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Latest revision as of 06:25, 12 June 2015

Me munching on a burger at Oscar's Pub & Grill

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
a trolley tour of Winona

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
in a garden before the cruise

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