Boston University College of Engineering D i v i s i o n
o f
S y s t ems
E n g i n eer i n g
Annual Report 2010–2011
Boston University College of Engineering Division of Systems Engineering 15 Saint Mary’s Street, Room 118 Brookline, MA 02446 617-353-2842 se@bu.edu www.bu.edu/se
Justin Foster (SE PhD Candidate) was an Intern at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems, Electric Vehicle Grid Integration, in Summer 2011.
CONTENTS 3 HIGHLIGHTS 4 Faculty Honors and Awards 7 Graduate Student Honors and Awards 8 Highlights 2010–2011 8 Grants
9
Highlighted New Grants
11
FACULTY AND STAFF
11 14 17 17 17
Participating Faculty Affiliated Faculty Division Administration CISE Affiliated Staff Division Committees
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GRADUATE PROGRAMS
19 Graduate Recruitment and Enrollment 20 Admissions History 20 Enrollment 21 Course and Program Development 22 PhD Student Progress 22 Graduate Teaching Fellows, Dean’s Fellows and Research Assistants 23 Graduate Degrees Awarded 23 History of PhD Degrees Awarded 24 PhD Dissertations 28 Graduate Students 36 Graduate Courses
37 RESEARCH 38 47 56 70 72 77 78 84
2010–2011 Research Highlights External Research Funding Faculty Publications Student Activity Research Laboratories The Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE) CISE Seminar Series 2010-2011 Visiting Committee Members
A custom confocal microscope used by the Andersson group for tracking single fluorescent particles.
Highlights Message from the Division Head The 2010–11 academic year has been the most productive so far in the Division’s three-year history, as evidenced by the number of completed PhD dissertations, honors bestowed upon its faculty members, new high-profile research grants, and overall scholarly output, all detailed in this Annual Report. There was also a 19% growth in total enrollments and, for the first time, we welcomed students to the MEng degree program in Systems Engineering (SE), to go along with the PhD and MS degrees that the Division offers to students interested in the theory, methods, and tools for modeling, design, analysis, and optimization of human-made and physical systems. The Division’s research activities continue to be in close collaboration with the Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE). The SE Division currently has 12 participating faculty members from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with 15 affiliated faculty members from the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Management. The participating members support our graduate curriculum with concentrations in Computational and Systems Biology, Control Systems, Network Systems, Financial Engineering Systems, and Operations Research. This past year, the Division added an Energy and Environmental Systems concentration option to the MS and MEng programs. In 2010–11, our enrollment rose to 29 PhD students, along with 2 MS and 8 MEng students. There were 8 PhD and 3 MS degrees awarded. In the Fall of 2010, 8 new PhD students and 2 MS and 4 MEng students joined the Division with all admitted PhD students supported by Dean’s or Graduate Teaching Fellowships. Our continuing students were funded from research grants received by participating and affiliated faculty with a total sponsor commitment of approximately $43.5M of which about $16M comes from newly awarded grants, some in such cutting-edge areas as bio-inspired aerial vehicles and the design and management of sustainable, energy-efficient buildings. The latter will contribute to an ongoing Boston University project that several Division faculty members are involved with: the Smart Neighborhood Laboratory which targets the creation of neighborhoods capitalizing on technological developments to enable the optimal use of resources such as energy, water, and transportation in an urban environment.
Applications to the SE PhD, MS, and MEng programs this year topped 150 and we expect 7 new PhD students, all supported by Fellowships, along with 1 MS and 6 MEng students to join the Division this fall. As in the past, our applicants come from a great variety of geographical and academic backgrounds, reinforcing the diversity that has been one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Division. The new crop of PhD students will also experience a research rotation system recently designed under the leadership of Hua Wang, the Division’s Associate Head this past year replacing Pirooz Vakili. This system aims to provide an organized way for first-year students to explore different research options and for faculty to get to know them better and to evaluate their potential as contributors to ongoing projects. This Annual Report provides full details on the Division’s scholarly accomplishments that include an extensive listing of refereed publications, grants awarded, and PhD dissertations completed. I would like to call special attention to the distinctions and honors received by several of our faculty and graduate students, as well as some of the highlighted research activities spanning such diverse areas as advanced imaging, wireless telecommunications, unmanned aerial vehicles, synthetic biology, and smart buildings. I look forward to a new year as Head of the Division and take this opportunity to thank my colleagues, our students, and our dedicated staff who are contributing to its mission and continuing growth and development.
Christos G. Cassandras Division Head
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
4 | Highlights
Faculty Honors and Awards 2010–2011 JOHN BAILLIEUL
CHRISTOS CASSANDRAS
• Booz Allen Hamilton Distinguished Colloquium Lecturer
• President-Elect 2011, IEEE Control Systems Society
• Recipient of the 2011 IEEE Hendrik W. Bode Prize
• Plenary/Keynote Speaker, 18th IEEE Med. Conf. on Control and Automation, June 2010
CALIN BELTA • Best Student Paper Award, (student: Yushan Chen), 10th Int. Symp. on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Sys, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010 • Science Daily feature: Cancer-Metabolism link Runs Deep in Humans, Novel Network Algorithm Suggests
• Plenary/Keynote Speaker, 7th Intl. Conf. on Electrical Engin., Computing Science, and Automatic Control, September 2010 • Distinguished Lecturer, Information Science and Technology Center (ISTeC), Colorado State University, October 2010 JAMES COLLINS • Elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Before It’s News feature: Cancer-Metabolism Link Runs Deep In Humans Say Researchers,” most downloaded Chaos article in July 2010 AZER BESTAVROS
PIERRE DUPONT
• Winner of the United Methodist Scholar/Teacher Award for 2010
• King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics
• Inaugural ACM Sigmetrics Test of Time Award for best paper in last 15 years
• Fellow of the IEEE
• Selected as one of 10 academic candidates to the CRA Board of Directors • Best Paper Award, IEEE/IFIP Mediterranean Workshop on Ad-Hoc Networking • Selected as Distinguished Speaker of the IEEE Computer Society DVP program • Elected as Chair of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on the Internet
Annual Report 2010–2011
• Two papers named as finalists for Best Medical Robotics Paper of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation MICHAEL GEVELBER • MassCEC Award
Highlights | 5
W. CLEM KARL
IOANNIS PASCHALIDIS
• Elected Member-at-Large of the IEEE Signal Processing Society Board of Governors
• Dean’s catalyst award, May 2011, College of Engineering, Boston University, for research project “A Quantitative Approach to Disease Prevention and Management Leveraging Electronic Health Records”
ERIC KOLACZYK • Fellow of the American Statistical Association
• Best student paper award at the 9th Intl. Symposium of Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt 2011) won by Ph.D. student Reza MoazzezEstanjini for joint paper “Improved Delay-Minimized Data Harvesting with Mobile Elements in Wireless Sensor Networks” VENKATESH SALIGRAMA
THOMAS LITTLE • 2010 Kern Faculty Fellow, Boston University College of Engineering
• IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Best Student Paper Nomination • NARP Symposium, Best Research Presentation
ABRAHAM MATTA • 2010 Best Paper Award in Med-Hoc-Net • Patent awarded April 2011 on “Systems and methods for energyconscious communication in wireless ad-hoc networks,” co-inventors: Niky Riga, Alberto Medina, Craig Partridge, Jason Redi, and Isidro Castineyra
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
6 | Highlights
Faculty Honors and Awards (continued) JOHN BAILLIEUL Awarded IEEE Controls System Society’s Bode Prize Excerpt from an article by Mark Dwortzan Professor John Baillieul (ME/SE) has been selected for the IEEE Control Systems Society’s 2011 Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize, which recognizes distinguished contributions to control systems science or engineering. As part of the honor, Baillieul has been invited to deliver a plenary lecture evaluating a significant
contribution to control systems science or engineering at the 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control in December in Orlando, Florida. “Professor Baillieul’s results on mathematical system theory and information-based control have had a fundamental impact on the field,” said Roberto Tempo, past president of the Control Systems Society. A fellow of the IEEE and former editor-in-chief of the journal IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Baillieul focuses on robotics, the control of mechanical systems, and mathematical system theory.
CHRISTOS CASSANDRAS Named President-Elect of the IEEE Control Systems Society
The IEEE Control Systems Society, an international scientific,
Excerpt from an article by Rachel Harrington
development and practice in automation and control systems.
Professor Christos Cassandras (ECE), head of the Division of Systems Engineering at Boston University, was recently named president-elect of the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS).
JAMES COLLINS Elected into the National Academy of Engineering Excerpt from an article by Mark Dwortzan In recognition of his outstanding contributions to synthetic biology and engineered gene networks, Professor James J. Collins (BME/SE/MSE) has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, one of the most prestigious honors accordedto engineers. A pioneer in both synthetic and systems biology, Collins is developing innovative ways to design and reprogram gene networks within bacteria and other organisms to attack tumors, direct stem cell development and perform other desired tasks that could bring about cheaper drugs, more effective treatments of antibiotic-resistant infections, and clean energy solutions. Also a trailblazer in efforts to improve
Annual Report 2010–2011
engineering, and professional organization that was founded in 1954, is dedicated to the advancement of research,
Cassandras isn’t the first BU faculty member to hold a prominent title in the CSS. Both Professor David Castañón (ECE), ad interim department chair of the ECE Department, and Professor John Baillieul (ME), have previously served as president of the CSS.
function of physiological and biological systems, he has spearheaded several new medical devices such as vibrating insoles to improve balance in elderly people and a device to treat stroke-induced brain failure. In addition to serving BU as William F. Warren Distinguished Professor, University Professor, and co-director of the Center for BioDynamics, Collins is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and founding core faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. His many honors include a MacArthur “Genius Award,” a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award, the Lagrange-CRT Foundation Prize, the Metcalf Cup and Prize (BU’s highest teaching honor), and being named on the Scientific American list of top 50 outstanding leaders in science and technology. Collins serves on the scientific advisory board of several biotechnology companies.
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Graduate Student Honors and Awards 2010–2011 JUSTIN FOSTER
NA SUN
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results Fellowship in Environmental Behavior and Decision Making, Sep. 2010 – Present. Advisor: Caramanis.
SE PhD Student Travel Award, $500 for the Winter Simulation Conference, December 5-8 2010, in Baltimore, Maryland. She presented the paper “Control Variates for Sensitivity Estimation” by Tarik Borogovac, Na Sun, and Pirooz Vakili. Advisor: Vakili.
• Switzer Environmental Fellowship, September 2010 – Present. • Travel Grant, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Society, Conference on Decision and Control Travel Grant, 2010. • Boston University Energy Club, Vice President, 2010. YANFENG GENG Third prize in poster session, INFORMS 2011 Northeastern Conference. Advisor: Cassandras.
