EE364b ProjectsStephen BoydJune 3, 2014The EE364b project is meant to involve some combination of (but not necessarily allof) independent research, implementation and testing, simulation and verification, and doc-umentation. You can pr opose anything you like as a project; the descriptions below aremeant only as broad categories and g en er i c examples. We’re also happy to make somesuggestions for projects.1 Project requirementsThe formal requirements for the project are: first peer review, initial proposal, second peerreview, midterm pr og r ess rep or t , poster session, and final report. The idea is that you applyto do a project; the in i t ia l pr o posal and mid t er m p r ogr es s report needs to be approved. Yourgrade will be primarily based on the poster and the final report.To help you with the application pr ocess, we ask you go undergo peer rev iew, in which youexachange your drafts and provide feedb a ck, before the two submissions. The peer review isdone electronically.1.1 Detailed logisticsHere we outline the detailed logistics in (roughly) ch r on o l ogi ca l order. Please read ca r efu l l yto avoid confusion.• Fill out the Google form, which we will provide a few days before the peer review, tolet us know that your group is planning to submit the in i t i al proposal or the midtermprogress report. Based on this, we will randomly assign 3 groups int o a peer reviewteam. The teams fo r the initial proposal and the midterm progress report will bedifferent.• By Mon day 4/21/14 or 5/12 /14 , 8am, write a draft of your initial proposal o r midtermprogress report and email it to every member of your peer review team. You shouldcc [email protected]• By Wednesday 4/23/14 or 5/14/14, 8am, email back the peer reviews. You should [email protected]. The peer reviews are written individually and no tas a group.• As a group, rate the peer reviews on a scale of 0–2.– 0/2. The review is not useful and does not demonstrate th a t the reviewer readyour draft.– 1/2. The review is not useful but does demonstrate that the reviewer read yourdraft.– 2/2. The review is either useful or demonstrates that the reviewer made a sincereeffort.Remark. Keep in min d that a review that demo n st r at es misunderst an ding can be auseful review; it can show why your communication was unclear.• By Friday 4/25/14 or 5/16/14, 5pm, submit the report, all received peer reviews, a n dthe ratings of these reviews in single stapled physical document.• The initial proposal should include t he topic, team members, and some ideas about theapproach. Include some background, basic problem, and references. Length: 2 pagesmaximum.• By the time you write the mi d t er m progress report, you should have a good idea ofyour approach, with a clear problem statem e nt and some preliminary res u l ts . Length:4 pages maximum.• By Wednesday 4/30/14 or 5/21/14, we will return our feedback and tell you whetherthe project i s accep t ed or n ot . We reserve the right to reject a project based on themidterm progress report, even if it passed the initial proposal.• On Friday 5/30/14, 5 –7pm, you will present a poster in the Packar d Atrium. If you arepresenting, please come to Packard to collect the board and easel by 4:30pm. You areresponsible for printing t h e poster. Boards and easels for the posters will be provided.The boards measure roughly 24′′by 36′′.• By Wednesday 6/4/14, 5pm, email your final report to [email protected]: 6 page s maximum.1.2 Remarks• Do not be shy to utilize the TAs; as soon as you have a project id ea, talk to a TA forat least 5 minutes.• All reports must be written using LATEX in a style that follows our tem p l at e and sub-mitted as a physical copy. No proprietary formats (word, powerpoint) will be accepted.2• Your grade will be p r i m ar i l y based on the p ost e r and the final report. We may deductpoints for providing poor peer reviews, alth ou g h to do so is not our intent.• All page limit s exclude references but include everything else, su ch as acknowledge-ments or figures.• At any point, you may decide to drop the project and take the final or go Cr/NCr.You do not have to notify us of this. Just don’t submi t . However, if you were assignedto a peer revi ew tea m , you are still responsible for providing feedback to the othergroups. In oth e r words, you will give but not ask for feedback.• We recommend also submitting a pdf copy of the reports [email protected] case anything gets lost. Also, We ask you to cc your peer review t r a n sact i o n s forthe purpose of keeping a timest am p . Don’t bother to email the rati n g s of the receivedreviews.1.3 Peer review InstructionYour job as a reviewer is to help your peers’ report get accep t ed . Be encouraging andconstructive.When reviewing the midterm progress report, start off by summarizing the entire reportin a single paragraph . This helps the auth or s understand how the message is conveyed tothe reader. Thi s isn’t necessary for reviewing the initi al proposal.The following are some possible points you can comment on in th e review.• Writing style. You can find more information on this in the LATEX template.• Clarity. You , a student who has taken EE364a, should be able to understand thereport. For example, if the report is filled with ano t h er fiel d ’ s jarg on t h at you don’tunderstand, the writer is at fault.• Relevance. The project must have significant relevan c e to convex optimization.2 Types of projectsYour project should fall into one of the following categories. Once you have a idea for apotential project, you should briefly discuss it with Prof. Boyd or on e of the TAs to makesure you are on the rig ht track.We are especially interested in projects that contribute to the public go od. These projectshave a higher chance of being accepted. However, don’t feel discouraged from doing a projectthat has a more research fl avor.32.1 A new modeling approachA common project type will involve an innovation in modeling (in the sense used in opti-mization), i.e., the way a practical problem is formulated as an opt i m i zat i o n problem. Insuch a project, you develop a new approach to some engineering (or other practical) problem,possibly in simplified form. Such a project will likely have the following components:• Background and problem in general terms. You must clearly describe the