News & Events
Department Events

Events

  • Apr
    29

    Appl Math: Johannes Schmidt-Hieber on "Understanding the Effect of GCN Convolutions in Regression Tasks" - NITMB Lecture

    McCormick-Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics (ESAM)

    11:15 AM M416, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    Title: Understanding the Effect of GCN Convolutions in Regression Tasks - NITMB Lecture

    Speaker: Johannes Schmidt-Hieber, University of Twente

    Special Note: This talk will be streamed from NITMB via zoom. Our usual colloquium room M416 will be used as a satellite room for viewing the stream. The talk can also be viewed individually on zoom using the zoom link below.

    Abstract: Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) have become a pivotal method in machine learning for modeling functions over graphs. Despite their widespread success across various applications, their statistical properties (e.g. consistency, convergence rates) remain ill-characterized. To begin addressing this knowledge gap, in this paper, we provide a formal analysis of the impact of convolution operators on regression tasks over homophilic networks. Focusing on estimators based solely on neighborhood aggregation, we examine how two common convolutions - the original GCN and GraphSage convolutions - affect the learning error as a function of the neighborhood topology and the number of convolutional layers. We explicitly characterize the bias-variance trade-off incurred by GCNs as a function of the neighborhood size and identify specific graph topologies where convolution operators are less effective. Our theoretical findings are corroborated by synthetic experiments, and provide a start to a deeper quantitative understanding of convolutional effects in GCNs for offering rigorous guidelines for practitioners.

    Joint work with Juntong Chen (Twente), Claire Donnat (U Chicago), and Olga Klopp (ESSEC Business School, Paris)

    Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/s/93835110431

    -----

    To subscribe to the Applied Mathematics Colloquia List send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.IT.NORTHWESTERN.EDU with the command:

    SUBSCRIBE esam-seminar FirstName LastName

    more

    TIME Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

    LOCATION M416, Technological Institute    map it

    ADD TO CALENDAR

    CONTACT Ted Shaeffer    ted.shaeffer@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick-Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics (ESAM)

  • Sep
    8

    Welcome & Breakfast for New McCormick PhD Students

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    9:00 AM LR2 & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 8, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

    LOCATION LR2 & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute    map it

    ADD TO CALENDAR

    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    12

    New Undergraduate Fall 2025 Registration

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Friday, September 12, 2025

    ADD TO CALENDAR

    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Sep
    15

    Welcome & Luncheon for New Full-time Graduate Students

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    11:00 AM Ryan Auditorium & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

    LOCATION Ryan Auditorium & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute    map it

    ADD TO CALENDAR

    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    16

    Fall Classes Begin. Change of Registration (Drop/Add) Late registration for returning students begins

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Tuesday, September 16, 2025

    ADD TO CALENDAR

    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar