http://www.ittc.ku.edu Latest news from the Information Technology and Telecommunication Center at the University of Kansas en-us Copyright 2009 ITTC http://www.ittc.ku.edu/rss http://www.ittc.ku.edu/images/ittc-new-logo.jpg http://www.ittc.ku.edu Erik Perrins, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, has accepted an invitation to serve as an area editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications. His duties include assigning papers to the 13 editors within the modulation and signal design area, monitoring their performance and assisting the editor-in-chief.

"Erik is an internationally renowned researcher in the field of modulation and signal design for telecommunication systems. He has served as an editor for several years and has done an excellent job in this capacity," said Robert Schober, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia, who nominated Perrins for the position. "This made him a natural choice when the position of area editor became vacant."

Perrins' research expertise is in wireless communications. He recently received a Department of Defense research grant to help develop new communications architectures for flight test telemetry --measuring at a distance. By simultaneously allowing multiple tests to take place over hundreds of square miles, the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry program is a significant upgrade in aircraft testing. He conducts research at KU's Information and Telecommunication Technology Center.

He also helped build a communication system able to transmit large amounts of scientific and operational data while adhering to severe size, weight and power constraints needed for future space missions. Perrins' team developed miniaturized hardware for the NASA project.

Prior to area editor, Perrins served for four years as an editor for the journal.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=238 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=238 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600
EECS Associate Professor Shannon Blunt collaborated with EECS Associate Professor Erik Perrins and graduate students Justin Metcalf and Casey Biggs on the development of an intra-pulse radar-embedded communication approach. The specially designed covert signals achieve the right trade-off between communication performance and interception avoidance. For example, the system may allow soldiers behind enemy lines to send secure messages by hiding signals among the echoes generated by a nearby high-powered radar. Intended receivers would have sufficient prior knowledge to recover the hidden signal, while eavesdroppers would be unaware of the signal's existence.

Such technology traditionally employs hundreds to thousands of radar pulses to insert covert signals. However, by inserting information into the echoes from each individual radar pulse, the ITTC approach has the potential to increase the data rate by orders of magnitude.

The work, funded by a U.S. Air Force Young Investigator Award that Dr. Blunt received in 2007, culminated in the December publication of "Performance Characteristics and Metrics for Intra-Pulse Radar-Embedded Communication" in the prestigious IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC).]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=237 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=237 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600
Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy already is a proven and powerful technology for peering into cells to observe lipids, proteins and DNA. But the lasers involved in CARS microscopy are complex and pricey, available only to top research institutions with deep pockets.

The KU project, headed by Carey Johnson, professor of chemistry, aims to simplify the tool and make using it faster and more economical. The goal is to bring the technology down in cost, and within reach of medical clinics and biomedical researchers.

"CARS has been around for a long time, but it's been developed based on $300,000 laser systems that take up large optical tables," Johnson said. "It's not a very usable method of microscopy for everyday clinical use-- it requires a very specialized lab and a system that's not portable."

By contrast, the simplified CARS system that Johnson is developing with ITTC investigator Rongqing Hui, a fiber-optic expert and KU professor of electrical engineering and computer science, is based upon a single fiber laser and could fit inside a shoebox.

"This laser source would be much smaller, and much less expensive than the kinds of laser sources being used now for this kind of laser microscopy," said Johnson. "We hope to make it much more accessible."

Because every molecule vibrates at a unique frequency, CARS can identify unique molecules by reading those frequencies with laser beams.

"We pass two different wavelengths of light straight through the sample, and the CARS process creates a third wavelength, where the strength of that signal depends on the vibrations of the molecule," Johnson said."If the difference between frequencies of the two beams that we send into the sample match its vibrational frequency, that amplifies the signal, and we look for that amplification in the output beam."

The collaboration could usher in low-cost CARS microscopy and put the powerful tool in the hands of more clinicians and researchers.

"It's important because we can look at the cells as they are," said Johnson. "We don't have to treat them with a dye, or a stain or some kind of label that would make them fluoresce. Currently, one has to go through extra steps to have cells genetically make something that fluoresces. This method avoids that."

