2009 News
A Brief History of Augmented Reality
Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre of Interactive Computing talks about his 18 years of working in the field of augmented reality and various applications for the technology. Host: TacticalTransparency.com
Home Is Where the Smart Is
The Aware Home, a research initiative based in the College of Computing, is not science fiction--it's a real-life laboratory where assistive technologies for groups like the elderly and special-needs children are tested in an actual home environment. Source: CNN
Georgia Tech Still in World Top 10 for Tech Schools
Georgia Tech held on to its No. 8 ranking among the world's engineering and information technology universities, according to a list published by U.S. News & World Report on June 18. The rankings are based on data from the THE-QS World University Rankings. Source: U.S. News & World Report
Alumna & Ph.D. Student Wins Law Writing Award
Incoming Ph.D. student (and Georgia Tech bachelor’s and master’s graduate) Casey Fiesler has received a 2009 Burton Award for an article she published in the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. Source: Office of Communications
ARhrrr: Zombies Meet Augmented Reality
Though there’s not yet a commercially available mobile phone that will play it, Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre’s zombie-filled first-person shooter game run off the NVidia Tegra platform already is drawing rave reviews. Source: Gizmodo
Teaching Robots the Rules of War
Though many years in the future, military robots programmed to act ethically could be even more ethical in battlefield situations than soldiers, since machines would not fall prey to the desire for revenge. On the flip side, neither would they feel sympathy or empathy, says Professor Ron Arkin of Interactive Computing. Source: New Scientist
A Reduced Role for StratCom?
Whatever part the U.S. Strategic Command will play in securing U.S. networks, cyber threats from foreign governments are "keeping a lot of people awake at night," says Professor Mustaque Ahamad, director of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. Source: Omaha World-Herald
Safeguarding Your Mobile Networks
Assistant Professor Patrick Traynor of Computer Science advises users to remain vigilant against new and emerging cybersecurity threats, particularly those directed toward mobile devices, for which effective protection measures have not yet been devised. Source: SC Magazine
Cybersecurity Bottleneck: Few PhDs
As part of his June 10 testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives' Science and Technology Committee and Research and Science Education Subcommittee, Professor Sy Goodman, joint with Computer Science and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, said one threat is a dearth of cybersecurity professors who can train tomorrow's security specialists. Source: GovInfoSecurity.com
Don't Legislate Cybersecurity Education
Despite the cybersecurity warnings to Congress of Professor Sy Goodman, joint with Computer Science and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Washington should not legislate what gets taught about IT security, according to a Cornell professor. Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Wireless Devices Next Big Cybersecurity Targets
Cybersecurity experts weigh in on the June 10 Capitol Hill testimony delivered by Professor Sy Goodman, joint with the Computer Science and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, who warned of a possible “tsunami of insecurity.” Source: NextGov.com
Blair MacIntyre on Mobile AR & Mirror Worlds
One of the original pioneers of augmented reality discusses the potential he sees in smart phones to mediate meaningful AR experiences. Source: UgoTrade.com
Computing/ME Team Makes MS Imagine Cup Finals
A two-person Computing and mechanical engineering team has been selected as a finalist in the 2009 Imagine Cup, the global contest sponsored by Microsoft in which student teams from around the world create applications that address the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. Source: Office of Communications
Goodman Warns of Cyber Threats in Hill Testimony
On June 10, Professor Sy Goodman, joint with the School of Computer Science and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, briefed the U.S. House of Representatives' Science and Technology Committee and Research and Science Education Subcommittee during its hearing on "Cyber Security R&D." Source: Office of Communications
Escape from the 'land of blood and tears'
A mobile video kiosk designed and created by Georgia Tech students and faculty is traveling around Liberia, giving traumatized residents of the war-torn country an opportunity to have their stories heard and recorded for posterity. Source: CNN
Civic-minded Computing Course Tackles Social Issues
Santosh Vempala, a professor at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, is the father of a course called Computing for Good that turned students loose last year on solving social, medical and business problems here and around the world. Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Can Computer Nerds Save Journalism?
