Eileen Kraemer - US grants

Computer networks (such as the Internet and the Global Information Infrastructure) have become critical for education, research, business, and military operations. Recent advances in network infrastructure technology (such as gigabit Ethernet, ATM and Ipv6) have enabled the development of high performance local area and wide area networks. Efficient management of these networks is essential. However, existing algorithmic methods for managing networks have not matured to the point where performance bottleneck and fault detection, isolation, correlation, and correction can be automated scalably. Thus, it is crucial to build efficient and user-friendly network monitoring, visualization, and control (NMVC) systems. The proposed effort is aimed at the design, prototype implementation, and demonstration of a highly scalable NMVC system with advanced algorithmic and human-in-the-loop capability. This capability allows network administrators to calibrate and fine-tune network and application parameters in real-time according to observed traffic patterns. The goal of the NMVC system is to ensure adequate quality of service to network users, while maintaining high network resource utilization. The proposed system leverages the following innovations to meet its objectives: * An inexpensive, yet high performance network monitoring and observation probe that does not interfere with high speed network traffic. This probe can be programmed to collect pertinent information at any layer in the protocol hierarchy (including application-specific information). * An efficient probing mechanism for endsystems (i.e., workstations and servers) that can collect relevant performance satistics from both applications and kernel resident protocols (such as TCP/IP in Unix). The endsystem probes introduce minimum interference with protocol operation and can be dynamically and remotely invoked and configured for the information of interest. * A highly flexible and highly efficient software network man agement agent design that extends the functionality and scalability of the network probe by filtering data based on programmable criteria (such as protocol header attributes or application-level frames). This agent can be configured, installed, and controlled remotely at network nodes by administrators or automated management applications. * Efficient online event ordering algorithms that can help synthesize and display a consistent view of network health, status, and performance using events collected throughout a large-scale high speed network. * A View Choreographer that allows management applications and administrators to specify the mapping of network events to higher-level events and to visualization objects and updates. The Choreographer uses semantically-guided filtering algorithms to enable low latency updates of displays that present an accurate real-time snapshot of current network state. * A visualization system that is highly configurable and can support multiple simultaneous real-time display views of a large-scale network. * Algorithmic and interactive steering mechanisms that perform critical network management functions such as protocol parameter tuning for better end-to-end performance, bandwidth enforcement, fault detection and recovery, and quality of service monitoring and control. * A prototype system to be demonstrated on a high speed IP/ATM testbed running a variety of applications (including multimedia teleconferencing systems and high speed digital imaging).

9734103 Interactive steering permits users to monitor a program's execution and adjust application parameters and resource allocation in an online fashion. Steering tools must address issues related to the consistency, lag, scalability, and induced perturbation of monitoring, display, and interaction components. However, the ideal balance among these concerns varies with execution environment and target application. Thus, configurability is an important issue. This research focuses on the design and development of infrastructure for a steering environment that permits users to specify the configuration to provide the desired balance among consistency, lag, and perturbation. This project includes the development of modular algorithms for the collection of snapshots with varying degrees of consistency, and algorithms that permit the consistent application of changes to the executing program, while minimizing resulting lag and perturbation. These algorithms for consistent monitoring and steering build on existing work on snapshot algorithms, and extend this work from the realm of consistent observation of distributed systems to ensuring consistency in the application of changes to an executing distributed computation, through an innovative application of optimistic computing techniques. Another interesting feature of this work is the use of monitoring and steering ``agents'', implemented as scripts, and deployed in a modular, hierarchical monitoring and steering environment.***

EIA-9986032
David K. Lowenthal
University of Georgia

Instrumentation Grant for Research in Parallel and Distributed Computing

The Parallel and Distributed Computing Laboratory at the University of Georgia, established in 1998 is dedicated to making parallel computing simple, portable, and efficient. The activities of the laboratory include designing and implementing efficient parallel algorithms, developing highly configurable environments for the monitoring, visualization, and interactive steering of distributed programs, and developing lower-level systems that transparently and dynamically determine how to distribute data across processors. Currently research in the laboratory is primarily done on networks of commodity uniprocessor workstations. The attractive price/performance ration of small, bus-based multiprocessors relative to uniprocessors makes it likely that two-and four-way multiprocessors will be commonplace within a few years. Still, to create large parallel machines, these multiprocessors will be networked together to create a hybrid (both shared-and distributed-memory) machine. This poses interesting problems, including (1) should the machine be treated as distributed or both shared and distributed. (2) How do we make full use of such machines and (3) how can a user monitor and control program on such machines? The Department of computer Science at the University of Georgia seeks funds to purchase eight Pentium-based multiprocessors with four processors each. A 100Mb/s Ethernet and an SGI fronted to serve as a console for visualization and interactive control. This equipment will be used by three projects.

Parallel and Distributed algorithms for computational biology

Monitoring, visualization, and interactive steering, and

An integrated compiler/run-time system for global data distribution

Many programmers, instructors, and programming students have a strong intuitive belief that visualization is valuable for communicating information about the state and behavior of programs. In particular, in the area of algorithms and data structures, traditionally regarded as a core area of computer science that students find difficult, the advent of algorithm animation created great expectations in the CS teaching community, as animation was seen as a better way to portray the dynamic workings of algorithms than was the use of purely static media. However, an apparent disconnect exists between the prevalence of a belief in the usefulness of visualization and the extent to which visualization is actually employed. In this project, the PIs will investigate the hypothesis that present PV systems have failed to live up to expectations because they have largely ignored the issue of appropriate perceptual properties for effective viewing, and that in order to be effective PV systems must support perceptually appropriate animation, graphical design and layout, as well as good pedagogical design. In order to address this problem, the PIs will identify and evaluate perceptual, attentional, and cognitive aspects of program visualization and will quantify and categorize these results. They will perform observational studies of how instructors teach in order to identify the tasks that instructors perform in preparing and presenting visualization-based lesson, and will develop improved presentation and interaction techniques for program visualization and more generally for process visualization. The PIs expect that critical evaluation of the effects of relevant attributes of PVs, the development of metrics for quality of PVs, and the tuning and evaluation of models based on these metrics through empirical studies, will serve to provide normalizing parameters for future studies of the benefits of program visualization. More importantly, this work will serve as the basis for design guidelines for the effective use of PV and other forms of process visualization.

