Research in ComputingCSC 3990

September 17, 2012

My Research JourneyA winding path

Guided byCuriosity“The open range”Paying attentionWillingness to learn lots of things

Watch for threads

Problem 1College: Junior year

Stability theory of differential equationsRichard Bellman, 1953Determining properties of solutions from the

analytic form of the equationNo computingLots of linear algebra and analysisBellman’s view of “elementary” and mine were

very different.

Problem 2College: Junior year

Text processing; database queries

Find all the town names in California that can be made from the letters in the phrase ….

Hammer looking for a nailHammer = IBM 1620Nail = a problem to motivate learning to program

Problem 2 : ResultsLearned

Fortran II1620 Assembly LanguageSystem constraints, quirks

Problem 2 : Follow-onSummer internship with IBM

Summer 1: Teaching machine

Summer 2: Thick film exposure

Summer 3: Fingerprint identification

Problem 3Grad school thesis problem: Classify the

connections on a semi-simple Lie group

Group

Lie group

Simple Lie group

Semi-simple Lie group

Connection

Problem 3 : SolutionRepresentations of Lie algebras

Symbolic computation

“What if the computer isn’t correct?”A road not taken

Problem 4First collaboration

Multiplicities of representations of complex simple Lie algebras

Connections toTheoretical physicsSymbolic computationComputational algebra

Problem 4 : ComputationLanguage: Fortran IV

Computational challenges Infinite precision arithmeticSummations over elements of a groupEventually zero summations

System challengesOne run (compilation or execution) per dayPhysical management of programs and output

Problem 5Continuing collaboration

Classification of small dimension Lie algebrasNilpotentSolvable

Pure mathematics

Problem 5 : ComputationNeed easy matrix calculations

Ideal language: APLExample: multiplying two matrices A +.x B

Problem 5 : ExtensionsHonors course: Calculus in APL

Challenges to computing capability

International collaborationsCayley, a Lie algebra programming language

SIGSAM communityMacsyma

A recent senior projectClassification of finite rings

Problem 6Listening to colleagues; bringing complementary

skills

Linear (and non-linear) optimization techniquesLinear programming Integer programmingGraph theoryGame theory

Problem 6 : ResultsTextbook: Elementary Linear Programming

Problem 7Born of frustration

Why are the interfaces (to programming languages) so bad?

HCI workshop

Ongoing HCI course

Problem 7 : ExpansionA few hundred to several thousand

Academic to corporate

Need a niche

Problem 7 : NicheWeb interfaces

Shifting technologies

Shifting uses

Problem 8Responding to colleagues

Modeling and optimizationModels of fitnessModels of league schedulingModels of governanceModels for conflict resolution

Problem 9CS in a liberal arts and sciences college

Computing for everyoneTools for textLiving in the knowledge societyComputing and musicSustainability in computing courses

Random ProblemsBecause they’re fun

Tower of x’s

Packing spheres

Reconstructing turnpikes

Configuring networks of pipes

Random Questions?

Collaborators Bernard Kolman

Ian Stewart

Lillian Cassel

Ursula Volz

Christopher Beck

James Solderitsch

Elzbieta Dziembowski

Edward Fox

Edward Carr

Richard Austing

Mitchell Weyl

Daniel Hardt

Thomas Way

Vijay Gehlot

Peter DiPasquale

Elliot Sloane

Wingyang Chung