Getting Help¶
Having questions or getting stuck on something is entirely expected in the learning process. If you find something challenging with your studies, that is a sign you are learning! Learning is not something that you need to do alone though! In fact, connecting with your peers or asking a member of the course staff for help can add extreme depth to your knowledge.
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Synchronous Help (Office Hours): One place to go to get help is our Office Hours hosted throughout the week. TAs staff office hours for many hours a day to provide you the help you need when you need it! This is a great place to go if you want to review a particular course concept, work on a practice problem with the help of a TA or your peers, or get help on one of the take-home assessments if you are running into difficulties.
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Asynchronous Help (Ed Discussion): With a class of our size, directly emailing a member of the course staff is not always recommended. There are many of you and only few of us, so if you email one person directly we can’t make a guarantee how quickly we can respond! To alleviate this one-on-one communication of email, we have a course discussion board that will be a much more lively place for discussion and a way to make sure you can get helped more quickly. The message board is set up so that all of the course staff can help you, which will make it more likely for you to receive a quicker response! Course staff look over the Ed Discussion board periodically throughout the day, and we aim to get a response time of about 3 hours during “business hours” (roughly 10 am - 9 pm).
Ed Tips
- If you are asking a general question about the course logistics or content, you can make a public post. This way other students can benefit from seeing your question, and you can even answer each other’s questions to share your perspectives!
- If you want, you can choose to post anonymously so that other students in the course can’t see your name. Note that anonymous posting does not hide your identity from the course staff.
- You’re encouraged to answer each other’s questions as well! Explaining a topic to someone else (even on a discussion board) is a great way to help you better understand the material The course staff will still look over student answers and can nicely point out some misconception if there is one so that everyone benefits.
- If you have a question that’s pretty specific to your homework solution, or, is about some personal details that you would not want to share with the class (e.g., DRS accommodations), you can make a private post on Ed that is only visible to the course staff. This way, any member of the staff can respond to get you the help you need!
- For personal sensitive matters that you only want to discuss with Hunter, you can instead email Hunter if that makes you feel more comfortable. Note that the response time for Hunter’s email is longer than posting on the Ed board.
Instructor¶
Office Hours
hschafer@cs Schedule 1:1 Meeting
Hi there! 
My name is Hunter! I’ve lived in Seattle for almost my whole life after a brief stint in Alaska, where I was born, and a couple of years in Minnesota. I did my undergrad and masters here at UW in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and now, I work here full-time on the Allen School faculty!
Funnily enough, I had absolutely no idea what computer science was when I started at UW. I took CSE 142 on a whim and enjoyed it enough to continue on to CSE 143, but not enough to commit to it as a field of study. It wasn’t until I became a teaching assistant for the 14x series did I really find my passion for computer science: teaching computer science. Since then, I’ve shaped my college and post-college career around teaching computer science. Since graduating with my masters, I’ve worked here at the Allen School as a Teaching Professor.
Outside of school and work, I usually spend most of my time hanging out with friends: just enjoying quality time or going out and exploring new restaurants and coffee shops. While living through the inside-times, I’ve tried to make a routine with some of my available free time: I’ve gotten into reading and cooking more regularly, I started practicing yoga, and I even tried my hand at streaming on Twitch (all while drinking questionably unhealthy amounts of coffee).
Talk with me about your favorite coffee shops or restaurants around Seattle, I’m always looking for new places to check out! Good book, podcast, or game recommendations are great too!
Teaching Assistants¶
Huong Ngo She/Her
Quiz Section: AB
Hi! I’m Huong :woman-raising-hand::skin-tone-2:, a junior studying ACMS: Data Science and Statistics. I’ve TA-ed for CSE 414 and CSE 344, so this will be my third time TA-ing, but first time for CSE 416. However, I’ve taken the course and strive to help you all as someone who has experienced challenges you may encounter.
I live, eat and breathe data and statistics 
which led to my love for machine learning! More recently, I’ve been growing an interest in NLP and hope to conduct research in the near future. If you’re as excited about NLP as I am, please feel free to reach out :skin-tone-3: !
Outside of work, you’ll probably catch me watching K-dramas 
, building mechanical keyboards or watching F1 
!
Please don’t hesitate to come to my office hours for any course-related questions or general questions, I love helping students understand challenging concepts but also having fun conversations to get to know each other!
Jake Flynn He/Him
Quiz Section: AE
Hi everyone! My name is Jake! I am a fourth-year undergraduate student from Gig Harbor, WA majoring in Bioengineering with a Data Science concentration. Ever since taking my first programming course at UW (CSE 160), I’ve been really interested in combining my biology interests with programming to make an impact on the healthcare space. I am really excited to TA CSE 416 for the first time this quarter! Before this class, I TAed a MATLAB programming course twice (BIOEN 217) and was a tutor for UW Math Academy. After graduating this quarter, I’ll be starting work as a Data Analyst as well as my Masters in Data Science at UW in the fall, so feel free to ask me questions about any of these experiences if you are interested! Outside of class, you’ll find me hiking, running on the Burke Gilman trail, working out at the IMA, or drinking coffee somewhere in Seattle. I look forward to meeting you all and having a great quarter!
James Cao He/Him
Quiz Section: AC
Hi, my name is James Zheng Cao, a senior majoring in Mathematics with a Senior Honors Thesis on Financial Mathematics, Probability Theories, and Machine Learning. I’ve written papers on GOT Dragon analysis, stock option forecasting, and elevator optimization. I am the president of the Husky Math Club and a member of the Association of Computer Education. I also enjoy reading, gaming, cooking, exercising, and composing poetry. If you’re interested in applying ML for undergraduate research and competitions, or looking for graduate school application guidance, please let me know!
Lily Shen
Quiz Section: AD
Hello! 
My name is Lily and I am currently a student studying Data Science with Geography at the University of Washington. I have spent almost my whole life in Minnesota, but have fallen in love with Seattle during my time here. 416 was my favorite class in Winter quarter, so I’m really excited to be able to be here and assist students!
Outside of school, I am really into cooking and eating delicious meals. I also love spending quality time with my friends.
Please feel free to reach out to me about anything! :D I’m very open to meeting new people, whether it’s about class or other things.
Melissa Mitchell she/her
Hi! My name is Melissa and I’m currently a junior studying CS with a minor in math. I’ve been living in the Seattle area for about ten years and really like the nature around here 
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Previously, I’ve been a TA for CSE 311 and CSE 312. I’m becoming increasingly interested in NLP and multimodal ML, and am super excited to TA CSE 416 this quarter. Outside of school and work, I enjoy bouldering, discovering new music, trying cafes and dessert places, and reading. Looking forward to meeting you and wishing you all a great quarter!
Pavan Kumar Anand he/him
Hello Everyone! I am a first-year graduate student in ECE majoring in machine learning and computer vision. Machine Learning is an interesting, vast, and ever-growing field with a lot of things being invented each day for us all to learn. This is the very reason I chose to major in this and allied areas. This would be my first time TA-ing for CSE416 and at UW (Looking forward to this experience)! However, I have taken courses in ML at and outside UW, and mentored students in the past. I have also worked in the industry as a Machine Learning engineer before attending grad school. Please feel free to ping me anytime for help with classwork. Outside class, I enjoy cooking, playing table tennis, and acrylic painting.
Therese Pena Pacio She/Her
Quiz Section: AA
Hello! My name is Therese Pena Pacio and I am a 3rd year undergraduate studying computer science. ML is a really exciting area of study, so I am looking forward to working with you all! This will be my 3rd quarter as a CSE TA. Outside of school, I enjoy going to the gym, hanging out with my friends, and watching reality TV