mance computing, the Computational Sciences division does research on solving difficult science and engineering problems using HPC resources. The group develops parallel compilers, automatic performance tuning tools, and high-performance computing hardware. The institute also contains the Advanced Systems division, which applies grid computing and workflow technologies to problems in earthquake science, bioinformatics, and other areas. In addition, ISI partners with the USC High-Performance Computing Center, which runs one of the fastest university computing clusters in the world.

In the field of informatics, the Medical Information Systems division is using grid computing and other information technologies to assist medical research and improve the delivery of healthcare. Their research focuses on service-oriented architectures, medical image processing, and data security and anonymization.

ISI is home to one of the largest artificial intelligence research groups in the world. The Intelligent Systems division employs researchers working on natural language processing, knowledge representation and reasoning, knowledge capture, information integration, and data mining. Intelligent Systems’ Natural Language Processing

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group has developed techniques for automatically discovering and using the syntax of a language to improve statistical machine translations.

If robotics is your thing, ISI is home to the Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory. Researchers there have designed and built a reconfigurable robot called the SuperBot, which is composed of simple, modular building blocks that can rearrange themselves into different configurations to support a wide range of robotic space missions.

These are just a few of the areas in which ISI is doing research. More information about ISI’s groups and projects can be found at http://www.isi.edu.

GETTING INVOLVED

Graduate education and professional training are an important part of ISI’s mission. The staff includes more than 50 USC faculty members that advise PhD students in computer science, electrical engineering, and other fields. ISI employs master’s students as part-time software developers and engineers. All graduate student jobs are paid, and graduate research assistantships are available to PhD candidates. Many of these positions are open to USC students only, so the best route is to apply to one of USC’s graduate engineering programs. Applications are online at http://www.usc.edu.

—Gideon Juve

The Information Sciences Institute had a hand in developing the original ARPANE T with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

( http://www.acmhyd.org). The group hosts guest lectures by experts in various sub-fields of computing every month by the newly created Hyderabad ACM Chapter.

In June, for example, the chapter
welcomed Dr. Shailesh Kumar,
During his talk, Dr. Kumar
spent some time discussing a co-
occurrence analysis framework
that he developed for all kinds of
uses, from neuroscience, to text
mining, to retail analytics.

The session was followed by open Q&A, as many guest presentations at local ACM chapter meetings often are—an ideal setting for students who would want to not only learn more about a particular topic, but are looking to network with key players in the field, too. A couple of weeks later, the Hyderabad group hosted a large seminar and a code lab on Contemporary Mobile Application Platforms, which presented well-known use cases and as well as tutorials.

Many of these events welcome anyone who is interested in joining the computing community, regardless of whether you are a member of that particular chapter.

Do these events sound like they’re up your alley? You can find the chapter nearest you by visiting http://www.acm.org/chapters. And if there isn’t one close enough to your college or university, consider founding a new student chapter.

—Vaggelis Giannikas

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