Compiler - October 2010

The Compiler - News for the CoC Community

Issue 45 | October 2010 View in a Web browser

Picture of the Month

Building the New Internet

Ellen Zegura and Nick Feamster (both CS) represented the College of Computing at a Sept. 28 panel discussion, "The New Internet," sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Discover magazine. The event sought to address the current trajectory of network infrastructure and its role in shaping the future needs of society. Zegura and Feamster were joined by fellow panelists Paul Connolly (background, left) from Cisco's CTO office and William Lehr, economist in the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT.

Research News

Financial Dashboard for August 2010

2011 YTD New Awards

$3,331,925

Proposed Contracts for August 2010

Total	$ Amount	IC	CS	CSE	GVU	RIM
15	$11,743,350	4.5%	25%	7%	0.5%	63%

Newly Awarded Contracts for August 2010

Sponsor	Value	PI	Co-PIs	Title
NSF	$230,000	Constantine Dovrolis	None	Collaborative Research: The Economics of Transit and Peering
NSF	$60,000	Tom Conte	None	Collaborative Research: Interactive Situational Awareness Simulation
ETRI	$64,000	Thad Starner	None	On-The-Go Interactions: Textile Interfaces and Tactile Feedback
NSF	$250,000	Mostafa Ammar	None	Collaborative Research: Towards Collaborative Overlay Problem Diagnosis Using Evidential Reasoning and Adaptive Monitoring
Reservoir Labs	$60,000	Jeffrey Vetter	None	Advance Static and Dynamic Mapping of HPC Applications on Petascale
US Dept of Commerce	$59,966	Henrik Christensen	None	Logistics Design and Benchmarking Manufacturing System
NSF	$466,478	Greg Turk	None	Embedded Meshes for Flow and Fracture
US Dept of Defense	$242,401	Patrick Traynor	Russell Clark; Mustaque Ahamad	Security for Converged IMS Networks
Kitware Inc	$669,982	Irfan Essa	Rehg	PERSEAS
Morehouse School of Medicine	$14,909	Shamkant Navathe	None	Database Formatting, Structural Design and Management for Medicaid Claims
NSF	$25,000*	James Rehg	None	Collaborative Research: Sino-US Summer School In Vision, Learning, and Pattern Recognition
NSF	$496,694	Becky Grinter	None	Culture, Technology and Wellness: Approaches to Improving the…
NVIDIA (under DARPA UHPC)	$608,000**	David Bader	None	ECHELON: Extreme-Scale Compute Hardware Hierarchies with Efficient and Locality-Op
US Dept of Energy	$300,000	George Biros	None	Large-Scale Optimization for Bayesian Inference in Complex System
NSF	$200,000	Hongyuan Zha	None	Learning Evaluation Metrics for Information Retrieval
DARPA UHPC	$7,500,000	Dan Campbell	David Bader; Jeffrey Vetter; Mark Richards; Maya Gokhale; Thomas Sterling	Challenge Applications and Scalable Metrics (CHASM) for Ubiquitous High Performance Computing

Grants/Gifts Received for August 2010

Sponsor	Value	PI	Co-PIs	Title
Cisco	$99,192	Constantine Dovrolis	None	Robust Video Streaming over IP
Yahoo	$10,000	Hongyuan Zha	None	Content Recommendation
NVIDIA	$185,000	Jeffrey Vetter	None	CUDA Center of Excellence
SAIC	$39,250	Ashwin Ram	Mark Riedl; Celia Pearce	Virtual Worlds Strategic Partnership: OLIVE Initiative

* denotes multi-institutional grant. Total award is $50,000; partners include Northwestern University.

** denotes multi-institutional grant. Total award is $25 million.

People@CoC

ARC Announces Post-Doc Additions for New Year

The Algorithms & Randomness Center (ARC) and ThinkTank has added three new postdoctoral researchers for 2010-11. They include:
• Jinwoo Shin (Ph.D. MIT, advisor Devavrat Shah), with interests in dynamics of networks and stochastic processes. Shin intends to work with many ARC faculty and will be hosted by Ton Dieker and Prasad Tetali (Math).
• Elena Grigorescu (Ph.D. MIT, advisor Madhu Sudan), whose research topics so far include property testing and algebraic coding theory, will be hosted by Chris Peikert (CS) and Santosh Vempala (CS). Grigorescu is a Computing Innovations ARC fellow.
• Lev Reyzin (Ph.D. Yale, advisor Dana Angluin), who's working on fundamental aspects of learning theory as well as new models, will be hosted by Nina Balcan (CS) and Vempala. Reyzin is a Simons ARC postdoc.

OpenStudy Launches Pilot Program with MIT OpenCourseware

OpenStudy, a joint Georgia Tech-Emory spinoff company launched in the College by Ashwin Ram (IC), has signed an agreement with MIT OpenCourseware to provide student collaboration services for the world's largest provider of free online educational content. OpenStudy groups support real-time interaction between students and independent learners from around the world. Members can answer one another's questions, work collaboratively on problem sets and connect with learners who share interests. In the pilot partnership's first month, the OpenStudy group for an intro computer science course has attracted more than 1,600 members; two other groups have attracted more than 1,800 members combined.

Guzdial in Demand as Speaker on Learning & CS Education

Mark Guzdial (IC) was an invited speaker at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2009), held June 29 to July 2 in Chicago, on a special panel on learning in the computing disciplines. Guzdial also spoke at an ACM Education Board summit at Qatar University in Doha in May on research in computer science education. He's delivered three keynotes this year, at the first Educational Advances in AI (EAAI 2010) conference (July 13-14, Atlanta); at the 11th Annual Conference of Higher Education Academy Centre for Information and Computer Science at Durham University (Aug. 24-26, Durham, United Kingdom); and at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in College: Midwest Region (Sept. 24-25, Franklin, Ind.). Guzdial also will give the keynote address at the November Chinese Computer Science Education conference in Jinan, China.

Wolf Chairs Panel on Bringing CS Education into Parallel at Intel Forum

In collaboration with the Educational Alliance for a Parallel Future (EAPS), Matthew Wolf (CS) chaired a panel discussion and lunch roundtable at the Intel Developer Forum on incorporating parallel computing into the undergraduate curriculum, Sept. 13 in San Francisco. The panel kicked off the Developer Forum's track on academic engagement. Wolf also co-authored the ACM Tech Pack on Parallelism that the EAPF and ACM are jointly publishing sometime before Supercomputing 2010 in November. He said EAPF will be doing a number of events at SC10 (and at SIGCSE in March 2011), including co-sponsoring a live streaming video feed to be run by Intel Software Network TV, and fielding a booth presence in the SC Communities area.

Ram Talks Game AI and Case-Based Reasoning at Southern Cal

Ashwin Ram (IC) was an invited speaker the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, Sept. 16. In his talk, Ram addressed the ubiquity of user-generated content on the Internet and how users are increasingly called upon to help design their own experiences (such as gamers designing their own avatars for immersive virtual worlds). AI, Ram said, is the one aspect of computer games that typically is not at least partially created by users, and he considers it the next "big frontier" in gaming. He discussed a few techniques, including those related to character-level and game-level AI, that can enhance the player experience.

Edwards Keynotes ACM Workshop on Home Networks

Keith Edwards (IC) delivered the keynote address at the ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Home Networks (HomeNets), held alongside the SIGCOMM conference in New Delhi, India, Sept. 4. Edwards' talk was titled "Human-Network Interaction: Building Bridges Between HCI and Networking Research." College faculty fielded three papers at this workshop:
• "A Study on Network Management Tools of Householders," by J. Yang, Keith Edwards (IC)
• "Outsourcing Home Network Security" by Nick Feamster (CS)
• "Instrumenting Home Networks," by K. Calvert, Edwards, Feamster, Beki Grinter (IC), Y. Deng, X. Zhou

Vazirani Makes His C&O Stand at Waterloo U.

Vijay Vazirani (CS) made a visit to the University of Waterloo in September to teach a short course and deliver the school's Tutte Seminar on Combinatorics and Optimization. The latter, named for the celebrated mathematician W.T. Tutte, who founded Waterloo's Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, was titled, "The Invisible Hand of the Market: Algorithmic Ratification and the Digital Economy." The Tutte Seminar was held Sept. 24. Vazirani's short course, "Primal-Dual Algorithms for Rational Convex Programs," was taught Sept. 22-23.

