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Browse Active Research Projects

Undergraduates can participate in projects for credits by registering in CS 4974 or 4994. Consult the Faculty Advisor or Research Supervisor before you register for this course.

Participation on a VTURCS project could also lead to an honors thesis for CS majors interested in graduating with honors.

Can't find anything that piques your curiousity? Don't be afraid to check out the Computer Science faculty list for someone who has a research interest you'd like to know more about. They might just have something for you.

A Handheld Approach to Mobile Augmented Reality

Faculty Advisor: Joe Gabbard
Research Supervisor: Joe Gabbard
Description of Work: The Mobile Augmented Reality Lab is researching novel definitions and applications of Augmented Reality (AR) technology. One of our goals is to transition the technology usage from cumbersome head-worn, tethered, and indoor contexts, to wireless and truly mobile user experiences. The specific project at this time, is to employ a camera-enabled handheld computer (e.g., PDA, mobile phone) as a "window to the world", overlaying location-based information onto a real-time video image. We are collaborating with SeeVT with the goal of providing additional user interaction techniques to mobile users across campus.
Application Instructions: Email me to setup a time to discuss more details. Creative approaches to the problem are encouraged.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: jgabbard@vt.edu

Adding Built-in Self-testing to JavaBeans Components

Faculty Advisor: Stephen Edwards
Research Supervisor: Stephen Edwards
Description of Work: Our research group has been developing approaches for embedding a component's test suite(s) in a "self-testing" wrapper together with the necessary scaffolding needed to run the suite(s). By packaging a wrapper class together with the original, and providing a way for either one to be created on demand, a clean, transparent self-testing capability can be provided. The goal of this project is to adapt these techniques to JavaBeans, where the extra features would be packaged together with the original bean inside its jar.
Application Instructions: Stop by during my office hours to discuss possibilities.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Software Engineering
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: edwards@cs.vt.edu

Agile Programming for HCI

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Jason Lee
Description of Work: Software developers are increasingly looking toward agile methodologies to engineer software systems efficiently. However current agile processes, such as eXtreme Programming, do not adequately account for usability issues in the development process. The goal of this project is to leverage a software development process that combines reuse-centric scenario-based usability engineering and eXtreme Programming to create notification systems . Students will gain real world knowledge of cutting edge human-computer interaction and software development issues through application development and will help in evaluating and improving the development process. Experience with eXtreme Programming is a plus, but not necessary.
Application Instructions: Email Dr. McCrickard to apply.
Project URL: http://research.cs.vt.edu/ns/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

Algorithm Development for Molecular Dynamics

Faculty Advisor: Alexey Onufriev and Adrian Sandu
Research Supervisor: Alexey Onufriev and Adrian Sandu
Description of Work: To participate in development and testing of new algorithms that speed up molecular dynamics simulations. Here is the problem: a typical macromeolecule is made up of at least ~10,000 atoms, and so to describe its motion, 60,000 or more differential equations must be solved simultaneosly. One way to speed up the calculations is by using the so-called "multiple time-step" methods, in which the integration time-step is effectively increased with minimal impact on the accuracy of the solution. At this stage, we will be testing out different ideas to access their viability for further development. You will get hands-on experience with the software and methodology currently in high demand due to explosive development in the bio- and nano-technology areas.
Application Instructions: Please e-mail us.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Theory, Bioinformatics
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: onufriev@cs.vt.edu

Algorithm development in structural biology/bioinformatics

Faculty Advisor: Alexey Onufriev
Research Supervisor: Alexey Onufriev and grad. students
Description of Work: Several projects are available that focus on development and analysis of core algorithms for structural bioinformatics applications. THE PROJECTS ARE NOT JUST AN EXERCISE IN ABSTRACT THINKING: SOLUTIONS BECOME IMMEDIATELY USEFULL IN BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH SUCH A DESIGN OF NEW MEDICINES. Examples: 1) Find (in optimal time) the shortest distance from a point to the surface of a bio-molecule. Given that biomolecular shapes are very complex, the problem is non-trivial. 2) Develop a computationally effective representation of biomolecular shapes as a sum of some "simple" base function shapes. 3) Find an approximate polynomial time approximation to the following NP-hard problem: compute Z = Sum(k=1, 2^N)[exp(-E(k))] over all 2^N possible states of a biological systems. Here E(k) is the known energy of the k-th state.
Application Instructions: email me.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Theory
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: alexey@cs.vt.edu

Algorithm Visualizations

Faculty Advisor: Cliff Shaffer
Research Supervisor: Cliff Shaffer
Description of Work: Help to advance our research program on algorithm visualization. Options include 1) Create one or more algorithm visualizations to be used in courses such as CS2606. We do our implementations as Java applets. This will extend our library of algorithm visualizations for use in courses at Virginia Tech. 2) Contribute to development of the AlgoViz Wiki (http://algoviz.cs.vt.edu). This might involve developing analysis tools to explore the wiki catalog, or developing information content for the wiki. This work will contribute to our fundamental research efforts to understand what makes a successful algorithm visualization.
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Shaffer to set up an appointment.
Project URL: http://research.cs.vt.edu/algoviz/vturcs
Area(s) of Research: Computer-Aided Instruction, Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: shaffer@vt.edu

Algorithms and Software for Remote Sensing

Faculty Advisor: Drs. Calvin Ribbens, Randall Wynne, Layne Watson
Research Supervisor: Same
Description of Work: This is a joint research project between Computer Science and Forestry, sponsored by the Center for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing (CEARS). There are several projects involving data structures, image processing, parallel computing, and high performance scientific computation. The work can be either for credit or pay. Two specific needs are: (1) good data structures and I/O tools for parallel processing and/or vectorization of HDF (4&5), HDF-EOS, and GeoTiff in Fortran 95. (2) Parallel implementations of "classic" clustering (ISODATA, agglomerative hierarchical clustering, etc.) and segmentation (e.g., watershed routines) algorithms in Fortran 95/MPI.
Application Instructions: Contact either of Drs. Ribbens or Watson.
Project URL: http://cears.fw.vt.edu
Area(s) of Research: Parallel Computation
Compensation: Work for Pay
Contact: ltw@cs.vt.edu

