Course Organization and Policies

Assignments and Grading

The course will consist of five homework assignments. Each homework is worth 15% of your final grade for a total of 75%. There will additionally be a take-home midterm that is worth 25% of your overall grade. There is no final exam. Final letter grade cutoffs will be determined based on the distribution of scores (i.e., the class is graded on a curve).

Textbook

There is no required textbook for this class. Optional supplementary readings will be taken from A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography by Dan Boneh and Victor Shoup as well as technical papers (see syllabus for more details).

Homework

There are 5 homework assignments in this course: 4 written assignments (HW1, HW3, HW4, and HW5) and 1 programming assignment (HW2). Some of the written assignments may include a small programming component. For the written assignments, you must use LaTeX to typeset the written homework assignments using the provided template. All homework assignments are due at 5pm on Wednesday of their respective week.

Homework submission: Submission instructions will be described at the top of each homework assignment. In general, assignments will be submitted via Gradescope (use course code MB84NW to sign up).

Late submissions: You get three “late days” in total during the semester. You may use a late day to submit a homework assignment after the deadline. You can use at most three late days for any single assignment, and you may only use late days in one-day increments (no partial late days).

If you submit an assignment more than 72 hours after the deadline, or if you submit an assignment late after running out of late days, you will receive no credit for the submission. Please submit your assignments on time and save your late days for extraordinary situations.

Collaboration Policy

You are encouraged to discuss the homework problems with other students in the course. However, you must write up all of your solutions independently. Your discussions should be limited to a high-level discussion of ideas and should never involve activities such as direct sharing of answers, developing detailed solutions to homework questions, or writing pseudocode (or actual code) on a whiteboard. You may not share any written notes or documents (for instance, sharing Overleaf or Google Docs is not allowed). Any solution that share similar text or code will be considered in breach of this policy. You must list the computing IDs of all of your collaborators when submitting your homework.

Please do not seek published or online solutions for any assignment or exam. Any submission that is similar to a published solution or one found online will also be considered in breach of this policy (regardless of whether you cited the solution or not). If you use any published or online resources (these must not include solutions), you must cite them.

The midterm is an individual assignment and no collaboration is allowed.

Note that it is a violation of this policy to submit a solution that you are unable to explain orally to a member of the course staff. We reserve the right to spot-check for this requirement on both the homework assignments and on the midterm.

Assignments or exams where a violation of this policy occured will automatically receive a zero grade for the entire assignment or exam. Additional penalties such as receiving a full letter-grade penalty on the course grade, receiving a zero grade in the entire course, or submitting a case to the Honor Committee will also be determined at the discretion of the instructor.

Students with Disabilities or Learning Needs

It is my goal to create a learning experience that is as accessible as possible. If you anticipate any issues related to the format, materials, or requirements of this course, please meet with me outside of class so we can explore potential options. Students with disabilities may also wish to work with the Student Disability Access Center to discuss a range of options to removing barriers in this course, including official accommodations. Please visit their website for information on this process and to apply for services online. If you have already been approved for accommodations through SDAC, please send me your accommodation letter and meet with me so we can develop an implementation plan together.

Discrimination and Power-Based Violence

The University of Virginia is dedicated to providing a safe and equitable learning environment for all students. To that end, it is vital that you know two values that I and the University hold as critically important:

Power-based personal violence will not be tolerated.
Everyone has a responsibility to do their part to maintain a safe community on Grounds.

If you or someone you know has been affected by power-based personal violence, more information can be found on the UVA Sexual Violence website that describes reporting options and resources.

As your professor and as a person, know that I care about you and your well-being and stand ready to provide support and resources as I can. As a faculty member, I am a responsible employee, which means that I am required by University policy and federal law to report what you tell me to the University's Title IX Coordinator. The Title IX Coordinator's job is to ensure that the reporting student receives the resources and support that they need, while also reviewing the information presented to determine whether further action is necessary to ensure survivor safety and the safety of the University community. If you wish to report something that you have seen, you can do so via the Just Report It portal. The worst possible situation would be for you or your friend to remain silent when there are so many here willing and able to help.

Religious Accomodation

It is the University's long-standing policy and practice to reasonably accommodate students so that they do not experience an adverse academic consequence when sincerely held religious beliefs or observances conflict with academic requirements. Students who wish to request academic accommodation for a religious observance should submit their request in writing directly to me by email as far in advance as possible. Students who have questions or concerns about academic accommodations for religious observance or religious beliefs may contact the University’s Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR) at uvaeocr@virginia.edu or 434-924-3200.