COS Independent Work Seminar:
Algorithms and Uncertainty

COS IW06
Fall 2020

General Information:
Instructor: Sahil Singla (singla at cs dot princeton dot edu)
Meeting time: Thursday 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM, Zoom Link
Office Hours Tuesday 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, Zoom Link
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.
 

Tentative Schedule:

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

Date Topic
Sep 3 Attend the "Getting Started" Information Meeting
Sep 3 Introduction to Algorithms and Uncertainty
Sep 10 Basic Tools and Brain Storming
Sep 17 Develop project plans and informal proposal talks
Sep 22 Submit Written Project Proposal
Sep 24 Project discussions
Oct 1 Project discussions
Oct 8 Project discussions
Oct 14 Submit the Checkpoint Form
Oct 15 Progress reports, discussion, and feedback
Oct 22 Submit a 5+ page Preliminary Report. Project discussions
Oct 29 Project discussions
Nov 2 Students attend "How to Give an IW Talk"
Nov 5 Project discussions
Nov 12 Project discussions
Nov 19 Project discussions
Dec 1 Students attend "How to Write an IW Paper"
Dec 3 Practice Prsentations
Dec 8 Submit Slides for an Oral Presentation
Jan 6 Submit a Written Final Report

 

Resources:
 

Frequently Asked Questions: