Department of Computing Sciences
September 28, 2009
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Faculty consists of both full-time and parttime members
Interests range from theoretical foundations
to practical applications
Some research is sponsored
Actively seek external sponsorship and
partnership
Interdisciplinary research promoted
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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)
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CCLI: SOA (Gehlot, Way)
CCLI: Databases (Goelman)
SoCS: Systems Thinking and Conflict
Resolution (Beck, Gehlot, Wang)
CRADA: (Way, Gehlot)
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SBIR w/ SIMIS (Johnny Garcia)
w/ Lockheed (Lindsay Matteo)
w/ Navy (John Lamb)
w/ Army (Eric Clark)
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Programming languages and systems control
for Mindstorm robots.
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Contexts for optimum web search strategies.
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Algorithm taxonomy: examples from
traditional games.
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Web site taxonomy and focused design
principles.
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Packing spheres into an ellipsoid: heuristic
search strategies.
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Code optimization: 20Kb vs. 20Mb program
space.
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Non-visual interfaces.
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Virtual reality in interdisciplinary projects.
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Web services: development, description,
deployment.
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Constructing and maintaining wireless network
topologies.
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Folding and unfolding polyhedra.
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Programming games and applications for the
iPhone and iPod Touch.
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Pathway Modeling
Patient Safety
WaveData
Fusion 2
e
StatusOK
Fusion 1
ALARM_T
e @+ delD()
SendWaveData
a
numD`D(1)
GenAlarm
a
AlarmAndData
ConnectToAP
ALARM_T
AlarmQS
Out
ConnectToAP
ALIST
(a, getCurrTime())
a @+ delA(a)
StatusNOk
ALARMxTIME
(a, t)
[a=a1]
a1::q
ResetAlarm
ResetQR
q
In
Heart Alarm Max Delay
ALIST
35000
30000
25000
Simulation Time Units
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E_T
20000
Non QoS Max Delay
QoS Max Delay
15000
10000
5000
0
1
2
3
4
5
Number of Patients Monitored
6
7
8
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Airborne Networking
N39
N35
N47
45
High
Bandwidth
90 Mb/s
45Ka/KU Band
Position
reporting,
situational
awareness
FIREWALL
PMEI
AeroSat
SWIM
and
AFCA
Projects
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Mesh models of conflict resolution with
models of systems thinking for applications
to
◦ Nation building
◦ Co-opetition in SOA system building
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Examine and model social network strategies
for promoting a cause
◦ Flash mob
◦ Philanthropy
◦ “Pipeline” maintenance
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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
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Strategies for calculating, storing, and
viewing mathematical structures such as:
◦ Finite rings
◦ Small Lie algebras
◦ Lie algebra representations
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Categories of web sites
Design principles for a particular category
Systematic evaluation against design
principles
Automatic measurements
Projects
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Networks
Information Retrieval
Digital Libraries
Image Management
Recent projects
◦ NSDL
◦ Ontology
◦ CPATH
NSDL overview
Stakeholders
Users
- Students, Faculty
- K-12
- Undergraduate, Graduate
- Researchers
- Librarians
- Anyone interested in
STEM
Sponsors/Funders
- Government / Legislative
- Corporations
- Foundations
- Anyone interested in
NSDL
Contributors
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Publishers
Universities
Libraries & Museums
Government
Corporations
Anyone interested in DLs
NSDL
Resources, Services
Feedback,
AskNSDL,
Annotations
NSF
- Fund and set direction
- Outreach & communications to stakeholders
Projects
- Provide resources,
services,
services, research
Pathways
- Provide user
content stewardship
Information
Feedback, Funds
Standards,
Services
Core Integration
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F
U
N
D
Integrate Projects
Partner with Pathways
Operations
Outreach & communications
Policy Committee
- Represent community
- Prioritize issues with CI
NSF and CI
B
U
I
L
D
A
D
V
NVC
I
- Strategic advice
to S
E
Resources, Services
Standing Committees
- Content, Evaluation, Sustainability, Technology
- Coordinate/engage community
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The Pathway for Computing Education
Broadening the role to encompass all that a
modern library is
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Repository
Preservation center
Meeting place for project teams
Place to think, explore ideas, browse …
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Fedora repository
Drupal front end
Federated search
Group work support
Merged calendars
Fine grained access
More…
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A comprehensive representation of all of
the computing discipline(s)
All relevant terms and the relationships
between and among them
Applications
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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.
Projects
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Devices communicate via radio
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No centralized control
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No fixed infrastructure
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Subject to moving
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Limited resources (memory, battery)
Research Topic: Topology Control
a
b
a
b
Topology
Control
Topology Control: reduce overall power consumption and
interference while maintaining network connectivity.
• Conventional antennas are omnidirectional.
• Smart antennas focus the energy in one or
several desired directions:
Active
Beam
Desired
User
Antenna
Array
• Benefits
– Extended communication range
– Reduced interference
Antenna
Array
• New research problems!
– Medium Access Control Protocols
– Topology Control Methods
– Routing Protocols
• An integrated approach for all the above
• Goal: maximize the benefits of smart
antennas
• Modular robots composed of smaller unit
• Go from a source configuration to a target configuration without selfintersection.
Projects
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Next Generation Systems Management
Distributed Systems
Large Environments (> 10K systems)
Virtualization
Java Technologies
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Linux Technologies
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EJB3, JSF, JBPM
Cobbler, Puppet, Func
Open Source Projects
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Automated Java project grading framework
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Open Source (hosted on SourceForge)
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Contributions: Printing, Windows Support, Grader
Repository
Technologies and Process
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Plugin API for project graders
Code review and comments
Subversion, Ant, JUnit
Site: http://codeturtle.noopenblockers.com
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Programming Languages
Teaching Open Source
(teachingopensource.org)
Women in Open Source
Resumes & Interviews
Certifications
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SCJP, SCJD, SCWCD, RHCE
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Blog: http://noopenblockers.com
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Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
E-mail: [email protected]
Freenode: jdob in #jopr, #spacewalk-devel
On Campus
Projects
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Information Management
Data Modeling
Data Warehousing
Data Mining
Information Metrics
Projects
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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?