Funded by $156,000 from the National Institutes of Health, the instrument-making project will take three years and should result in a prototype fiber-optic laser microscope by 2014.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=236 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=236 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600
Perry Alexander, director of KU's Information and Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC) and general chair of the conference, said local and regional industry practitioners would be able to attend tutorials on advanced software engineering techniques, participate in specialized workshops, and see tool demonstrations and paper presentations at the main conference. Those interested in participating should go to http://www.ase-conference.org for more information.

The conference, hosted by ITTC and KU Continuing Education, will be Nov. 6-11 at The Oread. It is sponsored by two professional societies: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

According to Alexander, there will be significant attention given to disseminating cutting-edge research in techniques for automating software synthesis, testing, analysis and development processes. The conference will present information through technical papers, special sessions, tutorials, workshops and a student poster session. Anyone interested in software engineering will find an activity of interest at the conference, Alexander said.

"It is a thrill to have so many of my research colleagues in Lawrence for the conference. The attendees are among the top minds in the world in software engineering, and I hope local industry will take advantage of the opportunity to interact with them," said Alexander, a professor in electrical engineering and computer science.

Keynote presentations will take place Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Ian Witten, professor of computer science at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, will present "Wikipedia and How to Use It for Semantic Document Representation," explaining how to enhance information retrieval and connection within the rich resource. The following morning Matthew Dwyer, a professor of computer science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will deliver "Unifying Testing and Analysis through Behavioral Coverage" that will offer techniques and tools to better assess the correctness of software systems.

Participants from KU include EECS Professor Arvin Agah, who will co-chair the Tutorials Track, and Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center Director Leonard (Kris) Krishtalka, a professor of vertebrate paleobiology, who will deliver a keynote address.

For more information, visit the conference site online.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=235 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=235 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500
Andy Gill, an assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), recently received a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to streamline tools for the development of high assurance computer systems. The innovative support tools will provide greater transparency and scrutiny when building critical components for large complex systems, dramatically reducing the all-too-common bugs and glitches that occur in current software.

When programmers build software, they first must determine how it will be used and then how it will function. They should then evaluate the software to ensure the description and function match, but this step is cumbersome and expensive. All too often, crude testing methods are used instead, inadvertently neglecting to test critical corner cases that later result in bugs in real-world deployment. A National Institute of Standards and Technology study found that software defects cost the economy $60 billion annually and account for 80 percent of software development costs.

Gill is building the Haskell Equational Reasoning Model-to-Implementation Tunnel (HERMIT) to improve software correctness. HERMIT mathematically, or formally, analyzes each step of development, providing rigorous connections between system requirements and the programming details of a real application. While system requirements and programs are typically written in two different computer languages and often evaluated in a third, HERMIT provides a common foundation that generates evidence that the description and action match. These continuous checks and balances make it much harder for errors to be introduced, and HERMIT's precise documentation style allows any pesky bugs to be caught early in the process.

"When we are talking about building large systems with millions of lines of code, finding errors can be very difficult. Unreliable software hurts companies' reputations and costs them customers," said Gill, who conducts his research at KU's Information and Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC). "HERMIT uses new ideas from software engineering and mathematics to make the evaluation of high-assurance software development more manageable."

As well as helping with software development, Gill hopes HERMIT can be customized for developing hardware solutions. Gill gave an invited talk at the NSA-sponsored High Confidence Software and Systems conference in Maryland last year about the precursor to HERMIT that generated a hardware-based signal decoder. Collaborating with EECS Associate Professor Erik Perrins on the implementation of a system that helps correct naturally occurring errors in noisy transmissions, Gill applied the HERMIT rules by hand, leading to an efficient design and a more reliable decoding system.

Before joining the KU faculty, Gill was involved in the successful commercialization of technology developed in academia. Gill was a principal project scientist for the PacSoft research group in the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. Together with colleagues from PacSoft and other academic institutions, Gill commercialized a software engineering method that led to a software engineering firm with 40 employees. Gill hopes to repeat this success with HERMIT.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=234 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=234 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500
Whether your mom-and-pop caters to Millennials or to Mom and Pop, the search engine company argues that you're either on the Web or you're out of it.

