diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 57901e56..006b6b6d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -18,13 +18,16 @@ addons:
     - libhdf5-serial-dev
     - libboost1.55-dev
     - libboost-python1.55-dev
+    - gfortran
 virtualenv:
   system_site_packages: true
 env:
   matrix:
     - DISTRIB="ubuntu" PYTHON_VERSION="2.7" OPENGM="true"
+      SCIPY_VERSION="0.11.0"
     ## ubuntu without opengm
     - DISTRIB="ubuntu" PYTHON_VERSION="2.7" OPENGM="false"
+      SCIPY_VERSION="0.11.0"
     ## This environment tests the oldest supported anaconda env
     - DISTRIB="conda" PYTHON_VERSION="2.7"
       NUMPY_VERSION="1.6.2" SCIPY_VERSION="0.11.0"
diff --git a/continuous_integration/install.sh b/continuous_integration/install.sh
index 7cac5431..18acc040 100644
--- a/continuous_integration/install.sh
+++ b/continuous_integration/install.sh
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ elif [[ "$DISTRIB" == "ubuntu" ]]; then
     # Use standard ubuntu packages in their default version
     # except for cython :-/
     $PIP install --user cvxopt
+    $PIP install --user scipy==$SCIPY_VERSION
 fi
 
 if [[ "$COVERAGE" == "true" ]]; then
diff --git a/examples/multi_label.py b/examples/multi_label.py
index 984ac7ed..4fa09644 100644
--- a/examples/multi_label.py
+++ b/examples/multi_label.py
@@ -25,27 +25,12 @@
 
 from sklearn.metrics import hamming_loss
 from sklearn.datasets import fetch_mldata
-from sklearn.metrics import mutual_info_score
-from scipy.sparse.csgraph import minimum_spanning_tree
 
 from pystruct.learners import OneSlackSSVM
 from pystruct.models import MultiLabelClf
 from pystruct.datasets import load_scene
 
 
-def chow_liu_tree(y_):
-    # compute mutual information using sklearn
-    n_labels = y_.shape[1]
-    mi = np.zeros((n_labels, n_labels))
-    for i in range(n_labels):
-        for j in range(n_labels):
-            mi[i, j] = mutual_info_score(y_[:, i], y_[:, j])
-    mst = minimum_spanning_tree(sparse.csr_matrix(-mi))
-    edges = np.vstack(mst.nonzero()).T
-    edges.sort(axis=1)
-    return edges
-
-
 dataset = "scene"
 # dataset = "yeast"
 
@@ -64,13 +49,9 @@ def chow_liu_tree(y_):
     X_train, X_test = scene['X_train'], scene['X_test']
     y_train, y_test = scene['y_train'], scene['y_test']
 
-n_labels = y_train.shape[1]
-full = np.vstack([x for x in itertools.combinations(range(n_labels), 2)])
-tree = chow_liu_tree(y_train)
-
-full_model = MultiLabelClf(edges=full, inference_method='qpbo')
+full_model = MultiLabelClf(edges="full", inference_method='qpbo')
 independent_model = MultiLabelClf(inference_method='unary')
-tree_model = MultiLabelClf(edges=tree, inference_method="max-product")
+tree_model = MultiLabelClf(edges="tree", inference_method="max-product")
 
 full_ssvm = OneSlackSSVM(full_model, inference_cache=50, C=.1, tol=0.01)
 
diff --git a/pystruct/models/multilabel_svm.py b/pystruct/models/multilabel_svm.py
index ed305a8e..63e3b0d4 100644
--- a/pystruct/models/multilabel_svm.py
+++ b/pystruct/models/multilabel_svm.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+import itertools
 import numpy as np
 from .crf import CRF
+from ..utils import chow_liu_tree
 
 
 class MultiLabelClf(CRF):
@@ -42,12 +44,24 @@ def __init__(self, n_labels=None, n_features=None, edges=None,
 
     def _set_size_joint_feature(self):
         # try to set the size of joint_feature if possible
-        if self.n_features is not None and self.n_states is not None:
-            if self.edges is None:
-                self.edges = np.zeros(shape=(0, 2), dtype=np.int)
+        if isinstance(self.edges, np.ndarray) and self.n_features is not None \
+                and self.n_states is not None:
             self.size_joint_feature = (self.n_features * self.n_labels + 4 *
                                        self.edges.shape[0])
 
+    def _set_edge_structure_from_labels(self, Y):
+        # build an edge structure from the ground truth lables
+        if isinstance(self.edges, str):
+            if self.edges == 'tree':
+                self.edges = chow_liu_tree(Y)
+            elif self.edges == 'full':
+                self.edges = np.vstack([x for x in
+                    itertools.combinations(range(self.n_labels), 2)])
+            else:
+                raise ValueError("Unknown edge structure: %s" % self.edges)
+        if self.edges is None:
+            self.edges = np.zeros(shape=(0, 2), dtype=np.int)
+
     def initialize(self, X, Y):
         n_features = X.shape[1]
         if self.n_features is None:
@@ -62,7 +76,8 @@ def initialize(self, X, Y):
         elif self.n_labels != n_labels:
             raise ValueError("Expected %d labels, got %d"
                              % (self.n_labels, n_labels))
-
+ 
+        self._set_edge_structure_from_labels(Y)
         self._set_size_joint_feature()
         self._set_class_weight()
 
