Courses

Below, you'll find a list of the (67) courses I took as an undergraduate (at UPB and at Yale) or as a graduate student (at Harvard and at MIT). For each school, I tried to sort the titles chronologically, and to supply a link to the actual course webpage or to the books or materials that were used. The opinions about the quality of the courses are entirely mine, so if you'd like to infer something, please bare in mind that you're dealing with only one sample, which could easily be an outlier! :)

@ MIT

• 6.252 / 15.084J Nonlinear Programming (Spring 2006)
  The link above is for the course taught by Dimitri Bertsekas. I took the class with Aharon Ben-Tal (visiting from the Technion), so the content was slightly different. Should you ever ponder taking a class with Professor Ben-Tal, all I have to say is 'GO FOR IT'! He's an amazing lecturer, extremely knowledgeable, and with an acute sense of humor.
• 6.251J / 15.081J Introduction to Mathematical Programming (Fall 2006)
  The course was taught by Andreas Schulz; the material covered was quite theoretical, but served as a very nice supplement to the classical textbook by Bertsimas and Tsitsiklis, almost invariably used in the class.
• 6.436 / 15.085J Fundamentals of Probability (Fall 2006)
  Taught by David Gamarnik, the course was more like an encyclopedic overview of probability, rather than 'fundamental'. It might have been more rewarding to stick to fewer topics and spend more time on each... Nonetheless, a very good course overall, taught in a very structured fashion, with detailed lecture notes and very comprehensive problem sets.
• 6.262 Discrete Stochastic Processes (Spring 2007)
  A good follow-up for 6.436, covering topics from convergence of random variables to martingales and renewal theory. For me, most of the learning occurred by reading Gallager's book and solving the problems sets. The lectures were rather superfluous, and sometimes more confusing than what the material actually required :)
• 15.094 / 1.142J Systems Optimization. Models and Computation (Spring 2007)
  A really excellent course, taught by Marina Epelman (visiting from U Michigan), focused mostly on building tractable mathematical models for different classes of problems. Application-driven, heavy on the coding side (OPL Studio, AMPL), and lighter on the theory. Topics included radiation therapy, facility location, cutting-stock, linear and quadratic classifiers for high-dimensional data, truss topology design, disc packing and disc covering. In the final project, I applied some ideas related to Robust and Adaptive Optimization in the context of an interesting inventory management model: Retailer Supplier with Flexible Commitment Contracts.
• 15.764 The Theory of Operations Management (Spring 2007)
  Very nice seminar, run by Retsef Levi and Georgia Perakis. The main focus was on inventory management, but many other topics were covered. Here's a copy of the syllabus. My two presentations can be found here [0.98 MB] and here [1.6 MB].
• 15.083J Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization (Fall 2007)
  One of the best courses I have taken thus far at MIT. Very comprehensive, quite challenging intelectually, and yet followable and enjoyable. Some of the topics covered matching, minimum spanning trees, integer hull characterization, stable sets, (total) unimodularity, matroids, submodularity, cutting planes (Chvatal closure, lift-and-project closure), and approximation algorithms. It's hard to emphasize how good of a lecturer Professor Andreas Schulz can be; suffice it to say that not too many people could have covered so much material, in such an organized fashion, and still have enough time for a joke here and there. The main textbook for the course was Bertsimas and Weismantel's Optimization Over Integers, with several topics inspired from Papadimitriou's Combinatorial Optimization, Schrijver's Theory of Linear and Integer Programming, and Vazirani's Approximation Algorithms.
• 14.381 Statistical Methods in Economics (Fall 2007)
  Nice introductory course in econometrics, co-taught by two young faculty members, Anna Mikusheva and Victor Chernozhukov. The first half of the course covered basic statistical inference: sufficient statistics, basic estimators and their characteristics (unbiasedness, consistency, asymptotic normality), Cramer-Rao bound, information matrix, maximum likelihood, method of moments, hypothesis testing. The second half was entirely concerned with regression analysis, from fundamentals to regression in large samples and departures from Gauss-Markov assumptions. The books used were Casella and Berger's rather annoying Statistical Inference and Green's wonderfully written Econometric Analysis.
• 15.764 Theory of Operations Management (Spring 2008)
  Very nice (lecture-based) course taught by Retsef Levi. Covered the basic concepts in Inventory Managament (EOQ, ZIO policies, BOM Networks, ELS Problem, Newsvendor Problem, Periodic-review Stochastic Inventory Control Problem, K-convexity, R-Q Policies, Lost-sales Models, OWMR Models), as well as some modern concepts (Dual-Balancing Policies, Robust Optimization, sampling approaches). Also included were three interesting case studies, and a very time-consuming (but still fun) Supply Chain Game. There was no main textbook for the course; some of the topics followed Zipkin's Foundations of Inventory Management, while others were closer in exposition to Pochet and Wolsey's Production Planning by Mixed Integer Programming.

