Homeland Security Initiatives
The Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS) develops research in the Homeland Security area in collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), RIT's Center for Advancing the Study of CyberInfrastructure (CASCI) and other partners. By fostering dialogue and exchange between researchers from different institutions and different areas of expertise, CADS helps develop partnerships that yield new security technologies.
Below is a list of RIT laboratories participating in CADS programs. For more information, a more detailed lab description is available (PDF). Please visit the faculty page for further information on Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS) faculty involved in the Homeland Security Initiatives.
RIT Laboratories
Laboratory for Intelligent Systems
Dr. Roger Gaborski, GCCIS-CS, Director
http://www.cs.rit.edu/~rsg
Research activities in the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems are focused on extracting knowledge from video, audio and text documents using mathematical models. The models are biologically-inspired and leverage current knowledge in computer science, engineering, cognitive science and neuroscience. Members of the laboratory are skilled in the areas of pattern recognition, neural networks, statistical classifiers, computer vision, data mining and artificial intelligence.
Laboratory for Discovery Informatics
Dr. Ankur Teredesai, GCCIS-CS, Director
Extracting knowledge, information, and relationships from various data sources is one of the greatest challenges faced by the scientists of the twenty-first century. The mission of the LDI is to conduct high-quality, multidisciplinary research in the application of computational techniques to the management and understanding of data-intensive systems. The Lab's main focus is to act as a catalyst towards developing leading-edge algorithms for the capture, storage, processing, analysis and understanding of "data". Faculty, students and affiliates currently focus on several projects in multimedia databases, data management in sensor networks and mining real-world social networks.
Laboratory for Computer-Human Interaction and Performance Support
Dr. Evelyn Rozanski, GCCIS-IT, Director
Dr. Anne Haake, GCCIS-IT,Co-Director
Dr. Michael Yacci, GCCIS-IT, Co-Director
The Laboratory for Computer-Human Interaction and Performance Support(CHIPS) focuses on the cognitive and behavioral aspects of human interactions with computers, related devices and work environments. Researchers study both the effectiveness and efficiency with which tasks are learned and performed. CHIPS features several related areas of project and research study; usability studies and eye-tracking; ubiquitous computing; computer-mediated communication, experience, and social interaction; interactive instructional environments; and, organizational learning and knowledge management. The projects in the lab provide understanding and solutions to a variety of HCI and learning problems.
Laboratory for Complexity
Dr. Edith Hemaspaandra, GCCIS-CS, Director
Complexity theory studies the relationship between essential computer resources---such as time, memory, random bits, etc.---and the classes of problems that can be solved using given amounts of those resources. A particular focus of the Laboratory for Complexity is the threshold between feasible and infeasible problems, and the development of tools---such as heuristic and approximation schemes---for problems for which the complexity of obtaining the exact solution is high.
Laboratory for Information Visualization and Interaction
Dr. Ronald Vullo, GCCIS-IT, Director
Steve Zilora, GCCIS-IT, Co-Director
The Laboratory for Information Visualization and Interaction focuses on identifying and describing design patterns, and developing exemplar solutions based on those design patterns to problems in the networked world. Many of these patterns and solutions form modules in an open-source architecture for building web applications, informatics tools, and virtual communities. In addition, projects in the lab investigate, expand, and demonstrate the use of Web Services in today's business market. Web Services technology provides a means for a client application, running on any platform and developed in any language, to invoke a procedure on another device, running on any platform and developed in any language. This platform-agnostic communication is achievable due to the use of XML, the use of standard internet transport protocols, and adherence to the Web Services protocol stack.
Laboratory for Astrophysical Dynamics
Dr. David Merritt, CoS-Physics, Director
Dr. Hans-Peter Bischof, GCCIS-CS, Co-Director
http://www.grapecluster.rit.edu
The Laboratory for Astrophysical Dynamics consists of researchers who are interested in applying computational techniques to simulate the dynamical evolution of stellar and galactic systems. The lab's main hardware facility is a 32-node cluster, each node of which contains a GRAPE-6A special-purpose accelerator board for computing gravitational forces between point masses. The cluster, which is highly specialized to gravitational dynamics, attains speed of 4 TFlops and can handle particle numbers up to 4 million. In addition, the laboratory contains a single-node, GRAPE-6 computer with a speed of 1TFlops. The faculty and research scientists associated with the lab are also interested in algorithmic development, visualization, and application of FGPAs to astrophysical computing.
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Laboratory
Dr. Shuba Gopal, CoS, Director
Paul Tymann, GCCIS-CS, Co-Director
Dr. Anne Haake , GCCIS-IT, Co-Director
The Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Laboratory consists of researchers from a variety of disciplines who are interested in applying computational techniques to solve biologically motivated problems. The group has expertise in algorithmic development, high-performance computing, bioinformatics, systems biology, data management, and data mining.
