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STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2004
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VISION |
To gain enhanced visibility and national prominence, the Department of Computer Science at
LSU will focus its emphasis on three core research areas that are contemporary, still
maturing and also complement the skills of existing department faculty. Research in
networking has garnered national attention due to the immense potential of
computer, sensor and optical networks for exploiting information technology and providing
users the ability to control and understand the natural environment. High-end scientific
computing/visualization with implementation in Grid environment has taken on
an increased significance to understanding of large-scale scientific issues in various
disciplines including biology, Earth science and astrophysics. Due to the enhanced national
security environment, research in the area of cyber-security/information assurance
is in high demand and will continue to intensify over the next several years.
Achieving critical mass through new hires in these areas will have an immediate impact
on the Department's competitiveness for federal funding and for ability to gain national
recognition.
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MISSION |
In recent years, we have strengthened our research groups in the areas of networking,
computing/visualization, and cyber-security/information assurance through the
establishment of two laboratories, one for Sensor Networking/Security laboratory and
other for Medical Imaging and Computing/Visualization. We have received approximately
$1 million/year from different funding agencies including NSF, AFOSR, NASA, DARPA and DOE.
The department has currently active grants (started in 2003) of about $2.5 million from
NSF in the areas of sensor networking and security. The department has recently received
NSF Career Award of nearly half a million dollars in scientific computing and visualization.
The research conducted by the faculty has been featured in news articles and popular
journals including IEEE transactions. Awards and honors received include the 2004
Richard E. Merwin Award, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Distributed
Sensor Networks, and editors of several highly reputed journals.
The department has been increasingly stronger in its educational program by having a large
number of graduate and undergraduate students including women and minorities. The department
has 51 PhD, 85 M.S. and 250 undergraduate students. It also offers a wide spectrum courses in
information technology for both science and non-science majors. We have developed new
courses in the areas of computer and sensor networking, grid computing, scientific
visualization and software engineering. Our students gain highly practical training in
software development. Strong background in information technology and high-quality
dissertation research make our students highly competitive in job searches. Our dual-degree
program in physical and computer sciences has been highly successful. Our graduates have
taken research positions at Silicon Graphics, Microsoft, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, and faculty positions across the United States and the world such
as the University of Pittsburgh, University of Georgia, University of Alabama, and Drexel
University. Undergraduates are also being exposed early to research through NSF-REU grants.
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GOALS |
Over the last several years, the department has significantly contributed to the areas of
sensor networking, cyber security and high-performance scientific computing. It will continue
to lead this effort by providing:
Information technologies such as networked intelligent systems, metacomputing framework for
scientific simulations, visualization, grid computing framework, different application
softwares;
Education in networking, cyber-security, high-performance scientific computing, visualization,
grid computing for both technical and non-technical students.
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PLANNING PROGRESS REPORT (2003-2004) |
Strategic Direction 1: To strengthen research in the three focused areas,
networking, scientific computing/visualization, and cyber-security/information assurance:
1. Seek Funding: We have been successful in getting grants from
NSF, MURI and a few other funding agencies through sensor networking,
security and high-performance computing groups of the department. Some of these grants have
already started in 2003 and some including NSF Career grant will start from July 2004.
We will seek more funding from NSF, NASA' Information Power Grid, DOE's ASCI, DARPA's MURI, and NIH.
2. Computing/Visualization: Allen, Iyengar and Karki's groups
have been using parallel computing facilities provided by LSU-CCT to enhance high-end
computational research and are working towards extending them to a Tera-Grid computing framework.
The department has started the visualization laboratory that will be used to develop/apply
various techniques for different scientific needs. Several visualization and imaging
projects have already been developed.
3. Sensor/Security: We have recently started a sensor network and
security laboratory that will be further developed with support from CCT and NSF.
4. Faculty Hiring: We are currently hiring four faculties in the
areas of networking, grid computing and visualization. These are joint positions with LSU-CCT.
The department has already offered two positions (one in sensor networks and other
in visualization) and will fill up other two positions in near future. We plan to reach a
critical mass of about 20 faculty as recommended by the Review Panel 2003.
Strategic Direction 2: To strengthen education in the three focused areas:
Dr. Iyengar and others were able to get a half-million dollars from NSF for IT training.
1. We have introduced new courses in sensor networking and grid computing. We will revise
the existing courses and develop new courses towards strengthening the focused areas at
undergraduate level. We have been revising our curriculum according to recommendation made
by Review Panel last year
2. We will extend our current dual degree program in which a student gets a PhD in physics
and an MSc in computer science to bio- and geo-informatics interdisciplinary education
3. We will further enhance our current web-based courses through the use of the recently
established Access-Grid facility to expose our faculty and students to the outside world.
4. We have been improving graduate student fellowships (Teaching or Research Assistantships)
in quality and quantity to attract outstanding students to the department
5. We plan to organize the computational workshop for underrepresented group of the type that
was conducted in January 7-11, 2003 to motivate undergraduate students to graduate program and
research in computer science as well as to recruit more underrepresented students.
Strategic Direction 3: To act as the IT engine for distributed,
multidisciplinary collaborations in research and teaching at LSU and around the world
1. Tutorials: Provide tutorials on parallel/distributed computing.
2. Visualization: Provide scientific visualization needs through
the establishment of a modern visualization laboratory. We have already initiated some
visualization projects.
3. Multiscopic computing: Synthesis of currently fragmented
subareas of computational sciences by seamless software engineering of, for example,
engineering and first-principles physics approaches.
4. Outreach to nonmajors: We have been providing web-collaboration
software tools for both technical and nontechnical students to be able to participate actively
and interactively in web-based courses.
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