@ Harvard

• ENG-SCI 202 Estimation and Control of Dynamical Systems (Fall 2004)
  Professor Andersson taught one of the best classes I took at Harvard. Well structured lectures and readings, pertinent homeworks, and fairly difficult (but useful) exams. I was the TF for this course in Fall 06, when it was taught by Navin Khaneja.
• ENG-SCI 203 Stochastic Control (Fall 2004)
  One of the most useful, but also most annoying courses I have taken. The topics covered ranged from Ito calculus all the way to Dynamic Programming, Kalman filtering and nonlinear control (Lie groups, commuting vector fields, etc). No handouts, no books, no structure. Also featured were three 6-hour take-home exams, all on Saturdays, two of which contained open problems...
• COMPSCI 226r Efficient Algorithms (Fall 2004)
  A course with the famous Michael Rabin. If you don't mind the slightly outdated material and the dead-slow pace, the course is otherwise fun, and Professor Rabin still has a few tricks up his sleave.
• COMPSCI 266 Biologically-inspired Distributed and Multi-agent Systems (Fall 2004)
  Very nice reading course, with papers from several areas of Computer Science brought under a common hat. Professor Nagpal has done a very good job of structuring the material and keeping the class discussions on track. A copy of the final project (joint work with Dan Yamins) can be found here.
• APMTH 202 Physical Mathematics II (Spring 2005)
  Very confusing course on partial differential equations; apparently the variations in quality from one year to the next are considerable... A copy of the final report is here.
• PHYSICS 181 Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics (Spring 2005)
  Professor Halperin teaches a great course on thermodynamics. Thorough presentation of the material, fairly tough exams. Kittel & Kroemer's book is excellent!
• ENG-SCI 201 Decision Theory (Spring 2005)
  Professor Brockett teaches a very nice introduction to the theory of mathematical decision-making: simple Bayesian Analysis, ML, HMM, EM, neural nets, PCA, etc. My final project can be found here. I was also the Teaching Fellow for this course in Spring 2006.
• ENG-SCI 257 Advanced Speech and Audio Processing (Spring 2005)
  A rather disorganized introduction to the basics of speech processing. Boring lectures, ambiguous problem-sets, and too many topics to be able to cover in-depth. I enjoyed the section on perceptual coding, which finally demystified mp3 compression... The final project (found here) was an opportunity to become familiar with Independent Components Analsis.
• APMTH 203 Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos (Fall 2005)
  Nice course on nonlinear systems, with plenty of applications and simulations. Professor Tziperman tries to keep it at a rather basic mathematical level, to accomodate for all types of backgrounds, which can certainly be a blessing, but also (ocasionally :) ) a curse...
• PHYSICS 251a Advanced Quantum Mechanics (Fall 2005)
  Another great course with Professor Halperin, on nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. If you ever had questions about WKB or the density matrix, then this is the class to take! Books used include the rather opaque Merzbacher and my personal favourite, by Cohen-Tannoudji.

