STOR 520-001: Statistical Computing for Data Science

Fall 2024 (updated on 08/2024)

Instructor: Chudi Zhong, Ph.D

Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 – 12:00, Hanes 352

Lectures: Hanes 125; Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 – 10:45 am

Prerequisites: STOR 435 or MATH 535, and STOR 455
Course website: We will use Canvas as the course website. All course materials (lecture notes, labs,
assignments, instructions) and announcements will be posted on Canvas.

TAs: Coleman Ferrell

Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 12:00 – 1:00, Hanes B07

Labs: Lab 401: Monday, 5:45 – 6:35 pm Philips 301

Lab 403: Tuesday, 12:30 – 1:20 pm, Hanes 107

Course description
This course provides hands-on experience working with data sets provided in class and downloaded from
certain public websites. Lectures cover topics such as Python programming, data cleaning and
visualization, predictive modeling, and elements of machine learning. The course will develop fluency in
the Python language and the standard scientific libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, and Scikit-
Learn. Programming analyses in more advanced areas of data science.
Plan to come to every class with your computer and ready to work with others. Using resources around
you is a key component of successful data analysis. This includes the internet and people.
Students may not receive credit for both STOR 320 and STOR 520.
The course format will include 2 lectures per week. Lectures will be supplemented with in-class
programming and practical discussion. Students will also be required to register for a weekly lab.

Teaching materials
We will not be following a single book or source. There is no required textbook for this course, but we
will use Python Crash Course and Python Data Science Handbook: Essential Tools for Working with
Data as references. The electronic version of Python Data Science Handbook is available
https://jakevdp.github.io/PythonDataScienceHandbook/.
Please install Anaconda before class. We will use Python 3 and Jupyter Notebook in this course.

Grading
- Lab (10%)
- Homework (40%)
- Midterm (30%)
- Final Project (20%)
Your final grade is based on a weighted average according to the previously addressed breakdown.
Curving on individual/group assessments should not be expected. A curve may be applied to the final
grades depending upon the class average. Conversion to a letter grade will be based on the table below:

H 90 to 100 P 75 to 89.99 L 60 to 74.99 F 0 to 59.99

A 93 to 100 B 83 to 86.99 C 73 to 76.99 D 60 to 66.99

A- 90 to 92.99 B- 80 to 82.99 C- 70 to 72.99 F 0 to 59.99
B+ 87 to 89.99 C+ 77 to 79.99 D+ 67 to 69.99

Labs:
Attendance to all labs is highly recommended. During this period, students are required to complete a lab
assignment. Each lab assignment will be based on the topics discussed in lecture. Students are responsible
to turn in their own labs. A lab instructor will help students in the completion of the lab and to facilitate
group work. Every lab is worth 10 points. Lab assignment will be at 11:59 PM EST Tuesday, and no
late lab assignments will be accepted. Lab assignments must be submitted as PDF and Notebook to
Gradescope. The lowest lab grade (including a zero or no lab) will be dropped.

Homework
Homework allows you to practice the techniques learned from the course.
- You may discuss homework with classmates and teaching assistants, but you must submit your
own work. Copying responses from other students is unacceptable and could be treated as an
honor code violation.
- Homework must be submitted as a PDF and a Notebook file to Gradescope.
- Homework will be due at 11:59 PM EST on the due date (usually on Thursday).
- Late homework submitted less than 24 hours from when it was due will have its score reduced
50%.
- Homework later than 24 hours or a failure to adhere to the rules above will result in a score of
zero for that assignment.
- The lowest homework grade (including a zero or no assignment) will be dropped.

Midterm
There will be one midterm exam during the semester. The date and material covered of the midterm will
be announced at least 1 week before the midterm occurs. Currently, the plan is to have the in-class
midterm on October 10, 2024.
The format of the midterm will depend on the material that it will cover. The midterm may be closed
book and be completed without the use of your computer or course materials. The midterm may be
completed in Jupyter Notebook, and submitted to Gradescope. If you are found to be submitting the work
of other students, an honor code violation will be reported. This could be by communication with others
and the sharing of answers and code during the midterm, communication with students in other sections
of the course, using solutions from previous semesters, or online answer tools such as Chegg,
CourseHero, ChatGPT, etc. This is a zero tolerance policy and all suspected honor code violations will be
reported.
Make-up midterms are only possible for university approved absences or consent from the instructor due
to extenuating circumstances. Unless you have accommodation as determined by the university or
university approved absences, you must take the midterms at the date and time provided. If you have
accommodation, please provide the formal notification before the second week of classes.

Final Project
You will form your own team of 2-3 students and will be responsible for the completion of an open ended
final project. The goal is to tackle an “interesting” problem using the tools and techniques covered in this
class. The final project is worth a total of 100 points. There will be 3 parts of varying point values
submitted throughout the semester.
- The first part, the Project Proposal, is worth 20 points and will be due sometime in the early of
the semester.
- The second part, the Final Presentation, is worth 40 points and will take place during the last two
lectures.
- The third part, the Final Paper, is worth 40 points and must be submitted on Gradescope by 8 am
on December 13.