At the Georgia Institute of Technology, a three-year-old program in "computational journalism" helps computer-science majors study how journalists gather, organize and utilize information, then take these workflows and see how technology can make the processes easier. Source: Time
Petascale is Coming Down the Pike
Supercomputing is on the cusp of a new era, offering researchers processing power never seen before. Professor David Bader has been heavily involved in promoting awareness of petascale computing. “First and foremost, this is a scale of system that has not been seen before,” he says. Source: Genome Technology
Obama to Appoint Cybersecurity Czar
Computing Professor Mustaque Ahamad, director of Georgia Tech’s Information Security Center (GTISC), is
heartened by President Barack Obama’s plan to focus on internet security and
says the initiative could mean good things for Atlanta. Source: Atlanta Journal
Constitution
U.S. Trails Europe, Asia in Robotics Research Funding
Robotics Professor Henrik Christensen and other researchers from around the country descended on Washington to meet with a group of lawmakers to present a “Robotics Roadmap” for the 21st century. Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ethical Guide for Robot Warriors in the Works
Robotics professor Ronald Arkin is in the first stages of developing an “ethical governor,” a package of software and hardware that tells robots when and what to fire. His book on the subject, Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots, comes out this month. Source: Discovery Channel
Grad Student’s Company Finalist for GRA/TAG Prize
Computing Ph.D. student Gallagher Pryor is part of the team at AccelerEyes, which has been chosen as a finalist in the Business Launch Competitions sponsored by the Georgia Research Alliance/Technology Association of Georgia. AccelerEyes makes software that allows ordinary computers to do powerful visual computing. Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
Bruckman Named Program Chair for WikiSym 2009
Associate Professor Amy Bruckman of the School for Interactive Computing is serving as program committee chair for the 2009 International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (WikiSym) to be held in October in Orlando, Florida. Source: Office of Communications
Conte Named Editor-in-Chief of ACM Publication
Professor Tom Conte of the School of Computer Science has been named editor-in-chief of ACM Transactions on
Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO). Conte’s term
began April 16 and will last three years. Source: Office of Communications
Professor Named to DARPA Study Group
The
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has named Assistant Professor Rich Vuduc of the Computational Science and
Engineering Division to a highly selective computer science research study group.
Research Paper on Botnet-Based Scam Hosting Wins Best Paper Award
“Dynamics of Online Scam Hosting Infrastructure,” a paper by computer science graduate student Maria Konte, Assistant Professor Nick Feamster and Jaeyeon Jung at Intel Research, won the Best Paper Award at the Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM). The paper, which studies the infrastructure that scammers use to host phishing and scam attacks on the Internet, was presented April 3 at the conference in Seoul, Korea.
Security a Problem as Cell Phones Thrive in Africa
A growing reliance in Africa on cell phones may come at a cost because African nations generally have poor cyber security in place, says Seymour Goodman, a professor of computing and international affairs and co-director of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. Source: Scientific American
Easy to Use Survey Can Help Identify Autism Early
Senior research scientist Rosa Arriaga of Interactive Computing talks about a survey tool that makes it easier for pediatricians to screen all patients for signs of autism. Arriaga and interactive computing Professor Gregory Abowd partnered in developing the tool. Source: WSB Atlanta
Autonomous Robots Seen as Future of War
The unmanned bombers that often cause unintended civilian casualties in Pakistan are a step toward an even more lethal generation of robotic hunters-killers that operate with little or no human control. Robotics expert Ronald Arkin says, “The trend is clear: Warfare will continue and autonomous robots will ultimately be deployed in its conduct.” Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
InVenture Prize Draws True GT Innovation
Lots of college students want to change the world. Roger Pincombe just might have found a way to do it—one bargain at a time. Pincombe, a junior computer science major, took first prize in the
individual category of the 2009 InVenture Prize @ Georgia Tech, a
competition designed by Institute faculty to foster student inventors
and entrepreneurs.