Lee Wins Google Research Award to Root Out Malicious Domains

Wenke Lee (CS) received a $75,000 Google Research Award for his proposal "Dynamic Reputation for DNS." He and his students and colleagues Manos Antonakakis and David Dagon will develop new algorithms to proactively identify domains involved in malicious and fraudulent activities. Google Research Awards are meant to facilitate interaction between Google and academia and also nurture stronger relations and partnerships with universities. The intent of the awards program is to support academic research aimed at improving information access, defined broadly.

Personnel Announcements

Constantinos Mannouris has joined CoC as a Post-Doc in IC effective 8/23/10. Email address is cmannour@cc and is located in TSRB 218X. Welcome Constantinos!
Hua Ai has joined CoC as a Research Scientist II in IC effective 8/23/10. Email address is hua.ai@cc and is located in TSRB 218X. Welcome Hua!
Elena Grigorescu has joined CoC as a Post-Doc in CS effective 9/1/10. Email address is elena@cc, phone number is 5-1307 and is located in KACB 2113. Welcome Elena!
Jinwoo Shin has joined CoC as a Post-Doc in CS effective 9/1/10. Email address is jshin72@cc, phone number is 5-1307 and is located in KACB 2113. Welcome Jinwoo!
Lev Reyzin has joined CoC as a Post-Doc in CS effective 9/7/10. Email address is lreyzin7@cc, phone number is 5-4610 and is located in KACB 2111. Welcome Lev!
Grant Schindler has joined CoC as a Research Scientist I in IC effective 9/21/10. Email address is schindler@gatech.edu and is located in CCB 318. Welcome Grant!
Sean Brennan has joined CoC as a Research Technologist I in IC (GVU/TSO) effective 9/21/10. Email address is sean@cc, phone number is 5-7610 and is located in TSRB 215. Welcome Sean!
Brian Poole's last day at CoC was 9/1/10.
Rachel Munnerlyn's last day at CoC was 9/2/10.
Daniel Ross' last day at CoC was 9/7/10.
Della Phinisee's last day in CS was 9/23/10.
Eddie Vail's last day in CS was 9/23/10.
Meredith Goodman's last day at CoC is 10/1/10.
Mike Luttrell's last day at CoC is 10/1/10.

General News

Day Passes, Volunteer Opportunities for FutureMedia Fest 2010

With just a few days left before the start of FutureMedia Fest 2010, individuals interested in attending now have the option of registering for a one-day event pass or opting for the multi-day package. The four-day event, scheduled for Oct. 4-7 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, centers on the role of media and technology and will bring together those who work, invest and perform research in those fields to discuss the transformational impact of next-generation digital, social and mobile media across industries, societies and daily life. The goal is to foster the connections that ultimately create an open innovation environment, driving the growth of a new media ecosystem.

Organizers are also looking for volunteers from Georgia Tech, offering free day passes in exchange for a minimum two-hour commitment. There will be a mandatory volunteer meeting prior to the fest that everyone will be asked to attend to familiarize themselves with the event and venues.

OEC Gears Up for Homecoming 2010

This year, for the second time, the CoC community is being brought together to participate in Georgia Tech's Homecoming week, Oct. 3-10, as the only academic unit on campus to compete. Last year the College participated for the first time, placing third in the independent division. This year CoC will go for the gold by participating in even more events. The Office of Outreach, Enrollment and Community (OEC), along with our student Homecoming chairs, promise that Homecoming week will be a fun and challenging experience, uniting the students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Join OEC and CoC undergraduates to participate in events, pomping and the opportunity to build community within the College. There will be food and music throughout the week. On Thursday, Oct. 7, the Computing Alumni Organization will stop by to provide food, assist with events and mingle with the students and faculty. For more information on Homecoming week activities, contact Jennifer Whitlow.

Undergrad Enrollments Up; Networks is Most Popular Thread

As reported in the September Compiler, overall CS enrollment in the College grew by 11.5 percent in 2010 over 2009, and total computing majors (CS and CM) are up 11.8 percent from a year ago. The surge is occurring at the upperclassman level due to transfers and changes of major; the total number of CS seniors in fall 2010 is 292 (up 15.3 percent from 2009) and the total number of CS juniors is 260 (up 21.5 percent). CM majors are up 12.7 percent to 302 overall majors.

