Aim:
The main purpose of this seminar is to discuss some of the fundamental issues and methods of cryptography. As a "proseminar" it also aims at strengthening the ability to understand scientific material, to present it in a comprehensible fashion - both orally and in written form, and to discuss scientific questions that arise in the course of a presentation. As an added feature, students will learn to do this in English.
The course is limited to 12 students (no exceptions!). Larger numbers will limit the intended learning effect.
Structure of the course
- The first half of the course aims at training basic skills such as understanding structure and content of scientific material and lectures, writing scientific documents, preparing an oral presentation, as well as leading and participating in a scientific discussion. For this purpose we will use general reading materials, video presentations, and the introductory chapter of the book Douglas R. Stinson. Cryptography: Theory and Practice. Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2002.
-
In the second half of the course, students will be expected
to give a brief presentation (15-25 minutes) of a topic
selected from the later chapters of the book, to lead a
scientific discussion after the talk, and to write a 5-7 page
summary that includes the results of the discussion.
Some guidelines can be found in Ian Parberrys "Speakers Guide for theoretical computer science" - All participants will be expected to have read the text before the presentation and to actively participate in the discussions.
- The dates and topics of these presentations depend on the actual number of participants and will be determined during the first few weeks.
- The course will be taught in cooperation with Wolfgang Lüer (Sprachenzentrum). As the course language is English, participants need some level of proficiency in the English language. Participants must take the English proficiency test offered by the Sprachenzentrum and to achieve about 60-80%. Students who achieve less than 60% are recommended to take one of the basic English courses before trying again.
- Since many cryptographic algorithms and protocols rely on (the assumed difficulty of) arithmetical problems, basic skills in mathematics, in particular algebra and arithmetics, will be useful.
- The proseminar language will be English!
- All organizational details will be discussed on April 19.
Slides
| Date: | Subject: | Speaker: | Slides: |
|---|---|---|---|
| date | subject | Speaker | (not yet) |
