CME308: Stochastic Methods in Engineering

Course Information

This Ph.D. level course is intended to give students a broad sense of the different mathematical and computational tools and models available to analyze systems in which uncertainty is present. The key ideas underlying stochastic analysis will be presented in a mathematically careful way, and illustrated using various applications chosen from engineering, the physical sciences, and economics. This course is intended both to introduce students to the subject matter at an advanced level and to offer an entry point into the many other high-level stochastics courses that Stanford offers.

Contact Information

Instructor:



Professor Peter Glynn
Email: glynn AT stanford DOT edu
Office: Durand 105A
Office Hours:

Thursday, 2-3pm

Durand 105A





Course Assistants:

Alex Papanicolaou
Email: alexp AT stanford DOT edu
Office: Terman 398
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:30-4pm
Terman 399
Wednesdays, 2:30-4pm
Terman 399
Tzu-Wei Yang
Email: twyang AT stanford DOT edu
Office: Durand 104
Office Hours: Mondays, 4-7pm
GESB 124

Please direct all communications about the class to cme308-cas@lists.stanford.edu.  If you enrolled in the class late, please subscribe to the mailing list cme308-students@lists.stanford.edu.

Lectures

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 to 12:15 PM
Location: Gates, B3

Prerequisites

Knowledge of sample space, events, probability, conditional probability, independence, random variables, jointly distributed rvs, probability mass functions, probability density functions, expectations, the law of large numbers, central limit theorem.

Suggested References:
Introduction to Probability Models
by Sheldon M. Ross (Academic Press), Chapters 1 to 3
Statistical Inference by George Casella and Roger L. Berger (Duxbury), Chapters 4, 5, 7, 10, 12

See also: Markov Chains: Gibbs Fields, Monte Carlo Simulation, and Queues by Pierre Bremaud (Springer), Chapter 1, Sections 1 to 7

Familiarity with linear algebra, basic real variables and analysis, and differential equations is also useful.

Textbook

There is no required textbook for this class. We will shortly post a concise listing of useful references.

Homework

There will be assignments due roughly every two weeks. Collaboration among students is encouraged. You should feel free to discuss problems with your fellow students (please document on each assignment with whom you worked). However, you must write your own solutions, and copying homework from another student (past or present) is forbidden. The Stanford Honor Code will apply to all assignments, both in and out of class.

Since LaTeXed solutions are easier to grade (and useful for composing solution sets), we are offering the following incentive to urge the class to submit LaTeXed solutions:

  1. 24 hour extension on the homework, or
  2. 5% bonus for homework turned in at the regular time.

Late assignments will not be accepted without an extension from Prof. Glynn.

Exams

The final exam will be on Monday, June 8th, 7 PM to 10 PM in Gates B03, the same room as the lectures. It is open notes and open book.

Grading

The course grade will be based on assignments (50%) and the final exam (50%).