student committee report and update on the second annual north american information theory school

February 8, 2009 A. Yener 1

Student Committee Report and Update on the Second Annual North American Information Theory School

Aylin Yener, Penn StatePresented at the BoG meeting, ISIT09


Outline

1. Upcoming Events:• ISIT 2009

2. General info and Outlook

3. School Update


ISIT 2009 Event 1

• June 29, 2009 (tomorrow), 12:50-2:30, COEX 105: Panel discussion “When does conversation become collaboration?”

• Panelist: – Michelle Effros (Caltech)– Nihar Jindal (UMinn) – Gerhard Kramer (USC) – Daniela Tuninetti (UIC)– Jack Wolf (UCSD)

• Lunch will be provided


ISIT 2009 Event 2 • July 2, 2009, 12:50-2:30, COEX 105: round

table research discussion • Lunch will be provided• Topics:

– Secrecy – Network Coding – Energy Efficiency – Feedback in Communication Systems– Achievability techniques for network co

mmunication– Biometric Security – Scaling laws – Compressed sensing– Interference Channel– Sparse graph code– Experimental Information Theory– Coding strategies for relay networks

• T-shirts will be distributed to students at the end

http://www.itsoc.org/people/committees/student/isit2009/roundtable#section-0









ISIT 2009 Events- CostPanel Discussion and Meeting• Room Charge: KRW1,320,000 (including 10%

tax)• Food:• - Sandwich: KRW15,400 (including 10% tax) X 140

persons = KRW 2,156,000• - Orange Juice: KRW1,100 (including 10% tax) X

140 persons = KRW 154,000

Round Table Research Discussion• Room Charge: KRW 1,320,000 (including 10%

tax)• Food:• - Sandwich: KRW15,400 (including 10% tax) X 140

persons = KRW 2,156,000• - Orange Juice: KRW1,100 (including 10% tax) X

140 persons = KRW 154,000• T-shirts: KRW6,000 X 140 EA = KRW 840,000

TOTAL= KRW 8100,000 ~ = $6500


Upcoming Events

• Allerton: Possibly a panel discussion and/or a graduating student poster event


Membership Update• Current members: Student co-

chairs: Ivana Maric (Stanford), Krish Eswaran (UCB); members: Deniz Gunduz (Princeton/Stanford), Xiang He (Penn State); Web: Matthieu Bloch (Notre Dame)

• New member: Salim ElRouayheb (Texas A&M)


Forward look:

• Volunteers– We need to reach out to more

volunteers for student leadership as our membership rapidly grows.

– Student leaders: Potential new members need to be sought as the current ones transition to post-student life.

– Please encourage your students and have them contact Aylin.

• Web– The new ITSoc web-site is great!


Update: Second Annual North American School of Information Theory


The Second Annual North American School of Information Theory will take place August 10–13, 2009 at the Northwestern University Campus, Evanston IL.


Organizing Committee for 2009• General Chairs:

– Aylin Yener, Penn State– Gerhard Kramer, USC

• Program and Local Arrangements:

– Randy Berry, Northwestern– Dongning Guo, Northwestern

• Applications:

– Daniela Tuninetti, UIC– Natasha Devroye, UIC

• Web and publicity:

– Matthieu Bloch, GATech– Yalin Sagduyu, Northwestern


Keynote and Instructors

• Keynote: Robert Gallager, MIT

• Instructors:– Abbas El Gamal, Stanford– Bruce Hajek, UIUC– Dan Costello, Notre Dame

• Abbas El Gamal is the first Padovani Lecturer.


Basics• Any graduate student or post-

doc eligible to apply for the school with their presentation/poster title.

• Students will each give a 10min talk or present a poster.

• No registration Fee. • Ideally: NO COST to attendees.• Reality: As allowed by the support

we have.• New for 2009: Lodging in the

dorms which we subsidize.


Applications• Deadline was April 21,

2009.• Applications were collected

online • Site was open less than three

weeks• Earlier projected cap was:

100 students (2008 stats: final student count attending was 101).


Applications• Number of (non-local) applicants:

162• NW and UIC students participating

(not included above): ~12• In addition a number of junior faculty

asked to participate.• The numbers required us to rethink

and organize accordingly.X Option 1: Define criteria under

more than 40% applicants can be turned down

Option 2: Be optimistic and find a way to accommodate everyone.


Organization Update• We resolved the space

problem by switching to a classroom that can accommodate up to 300 (earlier we had a classroom for 120).

• We made a deal to get the entire dorm to ourselves during the school.

• We decided to subsidize the cost of the dorm.


School Accommodations • Agreement is signed with

Slivka Residential College on Northwestern's Campus (5min walking distance to the classroom)

• We guaranteed 130 beds to be filled at $55/night for 4 nights.

• We decided to subsidize $30/night/student, and to collect $25/night=$100/student for the dorm.


Attendance • We informed the students on June 2, and

asked them to confirm their attendance and provide $25/night=$100/student for the dorm. (Note: Each student had to create an account on itsoc.org first )

• 126 non-local students are confirmed so far (can go up by 10)

• Additionally we will have:– 12 local students– 8 organizers – 10 or so invited guests (faculty, sponsors)– 4 speakers


Attendance 2009• Expected total number of attendees: 160-170

• Student attendees have grown by 40% since last year!

• 101 in 2008 versus 138-148 in 2009

• Budget will be tight. – More students=more food– Dorm subsidy also a big ticket item


Estimated 2009 Budget• Lunches: $ 8000• Picnic/Bonfire: $ 3500• Breakfasts: $ 4500• Materials etc $ 4000• Instructor Travel $ 2500• Contingency $ 2900• Dorm $28600

$54000

+


Funding Status

• Society: 20k• DARPA+ARL/ARO: 5-15k

(amount not finalized yet)• Northwestern: 5k• USC: 2k• Dorm contribution from

students: 12.6k• No response from NSF yet.• Total: 44.6k - 54.6k


Summary• Preparations are going well.• The demand for the school

has grown by 40% since 2008.• We are trying our best to

accommodate all with a tight budget.

student committee report and update on the second annual north american information theory school

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