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You can learn more about the AI Security and Risk Association by clicking here.

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Everything you need to know about what a second cohort looks like, followed by the interest form. (On your phone right now? This form only takes about five minutes, or you can grab the link from the home page to fill out later.)

Before you register interest

What the sprint requires, and the fastest way to get it. Two of these are hard requirements for the cohort, one is strongly preferred, and the rest you can pick up between now and Spring. You don't have to have all of these finished today to fill out the interest form, but you do need to be honest about where you are right now—and what you'll have done by Spring.

Level Topic What counts, and where to get it
Required Linear algebra MAS 3114 or MAS 4105, or the equivalent. Refresher on what a matrix actually does: 3Blue1Brown.
Required Calculus I to III MAC 2311, 2312 and 2313, or the equivalent. Gradients and the chain rule come up in every chapter. Refresher: 3Blue1Brown.
Preferred Fundamentals of Machine Learning EEE 4773 (undergrad) or EEL 5840 (grad), taken or in progress. Or the equivalent from elsewhere: you know gradient descent, overfitting and regularization, and you've trained at least a simple model. Self-study: 3Blue1Brown's neural networks, then Karpathy's Zero to Hero.
Get up to speed Python Functions, loops, lists and dicts, reading other people's code. Rusty? CS50P.
Get up to speed PyTorch Tensors and einops, in ARENA's own warm-up exercises: ARENA Chapter 0.

Want the long version? Neel Nanda's barebones guide to the prerequisites is the standard checklist.

How Cohort 2 works & timeline

Small by design. Following our first cohort, we are gauging demand to see if we have the right group to run a second cohort in Spring 2027. When we finalize the cohort, we select for motivation, the technical base above, and schedule compatibility. We would rather run six people who finish than twenty who fade.

  1. Register your interest below. Takes about five minutes. Tell us what coursework you've done (or are finishing this Fall), where your coding is at, and why you want to work through ARENA.
  2. We review responses and follow up. A real person reads every submission. If you're still building up one of the prerequisites this semester or over winter break, we'll point you toward exact resources to bridge the gap before Spring.
  3. A short conversation. Once we confirm Spring dates, we'll invite prospective cohort members for a quick twenty-minute chat—no whiteboard. We want to know why you're doing this and make sure the weekly time commitment fits your Spring schedule.
  4. Final roster, then kickoff. The twice-weekly sprint schedule is set together with the people who are in.

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Why fill this out now? Whether and how we run Cohort 2 in the Spring depends directly on who is interested right now. When we finalize seats for the Spring sprint, we will reach out to people on this interest list first. Don't wait until your prerequisites feel "perfect"—tell us where you're at today.

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Questions