February 8, 2009A. Yener1 Student Committee Report and Update on the Second Annual North American Information Theory School Aylin Yener, Penn State Presented at the BoG meeting, ISIT09

February 8, 2009A. Yener2 Outline 1.Upcoming Events: ISIT General info and Outlook 3.School Update

February 8, 2009A. Yener3 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

February 8, 2009A. Yener4 ISIT 2009 Event 2 July 2, 2009, 12:50-2:30, COEX 105: round table research discussion Lunch will be provided Topics: –SecrecySecrecy –Network CodingNetwork Coding –Energy EfficiencyEnergy Efficiency –Feedback in Communication SystemsFeedback in Communication Systems –Achievability techniques for network communicationAchievability techniques for network communication –Biometric SecurityBiometric Security –Scaling lawsScaling laws –Compressed sensingCompressed sensing –Interference ChannelInterference Channel –Sparse graph codeSparse graph code –Experimental Information TheoryExperimental Information Theory –Coding strategies for relay networksCoding strategies for relay networks T-shirts will be distributed to students at the end

February 8, 2009A. Yener5 ISIT 2009 Events- Cost Panel 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

February 8, 2009A. Yener6 Upcoming Events Allerton: Possibly a panel discussion and/or a graduating student poster event

February 8, 2009A. Yener7 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)

February 8, 2009A. Yener8 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!

February 8, 2009A. Yener9 Update: Second Annual North American School of Information Theory

February 8, 2009A. Yener10 The Second Annual North American School of Information Theory will take place August 10–13, 2009 at the Northwestern University Campus, Evanston IL.

February 8, 2009A. Yener11 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

February 8, 2009A. Yener12 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.

February 8, 2009A. Yener13 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.

February 8, 2009A. Yener14 Applications Deadline was April 21, 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).

February 8, 2009A. Yener15 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.

February 8, 2009A. Yener16 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.

February 8, 2009A. Yener17 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.

February 8, 2009A. Yener18 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

February 8, 2009A. Yener19 Attendance 2009 Expected total number of attendees: Student attendees have grown by 40% since last year! 101 in 2008 versus in 2009 Budget will be tight. –More students=more food –Dorm subsidy also a big ticket item

February 8, 2009A. Yener20 Estimated 2009 Budget Lunches: $ 8000 Picnic/Bonfire: $ 3500 Breakfasts: $ 4500 Materials etc $ 4000 Instructor Travel $ 2500 Contingency $ 2900 Dorm $28600 $

February 8, 2009A. Yener21 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 k

February 8, 2009A. Yener22 Summary Preparations are going well. The demand for the school has grown by 40% since We are trying our best to accommodate all with a tight budget.