This page summarizes information for students enrolled in, or who are considering taking, SE 413 (Engineering Design Optimization) at UIUC during Spring 2021. This semester, SE 413 will be conducted entirely online. A detailed syllabus will be provided to students enrolled in SE 413.
Instructor: Prof. James T. Allison, jtalliso@illinois.edu, http://systemdesign.illinois.edu/
Catalog Description: Application of optimization techniques to engineering design problems. Emphasis on problem formulation, including applications in structural, mechanical, and other design domains. Important theoretical results and numerical optimization methods. Matlab programming assignments to develop software for solving nonlinear mathematical programming problems. 3 or 4 undergraduate hours. 3 or 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: MATH 241 and MATH 415.
Course Format:
- All lectures will be online (combination of synchronous and asynchronous). No in-person lectures will be held Spring 2021.
- Scheduled office hours will be conducted remotely. Both open office hours and individual/small group meetings by appointment with the instructor will be available to students.
- There will be no SE 413 TA this semester
- Scheduled lecture periods: Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-4:50 pm
- These scheduled time periods will be used in two different ways: 1) synchronous virtual lectures (typically Tuesdays), 2) open office hours with the instructor (typically Thursdays).
- Adjustments will need to be made during some weeks to accommodate holidays, exams, or other events.
- Synchronous lectures: Once per week (typically Tuesdays 3:30 pm)
- Designed to be highly interactive (e.g., work through examples in breakout groups, review and discuss material from assigned asynchronous lectures)
- Except for the first day of class, students are expected to complete assigned reading and pre-recorded video lectures
- At the end of lecture, students will need to complete a short real-time quiz based on the assigned reading and pre-recorded lectures
- Interaction during synchronous lectures is highly encouraged to help prepare for quizzes at the end of lecture
- Participation in synchronous lectures will be a component of the ‘class participation’ part of the overall course grade.
- Synchronous lectures will be recorded and made available to students, but not the general public.
- Asynchronous lectures: Students will need to watch multiple lecture videos on their own time each week.
- Please see this Google document for the SE 413 lecture schedule
- All pre-recorded lectures will be clearly organized on the course website (see below), including links to the associated videos, and the date by which students need to have watched each set of videos.
- Some lectures will be made available publicly, including some that are currently available on the instructor’s YouTube channel.
- The remaining lectures will be available only to enrolled students.
- Semester Projects: SE 413 requires completion of a semester project that involves the formulation, implementation, solution, analysis, and iterative refinement of an engineering design optimization problem. Two options are available:
- Standard Project: (For students registered for 3 credit hours) More details coming.
- Intensive Project: (For students registered for 3 credit hours) More details coming.
- Exams: Two midterm exams will be given. These will be a combination of standard quantitative design or analysis problems (similar to homework), as well as short-answer questions designed to assess the depth of student conceptual understanding of course topics. The semester project serves the role of integrative design assessment, and takes the place of a final exam.
Online Course Resources:
- Please note that to access the course webpage, you must be added by the instructor. Please do not search for the SE 413 Canvas page and attempt to add yourself. If you are enrolled and have not received a Canvas invitation by the first day of classes, please email the instructor (jtalliso@illinois.edu).
- SE 413 Spring 2021 Zoom meeting (link forthcoming) (obtain password from instructor)
- This Zoom meeting will be used both for synchronous lectures and open office hours.
- SE 413 Spring 2021 Box Folder (link forthcoming)(obtain password from instructor)
- This folder will be used to share files relevant to class, including lecture slides and some video lectures.
Textbooks:
Schedule Summary:
Week 1 (L1): Introduction to EDO, Design Automation, and Algorithmic Thinking
Week 2 (L2): Optimization Solver Introduction and Mathematical Preliminaries
Week 3 (L3): Numerical Foundations for Optimization
Week 4 (L4): EDO Problem Formulation and Analysis
Week 5 (L5): Putting EDO Into Practice
Week 6 (L6): EDO Examples/Exam 1 Review
Week 7: Exam 1
Week 8 (L7): Unconstrained Optimization Part A
Week 9 (L8): Unconstrained Optimization Part B
Week 10 (L9): Constrained Optimization Part A
Week 11 (L10): Constrained Optimization Part B
Week 12 (L11): Constrained Optimization Part C
Week 13 (L12): Constrained Optimization Implementation
Week 14: Exam Review and Project Work Week
Week 15: Exam 2
Week 16: Final Project Deliverables