An Introduction and Orientation to Faculty

Projects & InterestsDepartment of Computing Sciences

September 19, 2011

Faculty are full-time and part-time members Interests range from theoretical foundations

to practical applications Some research is sponsored – funding for

assistantships sometimes available Actively seeking external sponsorship and

partnership Interdisciplinary research promoted

Overview

LIKES (Beck) Ensemble (Cassel) Distributed Expertise (Cassel, Way) Proximity Structures (Damian) SHAPE (Gehlot, Way) ViCS: The Sequel (Beck, Klassner) Robotics and Embedded Programming

(Peyton-Jones, Klassner) Databases for Many Majors: A Student-

Centered Approach (Goelman)

Examples of Funded Projects

Grand Challenges of Computing

CSC 9025

CSC 9025 - Replaces old CSC 9020 “Independent Study”

Mandatory for graduate students Conduct independent research under

guidance of a faculty advisor Encouraged to tackle topics in our discipline

that interest you AND your advisor Intended for completion in a single semester Extension to second semester possible Keep your eyes open for interesting topics!

What is the “Grand Challenges of Computing” course?

Research Topics and Projects Sampler

Research Topics (1) Programming languages and systems

control for Mindstorm robots.

Research Topics (2) Contexts for optimum web search

strategies.

Research Topics (3) Algorithm taxonomy: examples from

traditional games.

Research Topics (4) Web site taxonomy and focused design

principles.

Research Topics (5) Packing spheres into an ellipsoid: heuristic

search strategies.

Research Topics (6) Code optimization: 20Kb vs. 20Mb program

space.

Research Topics (6) Non-visual interfaces.

Research Topics (7) Virtual reality in interdisciplinary projects.

Research Topics (8) Web services: development, description,

deployment.

Research Topics (9) Constructing and maintaining wireless

network topologies.

Research Topics (10) Folding and unfolding polyhedra.

Research Topics (11) Programming games and applications for

the Droid, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Dr. Robert BeckProjects

Packing Problems

Pack n equally sized spheres into the unit sphere and calculate the radius of the small spheres as a function of n.

• Alternatively, use an ellipsoid of revolution instead of the unit sphere

• Alternatively, solve the problems in two dimensions

• Use a heuristic approach• Use a genetic algorithm

Program for Website Creation and Evaluation (PCWE)• Funding for non-profit organization website renovation• Requested changes become data• Systematic evaluation against design principles• Automatic measurements

Digital Humanities

A broad topic with many research threads:• Applications of location awareness—guided tours

• Models in social networks—pipelines, agents, transactions• Systems thinking, computational thinking, X thinking• Text as data

Dr. Lillian (Boots) Cassel

Projects

Networks Information Retrieval Digital Libraries Image Management Distributed Expertise (w/ Dr. Way) Recent projects

◦ NSDL◦ Ontology◦ CPATH

Interests and Projects

NSF- Fund and set direction- Outreach & communications to stakeholders

Projects Pathways- Provide resources, - Provide user services, services, research content stewardship

Core Integration - Integrate Projects - Partner with Pathways- Operations- Outreach & communications

Policy Committee NVC- Represent community - Strategic advice- Prioritize issues with CI to NSF and CI

Standing Committees- Content, Evaluation, Sustainability, Technology- Coordinate/engage community

FUND

BUILDADVISE

NSDL

Users- Students, Faculty- K-12- Undergraduate, Graduate- Researchers- Librarians- Anyone interested in STEM

Stakeholders

Resources, Services

Feedback, AskNSDL, Annotations

Standards, Services

Resources, Services

Information

Feedback, Funds

Contributors- Publishers- Universities- Libraries & Museums- Government- Corporations- Anyone interested in DLs

Sponsors/Funders- Government / Legislative- Corporations- Foundations- Anyone interested in NSDL

NSDL overview

Ensemble The Pathway for Computing Education Broadening the role to encompass all that a

modern library is◦ Repository◦ Preservation center◦ Meeting place for project teams◦ Place to think, explore ideas, browse …

The Components and the Issues Fedora repository Drupal front end Federated search Group work support Merged calendars Fine grained access More…

The Computing Ontology A comprehensive representation of all

of the computing discipline(s) All relevant terms and the relationships

between and among them Applications

◦Curriculum development◦Curriculum description◦Research classification◦Browsing the field as a whole

An example of a small section of the ontology for use in demonstrating the place of “hashing” in many areas of computing.

