Course project
Students will complete a semester-long research project related to machine learning-augmented algorithm design. Projects should involve both theoretical and empirical results - e.g., developing a new algorithm or improving on an existing algorithm for some problem and proving theoretical guarantees on its performance, as well as evaluating it experimentally.
Project format
Projects will be conducted in groups of 1-3; you should discuss with your classmates early on to find topics of common interest and form project groups. Please attend office hours or schedule a meeting with the instructor if you need project topic suggestions. The ideal project will yield a short paper of quality comparable to a workshop paper at, e.g., NeurIPS; projects should be scoped accordingly.
Project deliverables include:
- Project proposal: An initial 1-2 page writeup detailing project topic, motivation, related work, and an initial project plan. Groups are highly encouraged to meet with the instructor before the proposal deadline to ensure the topic is well-scoped.
- Mid-semester project update presentation: A 5-10 minute presentation giving an overview of the project topic, progress so far, and planned next steps.
- Final project presentation: A 15-20 minute presentation describing the final project results.
- Final project writeup: A written report detailing the project results and all relevant background and related work. This can use some writing from the initial project proposal as relevant. Writeup should be at least $4 + n$ pages, where $n$ is the number of students in the group, and at most 10 pages.
Milestones and Timeline
| Milestone | Due date | Details | Fraction of project grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project proposal | October 8 | Groups are highly encouraged to meet with the instructor before the proposal deadline to ensure the topic is well-scoped and relevant to the course topic | 1/6 |
| Mid-semester project update presentation | November 5 | Overview of topic, progress, and next steps | 1/6 |
| Final presentation | December 15, 9am-12pm | Presentation of project and results | 1/3 |
| Final report | December 15, end of day | Complete project write-up | 1/3 |
Grading rubric
Check back soon for a more detailed grading rubric for each of the project deliverables
Project resources
- Projects should be formatted using the NeurIPS LaTeX template.
- Written deliverables should be submitted on Canvas.
- If you need help deciding on a project topic, come to office hours or set up a meeting with the instructor.