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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