Course site
Welcome to STAT 841
This page will be updated throughout the term. Slides and assignments will be posted below as they are released.
Fall 2026
STAT 841
Statistical Learning / Classification
A graduate-level course on statistical classification, representation learning, regularization, kernel methods, and ensemble models.
Course at a glance
Overview
Course
STAT 841
Term
Fall 2026
Instructor
Ali Ghodsi
This page is the public home for the course topics, slide releases, and assignments. Enrollment-specific information, submissions, deadlines, and grades are maintained in Waterloo Learn.
Latest updates
Announcements
Communication
Use Piazza for course discussion
Questions about lectures and course content should be posted on Piazza so that answers are available to the class.
Course outline
Tentative topics
These topics are subject to change and may be adjusted based on the needs and interests of the class.
| Topic | Coverage | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Feature Selection Techniques | — | Coming soon |
| Dimensionality Reduction and Feature Extraction | — | Coming soon |
| Error Rates and the Bayes Classifier | — | Coming soon |
| Gaussian and Linear Classifiers | — | Coming soon |
| Linear Regression and Logistic Regression | — | Coming soon |
| Radial Basis Function Networks | — | Coming soon |
| Introduction to Neural Networks | — | Coming soon |
| Deep Learning Approaches | — | Coming soon |
| Naive Bayes Algorithm | — | Coming soon |
| Decision Trees | — | Coming soon |
| Evaluating Error Rates and Model Selection | — | Coming soon |
| Support Vector Machines | — | Coming soon |
| Kernel Methods | — | Coming soon |
| k-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm | — | Coming soon |
| Bagging Techniques | — | Coming soon |
| Boosting Algorithms | — | Coming soon |
| Semi-Supervised Learning for Classification | — | Coming soon |
| Metric Learning for Classification | — | Coming soon |
Coursework
Assignments
No assignments posted yet
Assignment files and instructions will appear here. Submission links, deadlines, and grades remain in Waterloo Learn.
Course tools
Piazza & Waterloo Learn
Piazza
Use Piazza for announcements, lecture questions, clarifications, and class discussion.
Go to PiazzaWaterloo Learn (D2L)
Use Learn for graded work, submissions, private course documents, deadlines, and grades.
Open Waterloo LearnSign-in may be required. Students should use the course-specific links available in their enrolled Piazza and Learn accounts.
How the course runs
Course information
Course materials
Public slides are posted with the tentative topics. Additional or restricted materials are shared through Learn.
Assessment
Public assignment instructions are posted on this page. Submission links, feedback, and official grades are provided through Learn.
Questions
Use Piazza for course-content questions. Use a private Learn message or email for personal matters.
Deadlines
Consult Learn and Piazza for authoritative dates, room information, schedule changes, and deadlines.