Machine Learning and Data Mining
Computers have changed the way the world produces, manages, processes and analyzes data. As the volume of data grows, what we do with the data and how we extract value from it has become a dominant theme in our society.
Computer Networks, Distributed System and Security
Research thrusts broadly include development of innovative theories and techniques, efficient and scalable mechanisms and protocols, and novel network architectures and services. These techniques enhance the availability, reliability, quality-of-service, mobility, manageability, privacy and security for current and future Internet, emerging wireless, sensor, peer-to-peer systems, Grid systems and applications, large-scale storage networks, networked multimedia systems and applications.
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a general term that implies the use of a computer to model and/or replicate intelligent behavior. Research in AI focuses on the development and analysis of algorithms that learn and/or perform intelligent behavior with minimal human intervention. These techniques have been and continue to be applied to a broad range of problems that arise in robotics, e-commerce, medical diagnosis, gaming, mathematics, and military planning and logistics, to name a few. Several research groups fall under the general umbrella of AI in the department, but are disciplines in their own right, including: robotics, natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, computational biology, and e-commerce.
Software Engineering and Programming Languages
Research in this area focuses on the design of new formalisms and frameworks to improve the quality of software. Software is a solution to a computational problem using a formal programming language. The constructs of the language and the tools available to model, implement, and test a software system influence the quality of that solution, in terms of correctness, reliability, readability, computational efficiency, and efficiency in design and development. At the linguistic level, research focuses on constructing methods for extending existing languages with domain specific features, for example, and in exploiting logic and type theory based approaches in developing flexible and secure programs.
Computer Vision and Graphics
Research in this area explores data visualization, non-photorealistic renderings, and perception in virtual environments. It draws from and contributes to work in algorithms, human perception, art, animation, computer vision, and image processing. Specific research thrusts in the department include information visualization, visualization of 2-D and 3-D flow data, multivariate visualization, non-photorealistic rendering, volume visualization, point based modeling and rendering, physically and perceptually-based image synthesis, color appearance design and reproduction, and the investigation of perceptual issues in virtual environments.