XIAOJIN TANG SE PhD Student Travel Award, $500 for the Winter Simulation Conference, December 5-8 2010, in Baltimore, Maryland. She presented the paper “Importance Sampling for Parametric Estimation” by Xiaojin Tang and Pirooz Vakili. Advisor: Vakili.
REZA MOAZZEZ ESTANJINI • Best Student Paper Award, WiOpt’11 for “Improved Delay-Minimized Data Harvesting with Mobile Elements in Wireless Sensor Networks.” Advisor: Paschalidis. • SE PhD Student Travel Award, $500, IEEE WiOPT 2011. • Finalist for Best Dissertation Award, Boston University College of Engineering, 2011. • CISE Honorable-Mention Award, Boston University Science Day, 2010.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
8 | Highlights
Graduate Student Honors and Awards (continued) JUSTIN FOSTER, PhD candidate in Systems Engineering, awarded Switzer Environmental Fellowship Excerpt from an article by Mark Dwortzan Twenty-one leading environmental scholars were recently chosen from universities in California and New England to receive the Switzer Fellowship, which is one of the nation’s most prestigious academic awards for environmental leaders. Each year, at least 20 promising environmental leaders are awarded $15,000 each from the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation to complete masters and doctoral degrees to advance their skills and develop their expertise to address critical environmental challenges. “The Switzer Foundation makes strategic investments in individual leadership to improve environmental quality,” explained Lissa Widoff, Executive Director of the Foundation. “The 2010 Switzer Environmental Fellows are pursuing degrees in diverse disciplines and preparing to address the most complex scientific, policy and conservation issues of our time with integrated approaches. These individuals are united in their focus to actively apply their problem-solving abilities to implement positive change in the environmental realm.”
Highlights 2010–2011 BS/MS Students
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LEAP Phase 1
2
MEng Students
8
MS Students
2
MS Degrees Awarded
3
PhD Students
29
PhD Degrees Awarded
8
Refereed Publications
203
Invited Lectures
83
Annual Report 2010–2011
Justin Foster, PhD candidate in Systems Engineering at Boston University, has achieved the high honor of being selected as a Switzer Environmental Fellow by the Switzer Foundation. As a PhD candidate in Systems Engineering at Boston University, Justin Foster is studying sustainable energy systems, environmental policy analysis, and electricity market design. In particular, he is working towards the development of an applied science base incorporating demand response and distributed generation, which holds promise for dramatic global effects on sustainable energy when implemented in both developed and developing countries. Currently, he is focused on the market-based coordination of plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles and renewable electricity generation— in particular, wind—that will contribute to the broad adoption of both technologies. His awareness of sustainable power systems began through his work at ICF International, where he supported the US Environmental Protection Agency in the development and analysis of multi-pollutant trading programs included in the Clean Air Act, Clean Air Interstate Rule, and Clean Air Mercury Rule. Justin graduated from Bowdoin College with an AB in Mathematics, cum laude, and enjoys rooting for Boston area sports— Go Pats!—as well as sand dollar hunting, wine tasting, and bicycling. Advisor: Caramanis.
GRANTS The lifetime award funding level of new, continuing and supplemental grants awarded to the Division of Systems Engineering (SE) faculty is approximately $43.6M. Research grants are funded in affiliation with the Center for Information and Systems Engineering. This year, SE faculty received lifetime awards for new grants in the approximate amount of $15.8M. SE Faculty received lifetime awards for continuing grants in the approximate amount of $27.8M.
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Highlighted New Grants MassCEC Award for Professors MICHAEL GEVELBER and Donald Wroblewski The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has awarded Professors Michael Gevelber and Donald Wroblewski of the Mechanical Engineering Department a Catalyst award to fund their research project “Achieving Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings: Development of a Software Tool to Optimize Building HVAC”. The MassCEC Catalyst Program, which is funded by MassCEC and managed by the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC), awards early-stage researchers grant awards to help demonstrate the commercial viability of their clean energy technology.
This research effort is directed at developing a new software tool that improves the energy efficiency of building HVAC systems, which is significant since it accounts for 50–70% of building energy use. Our system is directed at optimizing the settings of building HVAC control systems, which many times are inefficient since they were originally designed when energy was cheap. This grant will fund development of a system prototype and performance evaluation for a large, mixed used building at Boston University. We utilize a physically-based system modeling and identification approach that can be automated, without relying on design plans or labor-intensive analysis. This empirically-based methodology enables determination of optimized control that minimizes conditioned airflow while meeting the required ventilation, thermal, and humidification performance objectives.
Dean’s Catalyst Awards Energize Early-Stage Projects Adapted from an article by Mark Dwortzan Established by Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen in 2007 and organized by a faculty committee, the annual Dean’s Catalyst Awards program encourages early-stage, innovative, interdisciplinary projects that could spark new advances in a variety of engineering fields. By providing each project with seed funding, the awards give full-time faculty the opportunity to generate initial proof-of-concept results that could help secure external funding. This year’s DCA-winning projects promise to improve the nation’s healthcare, defense, information and communications systems. One of 7 winner award winners, Professor IOANNIS PASCHALIDIS (ECE, SE), Daniel
Newman, BUMC assistant professor of medicine and Boston Medical Center (BMC) chief medical information officer, and Shiby Thomas, BMC director of enterprise analytics, will pursue a comprehensive and systematic approach to intelligently processing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and directing physician attention to preventing serious medical conditions. Using algorithms that assess patients for disease risk and trigger physician actions based on their risk classification, and wireless body sensors that dispatch medical information to the clinic in near real-time, the researchers’ proposed system could significantly reduce costs and improve efficiencies in the U.S. health care system.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
10 | Highlights
ONR MURI Award for Developing Bio-Inspired Aerial Vehicles Adapted from an article by Mark Dwortzan Can studying the flight dynamics of bats, birds and insects lead to a new generation of unmanned aerial vehicles that can navigate more effectively in cluttered environments? To maneuver as well as winged animals in tight places such as forests and caves, and land as safely on variable and moving terrain, an engineered system would have to incorporate unprecedented sensing and control capabilities while satisfying complex physical design, weight and computational requirements. Aiming to build a process for translating biological capabilities for agile flight in a range of environments for engineered flight vehicles, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to a team of researchers from Boston University, the University of
Washington, the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Operating under a $3.1 million subcontract, the Boston University team includes Professors JOHN BAILLIEUL (ME, ECE, SE) and IOANNIS PASCHALIDIS (ECE, SE) and Assistant Professor CALIN BELTA (ME, SE) in the College of Engineering; and Thomas Kunz, Professor of Biology, and Margrit Betke, Associate Professor of Computer Science, in the College of Arts & Sciences. The project’s principal investigator, Kristi Morgansen, Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington, received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University in the mid-1990s. For complete article, please refer to page 39.
NSF EFRI Award for Sustainable Building Project Adapted from an article by Mark Dwortzan Past efforts to design more sustainable buildings have largely focused on finding ways to reduce their energy consumption in isolation. Now a new, four-year project drawing on engineering and architecture faculty at Boston University and MIT, respectively, promises to deliver substantial carbon footprint and energy cost reductions not only to individual buildings, but also to other buildings and electricity consumers in their neighborhood and beyond.
to exchange electric energy with external energy markets, enabling it to not only draw on external power sources but also to sell some of its own power to the grid—and neighboring electricity consumers on the grid—at low cost. For complete article, please refer to page 46.
Funded by a recent $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the project’s collaborators—principal investigator Professors MICHAEL CARAMANIS (ME) and JOHN BAILLIEUL (ME) from Boston University’s College of Engineering, and Professor Leslie K. Norford and Associate Professor John E. Fernandez from the Building Technology Program in MIT’s Department of Architecture—plan to develop a new method to retrofit existing buildings and design new ones that minimize internal energy consumption and costs, and transact mutually beneficial electric energy exchanges with electric utilities. The research team envisions equipping individual buildings with the capability to integrate production and consumption of electric energy via a smart micro-grid capable of monitoring and controlling smart appliances, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and other grid-friendly devices, as well as onsite electricity generation from rooftop photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Each building would also be configured
Annual Report 2010–2011
BU engineering and MIT architectural faculty are developing a new framework for advanced sustainable buildings. Image by Denise Joseph, CISE, and Phyliss McKee, Graphic consultant.
Faculty and Staff | 11
Faculty and Staff Participating Faculty SEAN ANDERSSON
CALIN BELTA
Assistant Professor, ME
Assistant Professor, ME
Robotics, control theory, scanning probe microscopy, symbolic-based control
Verification and control of dynamical systems, hybrid systems, symbolic control, robot motion planning and control, gene and metabolic networks
• PhD, University of Maryland 2003 • Associate Editor, Conference Editorial Board, IEEE Control Systems Society and Robotics and Automation Society • 2009 NSF CAREER Award
• PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2003 • Associate Editor, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization • 2008 AFOSR Young Investigator Award
JOHN BAILLIEUL
• 2005 NSF CAREER Award
Professor, ME/ECE Robotics, control of mechanical systems, mathematical system theory, informationbased control theory • PhD, Harvard University 1975 • Fellow of IEEE, Inaugural Fellow of SIAM 2009
• 1997 Fulbright Scholar Award MICHAEL CARAMANIS Professor, ME Mathematical programming, control and stochastic systems • PhD, Harvard University 1976
• Inaugural Distinguished Lecturer Series Award, College of Engineering, Boston University, 2008
• 2004 BU College of Engineering Service Award
• IEEE Third Millennium Medal, 2000
• Editor, IIE Transactions in Design and Manufacturing, 1997–2000
• Past President, IEEE Control Systems Society
• Member, IIE Transactions in Design and Manufacturing Editorial Board
• Past Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Participating Faculty
(continued)
CHRISTOS CASSANDRAS Professor, ECE; Division Head, SE Discrete event and hybrid systems, stochastic optimization, simulation, manufacturing systems, communication and sensor networks, and commandcontrol systems • PhD, Harvard University, 1982 • Fellow of IEEE • Fellow of IFAC • Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Autonomic Control (1998–2009) • IEEE Control Systems Society Vice President for Publication Activities, 2010 • IEEE Control Systems Society Board of Governors • 1991 Lilly Fellow • IEEE Control Systems Society Distinguished Member Award • 1999 Harold Chestnut Prize • IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, 2001–2004 • Department Editor, Journal of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems • Associate Editor, Intl. Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics and Intl. Journal of BioSciences and Technology • Past Associate Editor, Automatica and IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control • Past Editor, Technical Notes and Correspondence, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control • Honorary Professor, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University of Science and Technology
DAVID CASTAÑÓN Professor and Chair ad interim, ECE; Co-Director, CISE Stochastic control; estimation optimization; image understanding and parallel computation • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976 • Associate Director, CenSSIS; Co-Director, BU CISE • Past President, IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS) • IEEE Control Systems Society Distinguished Member Award • Air Force Advisory Board member • 2007 ECE Teaching Award • Associate Editor, Computational Optimization and Applications • Past Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control • ECE Department Chair, 2007–2008 IOANNIS PASCHALIDIS Professor, ECE; Co-Director, CISE Systems and control, networking, applied probability, optimization, operations research, computational biology, and bioinformatics. His recent work has found applications in communication and sensor networks, protein docking, logistics, cyber-security, robotics, the smart-grid, and finance. • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996 • IEEE Control Systems Society, Board of Governors (2010). • Guest Editor, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Special Issue on Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks, forthcoming. • Associate Editor, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization (1/10–present). • Chair, Technical Committee of Networks and Communication Systems, IEEE Control Systems Society, (1/06–present). • Liaison position between the IEEE Control Systems Society and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) (11/2007–present).