Academic Policies
University Class Attendance Policy
University Policy: As stated in the University’s Class Attendance Policy, no right or privilege exists that
permits a student to be absent from any class meetings, except for these University Approved Absences:
1. Authorized University activities: University Approved Absence Office (UAAO) website provides
information and FAQs for students and FAQs for faculty related to University Approved
Absences
2. Disability/religious observance/pregnancy, as required by law and approved by the Equal
Opportunity and Compliance Office (EOC)
3. Significant health condition and/or personal/family emergency as approved by the Office of the
Dean of Students, Gender Violence Service Coordinators, and/or the Equal Opportunity and
Compliance Office (EOC).

Code of Conduct
All students are expected to adhere to University policy and follow the guidelines of the UNC Code of
Conduct. Additional information can be found at studentconduct.unc.edu.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy

The following uses of generative AI tools are permitted in this course: Categories of possible permitted
use include, but are not limited to: topic selection, brainstorming and idea generation, research, source
validation, outlining and planning, drafting, media creation, peer review, revising, and polishing.

Syllabus Changes
The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the syllabus including project due dates and test
dates. These changes will be announced as early as possible.
Time Limit for Grade Disputes
You have 1 week after the grading of an assessment is complete to dispute your grade and possibly
receive points back for that assessment by submitting a regrade request on Gradescope. It is the
student’s responsibility to review their grades on assignments in a timely manner so that instructor and
teaching assistants can make fair decisions and modify grades quickly.

Services & Student Support Policies

Equal Opportunity and Compliance – Accommodations
Equal Opportunity and Compliance Accommodations Team (Accommodations - UNC Equal
Opportunity and Compliance) receives requests for accommodations for disability, pregnancy and related
conditions, and sincerely held religious beliefs and practices through the University’s Policy on
Accommodations. EOC Accommodations team determines eligibility and reasonable accommodations
consistent with state and federal laws.

Accessibility Resources and Services (ARS)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill facilitates the implementation of reasonable
accommodations, including resources and services, for students with disabilities, chronic medical
conditions, a temporary disability or pregnancy complications resulting in barriers to fully accessing
University courses, programs and activities. Accommodations are determined through the Office of
Accessibility Resources and Service (ARS) for individuals with documented qualifying disabilities in
accordance with applicable state and federal laws. See the ARS Website for contact information:
https://ars.unc.edu or email [email protected].

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

CAPS is strongly committed to addressing the mental health needs of a diverse student body through timely
access to consultation and connection to clinically appropriate services, whether for short or long-term
needs. Go to their website: https://caps.unc.edu/ or visit their facilities on the third floor of the Campus
Health Services building for a walk-in evaluation to learn more.

Title IX Resources
Any student who is impacted by discrimination, harassment, interpersonal (relationship) violence, sexual
violence, sexual exploitation, or stalking is encouraged to seek resources on campus or in the community.
Please contact the Director of Title IX Compliance (Adrienne Allison – [email protected]), Report
and Response Coordinators in the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office
([email protected]), Counseling and Psychological Services (confidential), or the Gender
Violence Services Coordinators ([email protected]; confidential) to discuss your specific needs. Additional
resources are available at safe.unc.edu.

Tentative Course Schedule

Weeks Date Topics Lab Assignments Project
Week 0 Install Anaconda
(we will use
Python 3 and
Jupyter Notebook)
Week 1 08/20 Intro to course, intro to DS No lab
08/22 Intro to Jupyter and Python HW 1 release
Week 2 08/27 Collections Lab 1
08/29 Control flow HW1 due
HW2 release
Week 3 09/03 Well-Being Day – No Class No lab
09/05 Functions HW2 due
HW3 release
Week 4 09/10 NumPy 1 Lab 2
09/12 NumPy 2
Week 5 09/17 Pandas 1 Lab 3 Form group
09/19 Pandas 2 HW3 due
HW4 release
Week 6 09/24 Visualization 1 No lab
09/26 Visualization 2 HW4 due
HW5 release
Week 7 10/01 OOP Lab 4
10/03 OOP HW5 due
Week 8 10/08 Midterm review Lab as OH
10/10 Midterm
Week 9 10/15 Project proposal discussion No lab
10/17 Fall Break – No Class Project proposal
due 10/20 at
11:59 pm
Week 10 10/22 Optimization I Lab 5
10/24 Optimization II
Week 11 10/29 Intro to ML Lab 6
10/31 Intro to linear model HW 6 due
HW7 release
Week 12 11/05 Overfitting, cross validation Lab 7
11/07 Feature engineering HW7 due
HW8 release
Week 13 11/12 Tree model Lab 8
11/14 Clustering
Week 14 11/19 Dimension reduction Lab 9 HW8 due
11/21 Ethical consideration
Week 15 11/26 Final presentation No lab
11/28 Thanksgiving Break – No
Class
Week 16 12/03 Final presentation No lab Last class
12/13 Final paper due
at 8 am