance. Utilizing real-world data breaches and attacks as motivation, this course will provide students knowledge of risk management concepts, frameworks, compliance regimes and best industry practices used to ensure sound cybersecurity practices in government, commercial, and academic organizations. Lab exercises will provide opportunities for students to experience key aspects of the risk management process and help prepare them for post-graduation assignments as cybersecurity professionals.
Recommended Course Background: EN.650.601.

F 1:30-4p
limit 36, MSSI

650.836

INFORMATION SECURITY PROJECTS Dahbura, Li

All MSSI programs must include a project involving a research and development oriented investigation focused on an approved topic addressing the field of information security and assurance from the perspective of relevant applications and/or theory. There must be project supervision and approval involving a JHUISI affiliated faculty member. A project can be conducted individually or within a team-structured environment comprised of MSSI students and an advisor. A successful project must result in an associated report suitable for on-line distribution. When appropriate, a project can also lead to the development of a so-called "deliverable" such as software or a prototype system. Projects can be sponsored by government/industry partners and affiliates of the Information Security Institute, and can also be related to faculty research programs supported by grants and Contracts. Required course for any full-time MSSI student. Open to MSSI students. Permission required for non-MSSI students.

MW 11-11:50a
limit 60, MSSI

650.840

INFORMATION SECURITY INDEPENDENT STUDY Xiangyang Li

Individual study in an area of mutual interest to a graduate student and a faculty member in the Institute.


Faculty section numbers for all independent type courses, undergraduate and graduate may vary by course. Please first check SIS to see if there is an active section for the needed course/faculty member. If not, the faculty member should email courses@cs to request one for the specific course needed. (CS primary tenure-track faculty will all have open sections for EN.601.809 PhD Research, but joint faculty might not until active.)