Laboratory
for Wireless Networks and Security
Dr. Nirmala Shenoy, GCCIS-IT, Director
The Laboratory for Wireless Networks and Security focuses on future communication and networking issues. Increasing dependence on wireless connectivity and a departure from typical application models will necessitate new protocols and techniques. These protocols and techniques must ensure security and seamless connectivity across diverse wireless networks regardless of the network technologies. Sensors and ad hoc networks are gaining popularity due to a number of recent applications that benefit by such structure-less networks. The laboratory currently focuses on various projects in this area. Projects addressing internetworking with mobile ad hoc networks and sensor networks are also in progress. The lab has over nine faculty from different departments contributing to projects. The lab has already supported several graduate and undergraduate students in research projects.
Laboratory for Advanced Communications Technology
Dr. Chance M. Glenn, Sr., CAST-ECET, Director
The Laboratory for Advanced Communications Technology (LACT) is intended to be a premier focal point of research, development, and technology transfer opportunities in communications engineering. The laboratory's mission is to establish and cultivate relationships with the communications industry, from the small businesses to the major players, in order to complete the development cycle from concept to commercialization.
Laboratory for Technological Literacy
Stephen Jacobs, GCCIS-IT, Director
The mission of the Laboratory for Technological Literacy is to investigate, expand, and demonstrate approaches to improve technological literacy through informal science and technology education programs and resources. These include museums, the media and the web. In a society that is increasingly reliant on science and technology for day-to-day living, Americans most participate in a Democracy that requires them to make decisions as citizens on technologies they do not understand. As identified in the National Academy of Engineering's "Technically Speaking" Study and Report, over 70% of the US population relies on sources of informal science and technology education to stay current on technological advances. Yet the available resources for this type of informal and self-education are few. There is comparatively little in the way of new resources being created, or research being done, to increase and improve such resources. The Lab works both independently and with the media to address these shortfalls.
Laboratory for Graphical Simulation, Visualization & Virtual Worlds
Steve Kurtz, GCCIS-IT, Director
Andy Phelps, GCCIS-IT, Co-Director
The mission of this lab is to research and develop new technologies that will enable discovery via interactive graphical simulation. Through exploration, collaboration and computational simulation in virtual worlds, projects in this lab will investigate new means of shared experience and visualization in domains such as education, science, technology, and entertainment. Areas of project focus include: frameworks for virtual world creation and management, research and application of advanced algorithms and techniques in 3D graphics, new paradigms of data visualization, enabling domain-specific experts by way of virtual-world and simulation toolkits, and social interaction and collaborative community in virtual spaces.
Adaptive Environment Interface Laboratory
Dr. Jessica Bayliss, GCCIS-CS, Director
Dr. Paul Shipman, Environmental Science, Co-Director
Change is life. From the dropping of a soda can in front of a mobile robot to the changing seasons in a forest, real-world systems that operate in complex environments must adapt or fail. Researchers in the lab focus on the development of adaptive systems that make rational decisions in the face of multiple and complex signals, including those originating from both human users and the environment. Just as people with severe disabilities might benefit from an adaptive system to communicate with their surrounding environment, so too might we apply these to interpret what the natural environment "says".
Developing these systems includes finding novel ways of interpreting a variety of signals including brain waves, audio, sonar, images, and odors. These signals are processed into usable and easily understood data forms with the application of advanced computational techniques that may adaptively learn and interpret signals. Feedback systems form a part of the lab focus as they allow two-way communication in human-environment interfaces and pose special problems in adaptive systems.
Laboratory for Social Computing
Dr. Elizabeth Lawley, GCCIS-IT, Director
http://social.it.rit.edu
Cyberinfrastructure has been defined by the NSF as a tool for building digital environments that support collaboration and interaction among people, data, information, and tools. Social computing is an emerging cross-disciplinary field focused on the use of computing tools to facilitate these social and collaborative interactions. It is concerned with the development, deployment, and assessment of tools ranging from e-mail and IM to weblogs, wikis, and collaborative information management systems.
Research activities in the Lab for Social Computing will focus on the development of new collaborative tools for use in research, education, and industry, as well as on the adaptation, use, and effects of collaboration and communication tools in these contexts. Members of the lab include faculty with both computing and social science backgrounds.
Laboratory for Pixel Sciences
Dr. Peter Anderson, GCCIS-CS, Director
Five faculty and five graduate and undergraduate students are funded by Hewlett-Packard to study various aspects of electrophotographic printing (aka laser printers). This work has been in existence for approximately ten years. Current efforts include digital halftone construction algorithms, gloss measurements, and color stability modeling.