@ Yale

• CPSC 323 Introduction to Systems Programming (Fall 2002)
  The turning point for many wannabe CS majors at Yale, Professor Eisenstat's class can easily turn into a marathon of sleepless nights and endless frustration... However, the survivors can claim to have coded (among other things) a fully functional C shell, a Perl server, and an LZW compressor. A zip archive with some of the Perl scripts can be found in the software section.
• CPSC 477 Neural Networks for Computing (Fall 2002)
  I thouroughly enjoyed this course taught by Professor Miranker. The lectures were very well paced, the material was very interesting, and the textbook was an excellent supplement. Here's a copy of my final report, on Kohonen self-organizing maps.
• GMAN 118 Elementary German (Fall 2002)
  An excellent two-semester introductory course in German, taught by one of the most energetic persons I have ever met - Professor Anthony Niesz. I tried to supply a link for the course, but it seems that it is no longer offered by the department. :(
• PHIL 265 Metaphysics (Fall 2002)
  Very interesting class taught by Troy Cross, a brilliant young professor. In the course of one semester, we read and wrote short summaries of some of the most influencial papers in modern Metaphysics, written by people like David Lewis, Derek Parfit, W.O. Quine or J.E. McTaggart. A zip archive (220KB) with all the 10 papers that I wrote can be found here.
• PLSC 169 International Political Economy (Fall 2002)
  What should have been an interesting course, focusing on the interplay between politics and economics, was in fact a rather chaotic combination of boring readings, even more boring lectures and silly section discussions. A good thing the course is no longer offered... The paper I wrote, discussing the feasibility of Romania's attempt to join both the European Union and NATO, is completely deprecated as of January 1st, 2007... :)
• APHY 322 Electromagnetic Waves and Devices (Spring 2003)
  This was the course in which I met my undergraduate adviser, Professor Michel Devoret. The class itself was not very challenging, as the level was intentionally lowered to please all the backgrounds in the audience. However, it was my chance to get to know the unbelievably smart and equally nice Professor Devoret, who would later become my senior project supervisor.
• ARCG 163 From Pictograph to Pixel: Changing Ways of Human Communication (Spring 2003)
  A fun course, taught by three professors and several visiting lecturers. Topics ranged from Egyptian hieroglyphs (taught by an expert in the topic, Professor John Darnell) and Mayan writing all the way to the first digital devices and PCs.
• CPSC 180b Computers and the Law (Spring 2003)
  A very useful and very entertaining class about the legal problems arising in the digital age. Topics covered include contracts, trademarks, copyright, privacy issues, etc. Professor Dunne is a very skilled lecturer and easily captives his audience (no surprise, since he's a lawyer by formation :) ).
• CPSC 422 Operating Systems (Spring 2003)
  Great class, covering the basics of operating systems (multithreading, synchronization, deadlock, process management, file systems, etc). The homeworks involved implementing different modules for Nachos. The instructor, Professor Arvind Krishnamurthy, was both entertaining and knowledgeable.
• GMAN 118 Elementary German (Spring 2003)
  
