Dr. Jason Bakos has received an award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR)/DOD for a project on the "Development of Universal Controller Architecture for SiC Based Power Electronic Building Blocks". Visit his homepage to learn more about his research.
Project Abstract:
This infrastructure proposal supports the acquisition of a multi-robot team suited for operations in coastal environments. The robot team consists of two underwater vehicles (AUVs), three surface vehicles (ASVs), as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): two fixed-wing UAVs and two quadrocopters. The target domain is the coastal waters of South Carolina. In several applications such as environmental monitoring, homeland security, resource utilization, and contamination tracking, there is a need to track a mass of water, record a set of properties, such as salinity, temperature, presence of different substances, and also record the position and boundaries of the said body. The proposed infrastructure will enable computing research for addressing the above problems. This project revolves around enabling research on several CISE research fields at the University of South Carolina, including algorithmic development for multi-robot coordination, path-planning and state estimation; planning under uncertainty; sensor fusion from different modalities; and human-robot interaction.
Under the leadership of Dr. Farkas, the department has been recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research (CAE-R). We offer an undergraduate Cybersecurity specialization and a graduate Information assurance certificate under this program. The notification states:
Your ability to meet the increasing demands of the program criteria will serve the nation well in contributing to the protection of the National Information Infrastructure. The Presidents’ National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, 14 February 2003 and the International Strategy for Cyberspace, May 2011, addresses the critical shortage of professionals with these skills and highlights the importance of higher education as a solution to defending America’s cyberspace. “Like all nations, the United States has a compelling interest in defending its vital national assets, as well as our core principles and values, and we are committed to defending against those who would attempt to impede our ability to do so.” Education is the key to promoting these ideals.Official notification letter.
Our first annual CSE awards day was a success. Click on the photo to see a slideshow of some of the winners. You can view even more photos in this google+ album or our facebook album. Congratulations to all the winners, and also to all our graduating Seniors!
Our Cyber Defense Team won first place at the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition. The team also has the distinction of having the Most Valuable Player of the contest, Catharine West. Congratulations to all of them! The team members are, from left to right, Marshall Hollis (mentor), Ronni Wilkinson (mentor), Alex Cummings, Saljin LaRocca, Yasemin Pak (Co-Captain), Catharine West (Captain), Matt May, Adam Formenti. Charleston paper coverage. 
USC Cyber Security Club homepage.
College coverage.
We would like to congratulate Connor Bain for receiving the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The NSF awarded the GRF to 2,000 individuals from among 16,500 applicants in 2015. The GRF provides three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period ($34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution) for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in science or engineering.
Update April 17, 2015, Connor Bain also wins USC Sullivan Award:
The University of South Carolina presented its top honors, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan and Steven N. Swanger awards, to four graduating seniors during the university’s annual Awards Day ceremony Thursday (April 16). Connor Patrick Bain, Adam Michael Mayer and Lindsay Nicole Richardson received Sullivan awards, the university’s highest honor for undergraduates. Sullivan awards are given each year to seniors for outstanding achievements, campus leadership, exemplary character and service to the community. The award, given at colleges and universities across the country, is named for the 19th-century New York lawyer and philanthropist. Bain of Columbia has maintained a 4.0 GPA while working toward dual degrees in computer science and mathematics. He is a Carolina Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a Goldwater Scholar in 2014, a Magellan Scholar and a Udall Scholar honorable mention in 2013. At Carolina, he is the co-founder and director of Carolina Science Outreach, interns with Sustainable Carolina and the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs and he volunteers with Gamecock Connection. He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honorary society and Upsilon Pi Epsilon computing honor society. This year, he is developing an iPad app for Cocky’s Reading Express. Bain was a summer research assistant for computer science at both Harvard University and Duke University, a teaching assistant for the Duke Talent Identification Program and a writer for the Association of Computing Machinery. He has been a member of UofSC’s percussion ensemble for four years, and during his junior year he was a percussionist with the USC Opera Pit Orchestra and a member of the USC Symphony. Connor we are extremely proud of your accomplishments.