So today and Thursday the company is running seminars in Kansas City and giving away free websites - hosted by Intuit Inc. for a year at no cost - to the more than 1,000 mostly very small businesses expected to attend its welcome-to-the-Internet clinic.

The company says that 97 percent of Americans look online for the services and stuff they buy. Yet a Google/Ipsos survey found nearly two in three U.S. businesses have no home on the Internet.

"They're digitally invisible," said Scott Levitan, Google's director of small-business engagement. "They won't show up on the map, and they will have no chance of getting that call."

He says Google's research shows that small companies don't bother with setting up websites because they think it's too hard, too costly and too time-consuming.

So Google is attacking that perception by telling businesses they probably can have decent-looking, if minimalist (three pages), websites up and running after an hour at the clinic. After the free year is over, keeping the websites alive will cost about $7 a month.

Google has similar events scheduled in September in Iowa. It already put on sessions in Vermont and Texas this summer, drawing mostly outfits with fewer than 10 employees. Those entrepreneurs, Levitan said, were generally surprised at the ease of planting their flags on the Internet.

The company has a special interest in moving this market's businesses onto the Web because it has promised to string fiber-optic lines to virtually every home and business in Kansas City and Kansas City, Kan., and deliver Internet speeds 10 to 100 times faster than are available to most Americans. Details about the project remain sketchy, but Google has said it will fire up the service for some customers in early 2012.

That super-fast Internet and this week's "Kansas City Get Your Business Online" seminars feed into Google's motivation to move more commerce to the Internet. After all, that's where it makes its billions.

"Ultimately, Google wants your experience with the Internet to be with one of their offerings," said Josh Olson, a technology sector analyst at Edward Jones & Co. "The more they're able to control that, the more they're able to enhance the relevance of their ad model."

Google insists it's not using the sessions to promote its online business products--the Google Apps line of Internet-based programs that range from email to word processing to electronic spreadsheets. Rather, Levitan said Google benefits from more businesses online driving more consumers online. That in turn provides more chances to expose people to Google's ads. The more businesses listed on Google Places, for instance, the more likely consumers will use the device.

Still, the sessions will include how-to programs on Google's AdWords program that produces advertising based on the words used in an Internet search. And small businesses might be especially attracted to so-called cloud services offered by Google. They allow the smallest of businesses--those with fewer than 10 employees--to get computer programs for free and larger firms to essentially rent rather than buy software applications.

"It's like outsourcing anything. You're looking to gain efficiency," said Victor Frost, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Kansas.

Such cloud applications could prove particularly useful for small businesses that can't afford information technology staff, he said, but they might also make it more difficult to shift that strategy when a company grows.

For small businesses such as Dumit Rug Cleaners in Kansas City's Waldo area, a free website could be just the thing.

Todd Dumit and Paula Tarwater run the business with their father, Dave Dumit. Dave Dumit's father, Henry Dumit, started the business in 1929. Of course, in the beginning there was no Internet. But in recent years Tarwater has felt negligent for not using a website to promote the company's specialty of cleaning area rugs.

"It was kind of intimidating," she said.

But after a Google representative visited her shop and signed her up to attend today's seminar, Tarwater said, "I'm kind of excited."

That, said Intuit product manager Megan Bhattacharyya, offers a chance to introduce small businesses to her company's online products.

"People think getting online is this really, really scary process," she said. "It doesn't have to be."

Getting online has been critical for Janay Andrews, who makes wedding dresses from sustainable materials such as organic cotton and silk hemp. Andrews now sells dresses to people around the world. She's the subject of a Google video about the powers of a website for small businesses.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=233 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=233 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Arvin Agah received a surprise visit from KU Provost Jeffrey Vitter and other dignitaries who presented him with a Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and a $7,500 check during his Mobile Robotics course on Tuesday.

