The Nature of Service:
Explore the nature of service. How can we evaluate and measure good
and bad service? How can we build computational systems
that provide good service? How can we be better helpers and
servants to each other? In what ways does being a servant
involve establishing relationship and trust? This involves
issues of user modeling, goal inference, adaptive
interfaces, evaluation of user aids.
Previous students: Josh Holm, Nick Burwell, and Chris Phillips
The Starfish system:Website.
Design and implement a new software system that provides intrusion
detection and intrusion tolerance for middleware applications
operating in a distributed asynchronous system. Requires strong
software development skills; also distributed systems (CS 150) and
networks (CS 140) or consent of faculty.
Current students: Robin Elliott, Kelsey Marshman, and Aaryn Smith
Previous students:Joel Stewart, Adrian Rogers, Toby Lounsbury, Mike Magnuson, Steve Raub, Daniel Shank, Brad
Jensen, Chris Phillips, Kerby Johnson, Chris Ritchey, and Ben LaBarbera
Average-case analyses of machine
learning algorithms: Mathematically analyze various methods used
in machine learning to determine expected generalization gain based on
given assumptions about the universe in question.
Philosopher's Workbench: Build a suite of tools
that help us explore various questions of traditional and
computational Philosophy. What would such a suite include and
which questions would be appropriate targets for exploration?
Could we gain insights into epistemology or free will through
simulated environments and artificial agents?
Byzantine Fault Detectors:Website.
Engage in foundational work that explores fault
detection methods to aid in the design of survivable distributed
systems. Requires a strong interest in math, algorithms, and
distributed computer systems.
Bioinformatics: Apply
data mining techniques to problems in Biology. One
particularly challenging problem with tremendous potential
benefit is the development of an intuitive interface for
biologists to mine the data they collect without assistance
from computer scientists.
Previous students: Cailin Andruss, Annie Evans, and John Hilp
Ethics in a virtual environment:
Explore behavior-guiding principles in the internet or
other virtual environments, particularly slanted toward the notion of
ownership and property.
Limits of knowledge in distributed systems and the
human condition:Website.
Explore how the limits on knowledge attainable in a distributed system
can provide insight into the larger picture of the human condition.
Westmont Cluster Project:Website. Learn to
use a Beowulf-class cluster computer. Develop systems that exploit
the benefits of parallel computation. Serve other researchers in
helping port their computational work onto our cluster.
Previous students: Thomas Cantrell, Josh Holm, Eric
Rodkey, Dustin Carroll, Chip Howell, and Kirsten Iba
Male/female differences in computer science:Website.
Explore possible reasons
why there are so few women in computer science, and how we can
encourage more women to enter the field.