An Eclipse-based Prototype for Supporting Hazzard Analysis

Faculty Advisor: James D. Arthur
Research Supervisor: James D. Arthur
Description of Work: To develop a prototype tool (eclipse-based) that will support Hazard Analysis. Tool will provide interface to add Hazards, Causes and Mitigation approaches, and a rudimentary Graphical Editor for constructing/analyzing corresponding Functional Block Diagrams and Fault Trees
Application Instructions: Meet with Dr. Arthur
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Software Engineering
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: arthur@vt.edu

Architectures for Classroom Connectivity

Faculty Advisor: Deborah Tatar
Research Supervisor: Deborah Tatar
Description of Work: We are peer-to-peer and Tuple-Space based architectures for classroom connectivity. We are looking for students to help implement trial activites. Some of these activities involve working with large existing programs.
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Tatar. Note: the earlier in your program you are, the better. I am looking for students that have long-term potential for research involvment.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: tatar@vt.edu

Augmenting Information Rich Displays

Faculty Advisor: Joe Gabbard
Research Supervisor: Joe Gabbard
Description of Work: To date, most augmented reality (AR) applications have focused on overlaying information onto the real-world, to provide information to users such as building labels, geo-rectified wayfinding indicators, etc. In these cases, the real-world background is typically a building, a road-surface, the sky, and so on. This project aims to explore the advantages of integrated information systems, where AR technology is used to augment information rich spaces. This work, for example, may involve using an AR display to augment the GigaPixel display, providing (potentially personal or sensitive) information on top of information. Creative ideas along these lines are also encouraged.
Application Instructions: Email to setup a convenient time to discuss details.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: jgabbard@vt.edu

Automated Grading Meets Test-first Coding

Faculty Advisor: Stephen Edwards
Research Supervisor: Stephen Edwards
Description of Work: Web-CAT is an automated grading system used in some of our classes to grade students based on how they test their own code. We would like to support other schools who want to use Web-CAT for their courses too. Unfortunately, there are a number of institutional, policy-oriented, and technology-oriented problems that stand in the way of this. This project would involve plotting out a path towards a real open-source project that could be used by multiple schools, as well as towards accommodating the various administrative requirements of different institutions. This project would involve helping to architect a real-world web application designed for open-source development and educational use.
Application Instructions: Stop by during my office hours to discuss possibilities.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Software Engineering, Computer-Aided Instruction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: edwards@cs.vt.edu

Automatic Class Discovery in Biological Data

Faculty Advisor: T. M. Murali
Research Supervisor: T. M. Murali
Description of Work: In spite of hundreds, if not thousands of years, of development in medicine, identification of complex diseases such as cancer, e.g., by viewing diseased cells under a microscope, still remains an art, to some extent. Over the last 10 years, DNA microarrays have opened up a promising avenue for this problem. A DNA microarray measures the expression levels (activities) of all the genes in a cell. Therefore, by taking DNA microarray samples from patients diagnosed with various diseases and comparing these measurements, it may be possible to put disease diagnosis on a solid molecular footing, where gene expression patterns define a molecular signature for a disease. This project will explore the use of biclustering algorithms to automatically discover diseases types and sub-classes. A bicluster isolates a subset of genes and a subset of samples with very coherent gene expression patterns. Thus, it is possible that these genes form a molecular signature for the disease associated with the samples. If no single disease is associated with the samples, the bicluster may point to a new disease or a new sub-class of an existing disease. There are three main aspects to this project: (i) Implement different biclustering algorithms already published in the literature. (ii) Develop and implement an automatic class discovery framework that uses the biclusters computed by the algorithms implemented in step (i). There is tremendous scope for innovation and new ideas in this aspect. (iii) Validate the class discovery methodology on actual gene expression and disease datasets. This project can involve two students.
Application Instructions: Send CV to murali@cs.vt.edu
Project URL: http://bioinformatics.cs.vt.edu/~murali/papers/xmotif-classifier/
Area(s) of Research: Computational Biology, Data Mining
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: murali@cs.vt.edu

Automatically Generating Test Data

Faculty Advisor: Stephen Edwards
Research Supervisor: Stephen Edwards
Description of Work: This project is a continuation of current research on techniques for automatically generating test data for software components. Think of a software component as a black-box that provides a well-defined "interface" as a series of methods. Generating one test case amounts to choosing a sequence of method calls (and their parameters) that will exercise the component in some interesting way. Automatically generating an entire test suite is then the problem of writing a program that can generate a reasonable number of "interesting" test cases in this fashion, and which will give some assurance that all the cases taken together will do a good job of revealing any defects hidden in the component's implementation. An early prototype generator that does this will be redesigned and re-engineered. Java programming experience is required, and the implementation of several graph-based algorithms is an important part of the project.
Application Instructions: Stop by my office hours to discuss possibilities.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Software Engineering
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: edwards@cs.vt.edu

Bioinformatics in Genomics

Faculty Advisor: Liqing Zhang
Research Supervisor: Liqing Zhang
Description of Work: Ever wonder what do Bioformaticians do? Here is your opportunity to find out! The research question is: how genes with high sequence similarity diverge over time in both their function and expression? This is a fundamental question in biology, because most, if not all, genes in human and many other species' genomes are genes of this category. To answer this question, you need to know how to program in Perl and some knowledge on databases, both of which should be pretty easy to pick up. The benefit of doing this project is that not only will you get better at programming, but you will get to know some important questions in biology, especially to become aware what is going on in this exciting genomic era!
Application Instructions: Send e-mail.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: lqzhang@cs.vt.edu

Building a Linux Cluster

Faculty Advisor: Danesh Tafti
Research Supervisor
Description of Work: Update an existing linux cluster. Requires reconfiguration with OSCAR. The hardware is in place but needs to be reconfigured with updated software and OS. Great opportunity to get hands on experience in building clusters.
Application Instructions
Project URL: http://www.hpcfd.me.vt.edu
Area(s) of Research: Networking, Parallel Computation, Software Engineering, Systems
Compensation: Work for Pay
Contact: dtafti@vt.edu