ITTC graduate student Marianne Jantz, who had Agah for Software Engineering (EECS 448) as an undergraduate, is now taking his Mobile Robotics course.

"Dr. Agah's classes are always extremely enjoyable," Jantz said. "He has the ability to impart his knowledge and expertise, while keeping his students both interested and smiling."

Andrea Valdivia had Agah for Software Engineering in 2008. Students worked in small teams to develop a Nintendo DS game, which she said was a great conversation starter during internship interviews. Valdivia said the career-oriented course showcased Agah's strong industry background and his passion for software development.

"Professor Agah's Software Engineering class was one of my favorites at KU! It was an extremely hands-on course that gave students a flavor of what it is like to develop solutions for real-world scenarios," said Valdivia who graduated in May and is working at the Goldman Sachs world headquarters in New York."His enthusiastic teaching has made a lasting impression on me and certainly countless others."

Mark Calnon has returned to KU this fall to begin his doctorate work under the direction of Agah. As an EECS graduate student in 2008, Calnon and other students wanted to participate in the Space Robotics Challenge. Agah created a special topics course for the students and helped them write grant proposals to fund the project and present it at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

"Professor Agah has a true desire to see his students succeed. Whether assisting students with their research or encouraging students to participate in educational outreach, Professor Agah is always willing to spend as much time and effort as necessary to provide his students with opportunities to grow both academically and personally," Calnon said.

The Kemper fellowships recognize 10 outstanding teachers and advisers at KU as determined by a seven-member selection committee. Now in their 16th year, the awards are supported by an annual gift of from the William T. Kemper Foundation (Commerce Bank, trustee) and matching funds from KU Endowment. Agah is the eighth EECS professor to receive a Kemper award.

Agah joined the EECS faculty in 1997. He spearheaded the new Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Computing program and served as associate chair for graduate studies from 2005-2009. He conducts artificial intelligence and robotics research at ITTC.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=232 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=232 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500
Evan Austin, of Shawnee, will receive a $38,000 annual stipend, full tuition and fees, book allowance and health insurance through the Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program. Austin, who will graduate with a master's degree in computer science in August, will begin his doctorate studies in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) this fall.

"Evan has worked very hard and we're all very proud of him," said Stuart Bell, dean of engineering. "The home-grown talent at the KU School of Engineering continues to excel at the highest levels of scholarship and research. This award is a great honor and the work he's completing at KU will play an important role in the security of the information technology we all rely on."

SMART recipients receive paid summer internships and postgraduate employment within the DoD. The program, which aims to bring highly trained civilian scientists and engineers to Defense facilities, requires a year of employment in return for each year of scholarship.

"Beyond the generous financial benefits attached to the award, the SMART program provides years of invaluable experience at a DoD research facility," Austin said. "When I look at the incredible new professors EECS has gained over the last few years, I notice many are finding immediate success based on the contacts and confidence that they developed working at government research labs. I'm hoping that this opportunity will provide me with a similar foundation that I can build upon for success."

Current verification software does not provide sufficient automatic processing, creating a slow and cumbersome inspection process. Austin is developing formal reasoning tools that will allow researchers to build models that will evaluate the security, reliability, maintainability and other importance facets of their hardware/software design. His tools are aimed at expediting the generation of trustworthy large-scale systems, such as smart grids and telecommunication networks.

Austin conducts research at KU's Information and Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC) under the direction of Perry Alexander, Sharp Professor of EECS and ITTC Director.

"Evan is an exceptionally talented researcher and a wonderful member of my laboratory," Alexander said. "The SMART fellowship suits him quite well, and I believe the experience he will gain working with the DoD will benefit him greatly when he starts his academic career. This fellowship is great for Evan and great for ITTC and KU."

Austin earned an undergraduate degree with honors in computer science from KU in 2008. In 2010, he won a Paul F. Huebner Memorial Award for outstanding graduate teaching. He was the graduate teaching assistant for the C++ programming course (EECS 138).

This is the third EECS/ITTC student to receive a SMART fellowship since its creation in 2005. Alumni Jamie Jenshak and Mike Wasikowski received SMART scholarships in 2006 and 2008, respectively.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=231 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=231 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0500
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan was honored for her accomplishments at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences graduate recognition ceremony May 22.

