User:Ekehr
From REU@MU
Me munching on a burger at Oscar's Pub & Grill
Contents
Personal Info
Elias Kehr is a Math major in the MSCS REU program. His research focus is on applications of game theory to security.
Milestones & Goals
Week 1
- Review past projects done in this area by Rutgers students
- Meet with mentor on Tuesday and Thursday
- Attend talk on Thursday regarding good research practices
- Post milestones and goals to REU Wiki
- Write accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 2
- Travel to Winona State University for a Command, Control, and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA)-sponsored workshop on Game Theory and Security
- Work all day every day for six days in the workshop; determine
- Specific topic for REU
- Scope of topic, as well as possible directions of research
- Think of expansion into an education module
- Create a presentation for the end of the workshop
- Write experiences in the REU Wiki
- Meet with mentor all week
Week 3
- Attend talk on presentations and papers on Tuesday
- Meet with mentor on Tuesday and Thursday
- Begin researching background information
- Game theory
- Utility Theory
- Environmental facts
- International relations
- Previous work done in these areas
- Make list of viable resources
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 4
- Meet with mentor Tuesday and Thursday
- Complete list of quality resources
- Continue background research
- Outline for next week’s presentation to mentor by Thursday—discuss on that day
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 5
- Attend and present at mini presentations on Tuesday
- Meet with mentor on Tuesday
- Start writing up background information
- Begin creating utility functions and testing them
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 6
- Attend talk on Tuesday regarding poster creation
- Vacation day on July 4th
- Continue with write up, research, and education module
- Meet with mentor on Tuesday
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 7
- Continue refining utility functions, recording changes made
- Test using previous data
- Should have working utility function by the end of the week
- Meet with mentor Tuesday and Thursday
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 8
- Use utility function to run analysis
- Do various tests
- Record results
- Have draft of poster (very drafty is fine) by Thursday
- Continue with write up of paper
- Outline for remainder of paper
- Meet with mentor Tuesday and Thursday
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 9 (mentor out of state)
- Proposed poster in electronic form emailed to mentor by Monday at noon; response back from mentor no later than 6 PM Monday
- Final version of poster due Wednesday—email electronic copy (pdf form is good) to Dennis
- Outline for final talk emailed to mentor by Friday; response back from mentor no later than Saturday evening
- Contact Mentor about any concerns
- Write up accomplishments in REU Wiki
Week 10
- Slides for final talk emailed to mentor by Tuesday 6 PM (they may not be completely done yet, but should be getting close)
- Meet with mentor on Tuesday
- Poster session on Tuesday
- Redo and/or complete slides for Thursday’s talk
- Draft of paper to mentor on Wednesday
- Final form of paper emailed to mentor and Dennis by 11:59 PM Friday
Work Log
Week 1, So it begins
Tuesday, May 29
- Orientation
Wednesday, May 30
- Intro to Raynor Library and the resources within
- Read three papers that applied game theory and graph theory to real-life situations
- Discussed aforementioned articles with Matthias
Thursday, May 31
- Reviewed the papers in the morning
- Lunch meeting on good research practices
- Met with Dr. Factor
- Summarized articles
- Made plans for the weekend
Week 2, Minnesotans, eh?
Sunday, June 3
- Drove to CCICADA Reconnect conference at Winona State
- Attended a meet & greet dinner with colleagues
Monday, June 4
- Attended a series of lectures on Game Theory
- Completed homework
- Attempted to solve each homework problem
- Prepared to present our findings the next day
- Ate dinner with the vice president of Winona State
Tuesday, June 5
- Reviewed homework in the morning (presented and threw-down)
- Participated in lectures on diverse topics
- Different equilibrium
- Sequential games
- Worked on homework
- Took trolley tour of Winona, MN
Wednesday, June 6
- Checked homework in the morning
- Listened to lectures in the morning and afternoon
- On practical applications of game theory
- On auctions (with a focus on statistical analysis)
- chose research topic with Matthias
- Elias: progression of policies
- Matthias: a community's motivation to limit their consumption of natural resources
- Went on a river cruise in the evening
Thursday, June 7
- Reviewed homework from the previous night
- Attended a few lectures, which covered:
- Economic games - duopolies, monetary policy (speaker: Midge Cozzens)
- More auction games (game theory) (speaker: Aaron Jaggard)
- The internet (speaker: Aaron Jaggard)
- Worked on research
- Narrowed research topic with Matthias
- Discussed research topic with Dr. Factor
Friday, June 8
- Paid-attention to morning lectures on the history and projects from The Department of Homeland Security (speaker: Vicki M. Bier)
- During lunch, talked with Dr. Kim Factor about research - exceedingly encouraging and helpful!
- finalized PowerPoint presentation for Saturday morning
- wrote an outline and agenda document, which depicts particular aspects of my upcoming research
Saturday, June 9
- Listened to four groups present their possible topics for creating modules and targeting research
- Presented with Matthias to faculty members about Game Theory and an application to modify environmental concern
- Rode back to Marquette; Dr. Kim Factor drove - Muchas gracias, Kim!
