Information and Computing Technology
Focus of the Strategic Strength
ICT vision is to achieve international prominence through interdisciplinary research in targeted areas of information and computing technologies motivated by challenging societal problems. UB is already well-positioned to achieve prominence in ICT due to the presence of nationally recognized centers such as CCR, CEDAR, CEISARE and NCGIA and CVA.
ICT research at UB can be clustered into three major areas: information science, computational science and human-computer interaction. These three research clusters build upon strong foci of research excellence at UB and have the potential to expand our boundaries in innovative ways. They freely interact with one another as well as with other non-ICT streams to yield interesting initiatives. Information Science is concerned with the capabilities of humans and machines to create, discover and reason with information by advancing the ability to represent, collect, store, organize, locate, visualize and communicate information. Computational Scienceis the integration of fundamental disciplinary science with advanced computing and mathematical modeling. Along with experiments and theory, computational science is recognized as the third method of scientific enquiry. Human Computer Interaction is concerned with the design, implementation, and evaluation of human-computer interface technologies that are useful, usable, and intuitive.
Recommendations: We propose two synergistic initiatives, which draw upon UB’s strengths and help direct further ICT research at UB: (i) Smart Environments, and (ii) Enabling Discovery. Smart Environments embed sensors and computing devices in everyday objects enabling seamless and intelligent interaction with humans. High performance computing, high-end visualization, and advanced simulation and modeling techniques enable discoveries in diverse domains including sciences, engineering, and management. These two initiatives share common research areas in networking, user interfaces, processing large data, and advanced computing techniques.
- Smart Environments will focus on Human-centric Interfaces, Sensor Technologies, RFID, Context Aware Systems, Distributed Computation, Secure Networking, Real-time Systems, Fault Tolerant Wireless Network, Privacy, Trust, and Societal Issues
- Enabling Discovery will focus on High-dimensional Data, Data Mining, Geo-spatial Visualization, Multi-scale Modeling, Reliability, Grid Computing, Middleware, Interoperability, Computational Mathematics, and Computational Biology
These initiatives serve as a basis for identifying 20 faculty profiles which serve to fill in gaps and bridge disciplinary research areas in multiple decanal units at UB, including architecture, science, engineering, law, and management.
Committee Leadership
Coordinating Committee:
- John Thomas (Coordinating Dean)
Dean, School of Management - Brian Carter
Dean, School of Architecture and Planning - Bruce D. McCombe
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences - Makau Mutua
Dean, Law School - Harvey G. Stenger, Jr.
Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Faculty Advisory Committee:
- Venu Govindaraju (Chair)
Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering - Ann Bisantz
Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Systems and Engineering - Kemper Lewis
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - David Mark
Professor, Department of Geography - Jim Milles
Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library, Law School - E. Bruce Pitman
Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts and Sciences; Professor, Department of Mathematics; Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - Chunming Qiao
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering - Hejamadi Raghav Rao
Professor, Department of Management Science and Systems - Shahin Vassigh
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture
Last updated: May 9, 2008