2009 News
Augmented Reality: What It Is & Will Become
At its core, augmented reality is all about changing our view of the world by merging our environmental surroundings with digital data and media. “The key is that the virtual content be registered (or aligned) with the right parts of the physical world,” says Blair MacIntyre, associate professor in Interactive Computing and director of the school’s Augmented Environments Lab. Source: Laptop Mag
GT Supercomputer Powered By Graphics Processor
Georgia Tech researchers building an experimental new supercomputer say graphics processors may help pave the way toward future exascale machines, which would be 1,000 times faster than today's most powerful supercomputers. Professor Jeffrey Vetter of Computational Science and Engineering leads the project, funded by a $12 million NSF grant. Source: NetworkWorld
Green IT: Shrinking Computing's Energy Demands
To help understand and reduce power consumption by data centers, Georgia Tech has launched Green IT. Corralling expertise from the College of Computing, College of Engineering and Office of Information Technology, the consortium is a multidisciplinary effort that looks at how to build large-scale systems that use less power. Source: HPCwire, Scientific Computing
Petascale Could Provide Insight Into Genomic Evolution
Even on today's fastest parallel computers, it could take centuries to analyze genome rearrangements for large, complex organisms. That is why a three-university research team, led by Professor David Bader of Computational Science and Engineering, is focusing on future generations of petascale machines. Source: Scientific Computing, R&D Mag
GT Launches Experimental Green IT Initiative
ATLANTA (November 18, 2009) - The biggest challenge in computing today,
some experts say, is not processing power, but power consumption. In
2007, the Environmental Protection Agency forecasted that as of 2011,
data centers will be responsible for 2 percent of all power consumption
in the U.S., and some predictions foresee those levels rising to almost
6 percent by 2020. To help understand and reduce power consumption, the Georgia Institute
of Technology has launched Green IT. Source: GT Communications & Marketing
GT Announces New Online MS InfoSec Degree
Beginning in Fall 2010, the College of Computing's NSA- and DHS-certified Master of Science in Information Security will be offered through a distance format. The program, which allows students to select either a technical or policy specialization, is targeted primarily toward working professionals, both in the United States and abroad. Source: GovInfoSecurity.com
GT Uses Supercomputing For Insight Into Evolution
With $1 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, Professor David Bader of Computational Science and Engineering will lead a three-university team in studying how next-generation high performance computers can determine evolutionary relationships among organisms using massive amounts of genomic data. Source: HPCwire.com
Grant to Develop Petascale Computational Tools Could Revolutionize Understanding of Genomic Evolution
ATLANTA, GA (November 17, 2009) – Technological advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing have opened up
the possibility of determining how living things are related by
analyzing the ways in which their genes have been rearranged on
chromosomes. However, inferring such evolutionary relationships from
rearrangement events is computationally intensive on even the most
advanced computing systems available today. Source: Office of Communications
GT Researchers Attack Cellphone Malware
With the help of a $450,000 NSF grant, assistant professors Patrick Traynor and Jonathon Giffin will focus on detecting and repairing mobile botnet attacks, rather than preventing them. "Since mobile phones typically lack security features found on desktop computers, such as antivirus software, we need to accept that the mobile devices will ultimately be successfully attacked," Giffin said. "Therefore our research focus is to develop effective attack recovery strategies." Source: CampusTechnology.com
Mobile Botnets Show Disruptive Potential
Using a software-simulated cellular network, Assistant Professor Patrick Traynor of Computer Science recently showed that in a network of about 1 million subscribers, a mobile botnet infecting just 12,000 phones could disrupt 93 percent of traffic. Source: NewScientist.com
Georgia Tech Creates New Online Master's Degree in Information Security
ATLANTA, GA (November 16, 2009) – The College of Computing today
announced the creation of a new Master of Science in Information
Security available online in a distance learning format, a flexible
degree option for working information security professionals who want
more than industry certification. Georgia Tech is the only university
of its class certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the
Department of Homeland Security as a Center of Academic Excellence in
Information Assurance Education that offers the degree in an online
format. Source: Office of Communications
Researchers Building Tools to Clean Up Smartphones
Right now the way most consumers deal with a virus-infected smartphone is by buying a new one. Two School of Computer Science assistant professors, Jonathon Giffin and Patrick Traynor, will use their new $450,000 NSF grant to find ways wireless carriers could repair phones remotely. Source: DarkReading.com