Week 3, Hitting the Books
Monday, June 11
- Went to Raynor Library
- Picked up forms for authorization to check out books
- Compiled a list of potential good sources to read once said authorization goes through
- Found an electronic source to begin reading
Tuesday, June 12
- Set up Marquette wireless accounts
- Met with Dr. Kim Factor and Matthias to discuss milestones and goals
- Finished forms for checking out books
- Attended a talk on good presentation and writing skills
- Updated milestones & goals
- Began reading the book on mathematical challenges for sustainability issues
Wednesday, June 13
- Exiled self to library for the entire day
- Amassed a large pile of books to read
- Finished the sustainability book
- Began reading Game Theory: A non-technical introduction
- Passed resolution to call Memorial Library "the crypt" because:
- It is dreary
- It is as silent as the grave
- Checked out some books for overnight reading
- Passed another resolution to learn to read faster
Thursday, June 14
- Woke early and biked to the bluffs above the beach to read about game theory
- Attended working lunch
- Read more about game theory and utility functions
Friday, June 15
- More reading
Week 4, Changing topics
Monday, June 18
- Returned to The Crypt to get more sources
- Contacted Elisabeth Kemajou about obtaining more sources
- Read more
- Began exploring online sources further
- Searched for previous work on my topic
- Spent a long time trying to find free copies of articles
Tuesday, June 19
- Received sources from Elisabeth in the morning
- Read more on previous work in the field
- Finally found some free copies
- Realized my topic had already been explored beyond what I could do
- Met with Dr. Kim Factor and Matthias around midday
- Discussed finding sources
- Talked about next week's presentations
- Discussed a topic change
- Decided to change my research focus to whether consumers should buy gas, electric, or hybrid vehicles
- Began scouting online sources for information
Wednesday, June 20
- Attended a TeX tutorial led by Dr. Corliss in the morning
- Spent the rest of the day trying to find previous work around my research topic
- I was focused on game theoretic analysis
- There has not been any (that I could find)
- Began outlining what a payoff matrix might look like, who players might be, and factors that would affect utility
Thursday, June 21
- Continued outlining what my game might look like
- Met with Dr. Kim Factor
- Further discussed my changed topic
- Received advice for Tuesday's presentations
- Learned more about critiquing that will be happening on Tuesday
- Decided outline of talk should be due by the end of the day
- Had a working lunch
- Went over presentation expectations for next week
- Listened to a talk on (1, 2)-step domination graphs and the food chain given by Dr. Kim Factor
- Looked for sources to figure out who should be my second player
- Created outline for presentation
Friday, June 22
- Began to organize further for presentation next week
- Downloaded some of the LaTeX materials
- Read resources looking for quotes or what I might like to reference
Week 5, Talk the Talk
Monday, June 25
- Downloaded the rest of the LaTeX materials
- Looked at multiple internet tutorials
- Downloaded Texmaker and Texstudio
- Tinkered with aforementioned materials (never got them to work)
- Created powerpoint presentation for informal talk
- Worked a bit with Matthias to make sure our background information would cover all we needed to say
Tuesday, June 26
- Woke up early to put finishing touches on powerpoint
- Printed out slides and made speaking notes
- Rehearsed talk in my head (and under my breath)
- Participated in informal talks
- Gave my own 9-minute talk
- Critiqued others' talks
- Ate potbelly
- Met with Kim to make plans for the next week
Wednesday, June 27
- Searched for previous research using game theory to similar applications
- Not applications to car production necessarily
- Applications related to supply demand
- Searched for consumer preferences in cars and tax information
Thursday, June 28
- Watched some online lectures on applications of game theory
- Searched and read about consumer preferences of cars
Friday, June 29
- More of the same
- Searching for preferences
- Trying to find previous work in the field (some interesting utility information)
- Tinkered with LaTeX a little bit (and got nothing done with it)
- Attended a talk on domain-specific languages
- Brief reception
- Actual talk
- Discussion in the lounge afterward
Week 6, Utility Week
Monday, July 2
- Again, about the same stuff
- Began whittling down which utilities I will focus on
Tuesday, July 3
- Returned to the crypt
- Looked for sources again
- Continued to prioritize different aspects of utility
- Attended afternoon talk on good posters
- Picked out least favorite poster on the third floor
Wednesday, July 4
- Most of the day off
- Worked some in the evening on prioritizing utility and looking for surveys
Thursday, July 5
- Finalized prioritization
- Continued looking for resources on consumer preferences
- Attended working lunch
- Met with Dr. Kim Factor and made goals for next Tuesday
- Example utility function
- Write introduction to topic
- Create bibliography of resources used
Friday, July 6
- Messed around with TeXmaker and TeXstudio again for a while
- Had DW and Teddy help me attempt to resolve my issue
- Decided it was not worth the bother
- Downloaded LyX instead (took a long time to install)
- Started writing introduction to my topic
Week 7
Monday, July 9
- Went through full LyX introduction and tutorial
- Began formatting my paper in LyX
- Created reference list
- Came up with utility function
- Continued work on the introduction to my topic
Tuesday, July 10
- Finished up with introduction and the like
- Prepared for meeting with Kim
- Met with Kim; prepared a list of goals for next time
- Do an introduction for game theory
- Create an abstract
- Make ranges for utility function
- Worked on introduction near the end
Wednesday, July 11
- Worked on aforementioned goals
- Went to the library briefly
- Searched for some more resources to put actual values to utilities
Thursday, July 12
- Finished up introductions and ranges
- Ran into issue with citation
- Decided to delete in-text citation (for now)
- Had working lunch
- Listen to talk given by Dennis Brylow
- Ate meal catered by Panera
- Met with Kim and made new goals
- Update payoff matrix
- Figure out graphics in LaTeX/LyX
- Have an actual test case for the utility function
- Tried to figure out citations
Friday, July 13
- Started working with graphics in LyX
- Decided to use tables for payoff matrices
- This was a bad decision made for simplicity
- I am going to use graphics that actually look nice
- Worked on coming up with final payoff matrix
Week 8
Monday, July 16
- Thought more about final payoff matrix
- Began writing a java program to maximize profit
