Probabilistic Graphical Models
Daphne Koller, Professor
In this class, you will learn the basics of the PGM representation and how to construct them, using both human knowledge and machine learning techniques.
Greek and Roman Mythology
Peter Struck
This course will focus on the myths of ancient Greece and Rome, as a way of exploring the nature of myth and the function it plays for individuals, societies, and nations.
Networks: Friends, Money, and Bytes
Mung Chiang
A course driven by 20 practical questions about wireless, web, and the Internet, about how products from companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Ericsson, HP, Skype and AT&T work.
Networked Life
Michael Kearns
Networked Life will explore recent scientific efforts to explain social, economic and technological structures — and the way these structures interact — on many different scales, from the behavior of individuals or small groups to that of complex networks such as the Internet and the global economy.
Introduction to Mathematical Thinking
Keith Devlin
Learn how to think the way mathematicians do – a powerful cognitive process developed over thousands of years.
Neural Networks for Machine Learning
Geoffrey Hinton
Learn about artificial neural networks and how they’re being used for machine learning, as applied to speech and object recognition, image segmentation, modeling language and human motion, etc. We’ll emphasize both the basic algorithms and the practical tricks needed to get them to work well.
Scientific Computing
J. Nathan Kutz
Investigate the flexibility and power of project-oriented computational analysis, and enhance communication of information by creating visual representations of scientific data.
Learn to Program: The Fundamentals
Jennifer Campbell, Paul Gries
Behind every mouse click and touch-screen tap, there is a computer program that makes things happen. This course introduces the fundamental building blocks of programming and teaches you how to write fun and useful programs using the Python language.
Social Network Analysis
Lada Adamic
This course will use social network analysis, both its theory and computational tools, to make sense of the social and information networks that have been fueled and rendered accessible by the internet.
Mathematical Biostatistics Boot Camp
Brian Caffo
This class presents the fundamental probability and statistical concepts used in elementary data analysis. It will be taught at an introductory level for students with junior or senior college-level mathematical training including a working knowledge of calculus. A small amount of linear algebra and programming are necessary, but not required.
Computer Architecture
David Wentzlaff
In this course, you will learn to design the computer architecture of complex modern microprocessors.
Heterogeneous Parallel Programming
Wen-mei W. Hwu
This course teaches the use of CUDA/OpenCL, OpenACC, and MPI for programming heterogeneous parallel computing systems. It is application oriented and only introduces necessary technological knowledge to solidify understanding.
Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach
Roger Coke Barr
Nerves, the heart, and the brain are electrical. How do these things work? This course presents fundamental principles, described quantitatively.
Functional Programming Principles in Scala
Martin Odersky
Learn about functional programming, and how it can be effectively combined with object-oriented programming. Gain practice in writing clean functional code, using the Scala programming
Human-Computer Interaction
Scott Klemmer, Associate Professor
Helping you build human-centered design skills, so that you have the principles and methods to create excellent interfaces with any technology.
Organizational Analysis
Daniel A. McFarland
In this introductory course, you will learn multiple theories of organizational behavior and apply them to actual cases of organizational change.
Introduction to Logic
Michael Genesereth, Associate Professor
In this course, you will learn how to formalize information and reason systematically to produce logical conclusions. We will also examine logic technology and its applications – in mathematics, science, engineering, business, law, and so forth.
An Introduction to Operations Management
Christian Terwiesch
This course will teach you how to analyze and improve business processes, be it in services or in manufacturing. You will learn how to improve productivity, how to provide more choice to customers, how to reduce response times, and how to improve quality.
Computing for Data Analysis
Roger D. Peng
This course is about learning the fundamental computing skills necessary for effective data analysis. You will learn to program in R and to use R for reading data, writing functions, making informative graphs, and applying modern statistical methods.
Information Security and Risk Management in Context
Barbara Endicott-Popovsky
Learn to defend and protect vital company information using the latest technology and defense strategies. Analyze internal and external threats to proactively prevent information attacks. Gain experience by solving real-world problems and leave the class equipped to establish and oversee information security.
A History of the World since 1300
Jeremy Adelman
This course will examine the ways in which the world has grown more integrated yet more divided over the past 700 years.
Writing in the Sciences
Kristin Sainani
This course teaches scientists to become more effective writers, using practical examples and exercises. Topics include: principles of good writing, tricks for writing faster and with less anxiety, the format of a scientific manuscript, and issues in publication and peer review.
Modern & Contemporary American Poetry
Al Filreis
This course is a fast-paced introduction to modern and contemporary U.S. poetry, from Dickinson and Whitman to the present. Participants (who need no prior experience with poetry) will learn how to read poems that are supposedly “difficult.”