Smartphone Worms, Malware in Researchers' Sights
With a $450,000 NSF grant, assistant professors Jonathon Giffin and Patrick Traynor of Computer Science hope to find ways for mobile phone carriers to monitor their networks for evidence of cyber attacks--and stop them. "While a single user might realize that a phone is behaving differently, that person probably won’t know why," Traynor says. "But a cell phone provider may see a thousand devices behaving in the same way and have the ability to do something about it." Source: NetworkWorld.com
Remote Repair For Infected Phones
With a new, $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, assistant professors Jonathon Giffin and Patrick Traynor ultimately want to develop a remote repair method that would enable service providers to clean malicious code off an infected device without the device having to be brought into a service center. Source: SC magazine
GT Researchers Work to Secure Cellphones
Assistant Professors Jonathon Giffin and Patrick Traynor have received a three-year $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop tools that improve the security of mobile devices and the networks on which they operate. Together with a team of graduate students, the two are developing methods of identifying and remotely repairing mobile devices that may be infected with viruses or other malware. Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Tech Focuses on Experimental Systems and Computational Sciences at SC09
ATLANTA – November 11, 2009 – The Georgia Institute of Technology, an
emerging leader in high-performance computing research and education,
will be showcasing scientific research at the technical edge at next
week's SC09, the international conference on high-performance
computing, networking, storage and analysis scheduled for Nov. 14-20,
2009, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Source: Office of Communications
Improving Mobile Device Security
As mobile phones begin functioning more like mini-computers, they also take on more security risks. That's why School of Computer Science assistant professors Jonathon Giffin and Patrick Traynor recently received a $450,000 grant from the National
Science Foundation to work toward developing safer mobile devices and
telecommunication networks that serve such devices. Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Edwards, Grinter Named ACM Distinguished Scientists
Keith Edwards and Beki Grinter, both associate professors in the School
of Interactive Computing, have been named Distinguished
Scientists by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Source: Office of Communications
Making Mobile Devices, Cellular Networks More Secure
ATLANTA – November 10 2009 – Patrick Traynor and Jonathon Giffin, also an assistant professor in the
School of Computer Science, recently received a three-year $450,000
grant from the National Science Foundation to develop tools that
improve the security of mobile devices and the telecommunications
networks on which they operate. These Georgia Tech faculty, together
with a team of graduate students, are developing methods of identifying
and remotely repairing mobile devices that may be infected with viruses
or other malware. Source: Office of Communications
Randall Delivers AMS Lecture at NSC's Fort Discovery
Professor Dana Randall of Computer Science delivered the American Mathematical Society's 2009 Arnold Ross Lecture, "Domino Tilings of the Chessboard: An Introduction to Sampling and Counting," Oct. 29 at the National Science Center's Fort Discovery in Augusta, Ga. Following her lecture, many high school students in attendance tested their math knowledge with a mock game show, "Who Wants to Be a Mathematician?" that paid out real cash prizes. Source: AMS.org
Brubaker Nominated For ACM Ph.D. Award
Charlie Brubaker, an August 2009 Ph.D. graduate in Computer Science,
has won the College of Computing Doctoral Dissertation Award for his
thesis, “Extensions of Principal Component Analysis,” and the College
has voted to recommend the work for the ACM Doctoral Dissertation
Award, which each year recognizes the best CS dissertation in the
country. Source: Office of Communications
IT Pros Head to the Classroom
With a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the College of Computing has launched "Operation Reboot." The program pairs a laid-off IT professional with an existing high school teacher for at least one year, allowing the IT professional to learn the ins and outs of a classroom, and the teacher to get an education in IT. "We will transform these IT workers' identity into that of a computing teacher," said Barbara Ericson, director of computer-science outreach for the College. Source: Computerworld
Biros Paper Earns Viewpoint on Physics Site
A paper coauthored by Associate Professor George Biros (CSE) has been highlighted with a "Viewpoint" commentary on the American Physical Society website. The site selects certain papers published in the journals Physics and Physical Letters, and publishes Viewpoint pieces to explain the paper's impact to a wider audience. Biros' paper, "Why Do Red Blood Cells Have Asymmetric Shapes Even In a Symmetric Flow," was published in Physics in October. Source: APS.org
