Project Proposal Guide
We are now accepting project proposals for Engineering and Infrastructure Project Lead roles. If
you would like to become a Project Lead with UTMIST, work with a team of developers, and
present your project at various internal and external showcase & conference events, this
opportunity is for you!
The deadline for submission of project proposals is August 16th and the proposal can be
submitted through our recruitment form here. If you have any questions, you can message us in
the #recruitment-faqs in our discord or e-mail us at utmist@studentorg.utoronto.ca.
What we Look for from a proposal
Both Engineering and Infrastructure proposals require you to demonstrate the following:
● Ability to identify clear goals and motivations for your project
● Understanding of where to find resources for help
● Understanding of how you will measure the success of your project
● Ability to create realistic subgoals breaking down how the project will progress
For Engineering proposals some additional knowledge that you should also demonstrate:
● At least a rough understanding of the model architecture you plan on using, or can at
least use as a starting point
● Awareness of at least one dataset you can use to train your model
Proposal Outline
For proposal format details and expectations, see the following:
1. Abstract
● What is the core problem your project will attempt to solve?
● Why are you trying to attempt this problem?
● What is the current precedent (if any) that attempts to tackle the problem?
● What is the solution/end product that you would like to try to create as part of the
project?
● What value does your project provide to either UTMIST, UofT, or the broader field of
ML/AI?
● If your solution works well, what is its expected impact?
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2. List of Resources
● Discuss (and preferably link) any datasets/code bases that will be used in the project
● Discuss any articles or papers that are used to guide the technical aspect of the solution
● Discuss any technologies used to implement the solution, whether languages or
hardware
● Discuss any needs for advisors or mentoring for any aspect of the project
3. Summary of Specific Goals
● Create a timeline composed of sub-goals for different stages of the project
● For each subgoal, briefly discuss the steps that go into them
● Identify metrics or key indicators that signify that the project has been successfully
completed?
4. Expectations for Teammates & Advising
● What are the qualities you look for in good project developers?
● What are the technical skills you look for in good project developers?
● What is the expected team size for your project?
● What is the time commitment required for project developers?
Example Ideas
Some examples for ideas that are suitable for the scope of a project within these departments
are listed below. Feel free to take an idea if it is interesting to you. If you feel confident taking on
the scope of a project like this, we highly encourage you to apply as a project lead.
● Engineering Project - Fabricating Faces with Flow Matching
(https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.02747)
● ML Software Research - How to incorporate Trace (https://microsoft.github.io/Trace/)
into your next ML Project
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