Digital Album Puts Focus On Kids' Development
Computing alumna Julie Kientz has built a high-tech tool that takes photos and video, creates an online diary and family newsletters and tracks a child's developmental milestones. Faculty Gregory Abowd and Rosa Arriaga co-authored a paper about it with Kientz for this week’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Source: ScienceDaily
Time to Pray? Better Check Your Phone
Interactive computing student Susan Wyche has developed the Sun Dial phone application, which uses imagery and audible alerts to notify Muslim users when to perform the daily prayers, known as salat. Source: Discover
GT Part of New $30M DHS Research Center
Georgia Tech is one of 14 universities involved in a six-year, $30 million, U.S. Department of Homeland Security center to create methods and tools to analyze and manage vast amounts of information for all mission areas of homeland security. Led by Purdue and Rutgers universities, the new Center of Excellence in Command, Control and Interoperability will help develop new methods to prepare for, prevent and respond to natural and manmade disasters. Source: Purdue University
Sun Dial Uses Mobile Phones to Alert Muslims to Prayer
Computing Ph.D. candidate Susan Wyche thought it was high time for technology to help people improve their spiritual lives, since it has done so much to support their professional and personal lives. She and her research team have developed an application for mobile phones that alerts Muslims when it is time for one of their five daily prayers. Source: EurekAlert!
Conficker Virus Still a Threat
The April 1 “deadline” for the Conficker virus has passed, but computer security expert Jon Giffin warns that the danger has not. “The malicious activity may come tonight or days, weeks or months from now," he said. Source: WXIA Atlanta
Social Media: Is it Addictive or Assistive?
Some worry that users of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are becoming obsessive or addicted, but Professor Amy Bruckman says social networking sites help people find support they need. "The more we all increase our social networks, the more sources of support we have," Bruckman said. Source: Fox 5
Experts Say Conficker Infects Millions of Computers
A tricky computer virus that has infected an estimated 9 million to 15 million computers has created a dangerous network of corrupt machine. "We've got some bad guys out there who are extremely sophisticated," said Professor Merrick Furst. Source: identitytheftsecrets.com
Protecting Your Computer from Conficker
Computer security expert Jon Giffin appeared on the Atlanta NBC affiliate morning news show to talk about the Conficker worm, a computer virus or "bot" that can infect a computer and hijack it for possible criminal purposes. Giffin also took part in a live online chat. Source: 11Alive
Computing Undergrad Wins InVenture Competition
Roger Pincombe won the $5,000 individual award for DialPrice, which allows shoppers to compare prices by entering a product code number into any phone. Georgia Tech also will provide free patent filings by its Office of Technology Licensing (a $20,000 value) and a paid summer internship. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Computing for Good” Pairs Tech With Public Service
Computer science is taking on a public-service bent at the College
of Computing, where students and faculty in a new program called Computing for Good are using code to
combat societal problems like homelessness and the spread of HIV.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Researchers Seek Out Bio-Inspired Solutions
James Rehg and Tucker Balch of Georgia Tech are using their expertise to design automated computer vision systems to track films of animals in nature–namely, lion teams hunting–in order to recognize and classify the behavior of each individual. Source: ASU News
Multicore and Parallelism: Catching Up
High performance computing expert David Bader answers questions about how multicore and parallel computing is speeding up everything from 3G cell phone apps, to desktop office tools, Web browsers, media players and Web services. Source: Dr. Dobb's Portal
Pentagon Exploring Independent Robot Killers
Robotics expert Ronald Arkin says wars are inevitable and so is the use of autonomous robot soldiers. "The pressure of an increasing battlefield tempo is forcing autonomy further and further toward the point of robots making that final, lethal decision," Arkin said. Source: McClatchy
Conficker Worm Could Explode April 1
Somewhere out there, a clever hacker is spreading a sophisticated
computer worm called Conficker. "There are a huge number of machines that
might be able to be controlled by people other than the owners of those
machines," said Professor Merrick Furst. Source: ABC News
A Day to Honor Women in Technology
A blog has honored Interactive Computing Professor Amy Bruckman on Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Bruckman researches social media and on-line communities, among other things. Source: Women in Science
Robots Take Cues from Biology, Cost Drops
Roboticist Ronald Arkin notes a dramatic drop in costs of building robots for his research: Making a bot now costs around $1,000 per unit, rather than $30,000. Source: Scientific American
Arkin Interviewed About Robot Ethics
In this podcast, researcher Ron Arkin answers questions on the rise of military robots, the role of robots in society, medical robots and legal responsibilities. Source: Robots
IT Security Faces Constant Threats
At last week's Atlanta Secureworld Expo, Professors Sy Goodman and Mustaque Ahamad spoke about security issues surrounding information technology including walware, botnets, cyber warfare, threats to VoIP and mobile devices and the evolving cyber crime economy. Source: Atlanta Web Examiner
Some Fear Prospect of Autonomous Military Robots
Will autonomous robot soldiers take over human armies? Militaries will probably not replace humans entirely with robots, said robotics Professor Ronald Arkin. Instead, robots will operate and fight alongside humans in specialized roles. Source: LiveScience