Four years after the introduction of the Threads curriculum, the Information Internetworks thread has emerged as the top pick, with almost half of CS majors selecting it as one of their two choices. Since 2006, the most popular thread combinations have been Internetworks & Platforms and Media & People, each selected by 15 percent of Threads graduates. These data come from an analysis of the 203 BSCS graduates under Threads through Summer 2010.

The selection rates for each of the eight threads are:
• Information Internetworks: 49.3 percent
• People: 36.0 percent
• Media: 33.5 percent
• Platforms: 25.1 percent
• Intelligence: 22.7 percent
• Theory: 13.8 percent
• Devices: 10.3 percent
• Modeling & Simulation: 9.4 percent

(Numbers total 200 percent since each student must pick two threads.)

Dates & Courses Announced for Barcelona 2011

The dates and courses for the Summer 2011 Barcelona Program have been confirmed. The 2011 program dates will be May 11 through July 26. Student participants will be able to choose 12 credit hours from an interdisciplinary selection of courses that take advantage of Barcelona's unique learning setting. The courses will include:
• ARCH 4128 – Barcelona: Architecture & Design (Humanities, International Plan)
• COA 4803 – Cities & Citizens: What Makes Great Cities Great (Social Science)
• CS 3750 – Human-Computer Interface Design and Evaluation
• CS 4001 – Computing, Society and Professionalism (Ethics)
• CS 4460 – Information Visualization
• CS 4475 – Computational Photography
• SPAN – Spanish-language courses at different proficiency levels (Humanities)
The first Barcelona 2011 information session will be held Thursday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. in CCB room 53. Interested students are encouraged to apply early; the Barcelona application deadline is Jan. 15, 2011. For more information, visit the program's website or contact Program Coordinator Dawn Rutherford at barcelona@cc.gatech.edu.

Women@CC to Get Paint Brushes Out for TeamBuzz

Women@CC kicked off the year with a visit to the Fox Theatre to see The Sound of Music. "It was a great bonding experience for the incoming freshmen and the Women @ CC members, and to top it all, the musical was amazing," said sophomore Madhuri Tondepu. Members will get their Homecoming activities started by participating in TeamBuzz, a service organization dedicated to making Atlanta a better place. Women@CC will be painting at Wadsworth Magnet School for High Achievers. Wadsworth is a DeKalb County elementary school offering 4th to 6th grade students an enriched curriculum. Women@CC volunteers will help paint a mural and the school's gymnasium. Students interested in joining TeamBuzz should contact Candis Pham at cpham3@gatech.edu.

TSO to Host Oct. 18 Brownbag on Windows 7 & Office 2010

On Monday, Oct. 18, from noon to 12:45 p.m., TSO will host a brownbag session on the Windows 7 operating system and Office 2010. All CoC employees and students are invited to attend the brownbag, which will cover the major changes and new features of Windows 7 over Windows XP, the major changes in Office 2010 over Office 2007, and details about profile migrations in a Windows XP to Windows 7 upgrade. The event will be held in Klaus 1116; for more information, contact the TSO Help Desk at 404-894-7065 or helpdesk@cc.gatech.edu.

Corrections

The Dashboard in the email version of the September 2010 Compiler contained the following errors:

• A $900,000 grant to Alex Orso (CS), "MEDITA: Multi-layer Enterprise-wide Dynamic Information-flow Tracking & Assurance," failed to list his co-PIs: Nick Feamster and Milos Prvulovic (both CS).

• A $375,000 Intel grant to David Bader (CSE) and a $30,000 SAIC grant to Mark Riedl (IC) were listed under incorrect names. The correct names are "STING: Spatio-Temporal Interaction Networks and Graphs: An Open-Source Dynamic Graph Package for Intel Platforms" and "Scenario Adaptation," respectively.

The Compiler editors regret these errors.

CoC In the News

To help Compiler readers stay informed of the latest media coverage of the College of Computing, we will share the month's headlines from the CoC website. Below are links to all headlines from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, 2010 (most recent headlines at the top).

The Compiler is a publication of the Office of Communications
All content © 2010 The College of Computing at Georgia Tech
Contact Communications View The Compiler Online View Past Issues