It has become a very challenging topic facing science research in the network era to have a scientifically understanding of the features of all kinds of networks in the real world, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Network science is just such an emerging interdisciplinary branch aims at facing the challenge. After a bird's eye view of the background of network science, the course will introduce in detail network basic concepts, network topological properties, network topology modeling and network dynamics. The course tries to introduce the basic concepts, ideas and methodologies of network science, as well as some recent advances and open problems.
Upon completion of this course, the students will be able to apply basic knowledge of network science to various practical problems, which include
o analyze the properties of real networks
o build representative network models
o analyze the effects of network structures on dynamical behaviors
Lecturing is the core of teaching. Lectures will also involve a presentation of the projects in class by each group of 3-4 students, and it is largely up to the group to define the topic and scope of the project. Collaboration will be more and more important in science research, and a researcher will spend a significant amount of career working with different people. Thus, the course strongly encourages students to form groups to work together on the project.
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