Characterizing Virtual Machine Performance

Faculty Advisor: W. Feng
Research Supervisor: M. Gardner
Description of Work: In the past year, virtual computing on physical resources has become in vogue at major companies throughout the U.S. The aim of this project is to do a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the different virtual machine environments out there, e.g., qemu, VMware, Xen, and so on.
Application Instructions: E-mail a resume to feng@cs.vt.edu. Optional, but preferred, materials include unofficial undergraduate transcript and a brief one-paragraph statement of what interests you about this project.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Networking, Systems
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: feng@cs.vt.edu

Community Computing

Faculty Advisor: Andrea Kavanaugh
Research Supervisor: Andrea Kavanaugh
Description of Work: Working with local groups in the community to help them become information producers through the use of tools for non-experts (for example, authoring web materials, customizing content, and collaborating online with wikis or blogs). Various local groups include medical (New River Health District), educational (Montgomery schools), ethnic (Christiansburg Institute), civic (Literacy Volunteers), and socio-economically disadvantaged (New River Community Action, Appalachian Women's Alliance).
Application Instructions: Contact me by email (kavan@vt.edu) or telephone (231-1806); my office is 1137 in KnowledgeWorks II, the CS Department building in the corporate research center.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction, Theory
Compensation: Work for Pay or Credit
Contact: kavan@vt.edu

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Faculty Advisor: Lenwood S. Heath
Research Supervisor: Various
Description of Work: The Department of Computer Science has a number of faculty members involved in computational biology and bioinformatics (CBB) research. Such research often employs CS skills involving Perl programming, relational data bases, web service development, and mathematical or statistical analysis of biological data. The field of bioinformatics changes rapidly and offers many opportunities, so it is not possible to list all specific projects in VTURCS. Basically, if you know Perl, database, web development, algorithmic, or have other relevant skills, consider CBB.
Application Instructions: See Dr. Heath's web site for his current office hours. Stop by during office hours for a chat. He can direct you to faculty members who might be able to use your skills.
Project URL: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~heath/
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Theory, Computational Biology
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: heath@vt.edu

Creating Location-Aware Notification Systems for Virginia Tech

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Miten Sampat
Description of Work: As pervasive computing devices become more commonplace, we begin to see applications based on a user's location. Creating applications for such situations carries several technical challenges such as: determining current location, detecting artifacts in the environment, and real-time tracking of parameters that the users want information about. These systems are classified as "location-aware" or "context-aware". Through this project, students will work on creating applications on the seeVT location intelligence platform to build location-aware systems. Projects will involve developing applications for state-of-the-art handheld computers, and conducting usability tests on them. Come with your own domain ideas, or plug into one of the many ideas from around campus!
Application Instructions: Email Dr. McCrickard to apply.
Project URL: http://research.cs.vt.edu/ns/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

Creating Real-World Peripheral Displays

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Scott McCrickard
Description of Work: Peripheral devices like stock tickers and sports score trackers are moving off the computer desktop and into the real world. The goal of this projects is to build a real-word device that displays information collected online in an interesting way. Examples of existing systems and ideas for things to build are available from Dr. McCrickard, or come up with your own!
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. McCrickard for details and to sign up!
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

Creating Web Servlets for LINK-UP

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Scott McCrickard
Description of Work: Students interested in contributing to a large-scale web development effort will work with others on a knowledge repository for human computer interaction. Experience with Java and Java Servlets is a plus.
Application Instructions: Send email to Dr. McCrickard.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Pay or Credit
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

Data Mining the WikiPedia

Faculty Advisor: T. M. Murali and Naren Ramakrishnan
Research Supervisor: T. M. Murali
Description of Work: The WikiPedia is rapidly emerging as a popular online encyclopaedia. This project poses several fundamental data mining questions about the WikiPedia. What is the link structure of the Wikipedia? How did this structure evolve over time? Can we decompose the Wikepedia automatically into topics? Can we computationally assign topics to Wikepedia articles by exploiting the link structure? This project can span two semesters and involve two or more students.
Application Instructions: Send CV to murali@cs.vt.edu
Project URL: http://wikipedia.org
Area(s) of Research: Databases, Data Mining
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: murali@cs.vt.edu

Deep, Personalized Searching

Faculty Advisor

Lenwood S. Heath

Research Supervisor

Lenwood S. Heath

Description of Work

Powerful keyword-based searching is available for the web (e.g., Google) and for scientific literature (e.g., Web of Science). However, a person searching for a very specific kind of resource may spend much effort on a search that ends in frustration due to a mismatch between keyword search and the semantics of her information resource needs.

The focus of this project is to incorporate semantic-based searching that is deep and time consuming, even leisurely. A search that takes 24 hours to find just the right resource(s) can be considered successful, as long as those 24 hours consist of automated effort only, while the person pursues other tasks and interests.

Keyword semantics will be obtained using word senses obtained through WordNet. A command-line user interface will launch semantic search algorithms that integrate keyword search (probably Google) and semantics. A relational database will be built to record search progress. Email notification of search milestones can be given. A prototype searcher will emphasize searching for a small list of high-quality tutorials on a precise topic specified by the user. Implementation will be under Linux or Mac OS X.

Application Instructions

If this description charges you up, then see Professor Heath during his office hours (available on his web site). Please bring a resume and transcript. A love of the subtleties of the English language is a definite plus.

