CS3500 Spring 2005 Syllabus

Instructor: Cathie LeBlanc

Office: Memorial 214

Phone: 535-2629

Office Hours: MW 10am-11am, M 12:15pm-1:15pm, R 11am-12noon and by appointment

Text Books: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Introduction (2nd edition) by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig (ISBN: 0-13-790395-2)
Meeting Time: TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Meeting Place: Rounds 206
Class Home Page: oz.plymouth.edu/~cleblanc/Spring05/cs3500.html

An introduction to the basic theory and major applications of artificial intelligence. General issue of AI such as its development, social impact and philsophical implications are covered. The fundamental issues of AI such as problems and state spaces, search strategies, logic reasoning and various knowledge representation techniques will be emphasized. AI application domains, such as learning, expert systems, planning and game playing, will be discussed as well.

Be familiar with basic principles and techniques of AI such as:
- search (uninformed and informed);
- logic and inference;
- perception;
- knowledge representation;
- planning;
- and learning.
Understand the PEAS (Performance measure, Environment, Actuators, Sensors) model for intelligent agents.
Be able to implement intelligent agents using AI techniques.
Understand what a problem domain is.
Understand the types of problem domains.
Be able to choose appropriate AI techniques for particular problem domains.

We will try to follow this schedule but some adjustments may have to be made. This schedule is provided simply to help you in planning your semester.

Quizzes: There will be several quizzes throughout the course of the semester. No makeup quizzes will be given. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
Assignments: There will be approximately one assignment per week. Some of these assignments will be programming assignments. Others will be written assignments. No late assignments will be accepted. The lowest assignment grade will be dropped.
Experimental Project: Each student is required to investigate, implement and apply an AI technique to a problem domain. Your project choice must be approved by me. Additional details about this project will be provided early in the semester.
Project Presentation: Each student is required to present the results of his/her project to the rest of the class at the end of the semester. Additional details about the project presentation will be provided with the project description.
MidTerm Exam: The midterm exam will be given on Thursday, March 17. A makeup exam will be given only in cases of hospitalization or funeral attendance. The instructor must be notified PRIOR to the missed exam and proper documentation will be expected. No makeup exams will be given if the instructor was not notified of the student's absence before the exam.
Final Exam: The final exam will be given on Tuesday, May 17, 11am-1:30pm. Do not plan to leave Plymouth before this date. No early exams will be given.

Think!: Do not blindly follow instructions. Think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. If you do not understand something, be sure to ask questions.
The only stupid question is the one that is left unasked: If you don't understand something, ASK! If you don't feel comfortable asking in class, come by my office, see me after class, send me email. I will answer questions in whatever forum you feel comfortable.

From the Plymouth State University Academic Catalog: "Violation of academic integrity includes any act which portrays a member of the academic community as having acquired knowledge through legitimate study or research which, in fact, has been stolen. Violation of academic integrity includes also any act which gains one member of the academic community an unfair advantage over another. This includes any act hindering the academic accomplishment of another." I will pursue violations of academic integrity to the fullest extent possible. Any student who has questions about what constitutes such violations is encouraged to consult the Academic Catalog and/or discuss the issue with me.

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