Annual Report 2010–2011
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JAMES PERKINS Associate Professor, ME
PIROOZ VAKILI Associate Professor, ME
Real-time scheduling and control of manufacturing systems, supply chain management, resource pricing and congestion control in communications networks
Monte Carlo simulation and optimization, Control and management of manufacturing and communication systems, Product development management, Computational finance, Computational biology
• PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana— Champaign, 1993 • 2002–2004 Department of Manufacturing Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award VENKATESH SALIGRAMA Associate Professor, ECE Systems theory, information and control, statistical signal processing • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1997
• PhD, Harvard University 1989 • Associate Editor, Automatica HUA WANG Associate Professor, ME; Associate Division Head, SE Control of nonlinear phenomena, intelligent systems and control, complex networks, cooperative control, robotics, and applications in biological, energy and aerospace systems • PhD, University of Maryland 1993
• 2005 NSF CAREER Award
• 2002 ONR Young Investigator Award
• 2000 Cheung Kong Scholar, Ministry of Education, China and Li Ka Shing Foundation, Hong Kong, China
• 1997 Outstanding Achievement Award from United Technologies
• 2000 IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems Outstanding Paper Award
DAVID STAROBINSKI Associate Professor, ECE
• 1999 IFAC Congress Best Poster Paper Prize of the Fourteenth Triennial World Congress of International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)
• 2003 Presidential Early Career Award
Wireless networks; QOS and traffic engineering; network economics; cyber security • PhD, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel, 1999
• 1994 O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award of the American Automatic Control Council • PhD, Stanford University, 1986
• 2010 ECE Faculty Teaching Award • 2004 Department of Energy Early Career Award • 2002 NSF CAREER Award • Associate Editor, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Affiliated Faculty MURAT ALANYALI Associate Professor, ECE
JAMES COLLINS Professor, BME/MSE Division
Communication networks, performance analysis and optimization, stochastic systems
Synthetic biology, systems biology, noiseenhanced sensorimotor function
• PhD, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign 1996 • Associate Editor, IEEE Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board • 2004 Legacy Gift Award, College of Engineering • 2003 NSF CAREER Award
AZER BESTAVROS Professor, Computer Science Scalable Internet protocols and systems, Application of game theory to the design of systems and networks, resource colocation and management for cloud computing, Virtualization and programming support for cyber-physical systems, Compositional analysis and verification of complex systems • PhD, Harvard University, 1992 • Elected Chair, IEEE Technical Committee on the Internet • Distinguished Service Award, IEEE and the ACM • United Methodist Scholar/Teacher Award for 2010 • Selected as Distinguished Speaker of the IEEE Computer Society for 2010 • Chair of the IEEE Computer Society, Technical Committee on the Internet (since 2007)
Annual Report 2010–2011
• DPhil, University of Oxford, England, 1990 • Elected to National Academy of Engineering • Named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator • Named an inaugural William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor • Received Drexel University’s inaugural Anthony J. Drexel Exceptional Achievement Award. • 2010 Lagrange—CRT Foundation Prize • 2003 MacArthur Fellowship • 2000 BU Metcalf Cup and Prize
MARK CROVELLA Professor, Computer Science Performance evaluation, focused on parallel and networked computer systems, detecting and understanding anomalies in IP networks, efficient network monitoring, network security • PhD, University of Rochester 1994 • 2007–2009 Chair of ACM SIGCOMM • Past editor for Computer Communication Review, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Computer Networks and IEEE Transactions on Computers • Fellow of the ACM. • ACM SIGMETRICS Test of Time Award.
FACULT Y AND STA FF | 15
PIERRE DUPONT Adjunct Professor, ME/BME
W. CLEM KARL Professor, ECE/BME
Robot kinematics, dynamics and control, medical applications of robotics, image guidance of minimally invasive surgery
Multidimensional and multiscale signal and image processing, detection and estimation, inverse problems, biomedical signal and image processing
• PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1988
• PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991
MICHAEL GEVELBER Associate Professor, ME/MSE Division Improving materials process capabilities using controls based approach: modelling, sensor development, system and control design, experimental verification; plasma spray, bulk crystal growth, CVD, ebeam deposition of optical coatings; electrospinning of nanofibers • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1988
• Vice-chair IEEE Biomedical Image and Signal Processing Technical Committee • Steering Committee for the IEEE Intl. Symposium on Biomedical Imaging • Past Associate Editor for Tomography & MRI, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing • 2000 ECE Award for Excellence in Teaching
ERIC KOLACZYK Professor, Mathematics and Statistics
PRAKASH ISHWAR Associate Professor, ECE Statistical Signal Processing and Machine Learning, Network Information Theory Coding and Computation, Secure MultiParty Computation, Visual Information Processing and Analysis • PhD, University of Illinois Urbana— Champaign, 2002 • Elected Member, IEEE IVMSP Technical Committee • Best Paper Prize, with Kai Guo and Janusz Konrad, at the 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Video and Signal-Based Surveillance (AVSS) in September 2010.
Statistical modeling of instrumental data in temporal, spatial, and network indexed contexts • PhD, Stanford University, 1994 • Fellow of the American Statistical Association
LEV LEVITIN Professor, ECE Information theory, physics of communication and computing, complex and organized systems, quantum theory of measurement, reliable communication and computing, bioinformatics
• 2007 Dean’s Catalyst Award
• PhD, USSR Academy of Sciences, Gorky University, 1969
• 2005 NSF CAREER Award
• Life Fellow, IEEE • Member, International Academy of Informatization
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Affiliated Faculty
(continued)
THOMAS LITTLE Professor and Associate Chair, ECE; Associate Director, NSF Smart Lighting ERC Computer networking (wireless, vehicular, opportunistic, delay tolerant), mobile computing, distributed systems, multimedia streaming and storage, videoon demand, visible light communications • PhD, Syracuse University, 1991 • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications • Kern Faculty Fellow, Boston University, College of Engineering • 2009 BU College of Engineering Faculty Service Award • 2007 Dean’s Catalyst Award, BU College of Engineering • 2001 Mass eComm 10 Award • 1995 NSF CAREER Award • 1991 NSF Research Initiation Award ABRAHAM MATTA Associate Professor, Computer Science Transport and routing protocols for the Internet and wireless networks, feedbackbased control design and analysis, architectures for protocol design and large-scale traffic management, modeling and performance evaluation • PhD, University of Maryland at College Park, 1995
EROL PEKÖZ Associate Professor, Operations & Technology Management Control over health care resource allocation is best achieved through the demand side or through regulatory controls on the supply side • PhD, University of California Berkeley 1995 • 2001 Broderick Prize for Teaching at Boston University • Outstanding Instructor Award, UC Berkeley ARI TRACHTENBERG Associate Professor, ECE Error correcting codes; data synchronization (especially for PDAs and mobile networks); sensor-based location detection; algorithms • PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana— Champaign, 2000 • 2003 ECE Award for Excellence in Teaching • 2002 NSF CAREER Award SANDOR VAJDA Professor, BME Scientific computing, primarily optimization; computational chemistry and biology, including protein and peptide structure determination, protein engineering, and drug design • PhD, Hungarian Academy of Science (Hungary) 1983 • Editorial Manager, Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics
Annual Report 2010–2011
facult y and staff | 17
Division Administration CHRISTOS G. CASSANDRAS Division Head
HUA WANG Associate Head
Elizabeth Flagg Graduate Programs Manager
Ruth Mason Division Director
Cheryl Stewart Program Administrator
CISE Affiliated Staff LINDA GROSSER Associate Director, Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE)
DENISE JOSEPH Administrator
Administrative Director, BU Clean Energy & Environmental Sustainability Initiative (CEESI) Director of Corporate Relations, SE
Division Committees GRADUATE COMMITTEE Hua Wang—Chair Calin Belta Ioannis Paschalidis David Starobinski Pirooz Vakili Elizabeth Flagg*
SCHEDULING COMMITTEE Hua Wang—Chair James R. Perkins Pirooz Vakili Ruth Mason* Elizabeth Flagg* * ex officio
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
18 | GRADUATE PROGRAMS
GRADUATE PROGRAMS The Division of Systems Engineering (SE) is a unique interdisciplinary graduate program with select faculty from different engineering departments. It offers PhD, as well as MS and MEng degrees, to graduate students with interests in information, decision, and control sciences, and in all application areas encompassing the modeling, analysis, simulation, control, optimization, and management of complex systems. The Division offers research opportunities through the Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE). The cross-disciplinary SE curriculum, together with the CISE, leverage the expertise of Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Management faculty from the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Management. Research activities focus on: automation, robotics and control; communications and networking; computational biology; information sciences; and production, service and energy systems. Systems Engineering cuts across the traditional engineering departments as a discipline that enables building, analyzing, or managing a system be it electrical, mechanical, chemical, biological or one involving business processes and logistics. Our graduates are equipped with the unique skills to adapt their knowledge and expertise to different application domains with this flexibility placing them in high demand.
Systems PhD graduates Yin Chen, Binbin Li, Reza Moazzez Estanjini and Ruomin Wu at the May 21, 2011, PhD Hooding Ceremony. (Photo credit: John Kim)
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 19
Graduate Recruitment and Enrollment In 2010–2011, 8 new PhD students, 1 new MS student, and 5 MEng students matriculated. The PhD students were funded by 4 Dean’s Fellowships, 1 Cheung Fellowship, and 3 Graduate Teaching Fellowships. The MS student was funded by a Research Assistantship. Seven of these PhD students were offered Research Assistantships for Summer 2011.
For the academic year 2011–2012, we anticipate 7 new PhD students, 1 new MS student, and 6 new MEng students. The PhD students will be funded by 3 Dean’s Fellowships and 4 Graduate Teaching Fellowships. One MS student will be supported by a half-tuition scholarship.
2010–2011 Mean GRE Scores Verbal
%
Quantitative
%
An. Writing
%
MS Int'l
710
98
800
94
4.5
63
MEng US
470
54
763
86
4
29
MEng Int'l
355
23
715
74
3
17
PhD Int'l
518
63
798
94
4
33
Mean
448
47
759
85
4
26
NEW MATRICULANTS 2010–2011 Male
Female
GTF
DF/Cheung Fellow
MS Int'l
1
MEng US
2
MEng Int'l
2
PhD Int'l
7
1
3
5
Total
12
2
3
5
1
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
20 | Graduate programs
Admissions History Prior to July 2008, the SE graduate program was administered by the Department of Manufacturing Engineering (MFG). Beginning with Spring 2009, SE began accepting applications directly to the independent division.
* 2011–2012 data is not final.
Enrollment Prior to July 2008, the SE graduate program enrolled students in the ECE department or the former MFG department, as shown in the graph below.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 21
Course and Program Development Research Rotation
New Electives
SE has implemented a Research Rotation requirement for all first year PhD students. The primary goals are to provide an organized way for the students to explore different options for research and to provide faculty a chance to get to know the students and evaluate their potential for doing the type of research needed by the faculty. As part of the requirement, all first year PhD students are required to participate in at least two rotations, each lasting a half semester, during their first year. The students arrange with individual faculty for the rotations. For the academic year 2010-2011, all 8 first year PhD students have participated in the research rotation program, which facilitated the placement of the students within different research groups.
The SE Visiting Committee recommended expanding the SE curriculum in several directions. In particular, three courses are identified as desirable additions to enrich the SE program: a course in multi-agent decision making (i.e., games), a course in software engineering, and a course in engineering management. In response to the Committee’s recommendation, the following courses have been added to SE curriculum as suggested electives:
Energy and Environmental Systems Concentration
New Cross-Listings
SE has added an Energy and Environmental Systems concentration option to its Master of Science (MS) and Master of Engineering (MEng) programs. As part of the concentration, students have the option to focus their learning through a selection of courses from the following list: • SE/EC/ME 543 Sustainable Power Systems • ME/MS 545 Electrochemistry of Fuel Cells and Batteries • EC/MS 573 Solar Energy Systems • OM 845 Clean Technology Business Models • CAS EC 513 Game Theory • GRS EC 716 Game Theory • CAS EC 571 Energy and Environmental Economics • CAS EC 572 Public Control of Business • GRS GE 712 Regional Energy Modeling
• CAS EC 513 Game Theory • GRS EC 716 Game Theory • CAS CS 511 Object-Oriented Software Principles • GSM OM 855 Project Management
The following course was adopted and approved to be crosslisted in SE: • SE544 Networking the Physical World: Considers the evolution of embedded network sensing systems with the introduction of wireless network connectivity. Key themes are computing optimized for resource constrained (cost, energy, memory and storage space) applications and sensing interfaces to connect to the physical world. Studies current technology for networked embedded network sensors including protocol standards. A laboratory component of the course introduces students to the unique characteristics of distributed sensor motes including programming, reliable communication, sensing modalities, calibration, and application development. Meets with ENG EC544 and ENG ME544. Students may not receive credit for both. The following course was added to the SE program as an option for MS students who choose the graduate project requirement and an option for MEng students as an independent study course: • SE925 Graduate Project: A practical project in systems engineering. Systems graduate students explore a practical project in systems engineering, includng but not limited to the areas of information, decision, and control sciences, modeling, analysis, simulation, control, optimization, and management of complex systems. By petition only. Written final report required. Variable credit.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
22 | Graduate programs
PhD Student Progress Prior to July 2008, the SE graduate program enrolled students in the ECE department or the former MFG department. SE graduate student progress is shown in the graph below.
Graduate Teaching Fellows, Dean’s Fellows and Research Assistants Summer 2010
Fall 2010
Spring 2011
Total
Graduate Teaching Fellows
N/A
3
3
6
Dean's Fellows
N/A
4
4
8
Research Assistants
15
16
14
45
Other Fellows*
2
3
3
8
* Includes Cheung Fellow, EPA/Switzer Fellow, and Lincoln Fellow.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 23
Graduate Degrees Awarded MS Degrees Awarded Three MS degrees were awarded in 2010/2011. One MS graduate was a BS/MS student and another was a post-BS PhD student who continued with his PhD program.
PhD Degrees Awarded Eight PhD degrees were awarded in 2010/2011.
History of PhD Degrees Awarded
* Please note that “00” refers to the academic year 2000–2001, and so on.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
24 | Graduate programs
PhD Dissertations First
Last
Date
Advisor
Title
Yin
Chen
1/25/11
Paschalidis
From Networks to Proteins: Modeling and Optimization with Markovian Models
Abstract: Markov random field (MRF) theory provides a consistent way to model context-dependent entities and correlated features. It is often used in conjunction with statistical decision and estimation theories to formulate objective functions in terms of established optimality principles. This dissertation applies MRF modeling and optimization in two areas: network security and protein docking. The first problem considered is network anomaly detection. The objective is to detect statistically significant temporal or spatial changes in either the underlying process being monitored or the network operation itself. These changes may point to faults, threats, misbehavior, or other anomalies that require intervention. A new statistical anomaly detection framework is introduced that uses Markov models to characterize the “normal” behavior of the network. A series of Markov models are developed, including a node-level model, a tree-indexed model, and a networked Markov chain model to capture temporal and spatial features of network evolution. Large deviations techniques are employed to compare the empirical distribution (estimated from past activity traces) with its most recent empirical measure. Optimal decision rules are developed for each model to identify anomalies in recent activities. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed anomaly detection algorithms. The second application lies in bioinformatics where the objective is to computationally predict the structure of a complex of two interacting proteins. In the refinement stage of a multistage protein docking process, side-chains are extracted from the docking interface and positioned optimally by minimizing an energy function which models interactions among atoms. This combinatorial optimization problem is formulated as a maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) problem. The MWIS problem is NP-hard, yet, this dissertation develops a distributed message passing algorithm that can produce effective feasible solutions. The approach is tested on a benchmark of 17 proteins and the results indicate that optimal sidechain positioning significantly improves the binding energy landscape, increasing the correlation between energy and root mean square deviation (RMSD) from the native structure. This new side-chain positioning procedure has the potential to accelerate refinement algorithms seeking very accurate predictions of the native structure and thus serve as an important step in computational docking protocols. Binbin
Li
5/22/11
Paschalidis Optimizing Energy Consumption From Wireless Sensor Networks to Large "Smart" Buildings
Abstract: This dissertation addresses two problems of optimizing energy consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNETs) and “smart” buildings. For the first topic, we study the energy-efficient implementation of averaging/consensus algorithms in WSNETs. For static topologies we notice that a Bidirectional Spanning Tree (BST) is preferable in terms of convergence time. We formulate the combinatorial optimization problem of selecting such a minimal energy tree as a mixed integer linear programming problem. We then devise a semi-definite relaxation and a series of graph based algorithms that yield energy-efficient BSTs, and establish associated bounds on the optimal cost. For dynamic topologies we consider a load-balancing algorithm which has preferable convergence time. We formulate the problem of selecting a minimal energy interconnected network over which we can run the algorithm as a Dynamic Programming (DP) problem. We first consider the scenario of a large enough time horizon and show that the problem is equivalent to constructing a Minimum Spanning Tree. We then consider the scenario of a limited time horizon and employ a “rollout” heuristic that generates near-optimal solutions. For the second topic, we develop a market-based mechanism that enables a building Smart Microgrid Operator (SMO) to offer regulation service reserves and meet the associated obligation of fast response to commands issued by the wholesale market Independent System Operator (ISO). The proposed market-based mechanism allows the SMO to control the behavior of internal loads through price signals and to provide feedback to the ISO. A regulation service reserve quantity is transacted between the SMO and the ISO for a relatively long period of time. During this period the ISO follows shorter time scale stochastic dynamics to repeatedly request from the SMO to decrease/increase its consumption. We model the operational task of selecting an optimal short time scale dynamic pricing policy as a DP that maximizes average SMO and ISO utility. We then formulate a non-linear programming static problem that provides an upper bound on the optimal utility. We study an asymptotic regime in which this upper bound is shown to be tight and the static policy provides an efficient approximation of the dynamic pricing policy.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 25
First
Last
Date
Advisor
Title
Reza
Moazzez Estanjini
5/22/11
Paschalidis Vehicle Scheduling and Routing for Data Transport in Wireless Sensor Networks
Abstract: The traditional approach for data relaying in Wireless Sensor NETworks (WSNETs) involves multi-hop communications from data sources to destinations. In addition to problems that multi-hop routing may cause when networks become partitioned, relaying data over a large number of hops reduces the lifetime of sensor nodes. It is known that the use of some mobile elements, which in this dissertation are referred to as Message Ferries (MFs), to transport data from node to node can overcome the mentioned difficulties. In this dissertation, a WSNET in which MFs are used is termed Mobile Sensor NETworks (MSNETs). In MSNETs, the data transfer efficiency depends heavily on the path followed by the MFs, hence the main challenge is the scheduling of the MFs. This dissertation addresses this issue within two settings: a static perspective and a dynamic one. The static setting is suitable for MSNETs whose underlying dynamics are relatively slow. For such scenarios, the proposed solutions in this dissertation have performance guarantees, some present novel results on scalability of MSNETs, and some even improve the best-known solutions to some classical problems in combinatorial optimization. On the other hand, for MSNETs whose underlying dynamics are faster and less predictable, a dynamic perspective is more suitable. For such scenarios, this dissertation addresses the problems in a Markov Decision Process (MDP) framework. A powerful novel approximate Dynamic Programming (DP) algorithm for MDP problems is presented. The algorithm is of the Actor-Critic (AC) type and uses a Least Squares Temporal Difference (LSTD) learning method. The use of the algorithm is not restricted to MSNET problems; it can also be used for many MDP problems as well as Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) problems arising in other application areas. The forklift dispatching problem illustrated in this dissertation, which can be seen as an instance of the MF scheduling problems in MSNETs, is in fact an example of a real world problem in warehouse management where the use of the proposed algorithm is shown to be effective. Thomas
Vitolo
1/25/11
Casta単on
Practical Algorithms to Discover Degree Constrained Spanning Trees in Sparsley Connected Drafts
Abstract: Choosing a network topology to connect communication nodes subject to specific objectives, constraints, and properties is a broadly studied problem, with approaches varying widely depending on the hardware capabilities and limitations, the required performance criteria, and the available budget. This thesis is motivated by a topology problem in which naval, ground, air, and space vehicles require secure, high bandwidth data communications across long distances in an unstable environment. Each wireless connection in the network requires a pair of directional antennae; the connection is point-to-point line-of-sight, not broadcast over a wider region. While some nodes may be stationary, stable and secure, the majority of the hundreds of nodes in the network are moving. As a result, a line-of-sight connection between a pair of nodes is subject to predictable and unpredictable interruption. Because the network is constantly evolving, new topologies must be generated very quickly so that network connectivity is maintained. This thesis defines the connectivity problem as finding a modified degree constrained spanning tree. It develops optimal algorithms which can generate the topology backbone for large point-to-point wireless networks quickly, even in networks with hundreds of nodes. The algorithms presented are compared to other network generating algorithms. This thesis extends the algorithms to new variations of this topology problem including scenarios where the antennae in the network consist of multiple incompatible technologies, and uses discrete time stages to maximize full connectivity over a time horizon. The results of the thesis provide algorithms for the design of real-time topology maintenance algorithms, as well as bounds for comparison with the performance of faster heuristic approaches for topology maintenance.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
26 | Graduate programs
PhD Dissertations First
Last
Ruomin Wu
(continued)
Date
Advisor
Title
1/25/11
Paschalidis
Maximum Lifetime Routing and Resource Allocation in Wireless Sensor Networks
Abstract: Wireless Sensor NETworks (WSNETs) have emerged as a new paradigm of networks consisting of small, intelligent sensing devices that communicate wirelessly with each other and coordinate to monitor and control a plethora of physical systems. Such networks have found applications in many areas, most notably in building and industrial automation and environmental observation. This dissertation considers two optimization problems arising in WSNETs. The first is a maximum lifetime routing problem which has been formulated as a linear programming problem in the literature. An optimal value of the linear program corresponds to a prediction of the optimal network lifetime. The thesis studies this problem under the natural assumption that uncertainty is present in the various network parameters (e.g., available energy stored at the nodes and energy depletion rates due to transmissions and receptions). It is proved that for specific, yet typical network topologies, the actual network lifetime will reach the predicted value with a probability that converges to zero as the number of nodes grows large. This suggests that the formulation available in the literature is not informative under uncertainty. A series of alternative robust problem formulations, ranging from pessimistic to optimistic, is developed. A set of parameters enable the tuning of the conservatism of the formulation to obtain network flows with a desirably high probability that the corresponding lifetime prediction will be achieved. A number of properties for the robust network flows and corresponding energy allocation is established. An illustrative set of numerical results highlight the trade-off between predicted lifetime and the probability it is achieved. In addition, a special limiting regime of massively deployed WSNETs with point sources and sinks is studied. This regime essentially corresponds to a continuous version of the maximum lifetime routing problem with energy allocation. In such a continuous setting, the optimal network flows follow a straight line from the traffic sources to their nearest sinks with the proper amount of energy allocated on that line segment. The second problem considered by the thesis is a resource allocation problem. In WSNETs the sensor nodes collect and send information to sink nodes—via processes referred to as sessions—through potentially other nodes that act as relays. Sessions are admitted only if there are enough available resources (e.g., energy, buffer space, CPU time, sufficiently large wireless transmission rates) at relay nodes on a selected path from source to destination. Admitted sessions pay a “fee” for consuming these resources and session arrival rates are modulated by the prevailing “prices” issued by the WSNET. The nodes may select routes dynamically from multiple alternatives for admitted sessions. The optimal resource allocation problem is formulated as maximizing long-term average welfare for the whole WSNET. Identifying the globally optimal dynamic policy is hardly possible due to the well-known curse of dimensionality. Implementation of such a dynamic policy is also unattractive. The thesis develops an alternative “static pricing”policy which is asymptotically optimal in a limiting regime of many, relatively small, sessions. These asymptotically optimal prices can be found by solving a nonlinear optimization problem. A distributed and asynchronous iterative algorithm which utilizes only local information available (or measured) by the nodes is proposed and shown to converge to the optimal static prices under rather general assumptions. The convergence of the algorithm is proved by leveraging stochastic approximation techniques.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 27
First
Last
Chen Yao
Date
Advisor
Title
1/25/11
Cassandras Perturbation Analysis, Optimization and Resource Contention Games in Stochastic Hybrid Systems
Abstract: Stochastic Hybrid Systems (SHS) are systems that combine event-driven and time-driven dynamics, and include elements to model uncertainties in the system. There have been several different types of stochastic hybrid system models proposed. In this dissertation, we first present a unified framework for carrying out perturbation analysis for general SHS with arbitrary structures, in particular, the Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis (IPA) methodology originally developed for Discrete Event Systems. We also establish properties that apply to this framework and justify its effectiveness in recovering useful performance sensitivity estimates. Then, we concentrate on Stochastic Flow Models (SFMs), which are one type of SHS and are used to abstract the dynamics of many complex discrete event systems to provide the basis for their control and optimization. SFMs have been used to date to study systems with a single user class or some multiclass settings in which performance metrics are not class-dependent. However, little work has been done for multiclass systems that fully differentiate among classes, where classes contend for single or multiple system resources, and with class-dependent performance metrics. This is partly due to the complexities in modeling SFMs for such systems, and partly due to the difficulties in applying IPA in this context. In this dissertation, we build a general framework based on v multiclass SFMs, to model stochastic resource contention systems, where multiple classes (users) compete for shared resources. The general IPA framework is then applied to such systems to obtain performance gradient estimates for various user-specific objectives, which enables the study of a new “user-centric” optimization perspective, in addition to the usual “system-centric” viewpoint. Following the “user-centric” optimization, each class (user) seeks to optimize its own performance by adjusting its own controls, which leads to resource contention games between classes. A simple instance of such systems is studied to illustrate how the general IPA is applied to specific systems, and the difference between solutions of the two perspectives, which is commonly referred to as the “price of anarchy”. We focus on two specific resource contention problems in this dissertation. One is the admission control problem for the multiclass queueing system under a First Come First Served (FCFS) policy, where the buffer capacity thresholds of all classes are determined to optimize system performances; the other problem is the multiclass lot-sizing problem arising in the manufacturing production planning setting, where we seek to obtain optimal lot sizes for all classes. For both problems, the general IPA framework is applied to the multiclass SFM abstractions to derive sensitivity estimates of performance metrics with respect to control parameters of interest, which are all proven to be unbiased hence reliable for control and optimization purposes. These estimates are then used to drive the on-line optimization of these parameters, and simulation results are provided to contrast the solutions between “system-centric” and “user-centric” perspective. Gang Zhao
1/25/11
Vakili
Structured Database Monte Carlo (SDMC): An Approach to Efficient Parametric Estimation
Abstract: Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is a very general and flexible method for estimation of quantities of interest in stochastic models used in diverse areas of science and engineering. While the convergence rate of the method, by contrast to deterministic algorithms, does not grow with problem dimension and depends only on the number of random samples, its computational cost can be substantial due to the slow rate of convergence of the MC estimator. As a result, a large class of efficient Monte Carlo algorithms includes methods to reduce the variance of the MC estimator. They are referred to as Variance Reduction Techniques (VRTs). Most of these techniques cannot be generically applied and depend on special features of the specific estimation problems that need to be discovered by users one problem type at a time. In this thesis it is assumed that the estimation problem depends on a model or decision parameter. In this parametric setting a new class of efficient MC algorithms, called Structured Database Monte Carlo (SDMC), is introduced that can be generically used in a wide class of parametric estimation problems. The approach relies on computational learning at a nominal parameter value in order to gain efficiency when estimating at neighboring parameters and is based on the variance reduction technique of stratification. To analyze the convergence properties of the algorithm a novel connection between variance reduction techniques and the framework of Information Based Complexity (IBC) is established. It is shown that under some assumptions the SDMC algorithm achieves the optimal worst case convergence rate. Additional optimal properties of the algorithm are established. Computational experiments are provided to illustrate the significant computational efficiencies that can be gained. Settings under which the direct application of the approach is not appropriate or effective are discussed and variants of the algorithm that can be used in these setting are presented. Extensions of the approach to problems where the perturbation is in model dynamics rather than model parameters are provided.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
28 | Graduate programs
PhD Dissertations
(continued)
First
Last
Date
Advisor
Title
Minyi
Zhong
1/25/11
Cassandras Distributed Control and Optimization in Energy Limited Cooperative Systems
Abstract: Many modern optimization and control tasks can only be accomplished by deploying a distributed cooperative system, which consists of geographically distributed agents working on missions that require their combined efforts, with little or no central coordination. In this dissertation, we first study a typical problem requiring such a setting, the sensor network coverage and data collection mission, where a team of mobile sensors cooperatively monitor their environment and extract information from data sources. We identify three key mission components: coverage control, data source detection and data collection, and propose an end-to-end solution framework. For coverage control, we develop a gradient-based scheme to maximize the joint detection probability of random events, taking into account the discontinuities introduced by obstacles and limited sensing field of view. The optimization scheme requires only local information at each node and is suitable for distributed implementation. We also propose a modified objective function which allows a more balanced coverage of the mission space when necessary. To facilitate reliable data source detection, we adopt a Bayesian occupancy grid mapping technique to recursively estimate the locations of potential data sources. Once a set of high occupancy probability locations are identified, a dual-objective optimization problem incorporating both coverage and data collection requirements is solved at each node. The interactions among the three components of the sensor network control system are discussed. A simulator and two robotic testbeds are developed to demonstrate our results. To reduce communication overhead in energy limited distributed cooperative systems, we develop an event-driven communication scheme by focusing on how and when agents should communicate in order to make their information exchange more efficient and thus save energy. We consider the general problem where multiple agents must cooperate to control their individual state so as to optimize a common objective while communicating with each other to exchange updated state information. We obtain conditions under which the optimization process converges with asynchronous communication of state information among agents. We apply this asynchronous (event-driven) approach to the coverage control problem and numerically show that it substantially reduces energy consumption while preserving the same performance as a synchronous algorithm.
Graduate Students MS and MEng Students Name
Program
Advisor
Previous Institution
Abreu, Catarina
LEAP Phase I
Perkins
University of Victoria
Agirman, Ahmet
MEng
Wang, H
Anadolu University
Al Shamali, Bassam
BS/MS
Vakili
Boston University
Cannon, Benjamin
LEAP Phase I
Perkins
University of Georgia
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 29
MS and MEng (continued) Name
Program
Advisor
Previous Institution
Costandi, Amy
MEng
Trachtenberg
Boston University
Fontana Pelgron, Ludovico
MEng
Perkins
Universidad Simon Bolivar
Kuchinsky, David
MEng
Castañon
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Ma, Yue
MEng
Andersson
Boston University
Marat, Yerzat
MEng
Caramanis
Mitra, Subhodeep
MS
Caramanis
West Bengal University of Technology
Shenvi, Sagar
MS
Ishwar
Indian Inst of Tech
Rinckel, Daniel
MEng
Vakili
Wei, Cong
MEng
Cassandras
PhD STUDENTS Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Aydin Gol
Ebru
Andersson
Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne; Middle East Tech University
I’m working in the HyNeSs Lab on controller synthesis for a given discrete time linear system which will satisfy the given specifications. The specifications are represented using co-safe linear temporal logic (LTL) formulas defined over a set of linear predicates which support finite time semantics. For example a simple specification would be “ stay safe for all times and eventually reach the destination.” The goal is to construct a controller strategy and to find the maximal set of states such that any trajectory starting from this set will satisfy the formula. A language guided construction method is developed. The construction process starts from the given formula and guarantees that the controlled system will satisfy the formula.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
30 | Graduate programs
PhD STUDENTS
(continued)
Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Bilgin
Enes
Caramanis
Bilkent University
I am working with Michael Caramanis on regulating electricity markets and integration of smart grids into these markets. Particularly, we are trying to develop alternative pricing methods for wholesale power markets and mechanisms to control the demand in smart grids. Hence, we aim to increase efficiency in energy consumption and create more room for green energy resources while maintaining the security for power systems.
Chen
Yin
Paschalidis
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Dissertation: From Networks to Proteins: Modeling and Optimization with Markovian Models. Placement: Procter & Gamble German Innovation Center
Cizelj
Igor
Belta
University of Zagrebe
I work in the Hybrid and Networked Systems (HyNeSs) Lab. My research interests include robotics, probability theory, motion planning and control. More specifically, my interests lie in the modeling and optimization of planning and control algorithms for safety-critical systems, with a large emphasis on robotic applications. Currently I am focused on probabilistically safe vehicle control in threat rich environment. In the near future I wish to address the following problem: what probabilistic guarantees can we have, if any, when the vehicle motion is modeled as a stochastic system and the properties of the environment can be detected only locally. Foster
Justin
Caramanis
Bowdoin College
I work in Michael Caramanis’ Lab where our research focuses on sustainable power systems, environmental policy analysis, and electricity market design. We are working towards the development of an applied science base incorporating demand response and distributed generation, which holds promise for dramatic global effects on sustainable energy when implemented in both developed and developing countries. Currently, we are focused on the market-based coordination of plug-in electric vehicles and renewable electricity generation, in particular, wind, that will contribute to the broad adoption of both technologies. In addition, we are developing transmission topology control policies, i.e., appropriate changes in transmission line status, which can redistribute power flow and significantly lower congestion costs.wish to address the following problem: what probabilistic guarantees can we have, if any, when the vehicle motion is modeled as a stochastic system and the properties of the environment can be detected only locally. Geng
Yanfeng
Cassandras
University of Science and Technology of China
We propose a “smart parking” system for an urban environment based on a dynamic resource allocation (DRA) approach. The system assigns and reserves an optimal resource (parking space) for a user (driver) based on the user’s objective function that combines proximity to destination with parking cost, while also ensuring that the overall parking capacity is efficiently utilized. Our first approach is to solve a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) problem at each decision point in a time-driven sequence. The solution of each MILP is an optimal allocation based on current state information and subject to random events such as new user requests or parking spaces becoming available. Simulation results show that using this “smart parking” idea can achieve significant improvement over state-of-the-art guidance-based systems. Then we generalized the DRA problem and solved it with Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP) method. Simulations show that we can obtain near-optimal allocation results. We are now implementing this idea in a BU garage.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 31
Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Huang
Fuzhuo
Paschalidis
Tsinghua University
We propose a novel, low-complexity and fully distributed algorithm that yields high-quality feasible solutions to Maximum Weighted Independent Set (MWIS) problem. More specifically, our proposed algorithm consists of two phases, each of which requires only local information and is based on message passing. We show that our algorithm always outputs an optimal solution to the MWIS problem for bipartite graphs using the deterministic estimation method, and provides a probabilistic performance guarantee for general graphs with heavy weights using the randomized estimation algorithm. We apply our algorithm on two different applications in wireless sensor network. One application is the problem of efficiently “emptying” a wireless sensor network that has accumulated a large amount of data at its nodes and seeks to relay them to designated gateways so as to maximize a concave function of achievable transmission rates. The other application is the problem of scheduling wireless networks with stochastic packet arrivals on the links and constant transmission rates. Kavurmacioglu
Emir
Starobinski
Purdue University at West Lafayette
My research interests are Network Economics and Wireless Spectrum Management, particularly areas of Dynamic Spectrum Access and Secondary Spectrum Markets, both of which introduce a new way of regulating the telecommunications radio spectrum more efficiently. My current work focuses on analyzing pricing strategies and predicting possible market equilibria when multiple Wireless Spectrum Providers compete and consequently force each other to suboptimal outcomes. This involves the use of statistical tools such as Continuous Time Markov Processes, Dynamic Programming and Linear Optimization as well as the economics field of Game Theory. Kebarighotbi
Ali
Cassandras
University of Windsor; Tehran Polytechnic
We have been working on Stochastic Optimization using the sample path data from Discrete-Event Systems (DES). We first simplify the complicated DES dynamics by making a fluid abstraction, which results in a Stochastic Flow Model (SFM). Simpler to analyze, a SFM produces a Stochastic Hybrid model allowing us to only use the important data and events from the sample path for optimization purposes. We have managed to extend the state of the art in optimization of resource-scarce systems for two different types of systems: First, we have extended the well-known c-mu rule to the SFMs optimizing of the average workload in the systems consisting of parallel queues competing to get service at a shared server. Here, our main contribution is in accommodating fairly general stochastic processes and nonlinear objectives, which previously were impossible. Second, we have used the same paradigm for the timeout optimization in the re-transmission-based network systems consisting of different transmitting nodes using a shared channel to communicate with their receivers. In this case, the best timeout parameters are chosen in order to optimize various objectives such as average network delay and goodput. Our analysis is fairly independent of the underlying probability distributions of the involved stochastic processes and results in the sensitivities of the network objectives, which can then be used in gradient-base optimization routines. Simulation results verify the applicability of our results to the real world problems. Li
Binbin
Paschalidis
Tsinghua University
Dissertation: Optimizing Energy Consumption From Wireless Sensor Networks to Large “Smart” Buildings Placement: SAS
Lin
Xuchao
Cassandras
Zhejiang University
We design an optimal control framework for persistent monitoring problems where the objective is to control the movement of mobile nodes to minimize an uncertainty metric in a given mission space. For a single agent in a one-dimensional space, we show that the optimal solution is obtained in terms of a sequence of switching locations, thus reducing it to a parametric optimization problem. Using Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis (IPA) we obtain a complete solution through a gradient-based algorithm. We also propose two receding horizon controllers which are capable of obtaining a near-optimal solution on-the-fly.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
32 | Graduate programs
PhD STUDENTS
(continued)
Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Locke
Ronald “Taylor”
Paschalidis
Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute
I conduct my research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. The Laboratory works with industry to transition new concepts and technology for system development and deployment.
Mirzaei
Hanieh
Vakili
Sharif University of Technology
I work in the Structural Bioinformatics Lab, headed by Sandor Vajda, where our research focuses on the recognition of proteins and small molecules by protein receptors. Studying protein-protein interactions is crucial for a better understanding of processes such as metabolic control, signal transduction, and gene regulation, whereas the ability to dock small ligands to proteins is the key to rational drug and vaccine design strategies.
Moazzez Estanjini
Reza
Paschalidis
Sharif University of Technology
Dissertation: Vehicle Scheduling and Routing in Warehouses and in Sensor Networks
Moghadasi
Mohammad
Paschalidis/Vajda
Sharif University of Technology
My research interests lie in the field of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics with emphasis on Proteomics, and my current research focuses particularly on Protein-protein docking and Prediction of protein structure. My job involves with different fields of science such as Molecular Biology, Statistical Physics, Molecular Dynamics, and various mathematical tools such as Nonlinear Optimization. I am working on the development of new, efficient methods to predict and analyze the protein-protein interactions which play a crucial role in various aspects of the structural and functional organization of the cell. Qian
Jing
Saligrama
Tsinghua University
I work with the Information Sciences and Systems (ISS) research group (ECE) at Boston University. Our group’s mission is research, education, and technology transfer in all areas related to the sensing, communication, and processing of information, encompassing an extensive range of natural and man-made phenomena, as well as the design and synthesis of secure networked systems for optimum decision-making and control.
Shang
Jizong
Cassandras
Beijing Institute of Technology
My research is about localization of mobile wireless sensors in a building. We build a map of mission space where mobile wireless sensors are randomly put to perform certain tasks. Each mobile wireless sensor needs to get its own coordinates on the map by means of abstracting features from observations and analyzing these features. We establish a probabilistic framework to solve this problem. In each step when the wireless sensor gets new observations, some probabilities are updated efficiently according to a probability tree and then a new control is computed if necessary. The theory for solving the problem is under test via experiment.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Graduate Programs | 33
Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Si
Wei
Starobinski
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
I work with the Laboratory of Networking and Information Systems (NISLAB). We are involved in providing novel perspectives to modern networking with emphasis on scalability, heterogeneity, and performance. Our research roots into the mathematical fields of graph theory and algorithms, probability and stochastic processes, and coding theory with applications to security, content synchronization, network monitoring, wireless spectrum management, and advanced networking for scientific applications. Sun
Na
Vakili
Tsinghua University
Our research develops variance reduction techniques that can be generically applied in the context of parametric estimation problems. It focuses on the method of Control Variates (CV) and proposes two broad strategies for systematic control variate selection. In the first part, by considering an alternative parameterization, it expands the range of application of a recent control variate selection approach to a wider class of problems. It is particularly relevant to sensitivity estimation problems with respect to decision parameters. In the second part, the strategy of systematic control variate selection based on approximate dynamics is considered. The general strategy is to define various approximations to the original stochastic process and use parametric quantities defined on the approximate processes as controls for the original estimation problem. Our research aims to develop a broad framework for the analysis of the two approaches and their performances. Tang
Xiaojin
Vakili
Peking University
My current research interests include efficient Monte Carlo simulation in the areas of finance, advised by Prof. Vakili. We consider a class of parametric estimation problems where the goal is efficient estimation of a quantity of interest for many instances that differ in some model or decision parameters. We have proposed an approach, called DataBase Monte Carlo (DBMC), which uses variance reduction techniques in a “constructive� way in this setting: Information is gathered through sampling at a set of parameter values and is used to construct effective variance reducing algorithms when estimating at other parameters. We investigate in application of DBMC along with the variance reduction techniques of importance sampling. We use the optimal sampling measure at a nominal parameter as a sampling measure at neighboring parameters and analyze the variance of the resulting important sampling estimator. Tomasson
Egill
Cassandras
University of Iceland
I worked with Professor Cassandras on problems in the area of discrete event and hybrid systems, stochastic optimization, simulation, manufacturing systems, communication and sensor networks, and command-control systems.
Ulusoy
M. Alphan
Belta
Sabanci Universitesi
My current research interests include robotics and distributed/networked control systems. As a member of the Hybrid and Networked Systems Lab (HyNeSs), I am primarily working on efficient methods for automatic planning of the optimal paths for a team of robots that satisfy a common high-level mission specification. Another ongoing project that I am also involved in aims to observe and learn about the environment using image processing, e.g. states of barriers on a road, from an automated drone that hovers over the Robotic Urban Like Environment (RULE) platform. My future research will focus on mission-oriented event-driven robotic control in a dynamic environment where robots are also required to obey a given set of rules at all times.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
34 | Graduate programs
PhD Students
(continued)
Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Vitolo
Thomas
CastaĂąon
North Carolina State (BS), Dublin City University (MS)
Dissertation: Practical Algorithms to Discover Degree Constrained Spanning Trees in Sparsley Connected Drafts Placement: Associate, Synapse Energy Economics
Wang
Tao
Cassandras
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Georgia Institute of Technology
We study the energy-aware battery-powered systems based on a non-ideal battery model. First, modeling a battery as a dynamic system, we adopt a Kinetic Battery Model (KBM) and formulate an optimal control problem to find out how to optimally control the discharge and recharge processes of the battery so as to maximize the work it can perform when recharging is always feasible under the constraint that discharging and recharging cannot occur at the same time. Verified by a different battery model, the effectiveness of the solution further motivates us to extend the application of KBM to more complicated battery-powered systems. For instance, we then extend the problem to settings where recharging is only occasionally feasible. Moreover, we also further our research to multi-battery systems, including battery-powered network systems. The promising results just amount to the merits of our research and motivate more investigation in future research on various energy-aware systems based on non-ideal battery models. Wu
Ruomin
Paschalidis
Zhejiang University
Dissertation: Maximum Lifetime Routing and Resource Allocation in Wireless Sensor Networks Placement: Bloomberg
Xiong
Ruosen
Cassandras
Zhejiang University
Yao
Chen
Cassandras
Zhejiang University
Dissertation: Perturbation Analysis, Optimization and Resource Contention Games in Stochastic Hybrid Systems Placement: Senior Research Engineer, Global Automation Research, Nalco Company
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Graduate Programs | 35
Last Name
First Name
Advisor
Previous Institution
Zhang
Bowen
Baillieul
Zhejiang University
My research lies in the area of smart grid. I explore the possibility to schedule electricity consumption for both residential and commercial buildings where smart appliances have been adopted. Thermostatic appliances is open to demand response since the thermostatic points could be adjusted to electricity prices and temperature could be controlled within comfortable zone with predetermined policies. The smart grid research is correlated with multi-disciplinary knowledge such as dynamic programming, optimization, queuing system, and control theory. Our research also deals with the system identification of electric consumption pattern in actual buildings. We are going to deploy some current transformers to monitor the electric consumption pattern of 15 St. Mary’s, both steady state electric power flow and transient performance would be studied once the data from current transducers are collected. Aside from the issues discussed above, we are also interested in the planning of reserve selling, peak demand consumption shifting, etc. Zhao
Gang
Vakili
University of California, San Diego (ME), Peking University (MS), Tsinghua University (BE)
Dissertation: Structured Database Monte Carlo (SDMC): An Approach to Efficient Parametric Estimation Placement: Financial Engineer, ITG
Zheng
Jiefu
Castanon
Nanjing University
My research focuses on Max-flow Network Interdiction Problem (MNIP), which has a wide range of applications in the areas of anti-smuggle, military defense, virus control, and network security. The MNIP model can be viewed as a Stackberg game, in which the interdictor is the leader, who tries to damage the network while the evader is the follower, who will use the network later to transfer drugs between a given pair of source and terminal. The goal is to find an optimal strategy for the interdictor, which can minimize the evader’s expected max-flow. We formulate this problem as a stochastic integer programming problem and solve it with an algorithm which is modified from the canonical Branch and Bound (B\&B) method. Numerical results show that our method is much faster than any previous algorithms designed for this problem. Zhong
Minyi
Cassandras
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Dissertation: Distributed Control and Optimization in Energy Limited Cooperative Systems Placement: Microsoft Corporation
Zhou
Yiduo
Perkins
Tsinghua University
I work with Professor Perkins on real-time scheduling and control of manufacturing systems, supply chain management, resource pricing and congestion control in communications networks, scheduling human resources in transportation systems and in product development.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
36 | Graduate programs
Graduate Courses Course Number
Title
Instructor
EK 500 A1
Probability with Statistical Applications CORE
Perkins
X
SE/ME/EC 501 A1
Dynamic Systems Theory CORE
Baillieul
X
BE 505 A1
Molecular Bioengineering I ELECTIVE
Vajda
X
EC 505 A1
Stochastic Processes CORE
Karl/Saligrama
X
ME/MS 507 A1, DL
Process Modeling and Control ELECTIVE
Gevelber
X
ME 510 A1, DL
Production Systems Analysis ELECTIVE
Perkins
X
ME 514 / EC 514 A1
Simulation ELECTIVE
Vakili
X
SE/EC 524 A1
Optimization Theory and Methods CORE
Castanon
X
SE/ME/EC 543 A1, DL
Sustainable Power Systems: Planning, Operation and Markets ELECTIVE
Caramanis
X
EC 544
Networking the Physical World ELECTIVE
Little
X
BE 561
DNA & Protein Sequence Analysis ELECTIVE
Kasif
X
CAS MA 577
Math of Financial Derivatives ELECTIVE
Taqqu
X
SE/ME/EC 710
Dynamic Programming and Stoch Control CORE
Caramanis
SE/MS 704
Adaptive Control of Dynamical Systems ELECTIVE
Andersson
SE/ME 714 A1
Adv Stochastic Modeling and Simulation CORE
Vakili
X
EC/ME/SE 724
Advanced Optimization Thry and Methods ELECTIVE
Paschalidis
X
SE/EC/ME 733
Discrete Event and Hybrid Systems ELECTIVE
Cassandras
X
SE/ME/EC 734
Hybrid Systems ELECTIVE
Belta
ME/SE 740
Vision Robotics and Planning ELECTIVE
Baillieul
X
SE/ME 762
Nonlinear Systems & Control ELECTIVE
Wang
X
BE 777 A1
Computational Genomics I ELECTIVE
Xia
Annual Report 2010–2011
Fall 2010
Spring 2011
X
X
X X
X
X
Research | 37
Research The Division brings together faculty from across the University to pursue collaborative research in Systems Engineering. Division faculty hold primary appointments in the College of Engineering (COE) Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Department of Mechanical Engineering; College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Bioinformatics Program, Department of Computer Science and Department of Mathematics and Statistics; and the School of Management (SMG) Department of Operations and Technology Management. There are five primary areas of research: • Automation, Robotics and Control, which includes teams of autonomous agents, networked control systems, image-guided surgery, control of material processes, and nanoscale systems; • Communications and Networking, which includes performance analysis, pricing and resource allocation, communication protocols, cyber-security, visual light communication, and optical, wireless, and sensor networks; • Computational Biology, which includes metabolic and gene networks, systems biology, and protein docking;
• Information Sciences, including signal and image processing, multi-resolution signal modeling, multidimensional detection and estimation, geometricbased modeling and estimation, image encoding/decoding, and the integration of digital signal processing with signal understanding; and • Production, Service and Energy Systems, which includes energy economics and management, smart grids, production scheduling and planning, logistics, inventory control, supply chain management, financial engineering.
Professor Sean Andersson and students use a custom confocal microscope for tracking single fluorescent particles.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
38 | Research
Research Highlights Researchers Partner with MIT Lincoln Laboratory on Advanced Imaging Projects Excerpt from an article by Mark Dwortzan
Professor Venkatesh Saligrama (ECE, SE) has developed novel statistical methods to identify and locate pixel-level changes that depart from normal activity within a monitored scene—changes that could indicate potential security threats. Saligrama has teamed up with Sumanth Kaushik of the Space Control Systems Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory to adapt these methods to analyze video imagery from UAVs. (Image courtesy of Venkatesh Saligrama.)
Surveillance video from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) generates a tremendous amount of data, making it difficult for ground controllers to identify and track suspicious activities in short order. But advanced techniques that PROFESSOR VENKATESH SALIGRAMA (ECE, SE), in collaboration with a researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, is developing to analyze airborne video imagery could enable controllers to respond much faster to potential security threats. Saligrama is working with Sumanth Kaushik of the Space Control Systems Group at Lincoln Laboratory, the second time that Lincoln Laboratory has selected Boston University’s College of Engineering as a partner to advance its research agenda as part of its Campus Collaborations program. The first joint project, launched in 2009, focuses on biophotonics.
Accelerating Airborne Video Analysis For Lincoln Laboratory, which is teaming up with leading imaging experts in the northeastern U.S. to pursue research organized by its emerging Imaging Sciences Center, Saligrama was a natural choice. “Professor Saligrama is a national leader in video analytics, and his group has made several important advances in automated exploitation of motion video imagery,” said Kaushik, noting that Saligrama’s work has thus far been applied mainly to groundbased imagery. “Our plan is to adapt his work to the analysis of video imagery taken from UAVs, a very important and growing area for the U.S. military.” Rather than classify and track objects in a video stream, as most video surveillance software does, Saligrama’s approach breaks footage down to a sequence of snapshots, compares pixels in
Annual Report 2010–2011
subsequent snapshots for subtle changes, and uses statistical methods to identify and locate pixel-level changes that depart from normal activity within the monitored scene. Data collected on these anomalies can then be tracked via conventional software systems. In their joint project, Saligrama and Kaushik aim to enable analysts not only to identify unusual activities in airborne video very quickly, but also to find specific events in archived data. “We’re developing fast, cheap and reliable algorithms that can process the video on-the-fly and search through it with respect to a specified activity,” said Saligrama. “Our event-based features will enable characterization of activity across different videos.”