Broader Impacts: This project will advance the state of knowledge in human-computer interaction and perceptual psychology; will provide design guidelines applicable to program visualization and process visualization in particular, with potential benefit to all viewers of such displays (students, scientists, and the general public); will engage both undergraduate and graduate students in research in both computer science and perceptual psychology; will include participants from under-represented groups (the PIs students include African Americans, Asians, and women); and will result in publications that will appear in journals and conference proceedings, and in software and evaluation metrics that will be disseminated through the web.

The significance of the proposed project is that it will bring together computer science education and education researchers who have completed successful projects of various kinds, and synthesize the knowledge they have gathered in terms of published guidelines for educational research, i.e., "Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development" as published jointly by the US Department of Education and NSF in 2013. While this document is detailed in general information it lacks guidelines specific to a particular discipline. These workshops will focus on providing the computer science education community detailed examples of computer science education projects which incorporate Education Research. These examples will serve as guidelines to the computer science education community.

The goals of the project, to understand, synthesize, and propagate the essence of successful education efforts, will be achieved through two focused workshops associated with major CS education conferences. The first workshop in 2016 will be more formative in nature and help develop ideas, projects, and panels for discussion at the second workshop. The second workshop in 2017 will focus on engagement with potential proposers of computing education research and will promote their adherence to the guidelines and their development of well identified educational research questions and evaluation mechanisms appropriate for the type of proposed research.

Clemson University is broadening participation in computing in South Carolina by preparing computer science (CS) teachers to effectively use culturally responsive, inclusive pedagogies. The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) has just launched K-8 Standards that aim to engage all students in computer science and computational thinking and create a pipeline for high school courses. These inaugural standards present a significant need for qualified teachers and the knowledge to prepare them. This proposal would develop an active community of high school CS teachers and researchers ahead of this demand.

The project leverages an existing Researcher-Practitioner Partnership (RPP), including computer science and education researchers, along with administrators and teacher practitioners from the Anderson Five Career Campus (which will offer computing courses to high school students in Anderson School Districts), Pickens County School District, and South Carolina's Coalition for Mathematics and Science (an organization providing professional develoment to additional districts). Many of the participating schools have significant underrepresented and/or economically disadvantaged student populations. The project will investigate the effectiveness of different models of teacher support (including just-in-time, online only, versus a mixture of online and offline) on Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Computer Science, self-efficacy, and teacher understanding and implementation of culturally responsive computing, and teacher belief that all students are capable of digital innovation. There has been strong coordination between project activities and policy that is being adopted by the SCDE, which could serve as a model for partnerships in other states.

The significance of the proposed project is that it will bring together computer science education and education researchers who have completed successful projects of various kinds, and synthesize the knowledge they have gathered in terms of published guidelines for educational research, i.e., "Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development" as published jointly by the US Department of Education and NSF in 2013. While this document is detailed in general information it lacks guidelines specific to a particular discipline. These workshops will focus on providing the computer science education community detailed examples of computer science education projects which incorporate Education Research. These examples will serve as guidelines to the computer science education community.

The goals of the project, to understand, synthesize, and propagate the essence of successful education efforts, will be achieved through two focused workshops associated with major CS education conferences. The first workshop in 2016 will be more formative in nature and help develop ideas, projects, and panels for discussion at the second workshop. The second workshop in 2017 will focus on engagement with potential proposers of computing education research and will promote their adherence to the guidelines and their development of well identified educational research questions and evaluation mechanisms appropriate for the type of proposed research.

This IUSE project aims to serve the national interest by identifying factors that lead to the lack of diversity in computing professions. Research has shown that the first two years of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors are often where students are lost in the pipeline. This project will identify factors that affect the retention and graduation of under-represented minority students in the computing major. The goals are to identify inclusive strategies for success in computing programs and investigate ways to increase the retention and post-graduation success of Black students in computing. Of particular interest are strategies that are transferable to different types of institutions and STEM fields in general. This project features a collaboration between two Historically Black Colleges/Universities and a Primarily White Institution that will work together to understand the challenges facing each institution and the strengths each institution brings to addressing this problem.

Through detailed transcript analysis, this research will take an asset-based approach, focusing on the strengths of students succeeding in the major. Two cohorts of lower division (freshman and sophomore) Black CS students from two Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs) and one Primarily White Institution (PWI) will be studied to measure perceived societal impacts and their understanding of content through conceptual assessment instruments. A cohort of upper division students will be studied to measure the factors that led to their success using surveys, a content assessment, and interviews. Using a mixed methods analysis approach, White students will be compared to Black students at the research intensive PWI and then the principal investigators will compare Black students at the PWI to Black students at the two HBCUs. The goal is to expand knowledge of inclusive teaching strategies and provide institutional awareness of factors that can go beyond recruiting URMs to focus on retention in the major and student success post-graduation. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.