Education

Intro

ICR offers a number of courses within the Bachelor and the Master of Computer Science. In the Bachelor, we give an introduction into logic and artificial intelligence. In the Master, we are concerned with sophisticated knowledge representation and inference methods in the context of intelligent multi-agent systems. Our teaching constitutes a cornerstone of the intelligent and adaptive systems profiles. The more advanced master courses are intended to bring the student in touch with our research topics and to prepare him/her for a master thesis in our group. In the context of doctoral studies, we plan to organize compact courses (micro-schools) for computer science and beyond. In addition, ICR contributes on a regular base to several international summer schools. Last but not least, we complete our educational outreach by organizing talks about our research and by participating at events aimed at a larger audience (e.g. researchers nights).

Courses Winter Semester 2011/12

  • MICS.1: Intelligent Systems (Part 3)
    Introduction to propositional and first order logic with applications in agent- and knowledge-based systems.
  • MICS.3: Selected Topics in AI - The logic of stories
    STAI prepares students for individual research work (e.g. for a master or PhD thesis) in Intelligent and Adaptive Systems. This is achieved through a mixture of lectures and student presentations/projects exploring a research topic actively pursued by our lab. Story understanding/generation is an important issue for natural language processing, knowledge representation, intelligent agent communication, and computer games. In this course, we will discuss high-level logic-based methods for modeling stories and reasoning about them. More specifically, we will try to analyze a mystery story of a famous author.
  • MICS3: Intelligent Agents II
    This course is a continuation of the course on Knowledge Representation. It offers lectures on the following topics: * normative multiagent systems * formal studies of normative reasoning for agents (deontic logic) * argumentation The course addresses students interested in artificial intelligence and formal reasoning. Normative reasoning studies how social norms, obligations and permissions can be formalized. This enables a better understanding of various aspects of inter-agent coordination within a possibly complex system (computer network, organization, group, ... ).
  • MICS3: Game Theory.
    The objective of this course is to introduce students to the mathematical theory of interaction, with a focus on the computational side of the models. The students will learn a number of models and methodologies for strategic interaction of autonomous entities, be it humans, robots, computer programs, etc. They will also learn how such models can be used to compute predictions and support verification of natural properties of computational systems. Game theory proposes and studies mathematical models of behaviour of individuals and groups in strategic situations, in which one's success also depends on the choices of others. It is used in social and political science, international relations, economics, biology, engineering, computer science, and philosophy.

Courses Summer Semester 2012

  • BACH.2: Discrete mathematics II (Sem 2)
  • BACH.6: Basics of Intelligent and Adaptive Systems (Sem 6)
  • MICS.2: Intelligent agents I

Quality philosophy

Each course is evaluated using a student questionnaire to support further improvement. In addition, we encourage a continuous dialogue with the students to profit from immediate feedback - problems should be addressed as soon as they occur. A critical discussion of teaching contents and styles among ICR members are part of our group culture. We have also started to work on a general curriculum and standards for teaching logic and knowledge representation which may inform teaching in an international context.

Thesis proposals

We welcome students who want to write their thesis (Bachelor, Master, or PhD) at ICR. While the subject should fit our research priorities, we are willing to take into account the ideas and preferences of the students. Candidates may contact Leon van der Torre or Emil Weydert for further information. A non-exhaustive collection of thesis subjects can be found here.