Project URL

http://

Area(s) of Research

Databases, Data Mining, Knowledge, Artificial Intelligence

Compensation

Work for Credit or Volunteer

Contact

heath@vt.edu

Demonstrating the benefits of immersion

Faculty Advisor: Doug Bowman
Research Supervisor: Doug Bowman
Description of Work: Immersive virtual environment technology (such as the CAVE) puts the user inside a 3D computer-generated world. Although this technology has been available for many years, we still know very little about the benefits of immersion. When should immersive technology be used, and what advantages should it provide? In this project, the student will implement a simple virtual world and design and run an experiment using the CAVE to demonstrate the benefits of immersion in this world. A wide range of experiments/worlds/tasks are possible.
Application Instructions: Send email to set up an appointment if you would like to apply. Experience with HCI (e.g. CS 3724) and computer graphics (e.g. CS 4204) is recommended, but not required. Experience with the design, administration, and/or statistical analysis of experiments is a plus.
Project URL: http://research.cs.vt.edu/3di/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: bowman@vt.edu

Designing and Evaluating Notification Systems

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Scott McCrickard
Description of Work: Notification systems attempt to efficiently and effectively deliver current, important information to users in multitasking situations. Examples of notification systems include instant messengers, stock tickers, and ubiquitous systems. This independent study examines this emerging research area through team activities and semester projects in a fun but challenging environment.
Application Instructions: Email Dr. McCrickard for more details or to sign up.
Project URL: http://research.cs.vt.edu/ns/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

Developing GUIs in Java and C#

Faculty Advisor: Chris North
Research Supervisor: Chris North
Description of Work: In this workshop, learn how to develop graphical user interfaces in Java and microsoft's C#. Concepts include, windows, components, layouts, events, 2D graphics, direct manipulation, and animation. Compare differences and tradeoff's between the two languages. Apply these techniques in developing data visualization tools.
Application Instructions: Email me.
Project URL: http://infovis.cs.vt.edu/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: north@vt.edu

Digital Government

Faculty Advisor: Andrea Kavanaugh, Manuel Perez-Quinones
Research Supervisor: Andrea Kavanaugh, Manuel Perez-Quinones
Description of Work: Assist with requirments analysis, software design and field testing, or with data analysis from ongoing interviews, surveys and community focus groups (conducted in December 2003, Fall 2004 and spring 2005). This is a 3-year NSF funded study (2004-2007) of use and impact of information technology on citizen-to-citizen deliberation. Are online resources increasing civic engagement? For whom -- an elite or a more broad spectrum of citizens? Do we need better tools (or modifications to existing tools) to support deliberative democracy and to integrate online feedback from citizens to government?
Application Instructions: Contact Andrea Kavanaugh by email (kavan@vt.edu), or phone (231-1806). My office is 1137 KnowledgeWorks II (CS Department at the corporate research center).
Project URL: java.cs.vt.edu/public/projects/digitalgov
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Pay or Credit
Contact: kavan@vt.edu

Effects of Displays on Virtual Environment Task Performance

Faculty Advisor: Doug Bowman
Research Supervisor: Doug Bowman
Description of Work: There are a large number of visual displays used in virtual environments (VEs), including head-mounted displays, tabletop displays, and surround-screen displays. We are studying the effect that display type has on user task performance. The student would be involved in designing, implementing, and running an experiment comparing two or more displays. Several potential experiments are possible.
Application Instructions: Email bowman@vt.edu to indicate your interest. Also send a current resume.
Project URL: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~bowman/3di/displays.html
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: bowman@vt.edu

Enhancing 3D ManipulationTechniques

Faculty Advisor: Doug Bowman
Research Supervisor: Doug Bowman
Description of Work: Two widely used object manipulation techniques in VEs are called HOMER and Voodoo Dolls. These techniques both can do general 3D manipulation tasks. The designers of these techniques have teamed up to come up with some possible enhancements that could improve the performance of both. See the ACM CHI 2002 paper by Jeff Pierce and colleagues for more information.
Application Instructions: Email bowman@vt.edu with a resume. Experience in HCI (CS 3724) and computer graphics (CS 4204) is recommended.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: bowman@vt.edu

EPIC

Faculty Advisor: Adrea Kavanaugh
Research Supervisor: Adrea Kavanaugh
Description of Work: The EPIC project is an investigation by the Center for Human-Computer Interaction of the use and impact of community computer networking in Blacksburg and Montgomery County supported by NSF. Undergraduate research assistants could help this summer with interview data analysis (using NVIVO software), survey data processing (using SPSS), and/or session logging analysis. If you are interested, please contact Andrea Kavanaugh (kavan@vt.edu or 231-1806)
Application Instructions: Contact Andrea Kavanaugh (kavan@vt.edu or 231-1806)
Project URL: http://epic.cs.vt.edu
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction, Networking
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: kavak@vt.edu

Evolutionary mechanisms in bacterial diseases

Faculty Advisor: Boris A Vinatzer
Research Supervisor: Boris A Vinatzer
Description of Work: Apply bioinformatics to extract information on evolution of bacterial pathogens from public databases and to design experiments on bacterial plant pathogens isolated form the field. Data obtained in the lab will be analyzed using various bioinformatic tools to gain insieght into the evlution of bacterial plant pathogens. The long term goal is to understand how new genes evolve in bacteria. Your work will consist in using existing bioinformtaic tools to search databases, to compare DNA sequences, to design DNA "primers" for polymerase chain reaction, to analyze data produced in the lab, and possibly to develop scripts to grap outputs from one programm to use as input in other programs.
Application Instructions: Send e-mail to Boris Vinatzer at vinatzer@vt.edu
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics
Compensation: Work for Pay
Contact: vinatzer@vt.edu

Fermat-Number Factoring

Faculty Advisor

Layne T. Watson

Research Supervisor

Richard E. Crandall

Description of Work

Machines needed: any number from 1 to infinity.
Calendar time required: any amount, to infinity.

A typical run would be to attempt factorization
of any (or some set) of:  F12, F13, F14, F15,
F16, F17, F18, F19, F20, F21, F22 with the
candidates from F14 and up being most efficiently
attacked by the proposed executable.

Fermat numbers remain shrouded in mystery.  For
example we know that F14 (the fourteenth Fermat
number) is composite---that is,not prime---yet
not a single prime factor of F14 has ever been
found.  Similarly, F18 has two known prime
factors (see table below showing
state-of-knowledge on Fermat numbers through F_24)
so far.

There is C code ("fermat.c") developed at Apple's
Advanced Computation Group and elsewhere over the
last decade.  This code combines fast-FFT methods
and elliptic-curve methods, to attack large
Fermat numbers.  The code is suitable for
powerful machine clusters (i.e., the Mac System X
terascale computer), and is easy to port.

