Research

Algorithms and Numerical Methods

Algorithms and Numerical Methods are one of the most critical fields to study in order to develop suitable solutions in many problem domains across science and engineering. In the computing arena, a pertinent focus for algorithms and numerical methods is networked computation, especially for internet-based activities. Study of algorithms and numerical methods can yield vital insights to the achieving of efficiency and reliability in the networked computation.

Some of our research interests in this area include routing algorithms, graph floor-planning, graph drawing and transformation.

H. Zhang
J. Booth

Cybersecurity and Privacy

From banking to social media to health records to health monitoring devices to power stations to water treatment plants, computers are major actors in modern life. Where computer applications and computer networking exist, so does the need for cybersecurity.  Major security breaches of various companies and agencies make the news regularly.

Some of our research interests involve cloud and virtualization security, Cyber Law, digital forensics, security within the Internet of Things, identity exposure and data privacy, Network Security, Pervasive Computing Security, and Security Patterns.

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F. Zhu
T. Mukherjee
L. Etzkorn

Data Mining and Data Science

Researchers at UAH conduct research in the areas of machine learning, phenomena detection, knowledge discovery and distributed mining technologies. Particular emphasis is directed toward problems involving large heterogeneous spatial data sets, such as remotely sensed data.

Some of our research interests include: application of pattern recognition and computer vision techniques to medical phenomena such as cardiac irregularities, kidney troubles, and determining anatomical parameters of the brain, the role of microtubules in Alzheimer's disease, adversarial machine learning, application of pattern recognition and computer vision techniques to discover anomalies in scientific datasets, radio frequency machine learning problems with software defined radios with focus on DoD applications, automatic and semi-automatic detection of structures and phenomena in satellite data, shape based inspection, aurora image processing, data analytics for protein crystallization, robot navigation and tracking, bioinformatics and sequence alignment, time series representation methods, hyperspectral classification, specialization of data science methods, mathematics of data science.

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V. Menon

T. Mukherjee

T. Newman

Distributed Technologies and Middleware

Distributed technologies are rapidly becoming the key enabling field for new environments that take advantage of available distributed data and computing resources. These technologies are the key to removing the close coupling of data and services commonly found today in many scientific information systems.

Some of our research interests involve security of middleware, particularly middleware in the cloud and middleware for embedded systems including web services and distributed object technologies, for ex. CORBA , Wireless LAN and PAN security, mobile and wearable devices, radio frequency machine learning problems with software defined radios with focus on DoD applications,and ontologies for web service discovery.

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F. Zhu

T. Mukherjee

L. Etzkorn

Gaming and Entertainment Computing

The video game industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and continues to grow.  Game development includes traditional video games including mobile games, educational games, and simulations for non-game organizations.

Some of our research interests involve computer game development, virtual reality, 3D interaction, digital art, gesture recognition.

H. Chung

T. Newman

High Performance Computing and Networking

UAH researchers are investigating protocols, topologies, and routing schemes that enable higher performance in networking and/or in computing. UAH Computer Science faculty have also been in the forefront of keeping the university's infrastructure at the leading edge of technology. Computer Science faculty have also investigated efficient parallel computing algorithms for solution of problems in many scientific and engineering areas.

Our research interests include high performance isosurfacing, particularly efficient mechanisms for isosurface extraction in large datasets in different architectures including vector/parallel, cluster, and supercomputers, GPU accelerated high performance computing, network security at the wireless network level (wireless LAN and PAN security), and pervasive security for mobile and wearable devices, radio frequency machine learning problems with software defined radios with focus on DoD applications, and wide-bandwidth networks.

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T. Newman

T. Mukherjee

F. Zhu

J. Booth

Image Processing

Image processing has impacted almost every technical area, its techniques assisted many applications in the fields like medical imaging, space imaging and defense imaging. Over the years, the department has done enormous research work in these fields. Optical imaging and target recognition were among the others on which the department has focused its attention.

Some of our research interests include application of pattern recognition and computer vision techniques to medical phenomena such as cardiac irregularities, kidney troubles, and determining anatomical parameters of the brain,the role of microtubules in Alzheimer's disease, application of pattern recognition and computer vision techniques to discover anomalies in scientific datasets, artifact correction in over-Sampled Direct Volume Rendering, automatic and semi-automatic detection of structures and phenomena in satellite data, shape based inspection, aurora image processing, data analytics for protein crystallization, robot navigation and tracking, compression and fusion of multiple sensor data for feature selection/extraction, Automated Visual Inspection.

