December 2004
ICS 205 students help design new ANTPAC interface
Professor Alfred Kobsa's ICS 205 students have helped in the design the new ANTPAC interface that was recently deployed at the UC Irvine Libraries.
Alfred
KobsaThe study that was carried out as the term project in the class inspired the redesign of the ANTPAC system.
More information on the new ANTPAC design can be found at http://antpac.lib.uci.edu/.
Students in this year's ICS 205 class also conducted user needs studies for the planned new web presence of the Grunigen Medical Library.
More information can be found at http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/grunigen.html
October 2004
Kobsa receives a 91K grant that supplements existing NSF ITR grant
Professor Alfred Kobsa received a $91K grant that supplements ISR's existing NSF ITR grant (Principal Investigator Richard N. Taylor).Alfred
KobsaThis supplement supports a collaboration with the European PRIME project that is funded by the European Commission. The collaboration involves Karlstad University, Sweden (Simone Fischer-Hübner), Tilburg University, Netherlands (Miriam Lips), and IBM France who is the principal contractor of PRIME.
The research includes user requirements studies for, and evaluations of, privacy management support systems. Parallel research will be conducted in Europe and the U.S. to compare the results.
August 2004
Richard N. Taylor and Susan Elliott Sim each receive a NSF Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts grant
Taylor's grant, at $270K and entitled "Self-Adaptive Software", is aimed at developing a methodology for the principled creation of self-adaptive software through the integration of architectural models and knowledge-based techniques.
Susan
SimSelf-adaptive software autonomously adapts itself based upon a changing system context. This adaptation is enabled by using a specification of adaptation policies based on system-independent architectural knowledge and modification enactment operations for the implementation of knowledge-based reasoning.
Sim's grant, also at $270K and entitled "Better Science Through Benchmarking: Theory Validation and Application to Software Engineering" seeks to refine a preliminary theory of benchmarking and use the theory to guide development of benchmarks for research results in software engineering.
The motivation is that the creation and widespread use of a benchmark within a research area is frequently accompanied by rapid technical progress and community building, yet benchmarks have been used infrequently in software engineering.
Based on a successful preliminary study, this research develops additional benchmarks for software engineering research and will collect data to validate the theory.
Kobsa builds Web-based template to assist Internet buyers and sellers
Alfred
KobsaInternet companies can boost sales and build trust with online shoppers by providing clear and readily available privacy disclosures, according to a recent study by Alfred Kobsa.
Kobsa partnered with faculty from Humboldt University in Berlin to design Web page templates grounded in human-computer interaction research.
In these design templates, every entry field for customers' personal data is accompanied by a clear and concise explanation of how the retailer will deal with the respective piece of data, and what benefits customers can expect from sharing their personal information.
The result was that shoppers using Kobsa's system bought products 33 percent more often than the group of shoppers presented with standard privacy policy statements.
They were also 20 percent more willing to share personal data with the Web site, and rated its privacy practices and the perceived benefit resulting from sharing their data significantly higher. more »
July 2004
Lopes selected to attend prestigious symposium
Cristina Lopes will join eighty-five of the nation's brightest young engineers at the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) 10th annual Frontiers of Engineering symposium.
Cristina
LopesThe three-day event will bring together engineers ages 30 to 45 who are performing cutting-edge engineering research and technical work in a variety of disciplines. The participants — from industry, academia, and government — were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations and chosen from a field of over 170 applicants.
The symposium will be held Sept. 9-11 at the National Academies' Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, Calif., and will explore topics in multiscale modeling, designer materials, engineering for extreme environments, and engineering and entertainment.
Film and television director Alex Singer will be a featured speaker. His credits include episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lou Grant, and Hill Street Blues. more »
Informatics appoints new department chair
David Redmiles has been appointed chair for the Department of Informatics. The appointment takes effect immediately.
David F.
Redmiles"We are very pleased that Dr. Redmiles has agreed to serve the school in this capacity," said Debra J. Richardson, the Ted and Janice Smith Dean of ICS and professor of informatics. "His expertise in human-computer interaction, software engineering, and collaborative computing is a perfect bridge to the areas emphasized in the study and research of informatics."
"As informatics continues to grow at UCI," continued Richardson, "I'd personally like to thank founding chair Richard Taylor for his leadership and ongoing development of the department."
The Department of Informatics was one of two initial academic units created when ICS was elevated to school status in December 2002.
The department's focus includes the theoretical and technical aspects of how computing affects real people, organizations and society, as well as how those elements impact the design and evaluation of computing.
A bachelor's degree in informatics was approved in April this year and will be offered beginning September.
A master's degree is planned for the near future. more »
May 2004
Department of Informatics receives GAANN awardThe Department of Informatics has been awarded a Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Program fellowship totaling $622,665 from the US Department of Education.
The GAANN will support five graduate students annually, over a three year period in the study of problems in the design, application, use, and impacts of computer and information technology.
The fellowships will be used to recruit and retain graduate students of superior academic qualifications, ones who aspire for eventual careers in research and teaching, and who have financial needs consistent with the Federal standards.
This is the first Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Program fellowship that the Department of Informatics has received and is one of only 48 awards granted nationally this year.
Cristina Lopes receives campus award
Informatics professor Cristina Lopes has been designated by the Dean and Associate Dean of the School of Information and Computer Science to receive the 2004 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research.Cristina
LopesThis award is in recognition of her outstanding work in mentoring undergraduate students engaged in research and/or creative activity.
Cristina has seen active in advising undergraduate research since her arrival in the Department of Informatics and numerous students have participated in her research group, some receiving UROP or SURP campus grants to do so.
This is the third Chancellor's Award for Fostering Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research that the faculty in the Department of Informatics have received in the past four years.
January 2004
Susan Elliott Sim and André van der Hoek each receive a 2004 IBM Eclipse Innovation Grant
Sim's grant, at $20,000, aims to develop MRS.G, a plug-in that will mediate conversion of data between the Eclipse framework and GXL (Graph eXchange Language), a graph-based standard exchange format that is widely used in research.Susan
SimThis work will enable schema-based data exchange and integration of innovative software engineering tools with Eclipse.
Van der Hoek's grant at $25,000, supports improved team coordination in (class) projects. In particular, the integration of the research tool Palantír with the IBM Eclipse environment will result in team members always being aware of ech other's efforts.
This reduces the amount of time-consuming conflict resolution that otherwise would have to take place.
The Department of Informatics is one of only three departments in the world to receive two IBM Eclipse Research Innovation grants this year.