Arkin, Conte Elected to IEEE Boards
College of Computing professors Ron Arkin and Tom Conte have been
elected to
three-year terms on the Boards of Governors for two IEEE (Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers) societies. Arkin will serve on
the board for the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology
(SSIT), and Conte was elected to the board of the IEEE Computer Society. Source: Office of Communications
Tech's New (Augmented) Reality
In many tech circles, augmented reality is the Next Big Thing. But for AR apps to move beyond "cute" and start living up to the hype, they need to ramp up their scale, says Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre of Interactive Computing. He envisions a world where all available AR information can be accessed through a single application. Source: Montreal Gazette
HP, NVidia Team Up In GT HPC Project
Hewlett-Packard and NVidia are providing key technologies in the $12 million, NSF-funded project to deploy experimental high-performance computing systems that's being led by Jeffrey Vetter, joint professor in Computational Science & Engineering and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Source: eWeek.com
GT Gets $12M To Build Supercomputer
A $12 million NSF grant will help Georgia Tech turbocharge its research capabilities involving high-performance computing. "Our goal is to develop and deploy a novel, next-generation system for the computational science community," said Jeffrey Vetter, joint professor in Computational Science & Engineering and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Vetter is the lead investigator for the grant, which also involves the University of Tennessee and corporate partners Hewlett-Packard and NVidia. Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Tech Team Secures NSF Track 2 Award to Develop Future Generation High Performance Computing System
ATLANTA – October 21 2009 – The Georgia Institute of Technology today
announced its receipt of a five-year, $12 million Track 2 award from
the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure
to lead a partnership of academic, industry and government experts in
the development and deployment of an innovative and experimental
high-performance computing (HPC) system. Source: Office of Communications
The Mathematics of Passion
In the October 2009 issue of Verge, an arts and events magazine in Augusta, Ga., Professor Dana Randall of
Computer Science says she wants to change the perception of
mathematics. Far from simply crunching numbers, Randall talks about her
work as solving--even "study[ing] the aesthetics" of--patterns and
puzzles. On Oct. 29 in Augusta's Fort Discovery, she will deliver the American Mathematical Society's annual Arnold Ross Lecture, titled "Domino Tilings of the Chessboard: An Introduction to Sampling and Counting." Source: Verge Magazine
Hot New Musical Instrument: Your Phone
Cool new apps that turn an iPhone into a guitar, synthesizer, drums or all of the above might inject some life into the music industry by engaging more people in music. At least, that's the hope of Gil Weinberg, director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology and adjunct professor in the College of Computing. Source: CNN.com
Beware of Phishing Scams
After a recent phishing scam left thousands of Hotmail account holders' passwords vulnerable, Assistant Professor Jon Giffin of Computer Science says the first thing people who have Hotmail, Google, Yahoo! or other Web email accounts should do is change their passwords. Source: WAGA-TV
GT Expands Computer Science Recruiting Program
Now that the National Science Foundation has awarded Georgia Computes! an additional $1.4 million to extend the program for two years, its directors in the College of Computing say the program's next phase will expand its teacher-education efforts in computer science. Source: AJC.com
Another Use For Your Phone: Augmented Reality
Computer-enhanced views of the world are not just available to cyborgs in science-fiction movies. Increasingly they can be found on cell phones, for free or on the cheap, through augmented reality applications that take advantage of the phones' GPS and compass features and access to high-speed wireless networks to mash up super-local Web content with the world that surrounds you. Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre of the Augmented Environments lab hopes the AR reality can live up to the hype. Source: Associated Press
Computing Surge in Georgia
One sign of a successful pilot program is when it gets extended beyond its initial timeframe. Another is when it gets additional funding. A third is when it inspires copycats. Georgia Computes!, led since 2006 by the College of Computing, is meeting all criteria. Source: Inside Higher Ed
Georgia Tech Broadens, Diversifies Computing Education
ATLANTA (October 6, 2009) — Georgia Computes!, a statewide program aimed at expanding the pipeline of computer science students and teachers at all education levels in Georgia, received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to extend the program for two more years. Source: Office of Communications
New Technology Tracks Movement On the Ground
