COS Independent Work Seminar:
Algorithms and Uncertainty

COS IW10
Fall 2018

General Information:
Instructor: Sahil Singla (singla at cs dot princeton dot edu) (office hours: Monday 2:00-4:00PM at Room 219, 194 Nassau Street)
TA: Vidhya Ramaswamy (vidhyar at cs dot princeton dot edu) (office hours: Thursday 5:00-6:00PM at Room 246, 194 Nassau Street)
Meeting time and place: Friday 1:30-2:50PM, CS 301
Links: Description, Schedule, Resources, FAQ, Piazza
 

Description:

 Several computer science problems can be modeled as a discrete/continuous optimization problem: maximize/minimize a given objective function while satisfying some constraints. Although there are many known algorithms for such problems, often they rely on exact knowledge of the problem parameters. In practice, however, we only have estimates on these inputs. How can we design algorithms that make irrevocable decisions without knowing the entire input? We need adaptive algorithms that change their behaviour depending on the realization of the input. The goal of this course is to learn/develop algorithms with provable performance guarantees for such optimization under uncertainty problems.

For more details, see this document.
 

Schedule:

 Besides the schedule below, also see this link for important steps and deadlines.

Date Topic
Sep 13 Attend the "Getting Started" Information Meeting (Maeder Hall 4:30 PM - Adlinger Center)
Sep 14 Introduction to Algorithms and Uncertainty
Sep 21 Basic Tools and Brain Storming
Sep 28 Develop project plans and informal proposal talks
Oct 3 Submit Written Project Proposal
Oct 5 Project discussions
Oct 12 Project discussions
Oct 19 Project discussions
Oct 22 Submit the Checkpoint Form
Oct 26 Progress reports, discussion, and feedback
Nov 2 Fall recess holiday
Nov 9 Submit a 5+ page Preliminary Report. Project discussions
Nov 12 Students attend "How to Give an IW Talk"
Nov 16 Project discussions
Nov 23 Thanksgiving holiday
Nov 27 Students attend "How to Write an IW Paper"
Nov 30 Progress reports, discussion, and feedback
Dec 7 Practice Prsentations
Dec 9 Submit Slides for an Oral Presentation
Dec 14 Give an Oral Presentation
Jan 8 Submit a Written Final Report
Jan 9 Submit a Poster
Jan 10 Present at the Poster Session (9am to 4:30pm Convocation Rm)

 

Resources:
 

Frequently Asked Questions: