PURDUE CS E-NEWS JULY 2024

News from Purdue University's Department of Computer Science

Wang wins NSF Career Award

Assistant Professor Jianguo Wang

Assistant Professor Jianguo Wang earned an NSF Career Award for his proposed work titled, "The Case for Disaggregated Database Systems." His project aims to develop a new, optimized database system tailored for resource disaggregation, focusing on improving performance, scalability and elasticity while reducing costs.

Pedaling Virtual Cycling to the Global Stage

Patrick Cavanaugh, a research engineer at Purdue's Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center, demonstrates how virtual cycling competitions function in a remote environment. (Purdue University Photo/John Underwood)

Integrity and fairness are vital to the success of this rising sport according to Dongyan Xu, the Samuel Conte Professor of Computer Science and director of Purdue's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS). His team is working with Purdue's Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center to validate the sport for the global, and hopefully Olympic stage.

World championship-winning Purdue SIgbots building robots and relationships

Purdue SIGBots at the VEX Robotics World Championship

Gustavo Rodriguez-Rivera, SIGBots' faculty advisor and associate professor of practice in the Department of Computer Science, is one of the proud members of this team. "Robotics and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of technology. Many high school students have been inspired by Purdue ACM SIGBots, their VEX Robotics team and the impactful mentoring it provides to high schools nationwide," Rodriguez-Rivera said.

Purdue's graduate programs continued their elevation in latest U.S. News & World Report rankings

Scene from Third Street on Purdue's West Lafayette Campus

"This year's GUV data demonstrated, once again, Purdue's continued elevation in visibility in the world," Purdue President Mung Chiang said. Purdue placed No. 1 among U.S. public universities and was named the No. 9 most recognized university in the world in the 2024-25 Global University Visibility (GUV) rankings.

AI is rapidly identifying new species. Can we trust the results?

  • As a part of his doctorate at Purdue, Sarkhan Badirli completed a study that trained an AI model to classify more than 1,000 insect species. Scientists are using AI to flag potentially new species and highly specialized biologists still need to formally describe those species and decide where they fit on the evolutionary tree.

More colleges are offering AI degrees — could they give job seekers an edge?

  • With some of the first AI majors just graduating in the last several years, it remains an open question how the majors will fare, but early signs suggest the new degree could give young job seekers an edge.

A developer somehow got an entire OS running on Google Drive

  • Purdue University undergraduate computer scientist Ersei has acheived an extraordinary technical feat: getting a full Linux distro to boot directly from Google Drive. It all started when a friend managed the already impressive feat of booting Linux from a Network File System. But being a self-proclaimed competitive soul, Ersei decided to go bigger. In what they call a "ragged screech of madness," the developer landed on the idea of booting an operating system from Google's cloud storage platform.

Student rediscovers thin client concept, booting Linux from Google Drive — a great proof of concept but one that has very limited use in the real world

  • A computer science student at Purdue University has managed to boot Linux using Google Drive. This project began as a fun challenge to match a peer’s success in booting Linux from NFS (Network File System), but evolved into an intricate and somewhat impractical experiment.

2024 Olympics put cybersecurity teams on high alert

  • Escalating cyberthreats, hacktivism, and cyber espionage suggest the Paris Games may present the greatest cybersecurity risk ever. Here’s what to look out for and how to prep.

Cybersecurity for the Paris Olympics (Fox 59 News: First @ Four)

  • Purdue CS Professor, Gene Spafford, remarks on the potential cybersecurity threats to the 2024 Paris Olympics and surrounding infrastructure in this video feature.

Cybersecurity for the 2024 Paris Olympics (93.1FM WIBC, Indy's Mobile News)

  • Purdue CS Professor, Gene Spafford, remarks on the potential cybersecurity threats to the 2024 Paris Olympics and surrounding infrastructure in this article and radio feature.

Cybersecurity for the 2024 Paris Olympics (Bloomburg 960)

  • Purdue CS Professor, Gene Spafford, remarks on the potential cybersecurity threats to the 2024 Paris Olympics and surrounding infrastructure in this video feature.

SkyWater Foundation Grants $100,000 in Scholarships to Support Students Pursuing Higher Education and Technical Skills for Success in U.S. Workforce

  • SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT), the trusted technology realization partner, is pleased to announce the selection of 10 recipients by Scholarship America to receive $10,000 each through the second annual SkyWater Foundation Scholarship Program. While the application process welcomed students from all fields, an emphasis in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) was encouraged.

Assistant FM Aboul-Enein discusses Egypt-US technical cooperation with university experts

  • Assistant Foreign Minister for US Affairs Ambassador Sameh Aboul-Enein discussed on Tuesday Egypt-US technical cooperation with Dr. Walid Aref, a prominent Egyptian expert and professor of Computer Science at Purdue University in the US, and Dr. Reem Bahgat, president of Egypt University of Informatics.

PURDUE COMPUTES: A STRATEGIC INITIATIVE

As student interest in computing-related majors and the societal impact of artificial intelligence and chips continues to rise rapidly, Purdue University has launched a new major initiative, Purdue Computes, consisting of four dimensions that will connect faculty and students from across the institution and enable the university to advance to the forefront with unparalleled excellence at scale.

1. COMPUTING

As the Department of Computer Science celebrates its founding 60 years ago as the first in America, it will add 50 new faculty over the next five years, continue to grow its undergraduate and graduate programs, and look toward a continued upward trajectory with the target of becoming one of the top 10 computer science programs in the U.S. by the end of the decade.

2. PHYSICAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Purdue will focus on establishing itself as a leader in strategic areas of artificial intelligence at the intersection between the virtual and the physical, leveraging strengths in agricultural data, neuromorphic computing, deepfake detection, smart transportation data, AI-based manufacturing and other programs existing and new across the institution. The planned new university-wide institute will add 50 affiliated faculty over the next five years.

3. SEMICONDUCTORS

Building on national recognition of its semiconductor degrees program, Purdue will further enhance our economic and workforce development pipeline and become a global epicenter of semiconductors research, learning and industry partnership with a planned $100 million upgrade to semiconductor facilities over the next few years and growth in education, research and industry partnerships.

4. QUANTUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Purdue University is a thriving hub for quantum research and development. Purdue’s community of interdisciplinary quantum researchers focus on advancing quantum science and engineering to create future technologies that will transform our lives, economy and our world.

Purdue Computes in action: Institute for Physical AI

The Institute of Physical AI will couple scientists from across Purdue who bring interdisciplinary thinking and problem-solving to solve issues at the intersection of AI and a variety of critical functions, such as more efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing, digital forestry and more efficient transportation." - Karen Plaut, Executive Vice President for Research

Leveraging Purdue’s signature strengths in materials science, engineering, microelectronics, computer science, agriculture and life sciences, the Institute for Physical AI (IPAI) is committed to solving the world’s toughest challenges.

PURDUE UNIVERSITY IN INDIANAPOLIS

Announcing our next giant leap: a new extension of our flagship campus bringing the academic rigor and accessible excellence we’re known for to central Indiana.

Fueling a transformational growth, Purdue University’s first comprehensive urban campus will offer unique opportunities for Boilermaker students and faculty. We will expand enrollment. We will build startups. We will create new knowledge. We will connect talents and industry. We will maximize Indy’s unique strengths such as sports and biomedical technology. Purdue campuses now bookend the Hard Tech Corridor: 65 miles connecting Indy and West Lafayette with LEAP Innovation District at the midpoint. We will generate talents, jobs and innovation together in America’s heartland!"

Mung Chiang, President, Purdue University

Science at Purdue University in Indianapolis

Essential understandings of science and lifelong critical thinking skills are developed at Purdue University in Indianapolis’s College of Science. Computational, math and data sciences form the foundation for innovation and thoroughly prepare graduates for careers in dynamic and rapidly changing environments.

Science Majors

Computer Science - Join a legacy of innovation in both advancing scientific research and creating industry applications by learning computing fundamentals.

Artificial Intelligence - Explore the link among cognitive psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence — and investigate AI ethics — for a holistic understanding of how to build and understand systems.

Data Science - Discover the intersection of computer science and statistics in a field that uses quantitative and analytical methods to help provide insights and form predictions based on big data.

Nikhil Anand Dhoka, a Purdue computer science and mathematics student in Indianapolis, is set up for success at the intersection of technology and finance. Learn more about his plan.
Sarah Papabathini, a Purdue AI student in Indianapolis, is making a difference in her community every day as a DREAM Alive mentor, an Indy 500 Festival princess, academic researcher and volunteer.

ACM FOUNDATIONS OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING 2024

Lin Tan, Mary J. Elmore New Frontiers Professor of Computer Science and Program Co-Chair of FSE 2024

The ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE) is an internationally renowned forum for researchers, practitioners, and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences, and challenges in the field of software engineering. FSE brings together experts from academia and industry to exchange the latest research results and trends as well as their practical application in all areas of software engineering.

Do Code Generation Models Think Like Us? - A Study of Attention Alignment between Large Language Models and Human Programmers | Bonan Kou, Shengmai Chen, Zhijie Wang, Lei Ma, Tianyi Zhang

CodeArt: Better Code Models by Attention Regularization When Symbols Are Lacking | Zian Su, Xiangzhe Xu, Ziyang Huang, Zhuo Zhang, Yapeng Ye, Jianjun Huang, Xiangyu Zhang

OSDI USENIX 2024

OSDI brings together professionals from academic and industrial backgrounds in what has become a premier forum for discussing the design, implementation, and implications of systems software. The symposium emphasizes innovative research as well as quantified or insightful experiences in systems design and implementation.

VerISmo: A Verified Security Module for Confidential VMs | Ziqiao Zhou, Microsoft Research; Anjali, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Weiteng Chen, Microsoft Research; Sishuai Gong, Purdue University; Chris Hawblitzel and Weidong Cui, Microsoft Research

CaravaN: Practical Online Learning of In-Network ML Models with Labeling Agents | Qizheng Zhang, Stanford University; Ali Imran, Purdue University; Enkeleda Bardhi, Sapienza University of Rome;Tushar Swamy and Nathan Zhang, Stanford University; Muhammad Shahbaz, Purdue University and Universityof Michigan; Kunle Olukotun, Stanford University

INtoS: Persistent Embedded Operating System and Language Support for Multi-threaded IntermittentComputing | Yilun Wu, Stony Brook University; Byounguk Min, Purdue University; Mohannad Ismail and Wenjie Xiong, Virginia Tech; Changhee Jung, Purdue University; Dongyoon Lee, Stony Brook University

PURDUE CS | BY THE NUMBERS

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

AN ERA OF GROWTH

In the field of computer science, there is a sustained and significant increase in demand for our academic programs. We are thrilled to announce that, once again, we have surpassed our previous records for freshman admission applications, with the total exceeding 11,000. At the start of fall classes, 889 freshman students joined our previous classes for more than 3,000 undergraduates.

This year, freshman women students represent 22% of the undergraduate population and women are 23% among all undergraduate students.

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GRADUATE PROGRAM

Our graduate population has exploded with 538 MS and PhD students for the 2022-23 academic year. This represents a 26% increase in growth from the previous year.

Purdue Computer Science graduate students work in any of the 14 research areas in the department.

Purdue Computer Science offers the traditional PhD and master's degree programs in addition to a professional master's degree in information security.

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