Computer Science and Software Engineering

Computer Science and Software EngineeringKai Chang, DEPARTMENT HEAD

COMPUTER NETWORKS LABORATORY

Because high-speed computer communication networks are the central component of the rapidly evolving information superhighway, development of protocols that manage network access and transmit data must keep pace with network hardware improvements. The Computer Networks Laboratory is working on protocol development and analysis for network access, performance analysis of high-speed networks, and pricing models for control of network congestion.

INTELLIGENT AND INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS LABORATORIES

The study of intelligent systems and the interface between computers and humans are becoming increasingly intertwined and critical as an ever growing segment of the population is expected to deal with computer software. Researchers in four laboratories of the Intelligent and Interactive Systems Research Group are applying evolutionary computation to problems, designing and evaluating attention-responsive and speech interfaces, studying human interaction with computer systems, and developing advanced learning technologies.

Equipment includes three eye tracking systems and high-end workstations with state-of-the-art software for user interface design, development, and evaluation.

PARALLEL COMPUTATION LABORATORY

Although parallel computers can solve previously unapproachable problemsin fluid flow, structure simulation, oil field modeling, and molecular modeling, parallel computing technology has been adopted slowly because developing programs for parallel computers is difficult. Therefore, researchers in the Parallel Computation Laboratory are trying to develop compiler technology that can convert code written for sequential computers into code that can execute on parallel computers, and parallel algorithms that can solve physics and operations research problems. They are also investigating wavefront computation as a parallel computing paradigm.

Equipment includes a 32-processor nCube multicomputer, a 16-processor Inmos transputer multicomputer, and workstations.

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING LABORATORY

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is researching three software engineering areas: reverse engineering, software testing, and real-time systems verification. Tools have been developed that allow a program's logical structure to be retrieved from program code. Because the logical structure is more easily understood than the program code, reverse engineering reduces software maintenance costs. Research tools are being developed to automate test data generation for large programs. These tools incorporate artificial intelligence and object-oriented programming. Tools are also being developed to verify real-time system specifications.

The Software Engineering Laboratory has high-end workstations that support tools for computer-assisted software engineering.