Assignments Fall 2026
Homework
- HW1: Thinking like an Election Official (available Friday, Sep. 25) – due Friday, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m.
- HW2: Risk-Limiting Audits (available Friday, Oct. 9) – due Friday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m.
- HW3: Flawed Ballot Randomization (available Friday, Oct. 23) – due Friday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.
Project
The focus of your work this semester will be a group-based research project on an assigned technical or tech-policy topic related to election cybersecurity. Each topic will be designed so that it could eventually result in published research or a production-ready tool, but we don’t expect you to get to that point this semester! Your goal is to have promising initial results or a working proof-of-concept.
- Oct. 9 — Topics available. We’ll post a list of project topics, each intended for a group of 2–4 students. Many will assume background knowledge in programming, security, cryptography, networking, etc. All topics will be flexible; if you find a better approach or an interesting related question, we can adjust the project as appropriate. If you have a different idea that you want to propose, we will be happy to discuss it.
- Oct. 16 — Preferences due at 6 p.m. Everyone should send us a ranked list of your top 5 topics. If you have a partner or team in mind, let us know, and we’ll try to honor your preferences; otherwise, we’ll group you with others who want to work on the same topic. If you have particularly relevant background or experience, let us know that too. We’ll assign everyone a topic and group before the end of fall break.
- Nov. 20 — Checkpoint due at 6 p.m. Each group should send us a one-page writeup summarizing your progress so far. Describe what you’ve accomplished, any unexpected challenges, and your plan going forward. In addition, please arrange to meet with one of us before Thanksgiving break to discuss your progress.
- Dec. 11 — In-class presentations. During our final class session, each group will give a ~12 minute presentation about their findings. This will be an opportunity to showcase what you accomplished and for all of us to provide feedback. We encourage you to use slides and suggest dividing the time so that everyone in the group has a chance to speak.
- Dec. 14 — Final reports due at 6 p.m. Each group should submit a written report (in the style of a research paper) documenting their process and results. Follow the report specification. Reports will be graded together with your checkpoint, in-class presentation, and any other data or artifacts your group has created.
Lateness
Assigned work is due at the dates and times listed above. We strongly recommend that you get started early. Late submissions will be penalized by 10% of the maximum attainable score, plus an additional 10% every 4 hours until received. The instructors may grant individual extensions, but only under extraordinary circumstances.
Collaboration
The material you (and any partner) turn in must be entirely your own work, and you are bound by the Honor Code.
Cheating or unacceptable collaboration will be reported to the Engineering Honor Council. Except as explicitly stated in the assignments, you are not allowed to give or accept solutions or hints to the assigned problems, whether from someone else or from an AI. Unacceptable collaboration includes the knowing exposure of your own solutions or the use of someone else’s solutions, whether in whole or in part. You are expected to exercise reasonable precautions to keep your solutions confidential, including not making your project code public during or after the course.
At the same time, we encourage students to help each other learn the course material. As in most courses, there is a boundary separating these two situations. You may give or receive help on any of the concepts covered in lecture. You are allowed to consult with other students about the conceptualization of a project, or the general approach for solving problems. However, all work, whether in scrap or final form, must be done by you (or your project teammate where applicable).
If you have any questions as to what constitutes unacceptable collaboration or cheating, please talk to an instructor right away.