Dr. Matt Thatcher has been selected to be part of CRA's Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Leadership in Science Policy Institute (LiSPI). As part of its mission to develop a next generation of leaders in the computing research community, CRA’s CCC holds LiSPI to educate computing researchers on how science policy in the U.S. is formulated and how our government makes and enforces science policy. LiSPI is centered on discussions with science policy experts, current and former Hill staff, and relevant agency and Administration personnel about mechanics of the legislative process, interacting with agencies, advisory committees, and the federal case for computing.
ESPN has a profile on Aaron LaBerge, who received his BS from this department in 1996. LaBerge was named Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at ESPN in January.
LaBerge leads ESPN’s Technology division and is responsible for oversight and strategic leadership and direction of technology, and its marriage with ESPN’s content, across all media and businesses. He also serves on the The Walt Disney Company’s CTO Council and the Disney Research Advisory Board.Full article from ESPN: Aaron LaBerge was named Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in January 2015, reporting to John Skipper ESPN President and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. LaBerge leads ESPN’s Technology division and is responsible for oversight and strategic leadership and direction of technology, and its marriage with ESPN’s content, across all media and businesses. He also serves on the The Walt Disney Company’s CTO Council and the Disney Research Advisory Board. Adoption and embrace of technology has been one of ESPN’s central hallmarks throughout its 35 year history. Under LaBerge, ESPN Technology works with all divisions of the company to create exceptional experiences for sports fans; develop and manage platform-agnostic technological solutions and standards; unleash the benefits of ESPN’s world-class technological infrastructure and facilities; design and build next-generation data, video and audio platforms; drive the company’s industry-leading innovation and advanced development work; as well as identify and service all other current and future technology needs. A passionate technologist and sports fan, LaBerge was named the successor to Charles E. “Chuck” Pagano in 2014, when Pagano announced his intention to retire. LaBerge is on his second stint at ESPN, having returned to ESPN in January 2013 as senior vice president, technology and product development after six years away as a technology entrepreneur. During his original stint at the company he was an integral leader in the growth and development of integrated technology solutions that help power, deliver and enhance ESPN’s content across all media. With Pagano and others, LaBerge was a key architect in the development and design of ESPN’s second Digital Center at its Bristol, Conn. headquarters. The 194,000-square-foot, future-proof facility is a format agnostic facility, capable of constantly adapting to the continued fast change of the technological landscape. It is capable of production of content in both 4K and 8K, can handle all existing media formats and future industry standards, handling data in multiple ways, signals at various rates and utilizing technology standards which haven’t even been adopted by the media industry yet. Additionally, under LaBerge, ESPN Technology supports the technological management and continued development of ESPN’s state-of-the-art facilities in Los Angeles, Charlotte, NC and Austin, Texas, as well as data centers in Bristol, CT, and the technological infrastructure that connects ESPN facilities around the world, including Seattle, Sao Paolo, Rio De Janeiro, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, London, Bangalore and Sydney. He played a central role in the technology design and development to support the launch of the SEC Network, including software applications and production technology, fiber connectivity between SEC-member schools and ESPN’s Charlotte facility, and has led the technology development that delivered exponential expansion of ESPN’s media encoding and distribution capability for live streaming of sports. Throughout his ESPN career, LaBerge has been instrumental in the growth of ESPN Digital Media, having been involved from its very early years through to its industry-leading position. He played an integral part the technological development for many of its most ambitious and challenging projects and played a key role in establishing ESPN’s position as a leader in the digital media landscape and in new technology development. Prior to his return, LaBerge was CEO of Fanzter Inc., a venture-funded consumer software and digital product development company he co-founded in 2007. He directed the development and launch of a variety of consumer-focused Internet and mobile products. In 2003, LaBerge was vice president, technology and business operations for ESPN.com, a role that expanded two years later to vice president, technology, for ESPN Digital Media where he was responsible for managing company wide digital technology initiatives and product development. In this role, he oversaw ESPN’s pioneering work in online and mobile video technologies and digital streaming technology development. He first joined ESPN in 1997, through Disney’s acquisition of Starwave Ventures, the company that produced ESPN’s earliest Internet products. Before joining Starwave, LaBerge worked as a senior software engineer at Renaissance Interactive, an early Internet development and consulting firm. He specialized in Internet-based publishing and content management systems. LaBerge is a native of Charleston, S.C. and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of South Carolina. He lives in Connecticut with his wife Michele, their sons John Douglas and Grayson, and their daughter Hanna. Aaron LaBerge LinkedIn profile
