Welcome to DATA 609

George Hagstrom

About Me

• Doctoral Lecturer at CUNY SPS
• Past research experience:
  • Plasma physics and Applied Mathematics (NYU)
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Princeton)
• Research using Bayesian methods and genomic data to improve global scale ocean and climate models
• Taught math at NYU

Why Optimization?

• Optimization theory underlies most methods in data science
• Three foci:
  • Least Squares Optimization
  • Convex Optimization
  • Local Optimization and Stochastic Gradient Descent

Course Website(s)

• Brightspace to submit homework
• Course Website

Course Website and Meetup

• Brightspace to submit homework
• Course Website
• Course Meetup: Monday 6:45-7:45PM
• Zoom Link

Slack Channel

• Course slack channel for messaging and rapid communications
• https://data609-spring-2025.slack.com
• Invite Link

Textbooks

Two most important textbooks:

1. Introduction to Applied Linear Algebra

• Available free online VMLS

2. Convex Optimization

• Available free online cvxbook

Textbooks

Two most important textbooks:

1. Introduction to Applied Linear Algebra

• Available free online VMLS

2. Convex Optimization

• Available free online cvxbook

Assignments

• 8 Lab Assignments (80%)
• Final Project (20%)

Looking forward to a great semester!

Thanks for watching