Course syllabus
Course PM
This page contains the program of the course. Other information, such as learning outcomes, teachers, literature and examination, are in a separate course PM.
Course examiner: Tobias Gebäck, tobias.geback{at}chalmers.se
Teaching in statistics: TBA if necessary
Program
The main idea of this course is that last year master students should practice the role as mathematics/statistics consultants for industrial and research-related projects. The main part therefore consists of working on your projects within small groups of 2- 3 people, meeting with your external partners and with the course examiner and the teacher in statistics as necessary.
Working groups will be built primarily by the students themselves, and assigned to particular projects from the available list by the course coordinator. It will be done according to preferences and experiences of particular groups and individual students.
The topic of ethical problems in engineering is also an important part of this course. It will include a 3-4 hour lecture on the topic and a workshop in December or beginning of January. Working groups will make short presentations about ethical questions in relation to their work on their project and will take part in the follow up discussion with other groups. A book on the topic is available online from Chalmers' library.
Main areas of applications and methods for the projects are:
- Simulation and control of technological processes using ODEs and PDEs.
- Simulation of mass flow processes in industry using PDE modeling with available software.
- Stochastic simulation of heterogeneous materials.
- Image, video and and signal processing for various applications.
- Statistical data analysis and machine learning for various applications.
- Discrete and continuous optimization, stochastic and classical.
In many cases, Master projects are possible as an extension of the projects.
The tentative schedule of the course is given in the weekly program below. Exact times for workshops on ethics and for project presentations will be determined later depending on the availability for different groups.
The schedule given in TimeEdit only applies to the first study week, but the examiner will be available for consultation at scheduled times (Tuesdays 10-12 and Thursdays 8-12).
Weekly program (Check Assignments (appearing soon) for exact deadlines of the key steps in the course)
| Week | Day | Time and location | Content/Task |
| 1 (45) | Tuesday, Nov 4 | 10-12, Euler | Introduction to the course Aim and purpose Presentation of projects |
| 1 (45) | Ranking projects, building groups | ||
| 1 (45) | Thursday, Nov 6 | 8-12, Euler | Lecture on Ethics in Engineering |
| 1 (45) | Distribution of projects | ||
| 2 (46) |
Discuss group contract |
||
| 3 (47) | Project work Hand in project plan (preferably earlier) |
||
| 4 (48) | Project work | ||
| 5 (49) | Project work | ||
| 6 (50) | TBD | Workshops on ethics (20 minutes presentation and 5+ minutes discussion per group) | |
| 7 (51) | TBD | Workshops on ethics Hand in preliminary report |
|
| 8-10 (w 2-4, 2026) |
7th to 23rd of January, 2026 | TBD | Project presentations Hand in final report |
Course requirements
To pass the course you must fulfill the following tasks formulated as Assignments in Canvas:
- Hand in rankings of the projects and descriptions of your mathematical qualifications and programming experience
- Hand in a working plan according to instructions.
- Hand in a preliminary report according to instructions.
- Present your project results in an oral presentation (about 20-30 min)
- Report your project in a scientific report according to instructions.
- Take part in the presentation and discussion at a workshop on ethical problems in engineering.
Alternatively, if there are special reasons, students can write an individual essay on the topic.
Examination
The course is passed when all course requirements formulated above are met.
Grades will be given based mainly on the final project report and on the feedback from the industrial partners,
but oral presentations, participation in the workshop on ethics in engineering and work during the project will also be weighed in.
The report should be a full high-quality report written in English according to instructions with input from each participant in the group clearly specified.