Blue Skies for Fledgling Air Taxi Service
Computing Ph.D. student Frank Park is one of four owners of ImagineAir, a thriving air taxi business founded in Atlanta in 2005. The other three owners are GT alumni. Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
Assistive Robots Can’t Replace the Human Touch
Robotics Professor Ronald Arkin warns against using machines to take care of children and the elderly. “Simply turning our grandparents over to teams of robots abrogates our society's responsibility to each other and encourages a loss of touch with reality for this already mentally and physically challenged population," he said. Source: Associated Press
Building an Intelligent Robot Still a Dream
Despite great progress recently, scientists say there are still significant obstacles to creating a robot with human intelligence. "It is almost impossible to predict when machines will become as clever as humans," says robotics Professor Ronald Arkin. Source: Artipot
Robotic Vacuum Cleaners Inspire Affection
Researchers hoping to create robots that can coach, motivate and monitor people could look to recent research by interactive computing doctoral student Ja-Young Sung on how some humans develop personal relationships with their Roombas. Source: Washington Post
Researcher Honored for Contributions to the Field
Matthew Wolf, a research scientist in the Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems (CERCS), has won a 2009 Leadership in Academia Award. The Intel Academic Community, a group of more than 1,000 faculty and researchers around the world, gives out the award. Source: Intel Software Network
Technology for the Deaf Gaining Attention
Interactive computing Professor Thad Starner will help kick off the 36th annual Meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning at Berry College Thursday with a discussion on assistive technology for the deaf. Source: Rome News Tribune
Student Group Hopes to Nurture Entrepreneurs
Ajai Karthikeyan hopes the next Facebook emerges out of a Georgia Tech dorm room. The 19-year-old computing major has launched the "Young Entrepreneurs Society" to help students transform ideas into businesses. Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
More Liberians Participate in National Dialogue
A project led by interactive computing Professor Michael Best and Monrovia-based project manager John Etherton, a computing alumnus, provides technology to give more Liberians a voice in the country’s Truth and Reconciliation process after a devastating civil war. Source: World Bank
Alumnus Gets CRA’s Distinguished Service Award
The Computing Research Association (CRA) has honored Computing alumnus Eugene Spafford with its 2009 Distinguished Service Award. Spafford, a noted expert in information security, received a master’s degree in 1981 and a Ph.D. in 1986. Source: CRA
Fighting Malware on the Smartphone
As more people bring personal technology to work—most often smartphones—malicious code writers are targeting these weak points of entry. In its 2009 Cyber Threat Report, the Georgia Tech Information Security Center said botnets could move from the desktop to the smartphone within the year. Source: Washington Post
Tech Composes the Music of Fish
Interactive Computing Professors Bruce Walker and Tucker Balch are researching ways to use sound to convey information. The Accessible Aquarium Project, one of the innovative projects going on, translates the movement of fish into music. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Six Months after Flaw Found, Net Still Vulnerable
Researchers led by computer science Ph.D. student David Dagon have assembled a model, globally mapping out vulnerabilities and attacks that occurred between August 2008 and January 2009 because of a crippling cybersecurity weakness . Source: Forbes
Facebook Backs Off on Content Issue
Facebook, an online social networking Web site, angered many of its users this week when it changed its policy for keeping the content its users removed. Amy Bruckman, associate professor of interactive computing, says online content ownership and privacy is an old issue for tools like Facebook and Google. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Vibrating Glove Cues Fingers for Piano Playing
Kevin Huang, a grad student in interactive computing, has designed a glove with five vibrating motors that helps beginners develop muscle memory while learning to play the piano. Source: AP, NPR, Forbes, Fox, MSNBC, Washington Post and other media
Professor Speaks on CS Education in New Zealand
Mark Guzdial has been developing first-year computer science curricula for students in majors other than CS and says the key is to establish the proper context and to use computing as a "lens" through which to view other disciplines. Source: Computerworld New Zealand
Simulation Industry Faces Shortage of CS Grads
The modeling and simulation industry has great growth potential but faces formidable political and educational challenges. Professor Richard Fujimoto, Chair of the Computational Science and Engineering Division, said one is a steady decline of students entering computer science since the dot-com bubble burst nearly a decade ago. Source: Dailypress.com
Alumnus Researches Developmental Robotics
Computing alumnus Alexander Stoytchev, now an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Iowa State, and his students are trying to figure out how a robot can learn what children learn over the first two years of their lives. Source: Science Daily
Professors Collaborate to Track Network Openness
Professors Nick Feamster and Constantine Dovrolis are developing tools for Measurement Lab (M-Lab), a new open group of distributed servers meant to
make research into Internet speeds, latency, jitter and
BitTorrent-blocking easier. M-Lab is a creation of Google, New America, PlanetLab and academia. Source: Arstechnica,Wired
Working Toward Broadband Transparency
Google, New America and PlanetLab have joined with academia to launch Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools. Computing faculty Nick Feamster and Constantine Dovrolis are on the steering committee and are developing tools for the site.