What if you could take Google Earth, combine it with the many cameras out there watching us, and end up with a technology that lets you watch live movement from above? Traffic, football games, what’s going on at the park… all at your fingertips, thanks to a project led by Ph.D. student Kihwan Kim and Professor Irfan Essa of the College of Computing. But is it cool? Or Big Brother? Source: CNN.com
A Simpler, Gentler Robotic Grip
Researchers at Harvard and Yale have developed a robotic hand that can grasp delicate objects while relying on a minimal number of sensors and a simple algorithm. "It will make things work better, without having to have a lot of sensing and computation," says Adjunct Assistant Professor Charlie Kemp of Interactive Computing. "That's exactly the type of thing we want right now, because we want robots in human environments." Source: TechnologyReview.com
Live Video Makes Google Earth Cities Bustle
Virtual globes such as Google Earth or Microsoft Visual Earth provide great bird's-eye views of urban landscapes. But those streets are empty, transforming the world's cities into ghost towns. Now a system, designed by a team led by Ph.D. student Kihwan Kim and Professor Irfan Essa of the College of Computing, can change that by drawing on real-time video from traffic and surveillance cameras, or weather sensors. It populates virtual towns with cars, people and realistic skies. Source: NewScientist.com
CS PhD Student Wins Intel Fellowship
Vishakha Gupta, a Ph.D. student in computer science, has been
awarded an doctoral fellowship from Intel Corp. for the 2009-10
academic year. Gupta, whose adviser is Professor Karsten Schwan, works
in the Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems (CERCS). Source: Office of Communications
Can Anti-Paparazzi Laser Shield Work?
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has installed an electronic system on his yacht that's meant to disrupt the prying lenses of paparazzi with focused beams of light. But according to the system's inventors, Gregory Abowd and Jay Summet of the College of Computing, Abramovich's plan probably won't work. Source: TechRadar.com
Atlanta Flood Monitored Through Social Media
As nonstop rain pummeled metro Atlanta in mid-September, causing widespread flooding and an estimated $250 million in damages, residents kept informed as much through their online social networks as by traditional media. "In an emergency situation, you find the social networks you've been building up on a daily basis, that sometimes seem like a waste of time, suddenly become very useful," said Amy Bruckman, associate professor in Interactive Computing. Source: AJC.com
GT Looks to Shift Unemployed IT Pros to Teaching
The College of Computing is looking to transform economic lemons into educational lemonade by shifting unemployed technology professionals into teaching careers. Dubbed "Operation Reboot," the program will combine with the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program and is designed prepare IT professionals to teach high school computer science. It kicked off Sept. 1 with an initial set of 30 technology workers and is expected to operate for the next three years. Source: CampusTechnology.com
Boldyreva Photo Featured on NatGeo
Computer Science's Sasha Boldyreva, an accomplished nature photographer, has a photo in National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009. The assistant professor's shot of a Japanese snow monkey is one of the Nature photos featured for September - Week 3 in the online contest, in which site visitors vote for their favorite images. Source: National Geographic.com
Augmented Reality Gets Off to Wobbly Start
Momentum has been building behind augmented reality, particularly AR incorporated into mobile devices, but applications that rely on GPS receivers and compasses built into those devices have been less than consistent. "These sensors are astonishingly bad at what people are trying to do with them," says Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre of Interactive Computing. Source: New Scientist
Georgia Tech Receives Grant For Computing Training
A $2.5 million federal grant will enable the College of Computing to transform 30 IT workers into high school computing teachers. "Operation Reboot" program pairs an IT worker with an existing computing teacher. The trainees will co-teach at least two computing classes for one year, allowing them to learn the ins-and-outs of classroom teaching. Source: Associated Press
Georgia Tech to Transform Unemployed Technology Workers into High School Computing Teachers
ATLANTA (September 17, 2009)— Through a recent $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the Georgia Tech College of Computing will mitigate the stress of joblessness for unemployed information technology (IT) professionals over the next three years. Operation Reboot, as the project is aptly titled, will transform an initial set of 30 IT workers in Georgia into high school computing teachers. The initiative began September 1. Source: Office of Communications
Family Ties Compel Some to Tackle Autism
Gregory Abowd, Distinguished Professor in Interactive Computing, realized while watching family videos that he and his wife missed signs of autism in their children as toddlers. He also realized his own work could help future parents spot those early signs. "There's nothing that beats having passion about something," Abowd says. Source: SimonsFoundation.org
Google Earth+Augmented Reality=Wow!
