Midterm Project

The overall process of this midterm project is to research a problem that we didn't have time to do in class. Then, being sufficiently familiar with the problem, you'll be able to achieve something new in your final project. As far as the midterm goes, I want you to be able to read your chosen paper and explain the answers to the following questions:

• What is the model of the problem that this paper is discussing?
• Who cares?
• What does the history of this problem look like?
• What is this papers' result?
• Have their been any follow-ups since, and if so what are they?

Your overall grade on this project will breakdown as follows:

• A survey paper (45%): this paper should be organized as if you were writing lectures notes to present this problem to fellow students in the course. I'm not (typically) looking for proofs in these surveys, but more so an assembly of information that one could use to introduce themselves to the problem investigated by the paper and get an understanding of the current state of the art and general techniques. Basically, think of it as lecture notes for a class you would give on the topic of this problem. Due: November 3rd 11:59PM AoE
• A short 10 minute presentation to be given in class (45%): due to the relatively limited time for this presentation, your primary goal is familiarize your fellow students with the statement of the problem and the big picture of the results of the paper.
• Check-ins (10%): We will hold our presentations on 10/31 and 11/2. To make sure things keep moving forward on schedule, each week I will expect each group to make time to meet with me to provide evidence that they have done the following:
  1. By Oct. 16 at 5PM, read the paper.
  2. By Oct. 20 at 5PM, assemble a list of related papers that help put this result in context.
  3. By Oct. 27 at 5PM, have a rough draft of the slides ready.

The presentation schedule on Tuesday 10/31 will be:

1. Liam and Alex
2. Brooke and Aleksandra
3. Gillon and Drew
4. Clio and Emerson
5. Thor and David
6. Hesed and Hakan, time permitting

The schedule on Thursday 11/2 will be:

1. If not done on Tuesday, Hesed and Hakan
2. Meredith and Bibatshu
3. Zehra and Colin
4. Grady and Henry
5. Arian and Owen
6. Aum, Alfie, and Lili

Final Project

Your final project is somewhat up to you. You and your partner will conduct a project in the area of your midterm project. This can manifest either in empirical or theoretical work - you will regardless submit a report detailing your results. Before you embark, you will first submit a proposal for what it is you intend to do and submit that so that we can ensure you have a fun and successful project.

Your overall grade on this project will breakdown as follows:

• A project proposal (5%, due 11/7 11:59PM AoE): this proposal should contain an overall plan for what you'd like to do, along with no-less-than 3 check-in dates along the way with what you'd expect to have done.
• A project report (40%, due 12/18 3PM AoE):

  For this paper, I'm basically looking for the following sections/information:

  1. Abstract (Required): A concise description of your project and its results.
  2. Introduction: An introduction to the problem you are studying:
     • Problem/model statement
     • Previous results (presumably, at least the results from the paper you presented in your midterm)
     • Any preliminaries/notation necessary to understand the rest of your report
  3. Methodology: What you did
  4. Results: The results of what you did.
  5. Conclusions / Future work
  The only "required" section above is the abstract. However, a lot of these projects are quite different so there isn't really a one-size-fits-all model for the report. If you have any questions about what you want to include, feel free to reach out.

• A short presentation on your project. (40%): Schedule below
• Check-ins (15%): In accordance with the proposed check-ins detailed in your proposal.

The presentation schedule will be:

1. Meredith & Bibatshu
2. Liam & Alex
3. Owen & Ariana
4. Hesed & Hakan
5. Thor & David
6. Aum & Alfie & Lili
7. Grady & Henry
8. Brooke & Aleksandra
9. Clio & Emerson
10. Zehra & Colin
11. Gillon & Drew

It will be a rolling schedule, to be filled in on Tuesday 12/5 and Thursday 12/7 in class, with the evening session (7PM) on Thursday 12/7 to wrap it up. By my estimate, only the last 3 groups will probably end up presenting Thursday night, and should be done within the hour. The idea of these presentations is that someone watching should be able to follow what the problem is and what you did. Accordingly, I'm bumping up the time to 10-20 minute range, to give you time to work through explicit examples as necessary.