July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer1 Report on the First Annual School of Information Theory Report on the First Annual School of Information Theory BoG meeting, ISIT 2008, Toronto July 6, 2008 Aylin Yener & Gerhard Kramer University Park Campus, Penn State University June 1-5, 2008

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer2

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer3

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer4 School took place in the first week of June 2008 [From the “Welcome” slides on the first day] Idea European Winter School in Coding & Information Theory has existed since the early 1990s Purpose: an event where students can get to know each other outside of “large” events The idea of having a School in North America began in late 2006 IEEE Information Theory Society BoG supported the idea Preparations for the Penn State University event began in Sept. 2007

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer5 Organizers and Volunteers Program Chairs: Aylin Yener, Gerhard Kramer Applications: Sennur Ulukus, Ivana Maric Publicity&Web: Nick Laneman, Matthieu Bloch, Lalitha Sankar, Brooke Shrader Local volunteers, who did a wonderful job: – Debbie Lauder (staff assistant) and other staff members at Penn State EE – Min Chen, Ertugrul Ciftcioglu, Xiang He, Ye Tian (PhD students)

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer6 Thank you… To the School Instructors for your great lectures and your willingness to take the time to interact with the student attendees. Muriel Medard, Network Coding David Tse, Interference and Relaying Toby Berger, Bioinformation Theory Vince Poor, Information Theory: Past and Future

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer7 Sponsors IEEE Information Theory Society ($20k) DARPA ($10k - restricted to non-food items) Princeton University EE ($3k) Penn State EE ($3k) Penn State Networking and Security Research Center (CSE) ($3k) NSF (hopefully soon, $10k for student travel )

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer8 Attendance Statistics Over 150 student applicants 120 accepted and confirmed attendance Actual Attendance: 101 students –12 last-minute cancellations, mostly due to not being able to obtain a US visa from Canada –7 no shows 13 senior attendees (including instructors)

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer9 What the school provided Registration Package: campus map, attendee list, other local information, dedication Welcome Reception (Sunday) Food: Breakfast, Coffee Break, Snacks, Lunch for Monday-Thursday Banquet on Wednesday Wireless LAN accounts Poster boards/easels

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer10 Program: see school.itsoc.org school.itsoc.org June 2 Monday June 3 Tuesday June 4 Wednesday June 5 Thursday Opening remarks 3X90min Lectures Muriel Medard: “Network Coding” 3X90min Lectures David Tse: “Interference Channels, Relay Networks, Scaling Laws” 2X90 Lectures Toby Berger: “Bioinformation Theory” Panel: Muriel, David, Toby, Gerhard, Aylin (Mod.) “What Do I Do Now?” Keynote Vince Poor: “Information Theory: Past and Future” Student Presentations 4-6:10 pm ITSOC Student Committee Meeting 6:30-7:30 pm Student Presentations 4-6:20 pm Student Posters and Presentations 3:00-6:10 pm Banquet 7-9:30 Student Posters and Presentations 10:00-6:10 pm

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer11 Budget No Registration Fee : it was key to keep the costs down as much as possible. The lectures and presentations were held in Penn State classrooms (free of charge). Multimedia: Relatively small fee for photographer. Videos: courtesy of Penn State Breaks: We were able to adjust the food amounts during the school. Reception, Banquet: at the campus hotel (NLI)– we were able to save further on these two events.

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer12 Budget Details (not finalized) We hope to have roughly 10k for student grants from existing funds NSF: another 10k (hopefully soon) We will distribute the funds. + Food total$13,094 (≈$4,000 savings) Banquet dinner$ 4,213 (≈$1,500 savings) Reception$ 2,199 (≈$600 savings) Other (posters, photos, tapes, badges, reg. packs) $ 2,885 Instructor lodging$ 955 Instructor transportation$ 2,000 (est.) Contingency$ 3,000 Total$28,346 (of $39k)

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer13 Feedback Verbal feedback positive re lectures, peer interactions, and student- instructor interactions. We conducted an anonymous survey (90 responses) Rating: 1 to 5 (5 is best) Outcome: see next 8 charts

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer14 Average: 4.52

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer15 Average: 4.36

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer16 Average: 4.21

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer17 Average: 4.17

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer18 Average: 4.44

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer19 Average: 4.62

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer20 Average: 4.47

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer21 Average: 4.78

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer22 Feedback Attendees are overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the event. Other survey information: How the attendees heard about the school ( , web, advisor, organizers, at a conference, IT newsletter, mailing list, etc.) Comments about the organization, application process Recommended future instructors

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer23 Website Runs on Plone. The School Website will be an excellent resource for future events. We posted all lecture slides, student talk slides, posters. Lecture, panel, keynote video recordings coming soon. School photos will be posted soon. Our Plone experience is positive.

July 6, 2008Aylin Yener and Gerhard Kramer24 Conclusion and Outlook First Annual School of Information Theory has been a Success. The feedback from attendees suggests to continue this event. Motion: We propose that the School of Information Theory become an annual event with locations in North America (and perhaps international locations). Volunteers for 2009 ?