My Computer Science and Engineering Department

Hark worked in the Office of Student Conduct after finishing his undergraduate degree in computer science in 2002. It was during this time that he saw a need for a better way of record keeping and data management. Shortly after leaving the office, Hark founded Maxient with his wife Candice. Hark said the couple didn’t know it at the time, but the company would soon grow to serve more than 1,000 colleges and universities by providing conduct management software for student discipline, academic integrity, care and concern records, Title IX matters and more. Read the full story here.

From A new data-driven model shows that wearing masks saves lives – and the earlier you start, the better.

Dr. Biplav Srivastava, professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina, and his team have developed a data-driven tool that helps demonstrate the effect of wearing masks on COVID-19 cases and deaths. His model utilizes a variety of data sources to create alternate scenarios that can tell us “What could have happened?” if a county in the U.S. had a higher or lower rate of mask adherence. In this interview, he explains how the model works, its limitations and what conclusions we can draw from it.

Jason Bakos of the College of Engineering and Computing has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to design processors capable of real-time machine learning of the behavior and response of high-rate dynamic systems. This study is expected to produce technology that will improve the reaction time of high-energy systems such as ballistics, airbag deployment and high-speed vehicle control. Read the full article here.

As NASA and other space exploration organizations continue sending spacecraft missions to the outer solar system, they don’t have time to wait for technology to keep up. That’s where Pooyan Jamshidi and his collaborative team come in. Read the rest of the article here.

Homay Valafar just does not get it. When he brings his car to the mechanic’s shop for a tune-up, it receives unique, detailed care based off its individual make, year and model. But, when he goes to the doctor’s office, he is given generic care that doesn’t take into account his unique medical history and one-of-a-kind genetic make-up. Read the rest of the article here.

Scott Craig, a Purple Heart recipient, will earn his degree in computer science from the College of Engineering and Computing. You can read the UofSC News profile of him and other veterans.

I have seen a lot of people flock to data science fields in recent years, regardless of their background. Data science involves the ability to acquire and clean data, draw insights using a variety of techniques and communicate them to decision makers in their unique context of other actors, data sources, and decision choices. See full article here.

Dr. Amit Sheth will be awarded the IEEE TCSVC Research Innovation Award 2020 in “recognition of his pioneering and enduring research, applications and adoption of distributed workflow processes and semantics in services computing.” According to the award site, this award “recognizes one individual or one group of collaborators whose outstanding technical innovations in the field of services computing have had a lasting impact in advancing the theory and practice in the field. The contributions must have significantly influenced the direction of research and development of the field or transferred to practice in significant and innovative ways and/or enabled the development of commercial systems/products…”. Amit will accept this award at a virtual Awards Ceremony on October 23 during the Services Computing Congress 2020 event. Congratulations, Amit, for this well-deserved honor!

Dr. Chin-Tser Huang has received a research award from Clemson University/USDOT for his project titled "Modeling Impact of Weather Conditions on 5G Communication and Mitigation Measures on Control of Automated Intersections".

Dr. Pooyan Jamshidi has received a resarch award from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) for his project titled "Resource Adaptive Software Purpose-Built for Extraordinary Robotic Research Yields". More information about this collaborative project can be found here.

Dr. Csilla Farkas has received a research award from the National Security Agency (NSA) for her project "Context-Aware Data Security for the Internet of Things (IoT)". This is part of a joint research project with The Citadel.

Dr. Yiannis Rekleitis (PI) and Dr. Srihari Nelakuditi (Co-PI) have received a research award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their project titled "Cooperative Underwater Structure Inspection and Mapping".You can view the full abstract.

Dr. Homay Valafar has received a research grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)/NIH for his part in the project titled "South Carolina IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (SC INBRE)". The press release: SC INBRE Receives $18.9 million award from the National Institutes of Health has more information on the project.

Dr. Pooyan Jamshidi has received a research award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project titled "SmarSight: an AI-Based Computing Platform to Assist Blind and Visually Impaired People". See the full abstract.

Dr. Srihari Nelakuditi (PI), Dr. Sanjib Sur (Co-PI), and their Co-PIs from Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Exercise Science have received a research award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their project titled "Acquisition of Omnipercipient Chamber for Gathering Ground Truth and Enabling Research on Smart and Connected Things". See the full abstract.

We welcome Dr. Rasha Karakchi as a new Instructor for the CSE Department. She received her PhD in 2020 from UofSC. She will be teaching CSCE 240: Advanced Programming Techniques and CSCE 313: Embedded Systems this semester.