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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
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The 2005 team of Jessie Byrnes, Tom Huffner, Todd McNeal,
Lauren Pisciotta, and Zack Zweber presented a poster on their
project at ITiCSE 2006 in Bologna
The 2007-2008 “F”-team – Will Matthaeus, Kory Kirk, John
McCoey, Kate Breen, Mujtaba Talebi, George Frank, Paolo
Repole, Agya Adueni, Tom Homsher, Mike Topf, Andrew Burke,
and Alex Hanna – reprised the 2005 Life Expectancy Project
with six eighth grade classes at Julia de Burgos
In Fall 2008, the Villanova Student Chapter of ACM, Minh Kinh
Tran, Casey Burkhardt, John McCoey, A. J. Palkovic, with the
indispensable assistance of Najib Nadi, rehabilitated 12
laptops purchased from Team Children, and conducted a four
weekend course for 12 Julia de Burgos students
Also in 2008, Minh Kinh Tran, Casey Burkhardt, John McCoey
and Najib Nadi restored the JdB mobile computer labs to use
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We’ve received 20 laptops from Villanova, as part
of the rollout of new equipment this past summer
We will repeat last year’s project in Spring 2010,
populating these computers with Open Source
software, and reprising the four weekend course
with 20 JdB students
If this collaborative effort interests you, just come
and talk to me…
Projects
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Colored Petri Nets
Applications
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SOA Systems
Healthcare Workflow
Healthcare IT Systems
Biological Systems
Economic Systems
Social Systems
Model driven approaches
Safety-critical and
defense systems
Formal Methods
Education
Projects
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Databases: conceptual modeling
Databases: schema integration
Databases: XML for non-majors
Computer Science education
Current Independent Studies
◦ Pavan Kumar Rao Cheeti: Correspondence of XML
with database systems
◦ ShivanandanGoud Kommuri: Fuzzy databases
◦ Rajesh Katragadda: Semi-structured databases,
design and management
◦ Hao Zhang: A new way to query databases – LINQ to
SQL
Projects
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Computational Theory
Artificial Intelligence
Logic
Projects
◦ Computability Logic
◦ Interactive Computation
Projects
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Department Web Team Lead
Graduate Independent Study Coordinator
Research Interests
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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
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see
http://csc.villanova.edu/academics/gradIS
for info about
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Topics
Advisors
Academic Integrity
Procedures
Projects
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Web-Based Software Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Signal Processing
Robotics
iPhone Applications
Virtual Reality
Projects
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Algorithms
Data and Information
Algorithms and Puzzles
Projects
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Artificial Intelligence
◦ knowledge-based systems
◦ ontologies and the semantic web
◦ natural language processing, text mining,
information extraction
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Social computing
◦ knowledge capture and sharing
◦ AI uses in social computing
◦ use of virtual worlds in industry and education
Projects
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Systems Programming
Systems Administration
◦ Linux
◦ Solaris
◦ Mac OS X
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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
Projects
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Artificial Intelligence:
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Augmented reality
Conversational agents
Reasoning with incomplete information
Neural nets (*most recent independent study)
Learning finite state automata
Computational Biology
- phylogenetic trees
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
Projects
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Collaboration when expertise is distributed
Cooperating experts
Expert
Remote expert is B
Faculty B
Facilitator
Faculty A
Remote expert is A
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Develop an interactive interface to the
computing ontology to support this work
Host workshops to develop, collaborate, and
disseminate this work
High Perf.
Computing
Nanotech
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Simulation
& Tools
Com. Sci.
Education
Databases
Information
Fluency
Director of Research
Dr. Tom Way
Rehab.
Engineering
Other
Groups...
Department of Computing
Sciences
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Nanocompilers & Nanocomputers
Nanotech)
(Comp.
Modeling & Simulation (Comp. Nanotech) w/ Dr. Gehlot
Distributed Expertise (CS Education) w/ Dr. Cassel
SNITCH plagiarism analyzer (Sim & Tools)
Green Computing (Green Comp.)
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)
78
Department of Computing
Sciences
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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
79
Department of Computing
Sciences
Projects
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Can we use blogging in large lecture
sections?
Can Blogging be used to solicit opinions of
shy students?
Can Blogging make students aware of
controversial issues?
Do students feel freer to express themselves
using the computer?
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Blogging has been effective in one Computer
Science class over multiple terms
◦ Students comment on the various effects of
technology, both current and future
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This semester blogging will be introduced in
one Biology class
◦ “Should there be a Universal DNA database”?
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Hard statistics are needed
How to measure the worth of the responses
◦ The responses are opinions
◦ Has thought gone into the response?
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Survey data has been collected from 50
students
◦ Analysis of the survey data needs to be done
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Find other fields where blogging can be used
◦ Collect and analyze data from results
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Mike Zimmerman of Biology is working with
Lillian Cassel
Mike’s research is in paleopathology, the
study of the evidence of disease in ancient
remains
His career has involved fieldwork in Alaska
and Egypt and museum studies in Austria,
Canada and the United States
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The raw materials of his papers and books
have been provided.
Over 100 of his published papers will be
placed in the digital library plus references to
his 3 books
The digital library will make all of this work
accessible to researchers everywhere via the
Internet.
Projects
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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
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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.