Final Project

As part of your grade, each enrolled student is required to finish a final project. The project consists of 3 parts, listed below, along with the total percentage of the grade each part counts towards the final project grade.

1. Project Proposal (15%);
2. Project Presentation (50%); and
3. Project Write-up (35%).

Below is all the information you need regarding the 3 parts of the project. All deadlines for this project can be found at the bottom of this page, as well as on the course Schedule.

Project Overview

For your final projects, you are expected to read, present, and give a write-up about a paper or topic that (1) interests you, and (2) is related to the field of cryptography. Note that (1) is more important than (2) when considering a paper or topic to present; however, if your paper/topic has no relation (or a very weak/superficial) relation to cryptography, I will ask you to reconsider.

You may choose to present a more generic topic than a specific paper. For example, differential privacy is a field related to cryptography. You may choose to give a brief introduction to differential privacy if this is what interests you. Again, the topic, though more general, should be related to cryptography in some non-trivial way.

Groups

As with the in-class presentations, you may work in groups (and are highly recommended to work in groups).

Project Proposal

Due: Friday, April 03, 2026, 5:00pm Central Time.

Your first task for this project is to propose a topic or paper you wish to present. As stated above, your topic/paper should (1) be of interest to you, and (2) should be related to cryptography in some way. This relation should be more than a superficial connection: cryptography should be a big part of the topic/paper.

For your proposal, please submit to me, via email, 2-3 topics/papers you want to present for your final project. If you are interested in presenting a more general topic (e.g., differential privacy), please submit both the topic and the materials you will be using for your presentation. The email should have the subject [CS 594 Spring 2026] Final Project Proposal.

If you wish to do a group project, please cc your group members in your project proposal email.

Project Presentations

Presentation Times: In-class, Week 15, April 27 and 29, 2026.

All presentations will be in-class during the final week of class. The amount of time you get for reach presentation is a function of the total number of groups. That is,

$$\text{Presentation length}=\frac{140}{\#\mathrm{Groups}}\text{ minutes}.$$

The total amount of time across both classes is 150 minutes. I have about 5 minutes per class for transitioning between groups.

Update: as of Monday, April 20, 2026 (via announcements on Canvas and Ed Discussion), each group will have 20 minutes + 3 minutes for questions for your presentations. At 25 minutes, your presentation will be stopped, and you will be asked to allow the next group to present.

Presentation Schedule

Please find the presentation schedule below. The schedule was generated at random to ensure fairness.

• Monday, April 27, 2026

  1. Peter and Sai
  2. Xiaoqui and Han
  3. Pratheek and Fatemeh

• Wednesday, April 29, 2026

  1. Himanshu
  2. Jesse
  3. Marcos, Charis, and Ryan

Presentation Structure

In your presentations, you are expected to coherently explain your paper/topic and proficiently answer questions. Below is a list of things you are expected to do during the presentation.

• Present a result from a paper (or some other approved source) you find interesting;
• Demonstrate how this result relates to the topic you are covering;
• Present the main points of the result in a way that is understandable to everyone in the class; and
• Confidently answer questions asked during/after the presentations.

Presentation Format

You may make slides or give a presentation on the whiteboard. Note that for whiteboard presentations, you need to be aware of how much time you are taking, so be sure to practice!

Project Write-up

Due: Friday, May 08, 2026, 5:00pm Central Time. Submissions will be to Gradescope.

Finally, you are expected to do a short write-up on the paper/topic you are presenting. Your write-up should include (at a minimum) the following details.

• If you are presenting a paper:

  • Articulate the problem the paper is solving.
  • Highlight how the paper improves over prior work, and/or if it is the current state-of-the-art state of the art (at the time of writing), and
  • Clearly explain the technical ideas which make the paper interesting.
  • Give a brief literature overview of prior work.
  • Discuss open problems left by this work (if any).

• If you are presenting a topic:

  • Give a cohesive and clear overview of the topic.
  • Highlight its relationships to other topics.
  • Give a brief overview of some seminal results in the topic area.
  • Explain the interesting technical tools or ideas that have resulted from research in this area.
  • Discuss major open problems in the topic area.

Write-up Format

You are expected to submit a .pdf file, typeset in $\text{LATEX}$. You should have 1-inch margins and 11pt font. Your write-ups should be a minimum of 10 pages (not including citations).

Deadlines

• Project Proposal: Friday, April 03, 2026, 5:00pm Central Time.
• Project Presentations: In-class (11am-12:15pm), Week 15. Dates: April 27 and 29, 2026.
• Project Write-up: Friday, May 08, 2026, 5:00pm Central Time.

Questions

Please post all questions about the final project on Ed Discussion.