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Department Welcomes Visitors The Department of Computer Science is hosting 11 visiting scholars and Ph.D. students during the 2012–2013 academic year. Jifeng Chen. Dr. Chen is a professor in the College of Computer Science and Technology at Hunan International Economics University (HIEU) in China. His research areas include software engineering and user interface design. During his visit, which will last from October 2012 to April 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Ying Zhu on user interface design for mobile devices. Dr. Chen is supported by HIEU. Xiaojun Ding. Mr. Ding is a Ph.D. student in the School of Computer Science and Information Engineering at Central South University in China. During his visit, which will last from October 2011 to October 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Yi Pan on bioinformatics research. Mr. Ding is supported by the China Scholarship Council. Haihua Gu. Dr. Gu is an associate professor in the Computer and Software Institute at the Nanjing College of Information Technology in China, where she performs bioinformatics research. During her visit, which will last from March 2013 to September 2013, she is collaborating with Dr. Yi Pan. Dr. Gu is supported by the Jiangsu Scholarship Foundation. Ming Liu. Dr. Liu is a professor in the School of Computer Science at Central China Normal University. His research areas include wireless networks, mobile computing, and intelligent information processing. During his visit, which will last from August 2012 to August 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Xiaojun Cao on research related to wireless sensor networks and mobile social networks. Dr. Liu is supported by the China Scholarship Council. Ling Tian. Dr. Tian is an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). Her research areas include video coding, video communication, and rate control. During her visit, which will last from January 2013 to December 2013, she is collaborating with Dr. Xiaojun Cao on multimedia communication research. Dr. Tian is supported by UESTC. Hua Wang. Dr. Wang is a lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). Her research areas include transfer protocols for low-cost RFID systems. During her visit, which will last from January 2013 to January 2014, she is collaborating with Dr. Yi Pan. Dr. Wang is supported by UESTC. Xuefeng Yan. Dr. Yan is an associate professor in the College of Information Science and Technology at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China. His research areas include modeling and simulation. During his visit, which will last from August 2012 to July 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Xiaolin Hu on dynamic data-driven simulation research. Dr. Yan is supported by Dr. Hu’s NSF CAREER grant. Chuanhua Zeng. Dr. Zeng is an associate professor in the School of Transportation and Automotive Engineering at Xihua University in China. His research areas include computer applications in transportation, intelligent transportation systems, and transport planning and management. During his visit, which will last from July 2012 to July 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Ying Zhu on computer graphics and visualization research. Dr. Zeng is supported by Xihua University. Junbo Zhang. Mr. Zhang is a Ph.D. student in the School of Information Science and Technology at Southwest Jiaotong University in China. During his visit, which lasted from February 2012 to February 2013, he collaborated with Dr. Yi Pan on cloud computing research. Mr. Zhang was supported by the China Scholarship Council. Kui Zhao. Dr. Zhao is an associate professor in the College of Computer Science at Sichuan University in China. His research areas include disaster recovery and cloud computing. During his visit, which will last from September 2012 to August 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Yi Pan. Dr. Zhao is supported by the China Scholarship Council. Yimin Zhou. Dr. Zhou is an associate professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). His research areas include video coding and multimedia. During his visit, which will last from February 2013 to April 2013, he is collaborating with Dr. Xiaojun Cao on video communication research. Dr. Zhou is supported by UESTC. (Posted 3/28/13)
Pan and Li Win Best Paper Award at MSN 2012 A paper co-authored by department chair Yi Pan and associate professor Yingshu Li won the best paper award at the 8th International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks (MSN 2012). The winning paper, "Constructing Load-Balanced Data Aggregation Trees in Probabilistic Wireless Sensor Networks," was also co-authored by Dr. Jing (Selena) He and Shouling Ji. Dr. He received her Ph.D. degree from our department last year; she is now an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Pan was her Ph.D. advisor, with Dr. Li as a co-advisor. Mr. Ji is a Ph.D. student currently working under Dr. Li’s supervision. MSN 2012 was held in Chengdu, China, on December 14–16. The conference was organized by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and supported by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the City University of Hong Kong. (Posted 3/6/13)
Pan Named Distinguished University Professor Department chair Yi Pan has been appointed a Distinguished University Professor by Georgia State University president Mark Becker. Dr. Pan was nominated for the appointment by Dr. William Long, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In his letter of appointment, Dr. Becker cited Dr. Pan’s “sustained and outstanding record in scholarship and instruction” as well as his “substantial contributions in service” to the discipline and to GSU, including his “sustained record of significant positive involvement in the life of the University.” Dr. Pan’s appointment as a Distinguished University Professor will last for five years. He is the first faculty member from the Department of Computer Science to be honored in this way. (Posted 3/1/13)
