Scientists Will Evaluate the Environment, Examine Security Issues With Microsoft Grants
Feb. 16, 2006
| Contact: | Karen Hayes 413/545-2706 |
AMHERST, Mass. – Three teams of UMass researchers have received competitive awards of $50,000 each from Microsoft Corp. Two of the projects use technology to capture, use and share data about the natural environment, and a third will investigate privacy and security issues surrounding mobile networking and computing.
“These grants are open to colleges and universities around the globe,” said Karen Hayes, associate director for Research Liaison and Development. “That UMass Amherst earned three awards speaks volumes for our research abilities and our relationship with Microsoft.” Hayes said the projects address two leading research priorities for industry and government: using technology to enhance data collection and information sharing, and the need for secure or “trustworthy” computing.
Last fall, the company designated UMass Amherst as the first Microsoft IT Showcase School in the nation, recognizing the university’s leadership in applying information technology to teaching and learning. Here are details of the Microsoft-funded projects:
Project 1: “What Did We See? Facilitating the Interaction of Personal and Community Journaling of Natural Spaces” is the project of Chris Pal, computer science, and colleagues Jerry Schoen of the Massachusetts Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) and Sarah Dorner, WRRC director.
This project focuses on gathering and storing data obtained by people exploring natural spaces such as forests, mountains, rivers and other natural environments. It employs Memex, a device that can store images, books, records and communications, and allow such information to be reviewed or studied easily. Data recorded from digital cameras and SenseCams (motion-sensitive cameras that also have global positioning system, temperature sensors, optional fisheye lessons and the ability to record audio) can be uploaded onto a Web site for access by community members, students and environmental specialists. The researchers will develop methods to cross reference observations with expert information to validate observations. In addition to the $50,000 award, the researchers will also receive software for information gathering including two SenseCams.
Project 2: “A Tiered Smart Client System for Annotating the Land-Water Interface: Enabling Scientific Simulation,” was awarded to Chris Pal, computer science and Piotr Parasiewicz, natural resources conservation.
The project will develop ways of using Tablet PCs and handheld computers to gather information about stream and river habitats to create models for use in water management. The researchers plan to extend their current set-up of small, hand-held Pocket PC devices (used to take field measurements) to form wireless networks with larger Tablet PC servers located nearby on a boat or onshore. This will allow them to classify and confirm objects in the environment, especially rivers, lakes and dams that have been observed within high-resolution aerial photography. The servers will host a river-habitat database, run complex aquatic habitat simulation models, manage applications over the Internet, and exchange data with the Tablet PC. This system is part of a greater project, the Northeast Instream Habitat Program, which will monitor water depth, speed and temperature to manage and project organisms especially fish.
Project 3: “Trustworthy Mobile Networking and Computing Course” is the project of Aura Ganz, electrical and computer engineering and director of the Multimedia Networks Laboratory.
The course focuses on the security, trust and privacy issues surrounding the emerging areas of mobile networking and pervasive computing, such as Wireless Web Services. It will present various technologies and applications for countering security risks, examining the variation in these issues at different layers of the networks’ architecture. For example, security issues such as secure link formation and secure routing come up at the link and network layer respectively, while trust management and privacy issues can be taken up as middleware. The course includes Windows Mobile based technologies and applications to help students learn about authenticating users, encrypting data and communication links, and remotely managing volume deployments of mobile devices.
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