Information Retrieval Systems

CS 533 is about how machines find the right document in a pile of millions — the math, data structures, and evaluation methodology behind search engines, as distinct from the exact-match world of databases. You'll work through inverted indexes, clustering, term weighting, and ranking models, then run experiments on real collections through homeworks and a semester project that you present like a mini conference paper. It's a graduate elective that assumes you're comfortable with algorithms and basic probability, and it's the natural lead-in to research in web search, recommendation, and modern neural retrieval.