diff --git a/pystruct/tests/test_models/test_multilabel_problem.py b/pystruct/tests/test_models/test_multilabel_problem.py
index 03d49937..f59d41b7 100644
--- a/pystruct/tests/test_models/test_multilabel_problem.py
+++ b/pystruct/tests/test_models/test_multilabel_problem.py
@@ -90,3 +90,58 @@ def test_multilabel_fully():
     y_continuous[np.arange(n_labels), y] = 1
     assert_array_almost_equal(
         joint_feature, model.joint_feature(x, (y_continuous, pairwise_marginals)))
+
+
+def test_multilabel_fully_text_option():
+    # test inference and energy with fully connected model
+    # edge structure specified using text argument edges="full"
+    n_features = 5
+    n_labels = 4
+    edges = np.vstack([x for x in itertools.combinations(range(n_labels), 2)])
+    model = MultiLabelClf(n_labels=n_labels, n_features=n_features,
+                          edges="full")
+    rnd = np.random.RandomState(0)
+
+    x = rnd.normal(size=n_features)
+    w = rnd.normal(size=n_features * n_labels + 4 * len(edges))
+    y_dummy = np.zeros((1, n_labels))
+    model.initialize(x[np.newaxis], y_dummy)
+    y = model.inference(x, w)
+
+    # test joint_feature / energy
+    joint_feature = model.joint_feature(x, y)
+    energy = compute_energy(model._get_unary_potentials(x, w),
+                            model._get_pairwise_potentials(x, w), edges, y)
+    assert_almost_equal(energy, np.dot(joint_feature, w))
+
+    # for continuous y
+    #y_cont = model.inference(x, w, relaxed=True)
+    y_continuous = np.zeros((n_labels, 2))
+    pairwise_marginals = []
+    for edge in edges:
+        # indicator of one of four possible states of the edge
+        pw = np.zeros((2, 2))
+        pw[y[edge[0]], y[edge[1]]] = 1
+        pairwise_marginals.append(pw)
+
+    pairwise_marginals = np.vstack(pairwise_marginals)
+
+    y_continuous[np.arange(n_labels), y] = 1
+    assert_array_almost_equal(
+        joint_feature, model.joint_feature(x, (y_continuous, pairwise_marginals)))
+
+def test_multilabel_tree_text_option():
+    # test edges="tree" results in the correct edge structure
+    n_features = 5
+    n_labels = 3
+    n_examples = 4
+    model = MultiLabelClf(n_labels=n_labels, n_features=n_features,
+                          edges="tree")
+
+    rnd = np.random.RandomState(0)
+    X = rnd.normal(size=(n_examples, n_features))
+    Y = np.array([[1, 0, 1], [0, 1, 1], [1, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1]])
+    edges_expected = np.array([[0, 1], [1, 2]])
+
+    model.initialize(X, Y)
+    assert_array_equal(model.edges, edges_expected)
diff --git a/pystruct/tests/test_utils/test_graph.py b/pystruct/tests/test_utils/test_graph.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a173ec60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pystruct/tests/test_utils/test_graph.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import numpy as np
+from pystruct.utils.graph import chow_liu_tree
+from numpy.testing import assert_array_equal
+
+def test_chow_liu_tree_small():
+    # choose y so largest MI goes to (0, 1) and (1, 2) edges
+    y = np.array([[1, 0, 1], [0, 1, 1], [1, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1]])
+    edges_expected = np.array([[0, 1], [1, 2]])
+
+    edges = chow_liu_tree(y)
+    
+    assert_array_equal(edges, edges_expected)
+
+def test_chow_liu_tree_zero_mi():
+    # choose y so that MI is nonzero between (0, 1) and 0 between (1, 2)
+    y = np.array([[1, 0, 1], [0, 1, 1]])
+    edges_expected = np.array([[0, 1]])
+
+    edges = chow_liu_tree(y)
+    
+    assert_array_equal(edges, edges_expected)
diff --git a/pystruct/utils/__init__.py b/pystruct/utils/__init__.py
index abd196aa..87b6ad91 100644
--- a/pystruct/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/pystruct/utils/__init__.py
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
                         exhaustive_inference, compress_sym, expand_sym)
 from .logging import SaveLogger
 from .plotting import plot_grid
-from .graph import make_grid_edges, edge_list_to_features
+from .graph import make_grid_edges, edge_list_to_features, chow_liu_tree
 
 __all__ = ["unwrap_pairwise",
            "make_grid_edges", "find_constraint",
            "find_constraint_latent", "inference", "loss_augmented_inference",
            "objective_primal", "exhaustive_loss_augmented_inference",
            "exhaustive_inference", "SaveLogger", "plot_grid", "compress_sym",
-           "expand_sym", "edge_list_to_features"]
+           "expand_sym", "edge_list_to_features", "chow_liu_tree"]
diff --git a/pystruct/utils/graph.py b/pystruct/utils/graph.py
index affd1d5c..132c7991 100644
--- a/pystruct/utils/graph.py
+++ b/pystruct/utils/graph.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 import numpy as np
+from scipy import sparse
+from sklearn.metrics import mutual_info_score
+from scipy.sparse.csgraph import minimum_spanning_tree
 
 
 def make_grid_edges(x, neighborhood=4, return_lists=False):
@@ -25,3 +28,16 @@ def edge_list_to_features(edge_list):
     edge_features[:len(edge_list[0]), 0] = 1
     edge_features[len(edge_list[0]):, 1] = 1
     return edge_features
+
+
+def chow_liu_tree(y_):
+    # compute mutual information using sklearn
+    n_labels = y_.shape[1]
+    mi = np.zeros((n_labels, n_labels))
+    for i in range(n_labels):
+        for j in range(n_labels):
+            mi[i, j] = mutual_info_score(y_[:, i], y_[:, j])
+    mst = minimum_spanning_tree(sparse.csr_matrix(-mi))
+    edges = np.vstack(mst.nonzero()).T
+    edges.sort(axis=1)
+    return edges