How do diseases and information spread? Who are the influencers? Can we predict friendships in a social network? Networks are the core of the internet, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. They can be characterized by the complex interplay between information content, millions of individuals and organizations that create it, and the technology that supports it. The course will cover recent research on the structure and analysis of such large social and information networks and on models and algorithms that abstract their basic properties. You will explore how to practically analyze large-scale network data and how to reason about it through models for network structure and evolution.

Topics Include

• Models of the small world and decentralized search
• Search in P2P networks and strength of weak ties
• Graph structure of the web
• Models of network evolution and network cascades
• Influence maximization in networks
• Communities and clusters in networks
• Link analysis for networks
• Networks with positive and negative edges

What You Need to Succeed

• A conferred bachelor’s degree with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better
• Knowledge of computer science principles at a level sufficient to write a non-trivial computer program (CS107, CS145 or equivalent)
• Familiarity with basic probability theory (CS109 or STATS116 is sufficient but not necessary)
• Familiarity with basic linear algebra (CS205L or MATH51 would be more than necessary)

What You Need To Get Started

Before enrolling in your first graduate course, you must complete an online application.

Don’t wait! While you can only enroll in courses during open enrollment periods, you can complete your online application at any time.

Once you have enrolled in a course, your application will be sent to the department for approval. You will receive an email notifying you of the department's decision after the enrollment period closes. You can also check your application status in your mystanfordconnection account at any time.

Learn more about the graduate application process.

How Much It Will Cost

Learn more about tuition and fees.