CS-GY 9223: Course Schedule - Fall 2025

Weekly Schedule

⚠️ Important: This schedule is tentative and may be updated during the semester. Check course announcements and Discord for any changes.

All classes meet Mondays 5:00 PM - 7:30 PM in Jacobs Hall Room 473, unless otherwise noted


Week 1: September 2

Labor Day - No Class


Week 2: September 8

Introduction to Visualization for Machine Learning

Lecture Topics:

  • Course overview and logistics
  • What is visualization for machine learning?
  • Information visualization fundamentals
  • The machine learning pipeline and where visualization fits

Lab Session:

  • Development environment setup
  • Introduction to D3.js
  • Creating basic visualizations
  • Git and project structure

Readings:

  • Hohman et al. “Visual Analytics in Deep Learning: An Interrogative Survey” (2018)
  • Munzner, “Visualization Analysis and Design”, Chapter 1

Assignment Released: Exercise 1 - Visualization Critique


Week 3: September 15

Course Introduction & Visualization Fundamentals

Lecture Topics:

  • Course syllabus and logistics review
  • What is Information Visualization?
  • The Power of Visualization (Discovery, Storytelling, Exploration)
  • Key concepts: Abstract data, Interaction, Amplifying cognition

Lab Session:

  • Introduction to Observable and Vega-Lite
  • Setting up accounts and development environment
  • Creating first visualizations
  • Understanding tidy data principles

Materials:

Readings:

  • Munzner, “Visualization Analysis and Design”, Chapter 1 (recommended)

Assignment: TBD


Week 4: September 22

Model Assessment and Performance Metrics

Lecture Topics:

  • Classification metrics visualization
  • Confusion matrices and ROC curves
  • Regression model assessment
  • Cross-validation visualization

Lab Session:

  • Building performance dashboards
  • Interactive metric exploration
  • Comparative model visualization

Readings:

  • Beauxis-Aussalet & Hardman, “Simplifying the Visualization of Confusion Matrix” (2014)

Due: Exercise 2
Assignment Released: Mini-Project 1


Week 5: September 29

White-box Model Visualization

Lecture Topics:

  • Decision tree visualization
  • Linear model interpretation
  • Rule-based system visualization
  • Feature importance displays

Lab Session:

  • Implementing tree visualizations
  • Interactive model exploration
  • Feature contribution plots

Readings:

  • Selected papers on interpretable ML

Project: Final project team formation


Week 6: October 6

Black-box Model Interpretation

Lecture Topics:

  • LIME and SHAP explanations
  • Partial dependence plots
  • Feature interaction visualization
  • Surrogate models

Lab Session:

  • Implementing SHAP visualizations
  • Building explanation interfaces
  • Interactive what-if analysis

Readings:

  • Ribeiro et al. “Why Should I Trust You?” (LIME paper)
  • Lundberg & Lee “A Unified Approach to Interpreting Model Predictions” (SHAP)

Due: Mini-Project 1
Project: Final project proposals due


Week 7: October 13

Fall Break - No Class


Make-up Class: October 14 (Tuesday)

Deep Learning Visualization

Lecture Topics:

  • Neural network architecture visualization
  • Activation and gradient visualization
  • CNN filter visualization
  • Attention mechanism displays

Lab Session:

  • TensorBoard integration
  • Building network diagrams
  • Interactive layer exploration

Readings:

  • Zeiler & Fergus, “Visualizing and Understanding Convolutional Networks”
  • Olah et al., “The Building Blocks of Interpretability”

Assignment Released: Mini-Project 2


Week 8: October 20

Clustering Visualization

Lecture Topics:

  • Hierarchical clustering dendrograms
  • K-means and cluster validation
  • Cluster comparison techniques
  • Uncertainty in clustering

Lab Session:

  • Interactive clustering interfaces
  • Cluster exploration tools
  • Comparative analysis systems

Readings:

  • Selected papers on cluster visualization

Project: Mid-term project presentations


Week 9: October 27

Dimensionality Reduction

Lecture Topics:

  • PCA and linear projections
  • t-SNE visualization
  • UMAP and modern techniques
  • Projection quality metrics

Lab Session:

  • Implementing projection views
  • Interactive parameter tuning
  • Projection comparisons

Readings:

  • van der Maaten & Hinton, “Visualizing Data using t-SNE”
  • McInnes et al., “UMAP: Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection”

Week 10: November 3

Topological Data Analysis

Lecture Topics:

  • Persistence diagrams
  • Mapper algorithm
  • Reeb graphs
  • Applications in ML

Lab Session:

  • TDA tool integration
  • Interactive topology exploration

Readings:

  • Carlsson, “Topology and Data”

Due: Mini-Project 2
Assignment Released: Mini-Project 3


Week 11: November 10

NLP and Text Visualization

Lecture Topics:

  • Word embeddings visualization
  • Topic model visualization
  • Attention in transformers
  • Document similarity

Lab Session:

  • Building text visualization systems
  • Interactive embedding exploration

Readings:

  • Selected papers on text visualization

Week 12: November 17

Time Series and Streaming Data

Lecture Topics:

  • Temporal model performance
  • Concept drift visualization
  • Real-time monitoring
  • Anomaly detection displays

Lab Session:

  • Streaming visualization implementation
  • Dashboard design patterns

Readings:

  • Selected papers on temporal visualization

Week 13: November 24

Interpretable ML and Fairness

Lecture Topics:

  • Fairness metrics visualization
  • Bias detection interfaces
  • Interpretability vs accuracy
  • Ethical considerations

Lab Session:

  • Fairness dashboard creation
  • What-if tool exploration

Readings:

  • Selected papers on ML fairness

Due: Mini-Project 3


Week 14: December 1

Project Presentations I

  • Group project presentations (Part 1)
  • Peer feedback sessions
  • Q&A and discussions

Week 15: December 8

Project Presentations II

  • Group project presentations (Part 2)
  • Course wrap-up
  • Future directions in VisML

Project: Final reports due December 11


Important Notes

  1. Make-up Class: October 14 (Tuesday) replaces October 13 Fall Break
  2. Thanksgiving Week: Check for updates regarding November 24 class
  3. Office Hours: Will be posted on Discord
  4. Slides: Available after each class on course website
  5. Recordings: Posted for registered students who miss class

Assignment Summary

TypeDue DateWeight
Exercise 1Sept 155%
Exercise 2Sept 225%
Additional ExercisesThroughout25%
Mini-Project 1Oct 611.67%
Mini-Project 2Nov 311.67%
Mini-Project 3Nov 2411.67%
Final Project ProposalOct 65%
Final Project PresentationDec 1/810%
Final Project ReportDec 1110%
ParticipationOngoing5%