• PSYC S122 Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience (Summer 2003)
  A great summer-school course on cognitive neuroscience. Covered a lot of brain anatomy, as well as physiology and pathology. It was very interesting to learn how many tricks your brain can play on you... The book by Gazzaniga was an excellent reading.
• CPSC 467 Cryptography and Computer Security (Fall 2003)
  Very comprehensive course on the basics of cryptography. Excellent explanation of RSA, pseudorandomness, digital signatures, linear congruence equations, etc. Professor Fischer may not be the most outspoken lecturer, but his notes are among the most meticulous and well prepared I have ever seen.
• EENG 436 Systems and Control (Fall 2003)
  A very slow-paced course, with a lot of time spent on basic concepts. I often felt that Professor Kumpati Narendra would have liked to speed things up, but the audience lacked the mathematical sophistication (if taking the transpose of a product of matrices can even be called sophistication...) The final project, in which I explored coordinating fields for multiagent systems, was quite fun.
• EENG 444 Digital Communication Systems (Fall 2003)
  A very tough, but also very comprehensive course from Professor Yeh. Learned a good deal about coding theory (Huffmann, LWZ, etc), PAM, QAM, wireless transmission. The MIT lecture notes from the corresponding class were used, which meant the TA was occasionally more lost than we were...
• GMAN 130 Intermediate German (Fall 2003)
  I had a lot of fun in this class, despite the 9am starting time and the large amount of daily homework. If I had had another year at Yale, I would have certainly taken a continuation (like 138...)
• PHYS 440 Quantum Mechanics and Natural Phenomena (Fall 2003)
  Basic quantum mechanics, Griffiths-level. Not very advanced mathematically, with a bit too much emphasis on tedious exercises. Professor Parker was always a bit disorganized, thereby creating some level of confusion, but also contributing to a relaxed class atmosphere.
• CPSC 439 Computer Systems (Spring 2004)
  New course (at that time) taught by Professor Savvides. Very stuffy slides, with a lot more information than could be digested in 75 minutes. The book, although in its third edition, still had a lot of errors and ambiguous formulations. The final project, which I did together with my good friend Tomislav Nad, was quite fun: it involved assembling (from scratch) and programming a tiny robot...
• CPSC 464 Quantum Computing (Spring 2004)
  A first attempt at a course on quantum computation, from Professor Miranker. The class level was very low, as unsuspecting CS majors started panicking in front of linear algebra...
• CPSC 475 Computational Vision and Biological Perception (Spring 2004)
  Interesting class about vision, covering anything from anatomical concepts to computer algorithms. Professor Zucker is very witty, which can make for a mixed experience (ranging from amusement to frustration...) My final project was on eye detection using Hough transforms - click here for a copy.
• GMAN 130 Intermediate German (Spring 2004)
  Second semester of German, just as much fun as the first. We spent several weeks reading and discussing Max Frisch's "Homo Faber", a great book! Here's a short essay I wrote about Walter Faber and his relationships...
• HIST 211 The Birth of Europe, 1000-1500 (Spring 2004)
  Undoubtedly one of the most interesting and well-taught classes I have taken. Lots of details about the relationship between Church and state in medieval Europe. Professor Freedman is an expert in the topic, and is very skilled at "spicing" up his lectures. As a final paper for the course, I wrote a tiny bit about Wallachia - here's a pdf copy (179KB).

@ UPB

Below you'll find a list of the courses I took at the Politechnica University of Bucharest, in the Automatic Control and Computers Faculty. At that time, the duration of the undergraduate studies was 5 years, and during the first 2 years, all the students were enrolled in the same core of science and engineering classes. These usually amounted to 4 or 5 per semester, and there was also one elective (most often a course in Humanities or Social Sciences). The number/letter combinations after the course name stand for the number of hours spent weekly in "L"ecture, "S"eminar (the equivalent of the section or recitation in the American system) or la"B"oratory. From what I understand, UPB has recently undergone serious changes, in order to conform to European standards. This meant cutting down the number of years to 4, which probably also involved serious changes in the curriculum. I would actually be curious to find out which of these listings is deprecated, so please drop me a line if you know more...