Software Improves Outcome of Heart Surgery
Interactive Computing Professor Jarek Rossignac and his graduate
students have developed software that enables pediatric cardiac surgeons to create
and manipulate a 3D model of a patient's actual heart to explore and test surgical
options on a computer. Source: ACM Queue
World’s Largest Computing Society Honors Professor
Interactive computing Professor Gregory Abowd is one of 44 scientists to be named as a 2008 ACM Fellow. Abowd was recognized for his contributions to ubiquitous computing research, especially applications for education, home and health. Source: ACM
Obama's BlackBerry a Security Issue
Barack Obama is the first president to have a BlackBerry, and it is making security officials nervous. Computing Professor Patrick Traynor said the vast majority of commercial communications devices cannot be made completely secure. Source: NPR
New Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide
“I don’t know why people aren’t more afraid of these programs,” said Merrick L. Furst, a scientist at the College of Computing. “This is like having a mole in your organization that can ... send out any information it finds on machines it infects.” Source: New York Times
Interactive Computing Professor Joins CHI Academy
Professor Beth Mynatt, director of the GVU Center, has been named to the CHI Academy. According to SIGCHI (Special Interest Group in Computer Human Interaction), the CHI Academy honors "individuals who have made substantial contributions to the field of human-computer interaction.” (Source: ACM)
Students Launch Xbox Community Game
Most students like to play video games, but Computational Media students Holden Link, Cory Johnson and Ian Guthridge have built and are selling their own. Their game, Audiball, was launched during the first week of Xbox Community Games in November. (Source: Georgia Tech Communications and Marketing)
Alumni Create Spam Filter for RSS Reader
Jason Ardell and Tim Dorr, who both graduated in 2005 with a B.S. in computer science, have developed a service called Feedscrub that continually learns how to filter news feeds based on the user’s reading habits. Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
Facebook Users Go to War Over Gaza
For Facebook and other social networks, "the struggle...is to find ways to create an environment that encourages truly meaningful dialogue," says Amy Bruckman, an Associate Professor at the College of Computing. Source: Time.com
New Technology Needed for Users of Sign Language
Interactive computing Professor Thad Starner says sign-language recognition software is about 20 years behind speech recognition software. Starner’s group has developed sign-language recognition software for children, using sensor-laden gloves to track hand movements. Source: ABC News and MIT Technology Review
Robotics Professor Named “Emerging Scholar”
Many girls who watched the 1970s television show “The Bionic Woman” dreamed of being the technologically enhanced heroine. Robotics Professor Ayanna Howard dreamed of building her. Source: Diverse: Issues in Education
Journalism and IT Have Same Goal: Solid Info
Interactive Computing Professor Irfan Essa says computational journalism, which brings technologists and journalists together to create new computing tools that further the traditional aims of journalism, may even spawn a new kind of participant in the public conversation. Source: Miller-McCune
Science Curriculum Lets Kids Eat the Class Project
Ph.D. candidates Christina Gardner and Tamara Clegg in the School of Interactive Computing have cooked up Kitchen Science Investigators, a novel curriculum that uses baking and kitchen staples such as yeast and eggs to help kids get excited about chemistry. Source: New York Times