Dr. Farkas talks about cyber security to USC News:
"There is a demand to explain cyber security concepts in a way that is understandable to the general public," says Csilla Farkas, a computer science professor in the College of Engineering and Computing. "We can’t expect business leaders to become cyber security experts, but the experts can learn to express cyber security threats in such a way that business executives can make informed decisions."If you are interested in cybersecurity, apply for our cybersecurity specialization or certificate and drop by the Cybersecurity club. The full article: Imagine you’re a CEO trying to decide how much budget to devote to cyber security for your company. News headlines about disruptive hacks and cyber attacks have you worried, and the detailed technical explanations from the IT staff aren’t helping. "There is a demand to explain cyber security concepts in a way that is understandable to the general public," says Csilla Farkas, a computer science professor in the College of Engineering and Computing. "We can’t expect business leaders to become cyber security experts, but the experts can learn to express cyber security threats in such a way that business executives can make informed decisions." To that end, Farkas is using a grant awarded jointly from the Center for Teaching Excellence/Carolina Leadership Initiative to introduce a stronger communications component to a cyber security course. The idea was to introduce the students to leadership characteristics and public speaking attributes --- then have the students demonstrate those skills in a "shark tank" competition. "Students worked in small groups developing novel security technologies. In addition to detailed project reports, each group presented its proposed technology before a panel of external judges to obtain funding," Farkas said. "The catch was that some of the panel members were not computing professionals and the students couldn’t use any technical jargon to convince them about the significance of their research. I think the students improved a lot in communication skills." Computer information systems major David Brookins came into the course with a rudimentary understanding of cyber security issues and personal experience with attempting to explain the importance of safe browsing habits to his mom. "The course was structured in a way that explained the core concepts to us early on," he said "Once you have a thorough understanding of something, breaking it down to its core concepts and explaining those in a way a lay person would understand becomes much easier." "Over the break, for example, I was able to break down the idea behind a Distributed Denial of Service Attack to my mom to explain why I couldn't log into my Playstation." Student Aaron Hein liked the challenge of the course, especially the presentation to the judges. That exercise will probably become a routine reality when he joins the work force, he said. "The reality today is that business people hold the purse strings, and even in taking a corporate job one must often sell ideas, designs or the need for security to the people who have to pay for it," Hein said. "It's often not an easy sell. Dr. Farkas included that problem in with her security class in a meaningful way and gave us some insight into how to prepare for that type of presentation."
The USC News has a profile of Irene Au, who graduated in 1994 from the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department. Our current CSE department is the result of a merger between the computer part of ECE and the Computer Science department.
She started at Netscape as an interaction designer, went on to Yahoo where she established the company’s user experience and design practice, then joined Google as head of design. With that foundation, Au built her career as a major strategist in the Web industry. Now 20 years after graduating from Carolina, she has taken another career leap as a partner for a venture capital firm, while also purposefully finding a place of balance in her life.Her linkedin profile .
We are proud to announce that Sanjay Kumar Mahalingam's (MS 2014, Machine Learning and Evolution Laboratory , now at Stitch) team won the $250K Grand Prize at the Dreamforce Hackathon in San Francisco with their OmniKeyboard app. The contestants were given 42 hours build mobile apps that use Force.com, Heroku, or Force.com with Heroku. See videos below.