• 03.F.01.O.001 Analysis I (3L, 2S) (Fall 2000)
  Great course, taught by one of my all-time favourite professors, Paul Flondor. The first part of the course dealt with series of numbers and functions (convergence criteria, theorems for differentiating / integrating infinite series), and introduced open / closed / compact sets... Second part was focused on differentiability for functions of multiple variables (differential forms, mixed derivatives, etc). Professor Flondor had a unique lecturing style, in which one felt as though the concepts were discovered during that very moment...
• 03.F.01.O.002 Linear Algebra and Discrete Mathematics (4L, 2S) (Fall 2000)
  If I were asked to name the course that covered material which I use most often, this would probably be the one! Very well structured, with proofs for all the major theorems, and very pertinent exercises during section. Covered the usual topics (vector spaces, relationship between linear applications and matrices, ortho-gonal/normal bases, diagonalization, Jordanization), but also a bit of differential geometry. Ana Niță did a great job of making the four consecutive hours on Wednesday afternoons more bearable, while her daughter, Alina, was a very knowledgeable and friendly teaching assistant.
• 03.F.01.O.003 Computer Programming (3L, 1S, 1B) (Fall 2000)
  The nuts and bolts of C programming, with Professor Valeriu Iorga. A bit boring for people who had studied C programming before, but overall a good review. Paper exams in which one has to write code are always a lot of fun - just make sure your grader has a build-in compiler!... :)
• 03.F.01.O.004 Mechanics (2L, 1S) (Fall 2000)
  Nice course on the fundamentals of mechanics. Newtonian principles, statics and dynamics of rigid bodies, Euler-Lagrange equations, etc. Professor Nicolae Enescu was always very sharp, from lecturing style (clear and to the point) to dress code (always in a suit).
• 03.T.01.O.005 Elements of Systems and Computer Science (2L, 1B) (Fall 2000)
  Introductory course on the fundamentals of computers: boolean logic, arithmetical operations, some high-level ideas about the functional units of a digital computer. Rather boring, directed towards students who had never read anything about computers. Professor Francisc Iacob's hand-writing made it a challenge to read the blackboard even from mid-range.
• 03.U.12.O.012 English Language (2S) (Fall 2000)
  Seminar about English culture and civilization. A lot of fun, and little (if any) work. Very suitable for Friday mornings...
• 03.F.02.O.006 Analysis II (3L, 2S) (Spring 2001)
  Second semester of analysis, with Professor Flondor. First part dealt with multiple integrals (convergence, Fubini's Theorem, parameterized integrals). Also covered volumes and areas, line and surface integrals (Green, Stokes, etc). Second part was focused on complex analysis (analytical functions, Laurent series, residues, some ideas on conformal maps). Just as the first semester, perfect flow of ideas from Professor Flondor...
• 03.F.02.O.007 Differential Equations and Statistics (2L, 2S) (Spring 2001)
  Fairly complete exposition of differential equations: linear, Bernoulli, Riccati, Lagrange, second-order, Euler, etc... I'm not sure why statistics was also listed here, because I can't remember having seen ANY. The Niță family did a very good job, again...
• 03.T.02.O.008 Data Structures and Algorithms (3L, 1B) (Spring 2001)
  Overview of basic data structure techniques and basic algorithms (sorting, graphs, greedy, recursion, divide et impera, backtracking). Luckily, we had Cormen's book available, so Professor Iorga's lecture notes were rendered rather useless...
• 03.F.02.O.009 Physics I (3L, 1B) (Spring 2001)
  First course in Physics, covering waves and oscillations, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and some electromagnetism. Taught by Professor Stanciu in a rather tedious and outdated fashion.
• 03.F.02.O.010 Electrotechnics I (3L, 1S) (Spring 2001)
  Excellent introductory course in Electrotechnics, covering macroscopic electrodynamics, basic DC and AC electrical circuits (Kirchhoff's Laws, etc). Taught in by Professor Paul Cristea (very knowledgeable, charming lecturer), and by Rodica Tuduce (knowledgeable, but not all that charming...) The seminar, taught by a very nice lady whose name I shamefully cannot remember, was perhaps the best thing about the course - to the point, systematic and reasonable.
• 03.T.02.O.011 Data Processing (2L, 1B) (Spring 2001)
  Fundamentals in data processing techniques: theory of measuring, errors, methods for parameter estimation, some bits on statistics and hypothesis testing. As always with Romanian courses that included lab work, the theory was well presented, but often-times completely disconnected from whatever was done in the lab. To say nothing of the available devices - I can still remember the malfunctioning, 1970s, oscilloscopes on which the only thing we could observe were the reflections of our own faces on a bright green background. Professor Valentin Sgârciu was an interesting character, as was the manele-loving lab assistant.
