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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.

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

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

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. We study the use and impact of information technology on citizen-to-citizen interaction and 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? Which social media are effective for what types of interaction for which users?
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: http://diggov.cs.vt.edu
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction, Theory
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: kavan@vt.edu

Do Cell Phones Teach Computing Skills?

Faculty Advisor: Andrea Kavanaugh, Manuel Perez-Quinones, Deborah Tatar
Research Supervisor: Andrea Kavanaugh, Manuel Perez-Quinones, Deborah Tatar
Description of Work: This project, entitled Scaffolding Technology for Low Literacy Groups: From Cells Phones to Desktop Computing, seeks to understand the role that cell phone usage might play in helping adults with low reading and computer literacy to learn computing skills. We are also designing and developing tools to provide an interface between cell phone applications (e.g., contact list, text messaging) and comparable programs on desktop computers (e.g., email, word processing).
Application Instructions: Contact Dr. Andrea Kavanaugh by email.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Computer-Aided Instruction, Human-Computer Interaction, Theory
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: kavan@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

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

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

Parallel Programming with Video Cards and More ...

Faculty Advisor: Wu Feng
Research Supervisor
Description of Work: The world of computing is now irrevocably parallel. CPUs have "topped" out roughly 3.0 GHz. So, while performance in the past has doubled roughly every 2 years due to increases in clock frequency, future performance increases will be due to the doubling of the number of cores in a system every 2 years. As such, we are looking at programming models, environments, and applications on multicore and manycore architectures. Of particular relevance and accessibility for VTURCS students are mapping applications onto traditional multicore (Intel and AMD), hybrid multicore (Cell and PlayStation3), manycore (video cards), and reconfigurable multicore (Tilera TILE64) architectures.
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://synergy.cs.vt.edu/
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Mining, Human-Computer Interaction, Parallel Computation, Systems, Theory
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: feng@cs.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

Protein folding on a PC.

Faculty Advisor: Alexey Onufriev
Research Supervisor: Alexey Onufriev and grad. students
Description of Work: Have you heard of the famous "protein folding" problem? What people call the "grand challenge of computational science"? We are working on an algorithm that has the potential to solve the problem on a --single PC--. If you want to be a part of the team and have a chance to publish in prestigious journals, join us. No prior knowledge of biology or physics is required, only enthusiasm for solving hard problems. However, excellent programming skills and solid math background are a must.
Application Instructions: email me.
Project URL: http://
Area(s) of Research: Bioinformatics, Software Engineering, Theory, Computational Biology
Compensation: Negotiable
Contact: alexey@cs.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

Social 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 1116 in KnowledgeWorks II, the CS Department building in the corporate research center.
Project URL: http://www.cs.vt.edu/node/682
Area(s) of Research: Human-Computer Interaction, Theory
Compensation: Work for Credit or Volunteer
Contact: kavan@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