Dr. Mirela DamianProjects

Research TopicsMirela Damian

Research Area: Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

A

B

A

B

Topology

Control

Omnidirectional

Topology Control: reduce overall power consumption and interference while maintaining network connectivity.

Research TopicsMirela Damian

Research Topic: Smart Antennas

A

B

A

B

Topology

Control

Directional

Energy proportional to the area covered.Benefits: reduced interference, reduced energy consumption.

Dr. James DulleaProjects

Information Management Data Modeling Data Warehousing Data Mining Information Metrics

Interests and Projects

Dr. William Fleischman

Projects

Electronic Voting Machines How is it that five software engineering

teams, working independently for five companies, ‘conspired’ to produce, in every case, electronic voting devices that are uniformly prone to malfunction and vulnerable to malicious attack?

Is this a technology that we really need? Or is it a solution to a non-existent problem?

Outreach Activities Since 1998, we have maintained a collaboration

with students and teachers at Julia de Burgos Elementary School in North Philadelphia

Designed to redress some of the obstacles to learning new technologies affecting children from low income neighborhoods

This involvement began with Lance Rougeux, a 1998 graduate and alumnus of my first Ethical Issues class, who began his career as a 6th grade teacher at Julia de Burgos

Lance Rougeux

Dr. Vijay GehlotProjects

SYSTEMS MODELING, SIMULATION, AND ANALYSISVijay Gehlot

Blood Samples Typing/Matching

Blood Samples: Modeling/Computer Science View

Before:[([1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96],[])]

After:[([62],[]),([69],[]),([73],[]),([80],[]),([88],[]),([2],[]),([4],[]),([6],[]),([9],[]),([11],[]),([15],[]),([20],[]),([22],[]),([24],[]),([25],[]),([26],[]),([32],[]),([34],[]),([37],[]),([38],[]),([39],[]),([42],[]),([94],[(4,[11,12])]),([95],[(4,[11])]),([96],[(4,[11])]),([84],[(4,[11])]),([83],[(4,[11,12])]),([82],[(4,[12])]),([81],[(4,[12])]),([79],[(4,[11,12])]),([78],[(4,[11])]),([77],[(4,[11])]),([76],[(4,[11])]),([65],[(4,[10,12])]),([64],[(4,[12])]),([63],[(4,[12])]),([61],[(4,[11,12])]),([60],[(4,[12])]),([59],[(4,[11,12])]),([58],[(4,[12])]),([57],[(4,[11])]),([93],[(4,[11])]),([92],[(4,[11])]),([91],[(4,[11])]),([90],[(4,[11])]),([89],[(4,[11,12])]),([87],[(4,[11,12])]),([86],[(4,[11,12])]),([85],[(4,[12])]),([75],[(4,[12])]),([74],[(4,[12])]),([72],[(4,[10])]),([71],[(4,[12])]),([70],[(4,[11,12])]),([68],[(4,[11,12])]),([67],[(4,[11,12])]),([66],[(4,[12])]),([27],[(4,[11,12])]),([23],[(4,[12])]),([21],[(4,[12])]),([19],[(4,[11,12])]),([18],[(4,[12])]),([17],[(4,[11])]),([16],[(4,[11])]),([14],[(4,[12])]),([40],[(4,[11])]),([36],[(4,[11])]),([35],[(4,[11,12])]),([33],[(4,[12])]),([31],[(4,[12])]),([30],[(4,[11])]),([29],[(4,[11])]),([28],[(4,[11])]),([41],[(4,[12])]),([43],[(4,[12])]),([44],[(4,[11,12])]),([53],[(4,[12])]),([54],[(4,[12])]),([55],[(4,[11])]),([56],[(4,[12])]),([13],[(4,[12])]),([12],[(4,[11,12])]),([10],[(4,[12])]),([8],[(4,[11])]),([7],[(4,[11,12])]),([5],[(4,[11])]),([3],[(4,[12])]),([1],[(4,[11,12])]),([45],[(4,[11,12])]),([46],[(4,[11])]),([47],[(3,[9])]),([48],[(4,[11,12])]),([49],[(4,[11,12])]),([50],[(4,[11,12])]),([51],[]),([52],[(3,[9]),(4,[12])])]