Professor Irfan Essa of Interactive Computing is directing a project that combines detailed aerial maps (such as those available through Google Earth) with live-action video feeds to create spectacular imagery, as a new video demonstrates. Source: RevolutionMagazine.com
Digital Contacts Will Keep an Eye on Your Vitals
Researchers already are building digital enhancements into contact lenses that conjure up visions of "cyborg eyes." While calling the work "exciting," Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre of Interactive Computing says it will be some time before the lenses can be used for augmented reality applications like gaming. Source: Wired.com
Sparking Interest in CS With Video Game Testing
Research shows that young African American males approach video games differently than do their white peers. Betsy DiSalvo, doctoral candidate in the School of Interactive Computing, has a hunch that she can use black teens' gaming habits to spur interest in computer science--and so far it's working. Source: PhysOrg.com
Social Simon: Watch and Learn
Simon, the latest robot creation of Assistant Professor Andrea Thomaz of Interactive Computing, is programmed to learn new skills from watching human teachers, rather than being programmed by them. This capability could make robots like Simon quite flexible--and useful--in any number of task environments. Source: Ahmedabad Mirror
Bug Hunting With Glitch Game Testers
Glitch Game Testers, a joint program between the College of Computing and Morehouse College, is helping Atlanta high school students make the connection between the fun of video games and the field of computer science, says Ph.D. student and program lead Betsy DiSalvo. Source: GameSetWatch.com
Could Better Auto Batteries Mean Better Robots?
Robots today contribute in walks of life from national defense to health care to housecleaning, but their effectiveness often lives only as long as their batteries. New U.S. investments in electric car technology could also lead to longer- and stronger-performing robots, says Henrik Christensen, director of the Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM) Center at Georgia Tech. Source: The New York Times
Who's Driving Twitter's Popularity? Not Teens
Twitter's unparalleled explosion in popularity is bucking the old model of young people and teenagers as the earliest adopters of Web-related innovations. Part of this may be due to "tweets" being a "comparatively adult kind of interaction," says new Interactive Computing Ph.D. graduate Andrea Forte, whose Georgia Tech dissertation examined how high school students use social media. Source: The New York Times
Wolf Hits Hard With Intel 'Black Belt'
Matthew Wolf, research scientist in Computer Science, has been recognized by the Intel Software Network as a "Black Belt" for his contributions to Intel's Academic Community. Already the recipient of a 2009 Academic Leadership Award from Intel, Wolf was cited for helping to further the parallel programming curriculum. Source: Intel Corp.
