Dr. Gymama Slaughter, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, runs UMBC's Bioelectronics Laboratory (BEL@UMBC), which combines different projects in the areas of electronics, biology, medicine and chemistry. She is currently working on designing a closed-loop system that monitors blood glucose levels and administers insulin to diabetic patients. Dr. Slaughter says that what she desires most is to reduce complications in the lives of diabetic patients and their families. “If I can do that,” she says, “I will count what I do as successful.”

To read more about Dr. Slaughter's research pursuits, see her full research profile.

Dr. Tim Finin, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, specializes in artificial intelligence and has been working on developing smart phones that can guage their user's "context." “What I have always found interesting since I was an Undergraduate was the idea that we could make machines as smart as people,” explains Dr. Finin, whose research involving semantic web technology is directed towards realizing that goal.

To read more about Dr. Finin's research pursuits, see his full research profile.

Twenty years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee posted a short summary about the new World Wide Web project on the public alt.hypertext newsgroup. A copy of the first Web page mentioned in his post is hosted by the W3C.

The Web is arguably the most significant computing technology that has been developed in the forty years, although was enabled by other key developments, including the Internet and the “personal” computer. The impact of Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s simple idea and the principles behind it continues to grow as we discover new ways to apply it.

You can read more about the history of the Web in several Wikipedia articles, on the World Wide Web Consortium Web history page, and at CERN.

The Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering would like to welcome new lecturer, Shawn Lupoli, to the department. Mr. Lupoli will be teaching CMSC 201 (Introduction to Computer Science) and CMSC 104 (Problem Solving and Computer Programming) at UMBC this Fall.

Shawn Lupoli’s interest in robotics sparked when he was pursing an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Frostburg State University. “The hands-on experience ignited my imagination,” says Mr. Lupoli of the robotics course that appealed to his inner-electrician. As a Master’s student at Towson University, Mr. Lupoli used LEGO, Vex Robotics and Fischertechnik robot kits as teaching tools in his Computer Science courses to engage his students with fun, hands-on projects.

“I’ve always wanted to teach,” says Mr. Lupoli, who was influenced by his father, who has been an Industrial Technology teacher at Perryville Middle School for thirty-four years. After receiving his Master’s in Computer Science from Towson University, Lupoli dove into teaching introductory computer science courses. He has over ten years of teaching experience, and has been a Computer Science Instructor at Mount St. Josephs High School in Baltimore, Anne Arundel Community College, Virginia Tech University, and Radford University, among other colleges. Most recently, Mr. Lupoli was an Assistant Professor at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC).

“When I was teaching at Virginia Tech and Radford, I fell in love with the University atmosphere,” he says, which is what drew him to the lecturer position at UMBC. “For me professionally, there are more opportunities here than I would ever have at a community college,” he adds. Mr. Lupoli sees teaching at UMBC as a welcome challenge, and hopes to eventually expand his teaching to subjects such as operating systems and data structures.

This Fall, Mr. Lupoli will teach CMSC 201 (Introduction to Computer Science) and CMSC 104 (Problem Solving and Computer Programming). Eager to get the semester started, Mr. Lupoli says one of his goals for the Fall is to get settled in and get used to the nuances of UMBC. But, the success of his students is his ultimate concern, says Mr. Lupoli, who explains that one of his favorite things about teaching is seeing the "I got it" light turn on in a student's head.  “I strive to make the students understand,” says Mr. Lupoli, “I strive for student success.”

Today is traditional day we celebrate and honor wi-fi in the US: 8.02.11. In other parts of the world it is celebrated on February eighth.

Today is traditional day we celebrate and honor wi-fi in the US: 8.02.11. In other parts of the world it is celebrated on February eighth.

MS thesis defense

A Fast Fullchip Transient Response Estimation Technique

Sushmita K. Rao

11:00am Monday, 25 July 2011, ITE 346

Circuit Simulation has long been a dependable technique for design engineers for functional testing before a circuit is taken to silicon. But as we move into very deep sub-micron technologies, chips are becoming more complex and denser. The dense power grid adds to long simulation run time rendering fullchip simulations difficult and computationally expensive for larger designs. Some large designs may not be simulatable owing to system requirements. Even fast simulators like Cadence UltraSim fail to provide SPICE level accuracy. Dynamic solutions provide greater accuracy than statistical techniques but long simulation run time becomes the biggest tradeoff. Accurate measurement of dynamic currents is required for applications like power estimation, supply noise predictions and in verifying the power grid designs and testing. The research reported in this thesis is focussed on providing a current based method to estimate a fullchip's transient response without carrying out a fullchip simulation. Instead, a part of the chip is simulated and the power port currents thus measured are used to estimate the fullchip currents using the principle of superposition. This technique eliminates fullchip simulations that are complex and time consuming but the accuracy is maintained as the fullchip estimation is carried out on simulated data. A simple scaling method is also proposed to compensate for resistive variations in the test circuits. Experimental results reported demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

Committee members:

• Dr. Chintan Patel (Chair)
• Dr. Ryan Robucci
• Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin

Dr. Penny Rheingans, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, co-directs UMBC's VAnGOGH lab, where she uses her knowledge in data visualization to solve problems in a variety of application areas. “I think it’s a really cool area because it allows me to synthesize things from a number of areas,” says Rheingans of the field, which allows her to combine techniques from computer graphics, art and illustration, and knowledge of human perceptual and cognitive systems.

To read more about Dr. Rheingans' research pursuits, see her full research profile.

Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin, professor of computer science and electrical engeineering, runs UMBC's Engergy Efficient High Performance Computing Lab, where she works to develop highly accurate, low-power communications and healthcare devices. Currently, Dr. Mohsenin is pursuing three distinct projects in conjunction with her lab that fall within the realm of digital signal processing (DSP) and VLSI implementation: 1) many-core architectures for DSP and secured trusted platforms, 2) low-power processors for portable healthcare devices, and 3)efficient error correction techniques for communication devices.

To read more about Dr. Mohsenin's research pursuits, see her full research profile.

Dr. Fow-Sen Choa, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, uses a Chemical Vapor Desposition System to grow semiconductors that are used for chemical detection and breath analysis using photo-acoustic (PA) effects. In addition, he has been working with undergraduate students at UMBC on projects dealing with flying robots, Fourier analysis of music instrument, x-ray scan of superlattice crystal growths, and brainwave measurement and analysis.

To read more about Dr. Choa's research pursuits, see his full research profile.