STATUS OF FERMAT NUMBERS (Nov 2003):

F0-F4: prime
F5-F11: completely factored
F12 = 114689 * 26017793 * 63766529 *
190274191361 * 1256132134125569 * composite
F13 = 2710954639361 * 2663848877152141313 *
3603109844542291969 * 319546020820551643220672513 *
composite
F14 = composite
F15 = 1214251009 * 2327042503868417 *
168768817029516972383024127016961 * composite
F16 = 825753601 * 188981757975021318420037633 *
composite
F17 = 31065037602817 * composite
F18 = 13631489 * 81274690703860512587777 * composite
F19 = 70525124609 * 646730219521 * composite
F20 = composite
F21 = 4485296422913 * composite
F22 = composite

This project would be a joint collaboration with
R. E. Crandall
Apple Distinguished Scientist
Advanced Computation Group
crandall@apple.com

Application Instructions

Send e-mail to Prof. Layne Watson (ltw@cs.vt.edu) or Dr. Richard Crandall (crandall@apple.com).

Project URL

http://www.perfsci.com

Area(s) of Research

Theory, Parallel Computation

Compensation

Negotiable

Contact

crandall@apple.com

Finding Applets and Other Helpful Resources on Computing

Faculty Advisor: Edward A. Fox
Research Supervisor
Description of Work: Virginia Tech hosts the Computing and Information Technology Interactive Digital Educational Library (www.citidel.org) and is helping lead the ACM Journal of Educational Resources in Computing (http://purl.org/net/JERIC/). We want to make learning about computing easier and better. This project will involve surfing the Web and/or working with Web crawlers to find helpful resources on computing.
Application Instructions: Please contact Dr. Fox for more details
Project URL: http://www.citidel.org
Area(s) of Research: Digital Libraries
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: fox@vt.edu

Functional Annotation of Genes

Faculty Advisor: T. M. Murali and Brett Tyler
Research Supervisor: T. M. Murali and Brett Tyler
Description of Work: Genome sequencing projects have yielded thousands of genes whose biological function is currently not known. These genes may perform important functions in the cell. Some of these genes could be related to human diseases and could potentially serve as drug targets. The projects in this area will study and extend a novel technique for functional annotation that we have developed with collaborators at Boston University. In particular, we are interested in extending the technique to transfer functional information from one organism to another. More details on the technique are available in the following paper: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~murali/papers/pnas-yeast-ppi.pdf
Application Instructions: Please send us email with your resume, preferably in PDF format.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: murali@cs.vt.edu

GigaPixel Display

Faculty Advisor: Chris North
Research Supervisor: Chris North
Description of Work: Design, develop, and experimentally test new user interface techniques for very large, high-resolution displays. Work on VT's GigaPixel Display, a 15 foot tiled display with 100 MPixels, and VICON system, a 3D vision-based user tracking system.
Application Instructions: See me.
Project URL: http://infovis.cs.vt.edu/gigapixel
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: north@vt.edu

Google-based Plagiarism Detector

Faculty Advisor: Godmar Back
Research Supervisor
Description of Work: Develop a program that extracts unattributed passages from term papers and submits them to Google (see http://www.google.com/apis/ )
Application Instructions: Send email to gback@cs.vt.edu
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Software Engineering
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: gback@cs.vt.edu

Hallway Display

Faculty Advisor: Steve Harrison / Manuel Perez
Research Supervisor: Manuel Perez / Steve Harrison
Description of Work: We have two 42" plasma displays that will be mounted in permanently in hallways in the Computer Science Department -- probably one in McBryde and one in Torgersen. They will be used to display news, lectures, and course info, showcase research, and even be a way to rate classes on a daily basis. Come brainstorm ideas, write code, and design novel means of interacting (like using your car's remote entry keyfob).
Application Instructions: e-mail us. Lab meetings are currently Wed 3-4 in 607 McBryde.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: perez@cs.vt.edu

High-Performance Biological Sequence Search

Faculty Advisor: Wu Feng
Research Supervisor: Jeremy Archuleta
Description of Work: Biological sequence searching has become a fundamental aspect of all bioinformatics. It can help in tasks such as sequencing the human genome, designing pathogen signatures for pathogen detection, identifying unknown viruses (e.g., the virus now known as SARS), and so on. In this project, you will be coding different modules of part of a much larger project (i.e., mpiBLAST at http://www.mpiblast.org) in order to improve functionality, maintainability, and performance.
Application Instructions: E-mail a resume to feng@cs.vt.edu. Optional, but preferred, materials include unofficial undergraduate transcript and a brief one-paragraph statement of what interests you about this project.
Project URL: http://www.mpiblast.org/
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Parallel Computation, Software Engineering, Systems, Theory, Computational Biology, Databases, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: feng@cs.vt.edu

Human Memory Mirror

Faculty Advisor: Lenwood S. Heath
Research Supervisor: Lenwood S. Heath
Description of Work: Human memory enjoys a very different structure and different capabilities from artificial memories such as RAM, file systems, and the Internet. For example, file systems were designed primarily for space efficiency and access speed and only secondarily for appropriateness for use by humans. In particular, directories, files, and hierarchies are far less powerful representations of knowledge than human memory.
The aim of this project is to design a radically new kind of "file system" (actually a human memory mirror) in analogy to human memory. A prototype that runs under Linux should be implemented as a proof of concept.
Application Instructions: If this description appeals to you, see Professor Heath during his office hours for a chat. Research may be done by a team or individually. Bring a resume and transcript.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Systems, Knowledge, Artificial Intelligence
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: heath@vt.edu

Information-Rich Virtual Environments

Faculty Advisor: Doug Bowman
Research Supervisor: Doug Bowman, Chris North
Description of Work: Information-rich virtual environments (IRVEs) combine both perceptual (spatial, geometric) information and abstract (symbolic, numeric) information within the same 3D environment. Students working on this project will design, implement, and evaluate a simple IRVE application for a particular domain. Example domains include: -building construction -earthmoving -military -medicine A background in HCI (CS 3724) and computer graphics (CS 4204) is strongly recommended.
Application Instructions: Send a current resume and an indication of your interest to bowman@vt.edu.
Project URL: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~bowman/3di/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: bowman@vt.edu

