Lectures will be loosely organized around four modules: differential privacy,
cryptography, language-based security, and adversarial machine learning. The
instructor will give most of the lectures for the first module, on differential
privacy. For each of the remaining modules, I will give the first lecture
introducing the topic and background material. Then, each student will lead one
lecture, presenting a paper and guiding the discussion.  

The topics we will be reading and thinking about are from the recent research
literature---polished enough to be peer-reviewed and published, but not always
completely refined. Given that this is a graduate course, not all lectures are
set in stone and there is considerable flexibility in the topics. If you are
interested in something not covered in the syllabus, please let me know.

## Readings and Homework

Paper discussions are a core component of this course. You are expected to
read papers before lecture, attend lectures, and participate in discussions.
Before every lecture presenting a paper, students are expected to read the paper
closely and understand its significance, including (a) the problem addressed by
the paper, (b) the main contributions of the paper, and (c) how the authors
solve the problem in some technical detail.  

I will also send out 2-3 questions at least 24 hours before every paper
presentation. You should send me brief answers---no more than a few sentences
per question---before the lecture.  These questions are meant to help you
prepare for the discussion in class, they are not meant to be very difficult or
time-consuming and they will not be graded very thoroughly.

## Course Project

The other main component is the course project. You will work individually or in
pairs on a topic of their choice, producing a conference-style write-up and
presenting their project at the end of the semester. This project should have
the potential to turn into a research paper or survey. Details can be found
[here](projects/details.md).

## Grading and Evaluation

Grades will be assigned as follows:

- **Discussions: 15%** (Pre-lecture questions and class participation)
- **Paper presentation: 25%**
- **Final project: 60%** (First and second milestones, and final writeup)

## Academic Integrity

The final project may be done individually or in groups of two students.
Collaborative projects with people outside the class may be allowed, but please
check with me beforehand.