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Research
Areas of Expertise
Would you like to know what kinds of research you can become involved in while studying in the
Computer Science Department at Montana State University? Do you need some expert
assistance for your business that might be met by hiring a faculty member through a consulting
arrangement? Listed below are the various areas of expertise of the faculty in alphabetic
order by faculty last names. You can visit the individual faculty member's page by
clicking on his or her name.
- Rafal Angryk.
Data mining, database systems, mobile agents, artificial intelligence.
- Frances Goosey.
Active learning applets for web-based learning.
- Hunter Lloyd.
Robotics, Multimedia and animation, Internet technologies.
- Brendan Mumey.
Applied algorithms, optical and wireless networking,
computational biology.
- John Paxton.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer science
education.
- Rocky Ross.
Web-based active learning resources, theoretical computer
science.
- Denbigh Starkey.
Computer graphics, scientific visualization.
- Neil Tang.
Networks, wireless networking.
- Year Back Yoo.
Supercomputing, parallel algorithms for combinatorial
optimization problems, heterogeneous computing, operations research.
- Binhai Zhu.
Applied computational geometry, intelligent web searching,
geographical information systems, spatial databases, design and analysis of algorithms,
combinatorial optimization.
Strengths
The Department has strengths in a number of areas including
- Algorithms
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computational Biology
- Database
- Datamining
- Distributed Systems
- Graphics
- Networks
- Robotics
- Scientific Visualization
- Theory of Computing
- Web-based, active learning resources
Research Projects
The faculty have different areas of research interest and expertise. However, there are a
number of active, focused research projects underway in the Department that involve Bachelor's,
Master's, and/or PhD students as well as one or more faculty members. These projects are
supported by grants from a variety of agencies and are often interdisciplinary in nature. To
learn about these projects and the opportunities they present for students and other faculty
collaborators, read on.
Ad Hoc Routing For Rural Public Safety (Jian Tang)
Description
Providing responsive and effective public safety requires highly
coordinated and interoperable communications infrastructure and
information systems. Achievement of these goals is particularly
challenging in rural and sparsely populated areas, where the lack
of communications infrastructure, large distances and difficult
terrain contribute additional complexities. In this project, we
explore the feasibility of using mobile ad hoc networks in rural
areas for public safety related emergency communications. Specifically,
we are evaluating existing standard ad hoc routing protocols using the
real-life rural emergency scenarios and are developing a novel QoS
aware protocol to meet all the performance requirements.
Support
This project is supported by Department of Homeland Security
under the grant #2007-ST-086-000001.
Opportunities
Currently there is no RA opening for students but this may change
in the near future.
Algorithms/Bioinformatics Project (Binhai Zhu)
Description
I am currently working on several projects in algorithms and bioinformatics
(with research fundings pending from NSF). One of the problems is
to dynamically label a set of sites (to put a label indicating whether
it is good for cross-country skiing), this is from GIS applications.
For bioinformatics areas, I am currently working on realistic
computation of genomic distances (like with gene repetitions).
Support
Fundings from National Science Foundation are still pending.
Check back with me in Oct/Nov, 2006.
Opportunities
If you are a student (at any level) who likes challenge, there is always a
chance to participate in these projects.
Assorted Computational Biology Problems (Brendan Mumey)
Description
We are currently
investigating problems in protein surface structure prediction (using a novel algorithm for mapping
the epitope surface of a protein) and computational methods for investigating the dynamics of
gene regulation using DNA microarrays (joint work with Tomas Gedeon in the math department).
Support
This work is currently unsupported but we expect
to submit a large NIH grant soon in conjunction with investigators in the departments
of chemistry and microbiology. Previous work has been supported by NSF
grant #9978582, amount $95,649.
Opportunities
Opportunities exist for research-interested students
at the B.Sc.,
M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels.
Bringing Underrepresented Groups to Computer Science
(Anne DeFrance & Rafal Angryk)
Description
We are offering a Summer Camp for Middle-School Girls, who are
interested in Computer Science. Curriculum for the camp includes
learning to program, hands-on activities with computers and robots,
building web pages, introduction to a database management system,
and some interactions with women working in the computer science
profession. The goal of this project is to encourage young females
to pursue academic education in computer science.
Support
The project is currently supported by the NSF. Any donations from
local businesses and other institutions are strongly encouraged.
Opportunities
Opportunities exist for graduate and undergraduate Computer Science
students, who are interested in encouraging underrepresented groups
to pursue careers in computer science. We are currently looking for
undergraduate students who have interests (and skills!) to do website
development, and a summer counselor work. A graduate student with
strong educational interests is currently being sought to help with
development of educational materials for middle-school girls, and
their teachers.
Cross-layer Optimization for Dynamic Spectrum Access
Wireless Mesh Networks (Jian Tang)
Description
This project focuses on the emerging Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA)
Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Cross-layer design is strongly needed
for such a network due to its two special features: dynamic spectrum
availability and spectrum heterogeneity. We are conducting a
comprehensive study on cross-layer optimization for DSA WMNs, and
designing networking protocols under its guidance. Specifically, we
concentrate on the bottom four layers of the network stack and seek
joint congestion control, routing, spectrum sharing, and power control
solutions with the objective of maximizing throughput, achieving
certain fairness, and providing QoS support.
Support
This project is supported by NSF under the grant CNS-0721880.
Opportunities
Currently there is one RA opening for students in the M.S or Ph.D level.
Example-based Image Querying for TRACE Solar Data
Repository (Rafal Angryk)
Description
The overall goal of this project is to create time-efficient
mechanisms for classifying and querying multiple types of solar phenomena.
There are several steps in our approach. The first step is to extract
informative features from solar images. The second step is to build
accurate classifiers for the solar phenomena. Finally, we plan to build
an interface that allows querying of
TRACE Solar Data
repository, which
uses the classifiers that have been produced. We are focused on
development of querying mechanisms that allow the user to search
through solar images based on the image of phenomena, in which he/she
is interested.
Support
Currently, the work is supported by subcontract with Lockheed-Martin
in Palo Alto, which has funds from NASA's TRACE Mission. The research
is conducted in close collaboration with
Dr. Petrus C. Martens,
research professor at the MSU, who specializes in area of solar physics.
Opportunities
Opportunities exist for graduate and undergraduate Computer Science
students who are interested in feature recognition and image processing.
Investigating Whether Artificial Intelligence
Can Be Used to Detect Birds in Nexrad Data (John Paxton)
Description
Rick Sojda of the Northern Rocky Mountain Science
Center and I are collaborating on this project.
The work involves machine learning and data reformulation to
automate the process of detecting birds in radar data. This information
can then be used to help determine appropriate (and inappropriate) sites
to place windmills.
Currently, a master's student (Reggie Mead) is working with us.
Support
The project is supported by USGS and will likely be funded by NREL
(National Renewable Energy Lab) in the near future.
Network Algorithm Problems (Brendan Mumey)
Description
We are engaged in studying algorithmic aspects of optical and wireless
networking including proving that certain problems are theoretically
difficult and devising new approaches to solving how to efficiently use
network resources.
Support
Dr. Mumey has support from a 3 year NSF grant. Further support from DEPSCOR
and the DOD is pending.
Opportunities
Opportunities exist for research-interested students
at the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels.
Semantically-Driven Querying of Web Documents (Rafal Angryk)
Description
The objective of this research is to develop a new document organization
technique, which simulates human-like processing of the text information
(we focus on the problem of multiple levels of abstraction occurring in
our natural language). The proposed approach is driven by recent discoveries
in the areas of (1) graph-based data mining, (2) hierarchical clustering,
and (3) ontology-based data processing. We want to develop mechanisms
allowing for a human-like, sense-based querying rather than to continue
development of searches dependent solely on the frequency of matching terms.
This should allow a broad range of computer users, who are not experts in
the searched topics, to have similar searching capabilities, as the
experts have.
Support
The project is currently funded by
RightNow Technologies, work is being
done in close collaboration with their
AI Lab. Additional support from
the NSF is currently being sought.
Opportunities
Currently, research opportunities exist for graduate Computer Science
students, who have strong interests in areas related to graph-based
data mining and ontology-based data processing, and would like to have
their theses related to these areas.
A Tactical Automation, Assessment, and Performance Support System (TAAP) (Denbigh Starkey)
Description
This project is in collaboration with Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), whose Montana
Operations Center is located in Bozeman. We will develop a Tactical Automation,
Assessment,
and Performance Support System (TAAP), a software system that will train, monitor,
evaluate,
and assist operators in complex environments. An initial customer will be the
US
Navy. The
Navy will employ TAAP aboard Scaled Improved Performance Sonar (SIPS) ships for training,
assisting, and evaluating sonar operators. TAAP will automate simple and complex
tasks,
support operator task training and evaluation, and continuously monitor user and system
performance in real-world applications and related processes. In addition, the
proposed
system will provide recovery after system interruption, collect use and trend data,
capture best-practice procedures based on identification and analysis of optimal task
performance, and will provide a means to map system states. This system will build
on
AAC's existing Navy-funded Phase II SBIR (N03-074), the Supportability Performance and
Assessment System (SPAS).
Support
The project is supported by the US Navy under SBIR Phase II support to AAC and by a grant to
Denbigh Starkey from AAC. Phase III SBIR support from the Department of Defense is
currently being sought.
Opportunities for Students
At this time their are no positions available on the grant, but it is anticipated that
this will change with future funding.
Webworks Laboratory (Rocky Ross)
Description
The Webworks Laboratory, directed by
Rocky Ross, is devoted to the design, implementation, and evaluation of teaching and learning
resources that can be delivered on the web. Current work focuses on two major aspects:
The creation of active learning applets that can be embedded in a web presentation of a topic
(e.g., the theory of computing) that allows the learner to interact with and manipulate dynamic
models (e.g., finite state automata, context free grammars, etc.) in context.
The creation of hypertextbooks---web-based teaching and learning resources that incorporate text,
graphics, active learning applets, sound, and video into a seamless whole---that can serve to
augment or supplant traditional textbooks in courses.
Support
The activities of the Webworks Laboratory are supported by grants from the National Science
Foundation and are interdisciplinary in nature.
Opportunities for Students
There is no end to the number and kinds of projects that can be undertaken in the Laboratory.
They range in size and complexity in ways that make them variously suitable for:
The project has ongoing needs for new student participants. Some support may be available but
is usually reserved for students who have already been in the Department for a while in order for
the Webworks Director to determine their suitability to the needs of the Laboratory.
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