Information Security and Risk Management in Context
Barbara Endicott-Popovsky
Learn to defend and protect vital company information using the latest technology and defense strategies. Analyze internal and external threats to proactively prevent information attacks. Gain experience by solving real-world problems and leave the class equipped to establish and oversee information security.
Introduction to Improvisation
Gary Burton
Learn the basic concepts of improvisation from Gary Burton, one of the most renowned improvisers in the jazz world, including the mental, melodic, and harmonic processes that contribute to the instinctive skills that an improviser puts to use when taking a solo.
Introduction to Music Production
Loudon Stearns
Learn about the music production process—including recording, editing, and mixing—and the tools available to you to create contemporary music on your computer.
Introduction to Improvisation
Gary Burton
Learn the basic concepts of improvisation from Gary Burton, one of the most renowned improvisers in the jazz world, including the mental, melodic, and harmonic processes that contribute to the instinctive skills that an improviser puts to use when taking a solo.
Songwriting
Pat Pattison
Learn an efficient, effective process for writing songs that express your ideas and emotions, including a range of tools that revolve around the concept of prosody—the matching of lyrics and music to support your underlying message.
Coding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Computer Science Applications
Phil Klein
Learn how to use the concepts and methods of linear algebra to think about computational problems arising in computer science. Coursework includes building on the concepts to write small programs and run them on real data.
The Fiction of Relationship
Arnold Weinstein
What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.
Galaxies and Cosmology
S. George Djorgovski
An introduction to the modern extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, the physical universe, big bang, formation and evolution of galaxies, quasars, and large-scale structure.
Principles of Economics for Scientists
Antonio Rangel
Quantitative and model-based introduction to basic ideas in economics, and applications to a wide range of real world problems.
Financial Engineering and Risk Management
Martin Haugh and Garud Iyengar, with guest lectures by Emanuel Derman
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of financial engineering and risk management. We consider the pricing of derivatives, portfolio optimization and risk management and cast a critical eye on how these are used in practice.
MOS Transistors
Yannis Tsividis
Learn how MOS transistors work, and how to model them. The understanding provided in this course is essential not only for device modelers, but also for designers of high-performance circuits.
Natural Language Processing
Michael Collins
Have you ever wondered how to build a system that automatically translates between languages? Or a system that can understand natural language instructions from a human? This class will cover the fundamentals of mathematical and computational models of language, and the application of these models to key problems in natural language processing.
Digital Signal Processing
Paolo Prandoni and Martin Vetterli
Learn the fundamentals of digital signal processing theory and discover the myriad ways DSP makes everyday life more productive and fun.
Linear and Discrete Optimization
friedrich.eisenbrand@epfl.ch
The course is an introduction to linear and discrete optimization - an important part of computational mathematics with a wide range of applications in many areas of everyday life.
AIDS
Kimberley Sessions Hagen, EdD
This course will discuss HIV/AIDS in the US and around the world including its history, science, and culture as well as recent developments in prevention education, biomedical research, vaccine development, HIV testing, and current treatments. The course will also include a review of past, present, and potential future controversies surrounding HIV/AIDS.
Immigration and U.S. Citizenship
Polly Price
What does it mean for an immigrant to become a U.S. citizen? Through a background of historical and policy perspectives, this course will examine U.S. law governing how citizenship is acquired, the constitutional and international law foundations underlying immigration regulation, the role of the federal government in regulating immigration, and immigration law reform.
Introduction to Digital Sound Design
Steve Everett
Sounds and music are embedded in almost every aspect of daily life. This course will provide an overview of the fundamental principles of sound and the factors that determine our audio perception. It will also explore techniques of recording, mixing, processing, synthesis, sampling, analysis, and editing of digital audio.
Computational Photography
Irfan Essa
Learn about the basics of how computation has impacted the entire workflow of photography, from how images are captured, manipulated and collaborated on and shared.
Control of Mobile Robots
Magnus Egerstedt
Learn about how to make mobile robots move in effective, safe, predictable, and collaborative ways using modern control theory.
Energy 101
Sam Shelton
As a society and individually, we use energy every moment of our lives to improve our quality of life. Energy 101 will develop the big picture and connect the details of our energy use, technology, infrastructure, impact, and future.
Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application
Fatimah Wirth
This is an introductory course on the fundamentals of online education. You will learn how to convert your face-to-face class into a robust online course based on theory and practice.
Health Informatics in the Cloud
Mark Braunstein
A non-technical introduction to the contemporary application of computing to healthcare delivery, public health and community-based clinical research.

