The majority of our meeting time will be spent discussing recent research papers related to security. Be prepared to read a lot of research papers!
Prior to each class, you will be responsible for reviewing the papers and submitting your comments through the course’s Perusall page. You will also be responsible for leading the presentation and discussion of several of the papers.
For papers that you want to lead the presentation and discussion, signing up will be on a first-come, first-served basis. (Link to paper sign-up form posted on Canvas in an announcement.) If you have not selected papers by the sign-up deadline, you will be assigned some of the remaining papers at random.
For each paper that we read, it is expected that you add your own comments and discussion questions on Perusall to help facilitate class discussion. Your comments and questions will constitute a substantial portion of the final grade, and it is expected that you participate for every paper.
Some suggestions for good comments are ones that address the following:
Please also include one or more discussion questions that can be brought up to the rest of the class.
To give enough time for the discussion leader to prepare the paper’s presentation and discussion, you should ideally submit all comments on Perusall before the lecture day that the paper is presented.
For each paper that you lead, it is expected that you will lead about half of the class meeting that day (since 2 papers will be presented per meeting).
This involves two parts:
For the presentation, note that there is no need to present every last detail of the paper (since everyone has already read it). However, if there are particularly salient points that you want to draw attention to or background context that you want to add, you are welcome to do so! The paper presentations are meant to show your ability to present the highlights and contributions of the paper, as well as to show your ability to analyze the paper for interesting insights beyond what is simply stated in the paper. In essence, it is a summary of what you think is important but should also be what you believe are interesting insights that we should take away from reading it.
If existing presentations exist for the paper that you present (e.g., the original author’s presentation), it is okay to borrow from the presentations so long as you properly attribute the work.
For the discussion, you should address key points based on the comments and questions that others have submitted. The discussions should not simply be one-sided (i.e., lecturing over what was submitted) but should involve calling on others, posing questions, and active participation.
Some questions may be more relevant or interesting to bring up to discuss, so it is okay to highlight those and to skip over others. It’s even more effective if you are able to group similar questions together, as that makes it easier to discuss when grouped.
The term project encompasses a significant portion of the course related to research. You may work on the project alone or in groups of two students.
Some questions to think about for each, which can be incorporated into your proposal:
Proposals must be approved by the course instructor before the project is started. It is required to meet with the course instructor to discuss this and strongly encouraged to meet prior to the proposal deadline so that you have as much time as possible to work on the project and so that you can avoid having to revise/resubmit the proposal later.
Proposals should be 1–2 pages and include:
Status update reports should be 1–2 pages and include:
Final presentations will be presented to the class near the end of the semester. More details will be announced later.
Final reports will be submitted to the instructor during the final exam week. More details will be announced later.