University of Pennsylvania · CIS 7000-005 · Spring 2026 · GitHub

Deep Learning for Time Series (DL4TS)

Graduate seminar on domain adaptation and generalization in time series data.

Overview

Machine learning models often assume that the data used for training and the data seen during deployment come from the same distribution. However, in the real world, this assumption rarely holds. The process of adapting models to perform well despite such shifts is known as domain adaptation. In the context of time series, these shifts can arise due to changes in environments, tasks, or sensor configurations, leading to challenges in generalization and robustness. This course explores methods for domain adaptation in time series, with a focus on how machine learning models can generalize across individuals, environments, tasks, and measurement conditions. We will investigate a range of approaches, ranging from classical methods to modern strategies such as parameter-efficient tuning, few-shot learning, and test-time adaptation. Special attention will be given to the unique challenges posed by time series data, such as distributional drift and heterogeneity across individuals, devices, or recording setups. Students will discuss recent literature and develop a hands-on research project applying these methods to real-world time series problems.

Instructional Team

Instructor: Eva Dyer (eva.dyer@seas.upenn.edu)

Teaching Assistants:
Divyansha Lachi (div11@seas.upenn.edu)
Shivashriganesh Mahato (smahato@seas.upenn.edu)

Schedule

This schedule will be updated throughout the semester.

Date Type Topic Links
Thursday, Jan 15 Lecture Course overview
Tuesday, Jan 20 Interactive Time Series: Introduction, Generalization, and Domain Shift
Thursday, Jan 22 Projects Project planning session
Thursday, Jan 29 Lecture,
Projects
Time series backbones and inductive biases,
Work on project proposals
Tuesday, Feb 3 Interactive Inductive biases in different architectures for time series
Thursday, Feb 5 Projects Work on project proposals
Tuesday, Feb 10 Paper Discussion Paper #1: "Handling Out-of-Distribution Data: A Survey" (Tamang et al., 2025)
Thursday, Feb 12 ML Mini-lecture Session #1
Tuesday, Feb 17 Paper Discussion Paper #2: "A Kernel Two-Sample Test"
(Gretton et al., 2012)
Thursday, Feb 19 ML Mini-lecture Session #2
Tuesday, Feb 24 Paper Discussion Paper #3: "Optimal Transport for Domain Adaptation"
(Courty et al., 2016)
Thursday, Feb 26 ML Mini-lecture Session #3
Tuesday, Mar 3 Paper Discussion Paper #4: "Boosting Transferability and Discriminability for Time Series Domain Adaptation"
(Liu et al., 2024)
Thursday, Mar 5 ML Mini-lecture Session #4
Tuesday, Mar 17 Paper Discussion Paper #5: TBD
Thursday, Mar 19 ML Mini-lecture Session #5
Tuesday, Mar 24 Paper Discussion Paper #6: TBD
Thursday, Mar 26 Projects Project check-ins
Tuesday, Mar 31 Paper Discussion Paper #7: TBD
Thursday, Apr 2 ML Mini-lecture Session #6
Tuesday, Apr 7 Paper Discussion Paper #8: TBD
Thursday, Apr 9 ML Mini-lecture Session #7
Tuesday, Apr 14 Paper Discussion Paper #9: TBD
Thursday, Apr 16 ML Mini-lecture Session #8
Tuesday, Apr 21 Paper Discussion Paper #10: TBD
Thursday, Apr 23 ML Mini-lecture Session #9
Tuesday, Apr 28 Projects Final project presentations
Thursday, Apr 30 Projects Final project presentations