Thomaz Named a Top Innovator Under 35
Andrea Thomaz, assistant professor in Interactive Computing, has been named one of 2009’s Top Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review. Thomaz’s research focuses on social interactions between robots and humans; her robots give visual cues—such as gestures and facial expressions—to indicate whether they understand what a person is telling them. Thomaz also develops machine learning methods to help robots more quickly learn physical tasks, particularly from teachers who are not necessarily programmers. Source: MIT Technology Review
Only Developed World Lacks Women in Computing
In many less developed countries, information technology and computer science are not considered “male” domains, according to a report written by Mark Guzdial, professor in Interactive Computing, for the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). In Malaysia, for example, one study showed 52 percent of all CS majors are female, often taught by female department heads reporting to female deans. Source: Generation YES blog
MRI Simulation of Blood Flow Helps Plan Child's Heart Surgery
Jarek Rossignac, professor in the School of Interactive Computing, developed Surgem, an interactive geometric modeling environment that allows surgeons to use both hands and natural gestures in 3D to grab, pull, twist and bend a 3D computer representation of a patient's anatomy. Source: Reuters
New Phone Apps Seek to 'Augment' Reality
Two-dimensional maps yield far more promise for bringing geo-tagged augmented reality to mobile phone platforms than does GPS, says Blair MacIntyre, associate professor in Interactive Computing and director of the Augmented Environments Lab. MacIntyre predicts that mobile AR will become much more functional within the next year. Source: CNN.com
Confront the IT Security Challenge
In a podcast interview with GovInfoSecurity.com, Howard Schmidt says both government and the private sector have a "shared responsibility" to address cyberthreats through culture change and additional funding, as well as through cooperation with other nations. Schmidt, president of the Information Security Forum, is Professor of the Practice in Computer Science and the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC). Source: GovInfoSecurity.com
The World's Masters of Innovation
Craig Mundie, a two-time alumnus of Georgia Tech, was named one of the world's top 25 "Masters of Innovation" by BusinessWeek magazine, in its 2009 rankings of most innovative companies. Mundie, who's served as Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer in 2006, stepped into some big shoes—many of his duties were formerly handled by Bill Gates. Source: BusinessWeek
GPB Spotlights Chris Klaus in Business Show
Christopher Klaus, founder of Internet Security Systems and namesake of the Klaus Advanced Computing Building, is featured on the July 26, 2009, episode of Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Georgia's Business." Klaus, now CEO of Kaneva, discusses virtual worlds and "emergent behavior" in online gaming. Source: GPB
BotNets Biggest Cyber Threat
Last year the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) estimated that 15 percent of online computers are infected with BotNets. The CIA World Fact Book estimates 1.3 billion Internet users worldwide. Taking into account shared, multiple and mobile devices, some have estimated that nearly 200 million devices could be infected, with as many as 150,000 being added each day. Source: DoDBuzz.com
Are Mobile Botnets in Our Future?
Mobile devices like iPhones are high on the list of emerging cybersecurity threats, but one factor that might keep hackers at bay--for now--is the devices' short life cycle, says Assistant Professor Patrick Traynor of Computer Science, who points out that most users get a new device every two years. Source: Newsmedian Blog
Military Robots for the 'War After Next'
As he works toward an "ethical governor" to manage military robot behavior, Professor Ron Arkin of Interactive Computing admits the technology that would allow a robot to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants does not yet exist, but says there is no fundamental limitation to finding it. "These are for the so-called war after next," he says. Source: h+ magazine
A Better Way to Shoot Down Spam
SNARE, or Spatio-temporal Network-level Automatic Reputation Engine, is a new software that separates spam from "ham" (legitimate email) with the same accuracy as traditional filters while putting less strain on the network. Assistant Professor Nick Feamster of Computer Science oversaw its development. Source: MIT Technology Review
CS Chair Leads Group Studying Internet's Future
Over the past 40 years, the Internet has become part of society's
fundamental infrastructure, but for it to continue meeting its obligations, major improvements are
needed in security, accessibility, predictability and reliability,
concluded a Computing Community Consortium group led by Professor
Ellen Zegura, chair of Computer Science. Source: Office of
Communications
Robo-Ethicists Want to Revamp Asimov's Laws
More and more researchers are examining how to bring ethics into the world of robot behavior, but humans might also need ethical "programming" when it comes to robot interactions. "Is it okay to kick a robot dog but tell your kids not to do that with a normal dog? How do you tell your children about the difference?" said Professor Henrik Christensen, director of the Robotics & Intelligent Machines (RIM) Center at Georgia Tech. Source: Wired.com