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Tools and Techniques

Dr. Don GoelmanProjects

Collaborative research with Prof. S. Dietrich, Arizona State University

Calendar: March, 2010 – February, 2012 Curriculum development for database

education to diverse majors Software development: two animations

◦ Advantages of (normalized) database technology over loser (I mean non-normalized) alternatives

◦ Introduction to querying

Funded Project (NSF DUE): Databases for Many Majors

Technical issues◦ Programming in FLASH/FLEX◦ Customization of the animations to majors

Driven by producers (Goelman/Dietrich) and consumers

XML-based Rollout of animations at workshop at CCSCE Home page:

http://databasesmanymajors.faculty.asu.edu/

Databases for Many Majors (continued)

Databases: conceptual modeling Databases: schema integration Databases: XML for non-majors Current Independent Studies

◦ Suseel Baldwa: Object-Relational Databases◦ Keerthi Chiluka: Distributed Database Systems◦ Satvik Mandava: Spring-MVC Framework◦ Krishna Nallamothu: Business Intelligence and

Data Warehousing◦ Ramya Numboori: NOSQL Data Stores

Other Interests and Projects

Prof. Catherine Helwig

Projects

Develop algorithm visualizations along with mini-tutorials for computer aided instruction in Data Structure and Algorithm classes.

Visualizations as a mini-tutorial with animations portraying different parts of the algorithm.

Sample of five animations of ADT’s (and looking for more) http://www.csc.villanova.edu/~helwig/index1.html

Graph algorithms at http://algoviz.org/fieldreports AlgoViz.org is supported by the National Science

Foundation under a grant

Algorithm Visualizations for Teaching and Learning

J2 Micro Edition (J2ME) which is the version of the Java 2.1 platform that is designed for use with smaller devices such as PDA’s, mobile phones etc.

Since the size of small devices varies greatly, there are two profiles provided by the J2ME. The first,CLDC configuration , has a unique profile for Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP toolkit).

Lab for Data Structures and Algorithms III developing a small app for the Blackberry.

Developing applications (games) on Mobile Phones and Small Devices

Dr. Giorgi JaparidzeProjects

Computational Theory Artificial Intelligence Logic Projects

◦ Computability Logic◦ Interactive Computation

Interests and Projects

Dr. Daniel JoyceProjects

Interests and Projects Department Web Team Lead Programming Team Coach Graduate Independent Study / Grand Challenges Coordinator

◦ http://csc.villanova.edu/academics/gradIS Teaching Senior Projects Course

◦ http://www.csc.villanova.edu/~joyce/csc4790/f11/index.html Research Interests

◦ Software development/engineering◦ Web programming◦ Security◦ Computer Science Education

Project Ideas◦ Collecting and analyzing data related to the software development process◦ Report on the use of a new technology to create a system, perhaps comparing it

to use of a different technology◦ Investigating the status of the “good guys” vs “bad guys” situation in computer

security◦ Classifying “classes” based on the signatures of their methods ...◦ What “types” of learners learn X best when approach Y is used

Dr. Frank KlassnerProjects

Web-Based Software Systems Artificial Intelligence Signal Processing Robotics iPhone Applications Virtual Reality

Interests and Projects

Dr. Anany LevitinProjects

Anany LevitinAlgorithm design techniques are general strategies for

algorithmic problem solving (e.g., divide-and-conquer, decrease-and-conquer, greedy, etc.)

paramount for designing algorithms for new problems provide a framework for classifying algorithms by design idea

Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles that requires design or analysis of an algorithm

illustrate algorithm design and analysis techniques as general problem solving tools (computational thinking)

some puzzles pose interesting and still unanswered questions entertainment technical job interviews

Anany Levitin (cont.)

