CS 7480: Special Topics in PL:
Formal Security for Cryptography
Final Project
Instructor:
Apart from paper reflections, you will
be graded on a final project that relates to the course material.
The choice of project is up to you; please ask me if you would like some suggestions.
Overview of Project
The project will consist of four stages:
- A proposal where you will describe your project;
- A check-in where you will give a brief update on your progress;
- A presentation at the end of the semester of your results;
- and a written report of your results.
All written material will be submitted via Canvas.
Group Policy
Groups of up to two are permitted (but not required) for a single proposal, presentation and report.
Check with me if you would like to involve more than two people in a particular collaboration.
Relevant Dates
- Proposals due Oct 22
- Check-in due Nov 15
- Report due last day of class, Dec 13
Evaluation
Your grade for the final project will be according to the following rubric:
20% proposal; 10% check-in; 20% presentation; and 50% report.
Proposal
The proposal should be a document that contains the following information:
- Member(s) of group and project title.
- A clear summary of your proposed project, along with relevance to class material.
- A list of milestones to achieve in order to complete your project, along with a proposed timeline of the milestones.
- If desired, a list of stretch goals to complete, after you have completed your milestones.
The most successful proposals will be well-scoped: something technically interesting, but that you can reasonably make progress on during the rest of the semester.
Be creative! Final projects are great places to test out small, wacky ideas that can grow into fleshed out research papers down the line.
Check-In
The check-in will be a brief document (around one page) that:
- summarizes your progress so far, and you how plan to continue the project; and
- a reflection on your progress. What has worked? What hasn't worked? `
Final Report
The final report will be a paper, in the style of a research paper, that presents your results.
The main body should fit within six pages, but there is no page limit for references or appendices.
Below is a suggested format for the paper:
- Abstract.
- Introduction. Explain the main problem you are trying to solve, its relevancy for the class / in the literature, and how you propose to solve the problem.
- Related work.
- Technical background content.
- Technical contribution.
- Conclusion and reflection. Describe future work, how the project went overall, and what you would have done differently (if anything).
If the final project has a coding component, the code artifact must be submitted along with the report (either as an attachment, or as a link to a repository).
Your final report will be graded along the following axes:
- Presentation. Is the writing and typesetting clear and easy to follow?
- Technical contribution. Is the work technically sound? If there are experiments, are the questions they are trying to answer clear, and do they answer these questions?
If there are formal proofs, are these proofs correct?
Are there holes in the technical development?
- Scholarship. Is appropriate related work discussed and correcty cited? If your work well-situated against prior work?
Presentation
Each group will present their findings as outlined in their final report. You are heavily encouraged to use slides.
Special thanks to
Steven Holtzen for assistance with the content for this page!