Interactive Home Design in a Virtual Environment

Faculty Advisor: Doug Bowman
Research Supervisor: Doug Bowman, Walid Thabet
Description of Work: The current process of design review for residential homes is effective, but costly. We wish to build a small VE application in the CAVE showing the promise of "immersive design" for this task. In other words, users will become immersed in a 3D model of the home, and will be able to make certain changes to the structure while inside it.
Application Instructions: Email bowman@vt.edu. Experience in HCI (CS 3724) and 3D graphics (CS 4204) is strongly recommended, but not required.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: bowman@vt.edu

Interdiscplinary Projects in Computational Science/Bioinformatics

Faculty Advisor: Eunice Santos
Research Supervisor: Eunice Santos
Description of Work: Ever wondered how Computer Science interacts with other science and engineering disciplines? What does CS have to do with Protein Folding? If you're interested, we have projects that will give you insights into the interdisciplinary nature of CS. Projects span the combination of CS with problems in bioinformatics, computational biology/chemistry, and computational physics.
Application Instructions: see Dr. Santos
Project URL: http://www.cs.vt.edu/~santos
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Networking, Theory
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: santos@cs.vt.edu

Investigating the Application of Pervasive Computing Concepts to Teaching and Learning

Faculty Advisor: Scott Midkiff
Research Supervisor: William (Bill) Plymale
Description of Work: The focus of this project is to learn how pervasive computing concepts and technologies can be used to enhance the areas of teaching, learning, and other university experiences. Pervasive computing concepts will be studied, and realized using hardware prototyping and development kits. Team-based projects will associate pervasive computing concepts with real-life student experiences at Virginia Tech. Sun Microsystem's SunSpots, Arduino controller and development environment, Crossbow and Sentilla/Moteiv motes, and the Processing programming system will be used for hands-on work.
Application Instructions: Please contact Bill Plymale (plymale@vt.edu) with an expression of interest. Include a current resume and/or a list of technical courses taken and any other relevant experiences.
Project URL
Area(s) of Research: Databases, Human-Computer Interaction, Networking, Systems
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: plymale@vt.edu

LibX

Faculty Advisor: Godmar Back
Research Supervisor
Description of Work: Implement cool web technology with and surrounding LibX. For more information, see http://libx.org/ This project is for anybody who wants to learn modern, so-called "Web 2.0" technologies such as AJAX on both client or server. While our main application area is libraries (digital and traditional), the technology we develop transcends them.
Application Instructions: Send email.
Project URL: http://libx.org/
Area(s) of Research: Digital Libraries, Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Pay or Credit
Contact: gback@cs.vt.edu

Math Handhelds in the Classroom---visualization

Faculty Advisor: Deborah Tatar
Research Supervisor: Deborah Tatar
Description of Work: We have databases with classroom records of actual use by 8th graders of a handheld-based intervention to teach the math of change and variation. Students performed much better on modified AP-calculus items after the intervention than before. The project is to analyze what they actually did with the technology.
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Tatar. Note: the earlier in your program you are, the better. I am looking for students that have long-term potential for research involvment.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: tatar@cs.vt.edu

Math Technology in the Classroom

Faculty Advisor: Deborah Tatar
Research Supervisor: Deborah Tatar
Description of Work: We have videotapes of 7-th grade teachers working with and without technology. Students will help detect and analyze the differences that the technology produces using grounded theory and conversation analysis.
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Tatar. Note: the earlier in your program you are, the better. I am looking for students that have long-term potential for research involvment.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: tatar@vt.edu

Mining Plant Biology Papers to Identify Gene Functions (MineFun)

Faculty Advisor: Lenwood S. Heath
Research Supervisor: Lenwood S. Heath, Naren Ramakrishnan
Description of Work: There are 26,000+ genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, each of which have some biological function. Biological databases such as TAIR (http://www.arabidopsis.org) catalog all the genes, including their DNA sequences and putative functions. In many cases, the functional annotation of a gene given in the database is inaccurate or simply unknown. However, an accurate annotation can often be extracted from the scientific literature. To avoid the laborious manual process of reading thousands of papers, it is desirable to partially automate the extraction of annotation from literature. There are databases of scientific literature, including public databases such as PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=PubMed) and AGRICOLA (http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/), in which the abstracts of thousands of papers are indexed and searchable. Moreover, the process of extracting relationships from text has previously been automated in the Snowball system (http://snowball.cs.columbia.edu/). This tool is not particularly targeted toward the needs of Arabidopsis gene annotation, but their methods are an excellent starting point for the MineFun project. In this project, we are building tools to data mine gene function information from scientific extracts. The resulting improved annotations will be of great benefit to plant biology. The interested student must have proficiency in multiple languages: at least one high-level language such as C/C++/Java and especially important for this project, Perl. Experience in text processing is desirable.
Application Instructions: Please see Dr. Heath or Dr. Ramakrishnan during their office hours. Send email to set up an appointment, if necessary.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Data Mining, Databases
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: heath@vt.edu

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

Faculty Advisor: Daniel R. Dunlap, Andrea Kavanaugh
Research Supervisor: Dunlap, Kavanaugh and others in the Center for Human-Computer Interaction
Description of Work: We have positions for undergraduate researchers funded by the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. The projects involve user-centered design and evaluation of collaborative virtual environments and applications. Specific projects include a collaborative learning environment for science students, a knowledge management system for public school teachers, extensions to the Blacksburg Electronic Village, and quality-of-life support for military personnel. Technical questions include -- how can collaborators maintain "awareness" of one another in virtual environments?, how can we log and evaluate "sessions" in distributed systems?, what is the impact of community networking on families and community groups?, how can military personnel maintain their personal lives while serving thousands of miles from home? We will hire at least 6 undergraduates in this program, and probably 8. Students can also arrange to work for course credit of various sorts, including service learning, independent studies, and honors theses.
Application Instructions: Send email to dunlapd@vt.edu, kavan@vt.edu
Project URL: http://java.cs.vt.edu
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction, Software Engineering, Systems, Computer-Aided Instruction
Compensation: Work for Pay or Credit
Contact: dunlapd@vt.edu