Algorithm design techniques projects thinking backward; design by cases how to solve it (G. Polya) vs.

how to solve it by an algorithm

Algorithmic puzzles projects a few specific puzzles (research and visualization) taxonomies of algorithmic puzzles

63

Dr. Paula MatuszekProjects

Artificial Intelligence◦ knowledge-based systems◦ ontologies and the semantic web◦ knowledge capture and sharing◦ machine learning

Natural Language Processing/Text Mining◦ Computer understanding of natural (human)

languages◦ Finding, extracting, summarizing, visualizing

information from unstructured text

Interests and Projects

Prof. Najib NadiProjects

Systems Programming Systems Administration

◦ Linux◦ Solaris◦ Mac OS X

Web Application Development Current projects:

◦ Systems setup for upcoming programming contest◦ IBM ThinkPad Linux configuration for cityteam ministries◦ Thin Client performance analysis◦ VU community Dropbox

Interests and Projects

Dr. Mary-Angela Papalaskari

Projects

Artificial Intelligence: - Augmented reality - Conversational agents - Reasoning with incomplete information  - Neural nets - Computer Vision

Computer Science Education: - Teaching and learning computer science through service to the community - Computing for non-CS majors - Computer science through media computation - PACSE: Philadelphia Area Computer Science Educators

Interests and Projects

Dr. James SolderitschProjects

Cyber Security◦ Adaptive Network Defense◦ Data Protection and Privacy◦ Security within the Smart Grid◦ Ethical Hacking

Modeling and Simulation◦ Software Architectures as Executable Models◦ Security Modeling for Service Oriented

Architectures◦ Discrete Event Simulation

Interests and Projects

Dr. Thomas WayProjects

Collaboration when expertise is distributed

Develop an interactive interface to the computing ontology to support this work

Host workshops to develop, collaborate, and disseminate this work

CPATH: Distributed Expertise

Faculty A Faculty B

Expert

FacilitatorRemote expert is A

Remote expert is BCooperating experts

Department of Computing Sciences 73

ACT Lab Research GroupsApplied Computing Technology Laboratory

Director of Research

Dr. Tom Way

Com. Sci.

Education

High Perf.

Computing

Rehab. Engineeri

ng

Simulation & Tools

Information

Fluency

Databases

Other Groups..

.

Nanotech

Department of Computing Sciences 74

Active Projects Distributed Expertise learning modules (CS Ed) Internet Perception Analysis (AI) Tremor Filtering Wii Pointer (Rehab Engr) Green Computing (Green Comp.) Nanocompilers & Nanocomputers (Nanotech) SNITCH plagiarism analyzer (Sim & Tools) Using Magic to Teach CS (CS Education) Speech Recog. for note-taking (Rehab Engr) Info. literacy using science satire (Info. Fluency) ACT Lab (CS Education)

Department of Computing Sciences 75

Back-burner Projects Underrepresentation of advantaged

women in Computer Science (CS Educ) Talking picture frame (Entert. Tech) Internet safety for parents (Info. Fluency) Automatic image description (Rehab. Engr.) Many other ideas

actlab.csc.villanova.edu

Prof. Barbara Zimmerman

Projects

• Software Project Management • Web Design• Database Systems• Inter-discipline applications of database

- Manchester Mummy project - Egypt- Alaska- South America

Current Interest

DRA ABU el-NAGA – Thebes, Egypt

St. Lawrence Island mummy

THE CHURCH – 400AD

Flow from Mummy to Slides

Current Graduate Students – Villanova University

• Sukeerthi Shaga• Pavitra Kaveri Ramnath