Spring 2027

Optimal Control and Variational Methods

Covers variational principles, constrained control, reachability analysis, stability, and data-driven methods for optimal control in autonomous systems.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jeremy Coulson

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2013: 3.50 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.69 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.68 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify appropriate notions of optimality for controls in autonomous systems

  • Formulate optimal control problems in a rigorous mathematical framework

  • Use systematic design procedures for optimal controls

  • Use data driven optimal control for dynamical systems

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
ECE 821

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.69 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.68 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JEREMY COULSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2013: 3.50 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.69 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.68 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Variational principles in optimization
  • Constrained control and reachability analysis
  • Stability of optimal control
  • Data-driven methods for optimal control

Skills

  • Formulating optimal control problems and identifying optimality notions
  • Applying systematic design and data-driven methods for optimal control

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ECE 821 · Spring 2027

Optimal Control and Variational Methods

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:320:006515",
    "course_id": "ECE 821",
    "course_uid": "course_0b5ddbb0be4809d2ebe83f84",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006515",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Optimal Control and Variational Methods",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "206d76a3bc24b6031e13674e113524b7867db628c46ee25ed7eb8da940fdabba",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}