T. Newman

Modeling and Simulation

Modeling and Simulation technologies are in use today to design complex military weapon systems, space systems, space hardware, new manufacturing plants and even seaside ports. It helps in design, and provides the engineer with the ability to make changes before anything is built.

Some of our research interests include model checking for multimedia synchronization, combat modeling, crowd modeling, distributed simulation, simulation composability, and simulation interoperability (Petty), conversion between different modeling representations, modeling context, UML modeling.

L. Etzkorn

M. Petty

Visualization and Graphics

Computer-generated animation is a critical component for understanding in many industrial, scientific, engineering, medical, and entertainment applications. The visualization and graphics thrust of the department has focused on development of new techniques for display of information, on the efficient generation of end renderings, and on the understanding of graphical presentations.

Some of our research interests include imaging the plasmasphere, high performance isosurfacing, fast and accurate direct volume rendering, the marriage of interactive visualization with various display technologies, visual analysis techniques and tools that leverage mixed displays including mobile devices and tiled display walls, interactive visualizations that facilitate insights into complex data in various application domains including intelligence analysis, social network services, and crisis management, among others, visualization for high-definition video, visualization of plates for protein crystallization analysis, feature tracking in time varying imagery datasets, 3D Data Visualization, Computer Aided Design (CAD) model visualization, 3D Visualization of Object-Oriented Software Design Structural Metrics, Range/depth imaging, Isocontouring Accuracy, Distributed Visualization, Uncertainty Visualization, High Dimensional Data Visualization.

H. Chung

T. Newman

Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science is the study of mind and intelligence; it is an interdisciplinary study which collaborates with psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy and logic. The human mind cannot be modeled using a single computational model, we need to examine different models to know the mechanics of it and thus the study of this field is vital in developing next generation systems.

Some of our research interests include conceptual modeling of cognitive processes and team mental models.

L. Etzkorn

Knowledge Representation and Ontology Analysis

Knowledge representation is one of the well-known concepts in Artificial Intelligence. Graphic Representation such as conceptual graphs serve as a formal design and specification language. CGs have been implemented in a variety of projects for information retrieval, database design, expert systems, and natural language processing.

Some of our research interests include conceptual modeling tools, conceptual graph models, knowledge acquisition, modeling behavior and action, UML modeling, modeling context, knowledge representation standards, representation of common logic constraints, team mental models, ontologies for web service discovery, ontology metrics, ontology mapping, conversions between different knowledge representation models.

L. Etzkorn

Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing refers to embedding computing into everyday objects.  Some of our research interests in this area include cybersecurity at different levels, including the application level (secure and private service discovery), at the wireless network level (wireless LAN and PAN security), and the node level (security for mobile and wearable devices).

F. Zhu

Software Design and Software Reusability

Software Engineering is a study of the process of large-scale software development. The software engineering faculty in UAH's Computer Science Department has a combined total of over 75 years of combined experience in software development, analysis, and software engineering within commercial, academic and governmental organizations.

Some of our research interests include Software Process maturity assessment, program comprehension especially knowledge-based and information retrieval based program comprehension, conceptual modeling for software development, ontology metrics, code clone analysis, software engineering for middleware, performance measurement, legacy code analysis, knowledge-based applications to software engineering, software requirements.

L. Etzkorn

Software Metrics

Measurement of a company's software process and software products is important for  to improving productivity and quality.

Some of our research interests include advanced software metrics based on knowledge-based and information-retrieval based techniques, 3D Visualization of Object-oriented software design structural metrics, measurement of ontologies as part of software operation, measurement of stand alone ontologies, object-oriented software metrics, empirical analysis of software metrics, analysis of software evolution and stability, thresholds for software metrics, identification of error prone classes.

L. Etzkorn

T. Newman

Software Testing and Correctness

Software Testing is an empirical process which can provide stakeholders with information concerning the quality of the product or service under test. Software Testing is used to validate and verify that the software fulfils certain requirements. 

Some of our research interests include graph based testing at all levels, model checking, design and code walkthrough or inspection, formal methods.

L. Etzkorn