Project: Milestone 1 Instructions

Use NIPS format: https://nips.cc/Conferences/2017/PaperInformation/StyleFiles

Broadly, the writeup for this milestone should tell us what you are planning to do for the project. Typical projects do one of the following things:
- Design a novel optimization method for an existing problem of some importance.
- Give a novel theoretical proof that an existing optimization method works.
- Implement a known method and show that it works practically (possibly in a new setting/regime that has not been considered before).

The writeup should meet the following criteria:
- It should have the project title and andrew IDs of the team members.
- It should have a good introduction and background material, typically covering 2-4 peer-reviewed papers.
- It should mention why the problem is important and/or challenging. Abstract is not required.
- It should state as clearly as possible what you wish to accomplish by the second milestone and by the end of the project.
- It should be limited to 2 pages, excluding references, and should be in NIPS 2017 style.

Email one copy per project to the TAs.

Grading breakdown: introduction (40%), clear problem statement (40%), writing (20%).