Imagine Cup Winners 'MashUp' UN Millennium Goals
"MDG Actors," a web application that crawls the Internet in real time to search for the latest information on the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals, was the only U.S. category winner in July's Imagine Cup finals in Cairo, Egypt. Source: Office of Communications
Info Applications Turn to Users For Data
For location-specific applications of augmented reality to go mainstream, they will need mountains of data, either from users themselves or from geo-tagged databases. "Ideally they'd want to hook in with the same database that Google Maps, or Garmin, or TomTom uses," said Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre, director of the Augmented Environments Lab. Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Mobiles For Health--American Style
Mobile devices can help patients with diabetes monitor their health in multiple ways, from logging glucose readings to snapping photos of meals. "By being almost always with you, anytime you had a question or concern or surprise, the device was available for capturing those concerns," said Professor Beth Mynatt, director of the GVU Center. Mynatt led a study that examined how people used the devices to improve their personal health care monitoring. Source: MobileActive.org
MacIntyre Named NVidia 'Professor-Partner'
Blair MacIntyre, associate professor of Interactive Computing, has
been awarded a Professor-Partnership by NVidia and will be a featured
speaker at the company's Research Summit this fall in San Jose, Calif. Source: Office of Communications
PhD Grads Named Computing Innovation Fellows
Nick Diakopoulos and Stephen Voida, both recent Ph.D. graduates of the
College of Computing, have been named Computing Innovation Fellows by
the Computing Research Association (CRA) and the Computing Community
Consortium (CCC). Source: Office of Communications
GT to Lead Fight Against Cell Phone Hackers
As the computing power of mobile phones increases--and competition begins to winnow down the variety of operating systems--they will become more and more attractive to hackers. Now is the time to begin shoring up defenses, say assistant professors Jon Giffin and Patrick Traynor of Computer Science. Source: 11Alive
Zha, Schwan Win HP Awards for Innovation
Professors Hongyuan Zha (Computational Science and Engineering) and Karsten Schwan (Computer Science) have won HP Labs
Innovation Research Program (IRP) awards, the company announced in June. Source: Office of Communications
Alex Gray Wins NSF CAREER Award
Alexander Gray, assistant professor in Computational Science and
Engineering, has received a CAREER Award from the National Science
Foundation for his project, "Scalable Machine Learning for
Astrostatistics." Source: Office of Communications
Kicking Reality Up a Notch
The future of augmented reality, which now is finding its way into consumer applications on mobile device platforms, may lie not in people's phones but in some kind of wearable technology like special glasses or even contact lenses, says Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre of Interactive Computing. Source: The New York Times
Giving Robots a Humane Touch
In a Q&A-style interview, Professor Ron Arkin of Interactive Computing talks about his work with the U.S. Army to develop autonomous robots for military use. Arkin explains the "ethical adaptor," modeled on human feelings of guilt, that theoretically would allow the machine to make ethical decisions in the heat of battle. Source: CNET News
Team Curious Wins Imagine Cup MashUp Prize
Team Curious, a Georgia Tech pairing of a College of Computing alumna and a mechanical engineering student, is getting worldwide recognition after winning the MashUp category of the 2009 Imagine Cup competition, sponsored by Microsoft Corp. Team Curious is the only U.S. group to receive first place honors in one of the nine invitational categories. Winners were announced July 7. Source: Office of Communications
Careful With That Call
Now is the time to begin defending voice over IP before hackers and thieves go after its vulnerabilities just as they've done with Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). "There is no reason to believe the bad guys will not exploit this," says Professor Mustaque Ahamad, director of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. Source: Government Computer News
Petascale Book Covers Broad Topic Well
Petascale Computing: Algorithms and Applications, written by Professor David Bader of Computational Science and Engineering, would be especially useful to center directors and program managers planning long-term hardware and software needs, says an HPCwire reviewer. Source: HPCwire.com
On Building Ethical Military Robots
In CNET's daily podcast, Professor Ron Arkin of Interactive Computing talks about his work with the U.S. Army exploring the use of autonomous robots on the battlefield. Arkin says a robot theoretically could fight more ethically--at least in terms of avoiding civilian casualties--than a human soldier because it would not experience the desire for revenge. Host: CNET 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