• 03.U.12.O.012 English Language (2S) (Spring 2001)
  The second semester of English...
• 03.S.02.A.013 Document Management (2L, 1S) (Spring 2001)
  This class had two distinct sections: a rather useless one (covering topics like fax transmission...), and a very useful one (describing text processors, with a special focus on LaTeX). Taught by Professor Dorin Cârstoiu.
• 03.U.02.A.019 History of Religions (1L, 1S) (Spring 2001)
  I wish I could say I learned something in this course. Unfortunately, we didn't even get to read any of Eliade's books. Seemed as though the main goal of the course was to convince students to buy the professor's book...
• 03.F.03.O.001 Advanced Mathematics (3L, 2S) (Fall 2001)
  Fourier series, Fourier and Laplace transforms. Partial differential equations, orthogonal polynomials, Bessel functions... Part of the course was taught by the famous Professor Octavian Stănăşilă; the rest was taught by a professor whose name I forgot, but who was an avid runner in the NY marathon :)
• 03.F.03.O.002 Physics II (3L, 1S, 1B) (Fall 2001)
  Second semester of Physics, covering optics, some quantum mechanics, atomic, nuclear and solid state physics. The first half of the course, taught by Professor Dan Iordache, was at a much higher level of detail than the second half.
• 03.F.03.O.003 Electrotechnics II (2L, 1S, 1B) (Fall 2001)
  The second semester of the electrotechnics courses covered triphasic electrical circuits, non-sinusoidal regimes, transitory regimes, quadrupoles and filters. Taught by the same 'tandem' as the first semster.
• 03.T.03.O.004 Electronic Devices and Circuits I (3L, 1S, 1B) (Fall 2001)
  Our first encounter with the Dean (at that time), Professor Nicolae Cupcea. The course covered the basics of bipolar transistors and field-effect transistors, and amplifier design (high input impedance, low output impedance, negative reactions, etc). Probably the biggest challenge in this course (and the succeeding ones on similar topics) was memorizing all the circuits, which was a requirement for the exams. The second-biggest challenge was coping with the annoying lab assistant, Posdãrãscu...
• 03.F.03.O.005 Programming in Assembly Language (3L, 2L) (Fall 2001)
  In this class I had the 'pleasure' of encountering a hand-writing even smaller than Francisc Iacob's. It belonged to Professor Vasile Lungu, the proud author of the book used in this course. Quite frankly, I'm a bit surprised that the book made it to the US market, knowing how it (dangerously closely) resembled the processor specifications published by Intel. Perhaps the English-to-Romanian-to-English translation somehow introduced novel material...
• 03.F.04.O.006 Object Oriented Programming (3L, 1S, 1B) (Spring 2002)
  Some people might consider teaching 3 hours of Java every week as an overkill... But certainly not Professor Moraru, a true follower of the Java philosophy. I'd say he was able to transmit some of that Java passion to some of his students, seeing how every Friday morning, from 8am, they were carrying coffee cups in their hands...
• 03.T.04.O.007 Analysis and Synthesis of Numerical Devices (4L, 1B) (Spring 2002)
  An interesting course, covering switching systems, combinatorial devices, optimal logical programming, algorithmic state machines, the analysis and design of various sequential automata. Despite the age, Professor Mircea Petrescu remained surprisingly active and sharp.
• 03.T.04.A.013 Analysis and Synthesis of Numerical Devices – Project (1L) (Spring 2002)
  This project accompanied the course above. For more information, you can read this.
• 03.T.03.O.008 Digital Circuits' Structure (3L, 1S, 1B) (Spring 2002)
  Second class with Professor Cupcea. Contrary to the usual EE course in the US, a lot more time was spent on deprecated devices and technologies, involving bipolar or field-effect transistors. CMOS was covered only towards the end.
• 03.S.04.O.009 Numerical Calculus (3L, 2S) (Spring 2002)
  I felt that Professor Iorga actually did a very good with this course. The actuality and importance of the topics (LU and QR factorization, pseudoinverses, Schur form, rank algorithms, singular value decomposition, least squares, polynomial interpolation, spline functions, numerical integration) were a good break from the usual routine.
• 03.T.04.A.011 Linear Integrated Circuits (4L, 1S, 1B) (Spring 2002)
  Yet another electronics course with Professor Cupcea, clumsily assisted by Mr. Posdãrãscu. Solid practice of mnemotechnical abilities on circuits performing various tasks (absolute value, logarithm, anti-logarithm, multiplicators, etc).
• 03.U.03.A.015 Political Science (2L, 1S) (Spring 2002)
  A short overview of political science, with a focus on democracy and freedom. Professor Caraiani gave interesting lectures, but I was almost completely out of topic at that time. One of the good things about this class is that it got me interested in several good cultural magazines, like Dilema Veche, Revista 22 and Observatorul Cultural.