Parallel Algorithm and Software Development

Faculty Advisor: Cal Ribbens
Research Supervisor: Cal Ribbens
Description of Work: Assist computational scientists in parallelizing, porting, or tuning codes for System X. Students must have done well in CS 4234 or have equivalent (MPI) experience. Evaluating parallel programming tools in this context is also of interest.
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Ribbens.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Parallel Computation
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: ribbens@vt.edu

Parallel/Distributed Modeling and Tools

Faculty Advisor: Eunice Santos
Research Supervisor: Eunice Santos
Description of Work: This project is focused on determining the best way to model a system/network in order to predict performance and to incorporate important metrics into code design. Furthermore, it is important to be able to develop a performance and visualization tool set implementing these concepts. Projects span from theoretical modeling, scheduling algorithms all the way to tool design & implementation. Students will have access to a heterogeneous cluster.
Application Instructions: see Dr. Santos
Project URL: http://www.cs.vt.edu/~santos
Area(s) of Research: Theory, Networking, Parallel Computation
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: santos@cs.vt.edu

Place of Engineering

Faculty Advisor: Steve Harrison
Research Supervisor: Steve Harrison
Description of Work: The project is to display the ideas of the various engineering disciplines housed in the buildings in our part of the campus using a laser projector. While these are used at rock concerts and theme parks, we'll be using it more subtly to demonstrate how the wnd tunnel and the power plant work, the structural forces in Patton Hall where Civile Engineering is located, and chemical processes on the side of Randolph. Come brainstorm display ideas and help build novel interaction ideas.
Application Instructions: e-mail me
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: srh@vt.edu

Presenting Information on Large-Screen Displays

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Scott McCrickard
Description of Work: At one time prohibitively expensive, large screen displays are becoming common in laborabories, classrooms, and even public areas. However, designers often create interfaces for them that look no different than those for typical computers. The goal of this project is to design an interface for a large screen display that takes advantage of their unique characteristics.
Application Instructions: Email Dr. McCrickard for more information.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

Programming Language Reference Project

Faculty Advisor: Godmar Back
Research Supervisor: Godmar Back
Description of Work: Create a web resource that provides a quick reference for different programming languages, based on how common programming idioms are expressed in them. The idea is to compare by saying: "If you write this in C, you'd use this in Perl". Using this resource should make it easy to learn a new programming language by referring to a language one already knows. A key criteria should be conciseness, but pointers to further information should be provided as well. See the project web page for a further description.
Application Instructions: Send email to gback@cs.vt.edu if you're interested.
Project URL: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~gback/PLCP/PLCP.html
Area(s) of Research: Software Engineering, Systems
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: gback@cs.vt.edu

Protein Completion (A Structural Biology Web Server)

Faculty Advisor: Alexey Onufriev, Lenwood Heath
Research Supervisor: Jon Myers, Alexey Onufriev
Description of Work: Structure of a biological molecule is a key determinant of its biological function. However, experimentally available structures (from X-ray crystallography) are missing the hydrogen atoms. Without them, structures are seriously incomplete. We have developed a (first in the world) prototype web application that uses theoretical methods to add the missing hydrogens. Lots of work is still to be done, and we need help in virtually every aspect of the project: PHP, web design, C++/PERL programming, core algorithm development, testing. We are also planning to use the server to address some important biological questions. This is an "instant gratification" project, as your contribution becomes immediately accessible to researchers world-wide + you get your name on the project's credits page (good for your resume...)
Application Instructions: Contact Alexey Onufriev alexey@cs.vt.edu
Project URL: http://chekhov.cs.vt.edu/completion
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Human-Computer Interaction, Software Engineering, Computational Biology
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: alexey@cs.vt.edu

Reimplementing the GeoSim module

Faculty Advisor: Cliff Shaffer
Research Supervisor: Cliff Shaffer
Description of Work: Reimplement the GeoSim module "Sense of Place" in Java. For some background about Project GeoSim, see http://geosim.cs.vt.edu. This module allows students to explore a database of counties and states of the United States by "rating" desirable features.
Application Instructions: Contact Cliff Shaffer
Project URL: http://geosim.cs.vt.edu
Area(s) of Research: Computer-Aided Instruction, Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: shaffer@cs.vt.edu

Research in Information Visualization

Faculty Advisor: Chris North
Research Supervisor: Chris North
Description of Work: Information Visualization concerns the graphical presentation and navigation of large quantities of data encountered in everyday situations, enabling people to quickly accomplish otherwise difficult tasks. There are several exciting upcoming projects in this area. Please do stop by and get involved.
Application Instructions: Email or stop by 634 McBryde during my office hours.
Project URL: http://infovis.cs.vt.edu/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: north@vt.edu

Research in Mathematical Software

Faculty Advisor: Layne T. Watson
Research Supervisor: Layne T. Watson
Description of Work: My work is at the interface of computer science, mathematics, and engineering. The overall goal is to provide sophisticated mathematical software, justified by rigorous mathematical analysis, to attack significant practical engineering and scientific problems. Visit my research projects page for details on a number of my active projects.
Application Instructions: Send me an email.
Project URL: http://www.cs.vt.edu/~ltw/res_projs.html
Area(s) of Research: Theory, Problem Solving Environments, Parallel Computation
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: ltw@cs.vt.edu

Revealing the mystery of the evolution of overlapping genes

Faculty Advisor: Liqing Zhang
Research Supervisor: Liqing Zhang
Description of Work: Increasing studies have shown that overlapping genes are an important phenomenon in many eukaryotic genomes such as human, mouse, flies, and plants. These genes play an important role in regulation of gene expression at the levels of transcription, mRNA processing, splicing, or translation. However, functional studies of these genes are still in its infancy. Little is known about the exact functional role of these genes and their evolutionary dynamics in the genome. In this project, we will perform a large scale analysis of these genes in several animal and plant genomes and analyse the birth and death of these genes using bioinformatics approaches.
Application Instructions: Send an email to me.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Computational Biology
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: lqzhang@v.tedu

Science and Handhelds in the Classroom

Faculty Advisor: Deborah Tatar
Research Supervisor: Deborah Tatar
Description of Work: Students will continue the analysis of the effects of our handheld-based technologies on teachers' abilities to know what students know and can do in middle-high school science class. Students will work on teams, aiming at making judgments with a high degree of agreement with other team members.
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Tatar. Note: the earlier in your program you are, the better. I am looking for students that have long-term potential for research involvment.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: tatar@vt.edu

