Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

The Department wishes to extend its congratulations to the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering graduate students that were recently admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree. The following students were recognized at the Doctoral Candidates Recognition Reception that was held last Tuesday, November 1st in the UC Ballroom:

 

Computer Science

David Chapman
Mentor: Dr. Milton Halem
"Multidimensional Map Reduce for Remote Sensing Applicators

Niyati Chhaya
Mentor: Dr. Tim Oates
"Joint Inference for Extracting Text Descriptors from Triage Images of Mass Disaster Victims"

Yasaman Haghpanah
Mentor: Dr. Marie desJardins
"A Trust Model for Decision Making in Supply Chain Management"

Lushan Han
Mentor: Dr. Tim Finin
"GoRelations: An Intuitive Query System for Linked Data"

Karuna Joshi
Mentor: Dr. Yelena Yesha, Dr. Tim Finin
"Framework for an Integrated Lifecycle of Virtualized Services"

Varish Mulwad
Mentor: Dr. Tim Finin
"Generating Linked Data by Inferring the Semantics of Tables"

Randy Schauer
Mentor: Dr. Anupam Joshi
"A Framework for the Intelligent Management of Distributed Rack-Based Blade Operations"

Fatih Senel
Mentor: Dr. Mohamed Younis
"Relay Node Placement for Federating Segmented Wireless Sensor Network"

Shiming Yang
Mentor: Dr. Konstantin Kalpakis
"Improving the Traffic Flow Forecasts for Road Networks with Data Assimilation"

Xianshu Zhu
Mentor: Dr. Tim Oates
"Finding Story Chain in Newswire Articles"

 

Electrical Engineering

Matthew Anderson
Mentor: Dr. Tulay Adali
"Joint Blind Source Separation with Multivariate Gaussian Model: Algorithms, Performance Analysis and Applications"

Damon Bradley
Mentor: Dr. Joel Morris
"On the Analysis, Modeling, and Mitigation of Radio Frequency Interference for Spaceborne Microwave Radiometers"

Sai Ma
Mentor: Dr. Tulay Adali
"Analysis of Brain Network Connectivity in MRI Data Using Spatial Information"

Ganesh Saiprasad
Dr. Chein-I Chang
"Adrenal Gland Abnormality Detection Using Random Classification Forest"
 

 

 

CSEE Students Joe Tuzo (CMSC), JJ Seymour (CMSC) and Varish Mulwad (CMSC) will present papers at the AAAI FAll Symposium on November 4-6 in Arlington, Virginia. Yasaman Haghpanah (CMSC) will present her research at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing on November 9-12 in Portland, Oregon.

Joe Tuzo (CMSC BS '11) and JJ Seymour (CMSC BS '12) will be presenting papers at the upcoming AAAI Fall Symposium on Complex Adaptive Systems. Joe's paper (co-authored with JJ and Prof. Marie desJardins), " Using a Cellular Automaton Simulation to Determine an Optimal Lane Changing Strategy on a Multi-Lane Highway," and JJ's paper (co-authored with Joe and Prof. desJardins), "Ant Colony Optimization in a Changing Environment," were both based on the students' class projects for Prof. desJardins's "Computation, Complexity, and Emergence" course in Spring 2011.

Computer Science Ph.D. candidate Varish Mulwad will present a paper on his dissertation research at the AAAI Fall Symposium on Open Government Knowledge.  He is developing a system that can automatically infer the meaning of information in a spreadsheet or table and publish it as linked Web data using semantic web languages. Varish's advisor, Dr. Tim Finin, is one of the organizers of the symposium.

Yasaman Haghpanah (CMSC Ph.D. Candidate) will present her research on "A Trust and Reputation Model for Supply Chain Management" in the PhD Forum at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing, which will be held November 9-12, 2011, in Portland, Oregon.  Yasaman's advisor, Dr. Marie desJardins, will also attend the conference as a participant in the Grace Hopper Senior Women's Summit.

On November 15, Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin, assistant professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, will speak at the National Electronics Museum. Dr. Mohsenin runs UMBC's Energy Efficient and High Performance Computing Lab , where she works on developing highly accurate, low-power communication and healthcare devices. The talk, which is hosted by the Baltimore Chapter of IEEE Electron Devices & Solid-State Circuits, will discuss efficient algorithms and architectures for communication applications.

What: “ Energy Efficient and High Performance Architectures for Communication Applications"

Who: Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin

Where: The National Electronics Museum, Pioneer Hall

Time: 5:30- 7:30 p.m.

 

 

 

EE Graduate Seminar

Functional Brain Circuits, nAChR Genes, and Smoking

Dr. Elliot Hong
Director, Brain Imaging Center
Associate Professor
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center
University of Maryland School of Medicine

11:30am-12:45pm Friday, 4 Nov 11, ITE 231

About 20% of the US population smokes cigarettes. Smoking is influenced by genetic and environmental factors and mental illnesses.The neurobiological basis of severe nicotine addiction is unclear. We use gene-circuit analysis, resting fMRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and circuit-addiction behavior analyses to examine the dorsal anterior cingulate and the ventral striatum/extended amygdala (dACC-VS/EA) brain circuit and its relationship to smoking.

Dr. Hong received the M.D. degree in 1986 from the Sun Yat-Sen University Science in China. In 2003-07 he was an Asst Professor in the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), Psychiatry Department, University of Maryland School of Medicine. He became an Assoc. Professor in 2008. In 2010 Dr. Hong was appointed as both the Chief of the Neuroimaging Research Program and Director of the Brain Imaging Center at MPRC.

