Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 1Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 1

Update on the Third Update on the Third Annual School of Annual School of

Information TheoryInformation Theory BoG meeting, ITA 2010

January 31, 2010

Aylin Yener & Gerhard Kramer

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 2January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 2

Logistics

• 2010 School to be at USC in Los Angeles

• Dates: Thu-Sun, Aug 5-8, 2010• Tentative calendar: Applications due: April 15 “Registration” due: June 1• Web site:

http://www.itsoc.org/people/committees/student/2010-school-of-it

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 3Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 3

Organizing Committee

• General Chairs:Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer

• Program and Applications: Michelle Effros and Tracey Ho• Local Arrangements: Mike Neely and Alex Dimakis• Web Site: Matthieu Bloch• Treasurer: Sriram Viswanath

January 31, 2010

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 4January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 4

In 2009http://www.itsoc.org/people/committees/student/2009-school-of-it

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 5January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 5

In 2009• The school took place at Northwestern

University, Aug 10-13• Over 140 students attended• The program included 3 lectures

(same as in 2008)• Instructors lectured 4.5 hours each

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 6January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 6

New in 2010

• We decided to shorten the lectures and increase the number of instructors

• New format: Six 2-hour lectures during the first 3 days by 6 speakers, Keynote on the 4th day

• Motivation:- Increase instructor-to-student ratio- Expand number of topics- New format will be easier on theinstructors and students

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 7January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 7

New in 2010• School was registered with IEEE as a “conference”

and the ITSOC confirmed sponsorship• IEEE is issuing Sriram (treasurer) a bank account

card (hopefully this is done by week’s end)• Nihar (ITSOC treasurer) contacted about

transferring $10k approved at Taormina BoG meeting

• Dorm contract is with the IEEE for reviewCost: $43/person/night + 14% bed taxTotal: about $27k. We need to pay10% upon signing (likely within 2 weeks).All remaining costs to be paid 5 daysbefore event.

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 8January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 8

Instructors/Excursion/Expansion

• 5 potential instructors contacted.• Instructors who accepted so far:

Andrea Goldsmith, Sergio Verdu, Jack Wolf• Jack is the organizers’ choice for Padovani Lecturer;

he is willing to serve as such; requires MCC approval

• Three more potential lecturers were contacted;hopefully all agree within a few days

• Keynote speaker: one person identified ascandidate who will be contacted shortly

• Excursion: Bruce Moision (JPL) has agreedto help organize an excursion to JPL(we’ll have to see how to fit that in)

• Expansion: advertise to Mexico faculty toencourage a real North American School

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 9January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 9

Fundraising

• We raised $58k in 2009. Breakdown:- ITSOC $20k- DARPA- ITMANET and ARO $20k- NSF $10k- Northwestern $5k- USC $2k- Notre Dame $1k

• We plan to approach the samesources. We’ll try for more from NSF.USC EE Dept. agreed to contribute.

Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 10January 31, 2010 Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer 10

Request for Funds• We respectfully ask for an additional $10k

(to bring the total to $20k) support from the society