Securing a Gigabit Network with a Playstation

Faculty Advisor: Dimitris Nikolopoulos
Research Supervisor
Description of Work: We will use the microprocessor of a Sony Playstation 3 (known as the Cell Broadband Engine) to perform multi-gigabit rate network packet processing to filter unwanted incoming traffic and outgoing sensitive information.
Application Instructions: Background in operating systems, parallel programming and networking is desirable but not necessary.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Networking, Parallel Computation, Systems
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: dsn@cs.vt.edu

Snap-Together Visualization

Faculty Advisor: Chris North
Research Supervisor: Chris North
Description of Work: Assist in one of the following projects that are related to Snap: * Development of Java based visualization components * Development of a web based visualization layout component using ASP * Development of a web based system for developers to submit and update new visualizations * Development of Javascript components for visualization layout
Application Instructions: Email me.
Project URL: http://infovis.cs.vt.edu/snap/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction, Software Engineering
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: north@vt.edu

Social Attention and Computing

Faculty Advisor: Deborah Tatar
Research Supervisor: Deborah Tatar
Description of Work: Students will help transcribe, analyze and code the behaviors of pairs of users arguing using different media. There may be opportunity to help run the experiment.
Application Instructions: Send a note explaining your interest to Dr. Tatar. Note: the earlier you are in your program, the more interested I am in working with you. I am looking for students that have long-term potential.
Project URL: none
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: tatar@vt.edu

Software Development for Large Complex Simulations

Faculty Advisor: Madhav Marathe
Research Supervisor: Madhav Marathe and Keith Bisset
Description of Work: The Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory (NDSSL) is actively pursuing a program to build very large scale simulations of biological, information, technical and social (BITS) systems. Examples include: transportation systems, integrated next generation telecommunication systems, epidemiology and public health, commodity markets and systems biology. Participate in the design and implementation of BIST systems. Work in a multi-disciplinary team on a range of topics, including development and testing of algorithms, web services definitions and implementations, large scale software development.
Application Instructions: Please send an email with your resume. Experience in C++ and Java is required and familiarity with Web services, algorithm design and development and high performance computing is a plus.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Parallel Computation, Software Engineering, Theory
Compensation: Work for Pay or Credit
Contact: marathe@vt.edu or kbisset@vbi.vt.edu

Supercomputing on Video Gaming Consoles

Faculty Advisor: W. Feng
Research Supervisor: Ashwin Aji
Description of Work: Given the extreme needs of today's sophisticated video games, game consoles and video graphics cards in their own right have become supercomputers. The goal of this project is to program *and* optimize a bioinformatics application (or perhaps something else, if reasonable) on the Sony PlayStation 3 and/or the NVIDIA Tesla video graphics card using the CUDA programming environment. (For those interested in human-computer interaction, a nice interface to the above bioinformatics application would serve as a nice project as well, or an interface to our existing codes.)
Application Instructions: E-mail a resume to feng@cs.vt.edu. Optional, but preferred, materials include unofficial undergraduate transcript and a brief one-paragraph statement of what interests you about this project.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Human-Computer Interaction, Parallel Computation, Problem Solving Environments, Software Engineering, Systems, Theory, Databases, Data Mining, Knowledge
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: feng@cs.vt.edu

Supporting Animation in a User Interface Toolkit

Faculty Advisor: Scott McCrickard
Research Supervisor: Scott McCrickard
Description of Work: The goal of this project is to extend the Agentk animation toolkit by adding a widget that supports a new type of behavior (such as swiping or zooming), or by extending the functionality of existing widgets with new behavior that may make them less distracting (slow-in/slow-out, motion blur). Alternatively, you could modify the functionality of existing widgets to better support information awareness. Examples include more flexible support for keyboard and mouse bindings, more intelligent identification of changes for highlighting, and more control over the displayed information.
Application Instructions: Send me email to set up a meeting.
Project URL: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/grads/m/Scott.McCrickard/agentk/
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Credit
Contact: mccricks@cs.vt.edu

TeacherBridge

Faculty Advisor: Dan Dunlap
Research Supervisor: Dan Dunlap
Description of Work: The Center for Human-Computer Interaction is seeking applicants for 2 NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) positions with the TeacherBridge Project (http://www.teacherbridge.org). Ideal applicants would be highly motivated undergraduate students in Computer Science, Engineering, or related fields who are interested in research with technology and local K-12 teachers. The positions will involve approximately 10 hours per week at $11 per hour for Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 semesters. The tasks will involve research and evaluation related to the TeacherBridge project, system, and participants. This includes a wide range of possibilities such as data collection, analysis, field research, and related tool development. Please contact Dan Dunlap 231-2345 for more information.
Application Instructions: Contact me.
Project URL: http://www.teacherbridge.org
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction
Compensation: Work for Pay
Contact: dunlapd@vt.edu

The Sockets Benchmark Suite

Faculty Advisor: W. Feng
Research Supervisor: T. Scogland
Description of Work: Create a sockets benchmark suite that provides a number of tests, either with TCP, UDP, or SCTP: 1. Two-process performance: Latency, Bandwidth, Bidirectional bandwidth, Connection time. 2. Multi-process performance: Hot-spot, fan-in, fan-out. 3. External CPU usage measurement utility (by reading samples from the proc file system). 4. Rate-controlled bandwidth and packet loss measurements (UDP only).
Application Instructions: E-mail a resume to feng@cs.vt.edu. Optional, but preferred, materials include unofficial undergraduate transcript and a brief one-paragraph statement of what interests you about this project.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Networking, Systems
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: feng@cs.vt.edu

Toolset for Dynamic Optimization of High-End Hybrid Applications

Faculty Advisor: Prof. D. Tafti
Research Supervisor: Prof. D. Tafti
Description of Work: Involves working with a nationwide team of developers of state-of-the-art compilers and performance tools for OpenMP parallel applications. Tasks will involve applying compilers and performance tools for optimization of high-end applications and aiding developers in fine-tuning tools.
Application Instructions: email with resume.