CSE 703: Deep Learning on Graphs (Fall 23)

Instructor: A. Erdem Sariyuce (erdem AT buffalo.edu)
Class hours: Wed 5:00-7:00, Davis 113A
Office hours: Thu 10:00-12:00, Davis 323

Course Description

Graphs are everywhere. Their scale, rate of change, and the irregular nature pose many new challenges. Deep learning has been shown to be successful in a number of domains, ranging from images to natural language processing. However, applying deep learning to the ubiquitous graph data is non-trivial because of the unique characteristics. This seminar course covers recent papers in the last few years about deep learning on graphs. We will consider graph embeddings, knowledge graphs, graph kernels, graph neural networks, graph convolutional networks, graph adversarial methods. Students will learn the literature on deep learning on graphs, understand the state-of-the-art algorithms on various problems, and be familiar with the recent trends.

Prerequisites

It is assumed that students have a solid background on discrete mathematics and algorithms. Basic research skills like paper reading, critical thinking, problem solving, report writing, communication, and presentation are important as well.

Grading Policy (Same for 1, 2, or 3 credits)

  • Serving as an explainer (one time): 34 pts
  • Serving as a listener (11 times) : 11*6 = 66 pts

The final grade is S/U and 80 pts score is needed for an S.

Paper presentation & questions

Explainer role: Each week there will be 1 or 2 explainers. Those students are responsible for presenting the paper and answering the student questions on Piazza. At the beginning of the class, the instructor will pick the presenter among those explainers. All explainers must be ready to present. Assignment of the explainers to the papers will be done by the instructor.

Listener role: Each week all the students are supposed to read the paper of the week. All students, except explainers, serve as listeners and will ask a unique question (one question, not less, not more) on Piazza. Those questions will be answered by the explainers on Piazza and some questions will be selected by them for discussion in class. Questions should be open-ended and provide ground for class discussions, i.e., 'can you explain alg 1?' is not that kind of question. Questions should be posted to Piazza by Monday night, 11.59 pm EST.

Piazza page

Schedule