Seminar Host: Prof. Joel M. Morris

DARPA has announce another research-relevant competition: the $50,000 Shredder Challenge which invites teams to try to reconstruct virtual shredded documents.

"Today’s troops often confiscate the remnants of destroyed documents in war zones, but reconstructing them is a daunting task. DARPA’s Shredder Challenge calls upon computer scientists, puzzle enthusiasts and anyone else who likes solving complex problems to compete for up to $50,000 by piecing together a series of shredded documents.

The goal is to identify and assess potential capabilities that could be used by our warfighters operating in war zones, but might also create vulnerabilities to sensitive information that is protected through our own shredding practices throughout the U.S. national security community. …

The Shredder Challenge is comprised of five separate puzzles in which the number of documents, the document subject matter and the method of shredding will be varied to present challenges of increasing difficulty. To complete each problem, participants must provide the answer to a puzzle embedded in the content of the reconstructed document."

You can download the puzzles, register a team and submit solutions online as well as view the current top teams. The prizewinner and prize awarded will depend on the number and difficulty of the problems solved. DARPA will a winner in the week of December 5, 2011 once final results are calculated.

Jasmine Jones is a Senior pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Human-Computer Interaction in an International Cultural Context. A Meyerhoff and NSA Scholar, Jasmine's research deals with how human factors, like culture, gender, and age, affect the way people perceive and use technology.To learn more about Jasmine's research pursutis, read her research profile.

CSEE Colloquium

Identifying and Isolating Text Classification Signals from
Domain and Genre Noise for Sentiment Analysis

Justin Martineau
Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

1:00pm Friday 4 November 2011, ITE 227

Justin Martineau will describe the results of his PhD dissertation which he will defend later this month. His dissertation research makes both algorithmic and theoretical contributions to the fields of domain adaption and sentiment analysis. First, it provides algorithms to discover and weight discriminative classification task specific features within a domain. Second, it produces algorithms to score how well these features transfer to a new target domain. Third, it lays out a general theory for the kinds of information and the types of noise they produce that exist in text classification tasks. Finally, the dissertation presents a definition of domain independence and a statistical description of it. The research offers readers a firm theoretical foundation as well as practical algorithms when implementing any of the motivating examples and for future research in the field.

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to encouraging students of underrepresented backgrounds in technology to pursue graduate study, the company will host the 2012 Google Graduate Researchers in Academia of Diverse backgrounds (GRAD) CS Forum. This forum will bring together students who are historically underrepresented in the field to connect with one another and with Google.

Up to 75 computer scientists will be invited to an all-expenses paid forum that will run Wednesday evening through Friday afternoon on January 18–20 at Google’s offices in Mountain View, CA and San Francisco, CA.

The Google GRAD CS Forum will include technical talks from established researchers – both from Google and universities – and a unique occasion to build and strengthen networks with other emerging researchers. Students will also enjoy tours of the Googleplex, have the opportunity to meet with Google engineers in their focus areas, and have fun exploring the San Francisco Bay Area.

Eligibility Requirements. Applicants must

• be a computer science (or related technical discipline) graduate student currently enrolled in a Masters or PhD program at a university in North America
• demonstrate academic excellence and leadership in the computing field maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.3 on a 5.0 scale or equivalent in their current program

How To Apply. Applicants will be asked to provide:

• a current copy of your resume
• unofficial or official copies of your transcripts from both your undergraduate and graduate degree-granting institutions
• a brief thesis abstract or description of your current research (500 words or less)

Please note that recommendation letters are not required.

The forum is open to all qualified graduate students, and is committed to addressing diversity in our company and in the technology industry. Students who are a member of a group that is historically under-represented in the technology industry are encouraged to apply, including women, Native American, African American and Hispanic students as well as students with disabilities. Please send any questions directly to . They look forward to reviewing your applications! Apply online by Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Chitra Gadwal is a Sophomore majoring in Computer Science. This year, Chitra became involved with a research project dealing with Human Computer Interaction. To learn more about Chitra's research pursuits, read her research profile.

Computer Engineering Alumna, Angelique Johnson is making waves with her new company MEMStim, which recently won $27,000 in award money from the Michigan Business Challenge. According to a statement on the University of Michigan’s website, Johnson and her business partners, Christopher Cadotte and Andrew Smith, received $20, 000 for the Pryor-Hale award for best business, $5,000 for the Williamson award for Outstanding Business and Business/Engineering team and $2,000 for the Outstanding Presentation award. The team also won a $1,500 Assessment Grant from the Dare to Dream Grant Program, a Michigan University program that helps developing entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running.  

Johnson's company, MEMStim, is dedicated to developing customizable micro-fabricated stimulators. According to an article from Xconomy Detroit, this technology, which Johnson has been working on for several years, is “a platform for creating electrode leads…that can be easily integrated into devices that shoot electric pulses into a patient’s nervous system.” The platform would allow for the creation of multiple leads at a time, contrary to the current process that is expensive and slow, the article adds. This means more effective and more affordable care for those who could benefit from the technology—like patients with Parkinson’s disease.

A Meyerhoff scholar, Ms. Johnson graduated from UMBC in 2005 with a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematics. After receiving her undergraduate degrees, Ms. Johnson attended the University of Michigan to pursue her Masters and subsequently a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Ms. Johnson speaks fondly about her experience at UMBC and with the Meyerhoff Scholars program here.