Prasad Wins $1.1 Million NSF Grant for Curriculum Center The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.1 million grant to professor Sushil Prasad. The grant, which runs for three years, provides continued funding for his efforts to create a parallel and distributed computing (PDC) curriculum for undergraduate computer science and computer engineering students. Dr. Prasad will use money from the grant to establish a new center at Georgia State, to be named the Center for Parallel and Distributed Computing Curriculum Development and Educational Resources (CDER). Formal approval for the center is expected this spring. Roughly three-quarters of the faculty in the Department of Computer Science will belong to CDER. The center, which will employ both undergraduate and graduate students as assistants, is currently trying to hire a postdoctoral fellow. CDER will have four goals: Develop PDC core curricula for a variety of programs and institutions. Develop and collect instructional materials for teaching PDC topics. Facilitate access to state-of-the-art hardware and software for PDC instruction. Organize competitions for early adopters of PDC curricula, as well as curriculum-related workshops, special sessions, and tutorials. While serving as chair of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Parallel Processing (TCPP), Dr. Prasad created a working group known as the NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing, which is developing a core PDC curriculum. A preliminary version of the curriculum appeared in December 2010; Version 1 was released in December 2012. Two of the group’s key activities are Early Adopter competitions and the NSF/TCPP Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Computing Education (EduPar). In Early Adopter competitions, colleges submit proposals to incorporate the IEEE-TCPP curriculum guidelines into one or more courses. These competitions have been held twice a year in both 2011 and 2012, with winners receiving an average grant of $1,500. EduPar workshops allow early adopters, the public, and the working group to discuss the proposed PDC curriculum and share experiences. These workshops were held in 2011 and 2012 in conjunction with the IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS). The third EduPar is scheduled for May 20 in Boston, with Dr. Prasad serving as the workshop chair. Dr. Prasad’s award is part of a $1.345 million NSF Collaborative Research grant. The remaining money will be split among three other principal investigators: Dr. Arnold Rosenberg (Northeastern University), Dr. Alan Sussman (University of Maryland), and Dr. Charles Weems (University of Massachusetts). Dr. Anshul Gupta of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center will also play a key role in Dr. Prasad’s project. Dr. Prasad’s grant was awarded by NSF’s Computing Research Infrastructure program, which supports the creation of world-class computing research infrastructure. His award was in the Community Infrastructure category, which provides funding for research and education facilities that are used by a broad community, not just the institution receiving the grant. Although Dr. Prasad’s grant is administered by NSF’s Division of Computer and Network Systems, funding was provided by several NSF organizations, including the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, the Office of Cyberinfrastructure, and the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Directorate for Education & Human Resources. In addition to NSF funding, the NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative has received support from Intel, NVIDIA, and IBM. Intel is the initiative’s primary corporate sponsor. NVIDIA has donated graphics cards for early adopters, while IBM has provided funding for keynote talks at EduPar workshops. (Posted 2/23/13)
Ph.D. Student Wins SC12 Travel Grants Ph.D. student Dinesh Agarwal won two travel grants to attend SC12, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis. At the conference, Mr. Agarwal presented the poster “Crayons: An Azure Cloud Based Parallel System for GIS Overlay Operations.” He also demonstrated the Crayons system at the Microsoft booth in the conference’s exhibit area. One of Mr. Agarwal’s grants came from the ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), which provides support for undergraduate and graduate students to present original research at major conferences sponsored or co-sponsored by ACM. Mr. Agarwal’s poster was one of only 14 selected for the competition held at SC12. He received $500 toward travel expenses from Microsoft Research, which has sponsored SRC since 2003. Mr. Agarwal also received a $1000 travel grant from Georgia State’s Molecular Basis of Disease (MBD) program. Mr. Agarwal currently holds an MBD fellowship. The SC conference (formerly known as Supercomputing) was established by ACM and the IEEE Computer Society in 1988 and has been held annually since then. Over 10,000 people participated in SC12, which was held in Salt Lake City on November 10–16. Professor Sushil Prasad is Mr. Agarwal’s Ph.D. advisor. (Posted 2/5/13)
Wozniak to Speak at GSU on January 30 Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple, will speak at Georgia State University on Wednesday, January 30, as part of the university's Distinguished Speaker Series. His talk will be at 3 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom, with overflow seating in the Speaker’s Auditorium. The event is free and open to all students, faculty, staff, and the public. After the talk, Wozniak will be available to meet attendees and sign copies of his book. In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs started Apple, which recently became the most valuable tech company in the world. Wozniak designed the company's first two computers, the Apple I and Apple II. He currently serves as chief scientist for Fusion-io. His New York Times best-selling autobiography, iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon, was published in 2006 by W. W. Norton. The Distinguished Speaker Series is administered by Campus Events, which is part of the Student-University Center. Speakers are chosen by a staff advisor and a board of student leaders. GSU's Student Activity Fee provides financial support for the series. (Posted 1/24/13)