Don Steeples, the Dean A. McGee Distinguished Professor of Applied Geophysics, and his wife, Tammy, established the award in 1997 to honor Don Steeples' parents, Wally and Marie Steeples, and to recognize outstanding service by KU faculty to other Kansans. The award provides recipients with $1,000 and an additional $1,000 base adjustment to their salaries.

Thousands of students in grades K-12 have benefited from mathematics classes, workshops and competitions established by Pasik-Duncan.

In 1994, she started teaching mathematics classes four times a week in a Lawrence elementary school on top of her regular teaching load at KU. In just two years, the students won 17 awards at Kansas Regional Math Contests.

She has since expanded her contributions. She has organized and implemented Mathematics Awareness Month at KU for 17 years, which has received accolades from the governor and the Lawrence City Council. The mathematics competitions that are part of this program have attracted more than 1,000 students from about 90 Kansas schools in kindergarten through 12th grade in the past five years alone.

She has also established a partnership in mathematics education between local elementary schools and KU and an annual mathematics workshop for 5th and 6th graders in Lawrence and participates in about three workshops a year for high school teachers of mathematics and science in the United States and abroad.

Pasik-Duncan has been a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics since 1984. She has been honored with several of KU's most prestigious accolades, including the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence; the Frank B. Morrison Award for distinguished teaching; induction into the KU Women's Hall of Fame; and the distinction of being the first mathematics professor to receive the HOPE teaching award since it was established in 1959.

Funds for the Steeples award are managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=230 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=230 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Angela Oguna received the Class of 1913 award, which is given to a senior man and woman whose intelligence, devotion to studies and personal character give promise of usefulness to society. Marlesa Roney, vice provost for Student Success, and Kathryn Nemeth Tuttle, associate vice provost for Student Success, presented the award during Senior Design Lab II.

"I am both honored and humbled to receive this award. It is the result of a lot of hard work, which is complemented by the support I have received from my family, friends and my mentors," Oguna said. "My academic advisor [EECS Professor James Roberts] was very supportive when I transferred to KU, and he played an integral role in ensuring I got off on the right foot. The guidance I received on my first undergraduate research assignment at the Information and Telecommunications Technology Center (ITTC) equipped me with essential technical skills, in addition to widening my KU network. When I finally graduate, it will be with appreciation for the opportunities that have been made available to me and the confidence that I made the most of my time here at KU."

Since arriving from Nairobi, Kenya, as a transfer student in 2008, Oguna has garnered a number of prestigious honors. Last spring she became first KU student to win a Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, which encourages women to excel in computing and technology and become active role models and leaders. She was named - one of the outstanding scholars in America - at the 2009 National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Convention and later that year won a national Chrysler Foundation Scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers.

Oguna has been on the Dean's Honor Roll every semester since transferring KU in 2008 and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honors society. This fall she received the Tau Beta Pi Record Scholarship, named for 1929 KU graduate Leroy E. Record.

Oguna is a mentor to incoming freshmen as an ambassador for the School of Engineering and is the president of the KU chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). In support of the NSBE mission of increasing the number of minority engineers, Oguna volunteered at Central Junior High School's after-school program this fall and last month helped judge the Vex robotics competition during the Kansas City Youth Technology Fair.

This month Oguna received a KU undergraduate research award (UGRA). The award is supporting the collection of detailed information about real-time energy use and cost, allowing consumers to make more informed decisions about their consumption. The independent research will help in the integration of Smart Grid technology for small-scale consumers. The effort was initially funded by the American Public Power Association Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments (DEED) grant that Oguna received last spring.

A 15-member selection committee comprised of students, faculty and staff, selects Chancellor Student Award winners from university-wide nominations. Recipients will receive special recognition during the Commencement Ceremony on May 22.]]> http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=228 http://www.ittc.ku.edu/view_article.phtml?id=228 mward@ittc.ku.edu (Michelle Ward) Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500