You will become intimately acquainted with the operational principles of neuronal “life-ware” (synapses, neurons and the networks that they form) as well as with recent ideas about how the dynamics of these networks generate the “neuronal code.” As an aperitif we will highlight present brain-excitements and for dessert we will discuss the future of brain research
An Introduction to the U.S. Food System: Perspectives from Public Health
Robert S. Lawrence, Keeve Nachman
Explore how food intersects with public health and the environment as it moves from field to plate.
Data Analysis
Jeff Leek
Learn about the most effective data analysis methods to solve problems and achieve insight.
Health for All Through Primary Care
Henry Perry
This course explores why primary health care is central for achieving Health for All. It provides examples of how primary health care has been instrumental in approaching this goal in selected populations and how the principles of primary health care can guide future policies and actions.
This course will explore the process of evaluating investigational vaccines in clinical trials including informed consent, recruitment, enrollment, safety evaluation, and quality data collection.
Generation Rx: The Science Behind Prescription Drug Abuse
Nicole Cartwright Kwiek, Ph.D.
Think that a prescription medication must be safer than a “street drug”? Think again. Investigate the epidemic rise of prescription drug abuse and use science to debunk commonly held misconceptions regarding this phenomenon.
Introduction to Pharmacy
Kenneth M. Hale, R.Ph., Ph.D.
This course is a survey of the profession of pharmacy including its history, evolving scope of practice, ethical foundations, regulation, educational and career opportunities, and more. We will also explore topics relating to medication use and drug development.
Algorithms, Part II
Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne
This course covers the essential information that every serious programmer needs to know about algorithms and data structures, with emphasis on applications and scientific performance analysis of Java implementations.
Analytic Combinatorics, Part I
Robert Sedgewick
This course teaches a calculus that enables precise quantitative predictions of large combinatorial structures. Part I covers generating functions and real asymptotics and then introduces the symbolic method in the context of applications in the analysis of algorithms and basic structures such as permutations, trees, strings, words, and mappings.
Analytic Combinatorics, Part II
Robert Sedgewick
This course teaches a calculus that enables precise quantitative predictions of large combinatorial structures. Part II introduces the symbolic method to derive functional relations among ordinary, exponential, and multivariate generating functions, and methods in complex analysis for deriving accurate asymptotics from the GF equations.
Computer Architecture
David Wentzlaff
In this course, you will learn to design the computer architecture of complex modern microprocessors.
Introduction to Sociology
Mitchell Duneier
In this class we will cover the essentials of sociology, to help you better understand your own life and situations far from your experience.

Monday, November 5, 2012 to Friday, December 14, 2012
Cryptography is an indispensable tool for protecting information in computer systems. This course explains the inner workings of...
Monday, January 21, 2013
Cryptography is an indispensable tool for protecting information in computer systems. This course is a continuation of ...
Science, Technology, and Society in China I: Basic Concepts
Naubahar Sharif
What is science? What is technology? How do science and technology inform developments in the social sphere? How are science and technology shaped by society? How have scientific and technological developments evolved over time? In this course, we will examine these issues and attempt answering these and many other questions!
Climate Literacy: Navigating Climate Conversations
Sarah Burch and Tom-Pierre Frappé-Sénéclauze
Climate Literacy tackles the scientific and socio-political dimensions of climate change. This course introduces the basics of the climate system, models and predictions, human and natural impacts, mitigative and adaptive responses, and the evolution of climate policy.
Introduction to Systematic Program Design
Gregor Kiczales
This course is about learning to program well: building programs that are elegant, well tested and easy to maintain. The course is intended for students with no programming experience, but many former students who already knew how to program have said it made them better programmers. The course structure allows you to choose a programming language to target.
Useful Genetics
Rosemary Redfield
This course will give students a thorough understanding of gene function and inheritance, and will enable them to apply this understanding to real-world issues, both personal and societal.
Algebra
Sarah Eichhorn, Ph.D. and Rachel Cohen Lehman, Ph.D.
This course is taught so that students will acquire a solid foundation in algebra. The course concentrates on the various functions that are important to the study of calculus.
Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning
Don DeBok
Learn how to use the framework of personal financial planning to monitor your own finances, with special emphasis on lifecycle-specific topics, such as saving for education, student loans, or wealth management and estate planning.
Microeconomics
Richard McKenzie
This course is designed to introduce students to basic microeconomic theory at a relatively rapid pace. The focus will be on fundamental economic principles that can be used by managers to think about business problems, including those inside the firm and those outside the firm.
Pre-Calculus
Sarah Eichhorn, Ph.D. and Rachel Cohen Lehman, Ph.D.
This class prepares students for eligibility to enroll in the first semester of single variable calculus.