Research | 39
Developing Bio-Inspired Aerial Vehicles Adapted from an article by Mark Dwortzan
Can studying the flight dynamics of bats, birds and insects lead to a new generation of unmanned aerial vehicles that can navigate more effectively in cluttered environments? To maneuver as well as winged animals in tight places such as forests and caves, and land as safely on variable and moving terrain, an engineered system would have to incorporate unprecedented sensing and control capabilities while satisfying complex physical design, weight and computational requirements.
Combining expertise in birds, bats and insect flight as well as in sensor and control systems, the researchers will study the dynamics of winged creatures on a neurological level, in the laboratory and in free flight. By carefully examining how diverse airborne species sense their environment in forests, caves and other cluttered spaces and use that data to control their movement, they could help engineers design more agile unmanned aircraft for military, disaster recovery and other applications.
Aiming to build a process for translating biological capabilities for agile flight in a range of environments for engineered flight vehicles, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to a team of researchers from Boston University, the University of Washington, the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Entitled AIRFOILS (Animal Inspired Flight with Outer and Inner Loop Strategies), the project seeks to develop techniques to balance long-range goals, such as reaching a final destination, with short-term navigation, such as avoiding obstacles or dealing with wind gusts.
Operating under a $3.1 million subcontract, the Boston University team includes Professors JOHN BAILLIEUL (ME, ECE, SE) and IOANNIS PASCHALIDIS (ECE, SE) and Assistant Professor CALIN BELTA (ME, SE) in the College of Engineering; and Thomas Kunz, Professor of Biology, and Margrit Betke, Associate Professor of Computer Science, in the College of Arts & Sciences. The project’s principal investigator, Kristi Morgansen, Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington, received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University in the mid-1990s.
High-resolution thermal image of bats in flight. Such images will be used to develop flight control algorithms approximating bat flight. (Image courtesy of Tom Kunz, BU professor of biology)
“We will try to learn how these animals move from place to place and react to obstacles, and rethink flight control algorithms from the ground up,” said Belta. “Classical flight control algorithms emphasize stability and safety, but it may be advantageous to modify these algorithms so vehicles can react quickly to the environment.” In one scenario, biologist Thomas Kunz will image bats flying through forests with high-speed, high-resolution, thermal cameras; computer scientist Margrit Betke will convert Kunz’ raw image data into a three-dimensional computer model of bat trajectories through a forest; and Baillieul, Belta and Paschalidis will use the computer-reconstructed bat trajectories to develop flight control algorithms that approximate the bat flight, and ultimately test them on real vehicles. Recognizing that bats and other winged creatures often fly in formation, the College of Engineering team’s work will leverage their previous research on multiple robot formation control and feedback control of mobile vehicles. “We’ve worked with ground-based robots and operated them in formation,” said Bailleiul. “The goal is to take what we know about controlling groups of mobile robots and apply it to aerial vehicles that must rapidly maneuver through clutter. We also plan to build small flight vehicles that will fly with the bats as they emerge from their caves. The hope is to gain heretofore unavailable close-up video images of the animals in flight.” AIRFOILS is funded through the ONR’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, which supports fundamental research with the potential for commercial and defense applications.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
40 | Research
Mobilizing Microbes: Robot-Assisted, Bacteria-Based Sensors By Mark Dwortzan Cheap, adaptable to extreme environments—and endowed with a natural ability to probe, analyze and modify their surroundings—microbiological organisms represent a promising line of attack for everything from oil spill cleanup to chemical weapons detection. But harnessing this capability will require some complex technological enhancements. Major challenges include getting the microbes to sense, process and respond to specific stimuli; equipping them to communicate their findings; and coordinating them to take collective action in real-time. Now a research team led by PROFESSOR JAMES COLLINS (BME, MSE, SE) proposes to surmount these challenges through an unprecedented combination of expertise in synthetic biology, computer engineering, control systems and robotics. The Office of Naval Research has awarded the team—which includes Assistant Professors CALIN BELTA (ME, SE) and Douglas Densmore (ECE) and leading researchers from Harvard University, MIT, Northeastern University and the University of Pennsylvania— with a highly competitive Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant of $7.5 million to pursue its project, “Utilizing Synthetic Biology to Create Programmable Micro-Bio-Robots,” over the next five years. The team’s goal is to develop technologies that enable swarms of microbiological organisms to execute desired tasks in a cohesive, efficient manner. Toward that end, the researchers plan to genetically alter microbes to detect, analyze and respond to explosives, toxins, metals, salinity, pH, temperature, light and other environmental signals; assemble groups of these programmed microbes and support hardware into 10–100-micrometer-long hybrid “microbio-robots” (MBRs); and design 10–100-centimeter-long, powered “chaperone robots” that direct and monitor thousands of MBRs at close proximity and apprise human operators of their progress via wireless communication.
Annual Report 2010–2011
ENG research will support the project’s three main thrusts: programmed bacteria with engineered biomolecular sensors and synthetic gene networks, two-way communication between micro-bio-robots (MBRs) and chaperone robots, and swarms of MBRs supervised by chaperone robot systems.
Using techniques from synthetic biology, the researchers intend to modify bacterial DNA so that the cells can both sense and report on specific stimuli. For instance, the researchers may alter DNA within bacterial cells to produce a fluorescent protein that glows green in the presence of high pH, a signal that nearby chaperone robots can interpret and relay to human operators. The College of Engineering contribution to this effort is substantial. Collins will work on DNA modification; Densmore will optimize selection of DNA sequences used to enable microbial cells to sense and indicate the presence of specific environmental signals; and Belta will participate in the design and assembly of MBRs and chaperone robots, and efforts to coordinate their activity.
Research | 41
A New Action Recognition Algorithm Excerpt from an article by Rachel Harrington, ECE When watching a video, children have no problem recognizing that a person is walking, jumping or waving. Give the video footage to a computer, however, and the same task becomes daunting. For a computer, different actions such as walking and running may look very similar due to the camera viewing angle and frame-rate. Another challenging problem is action variability: the same action performed by different people may look quite different to a computer. For example, people have different walking gaits. Over the last decade, engineers have tackled this problem with limited success. No satisfactory system has been developed so far, especially for low-resolution video, but Kai Guo (PhD ’11) and PROFESSORS PRAKASH ISHWAR (ECE, SE) and Janusz Konrad (ECE) are working to change that. They have developed a new action recognition algorithm that exceeds the performance of state-of-the-art methods and is suitable for real-time use due to low storage and computational requirements. The algorithm is unique in that it marries features developed for object-tracking with a recently proposed classification framework based on ideas from the field of compressive sampling. Their algorithm consistently achieved such a high performance on several datasets that Guo, Ishwar, and Konrad were invited to enter the “Aerial View Activity Classification Challenge” in the Semantic Description of Human Actions (SDHA) contest held during the 2010 International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR). The goal of the challenge was to test methodologies with realistic surveillance-type videos particularly from lowresolution, far-away cameras. Eight teams competed, and in the
The photo to the left is a typical surveillance video from the 2010 SDHA contest and a magnified runner showing low resolution of the area of interest.
final stage Guo, Ishwar, and Konrad edged out a team from the University of Modena, Italy, to win the challenge. “We are far from a satisfactory understanding of why and when our method works from a machine-learning perspective. There are plenty of other real-world engineering and algorithmic challenges to overcome,” said Ishwar, “but the fact that our method has performed so well consistently across several datasets, including the low-resolution SDHA dataset, is exciting.” Guo, Ishwar, and Konrad received further recognition for their research when they won the Best Paper Prize at the 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Video and Signal-Based Surveillance (AVSS) in September 2010. Many fields could greatly benefit from a fast and accurate solution including homeland security, healthcare, ecological monitoring, and automatic sign-language recognition for assisting the hearing-impaired.
Finding a Solution to Stubborn Bacterial Infections by Susan Seligson, BU Today
James Collins (BME/SE/ MSE) Photo by Kalman Zabarsky
A discovery by researchers at the College of Engineering may deliver a new weapon in the daunting battle against recurring, potentially lethal bacterial infections such as staphylococcus and streptococcus. And the weapon—a modified form of sugar—is as widely available and cheap as it is effective, says JAMES COLLINS, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, an ENG professor of biomedical engineering, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, coauthor of the study appearing in the May 12 issue of Nature.
“A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine work,” says the MacArthur genius award recipient, paraphrasing Mary Poppins. It does that, he says, by “waking up” stealthy, dormant bacteria that can lie in a state of metabolic hibernation for weeks or months. Collins and his team found that sugar dramatically boosts the effectiveness of socalled first-line antibiotics such as streptomycin and gentamicin. A sugar-antibiotics combination could be used to wipe out recurring, often debilitating infections such as those of the ear, throat, lungs, and urinary tract, all of which can spread to the kidneys and other vital organs if left unchecked. With the Harry Potter–esque name “persisters,” the class of particularly feisty bacteria seem to respond initially to antibiotic treatment, then go into hiding, only to emerge weeks or months later more aggressive than they were initially. These infections
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
42 | Research
Finding a Solution to Stubborn Bacterial Infections (continued) take a huge toll; Collins’ own mother has been hospitalized several times with recurring bouts of a stubborn, persister-like staphylococcus infection. In the lab, by adding sugar to antibiotics, the researchers found they were able, within two hours, to obliterate 99.9 percent of cultures of persister staphylococcus and e coli, the culprit in most urinary tract infections. “Our goal was to improve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics, rather than invent new ones, which can be a long and costly process,” says study first author Kyle Allison (ENG’11), a PhD student in Collins’ lab.
The team also saw promising results after testing the antibioticsugar combination on e coli infections in mice. And they discovered that the combination treatment inhibited the spread of bacterial infection to the kidneys of the mice. The most significant impact of the BU team’s research could be on tuberculosis (TB), a chronic bacterial infection of the lungs, which annually kills approximately 1.7 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Collins and Allison plan to study whether sugar additives can improve the efficacy of TB drugs.
Detecting Explosives: Airport Screening Systems by Mark Dwortzan Airport luggage inspection machines scan one bag every six seconds, but the conventional medical imaging technology they use can easily overlook potential threats. In the vitally important quest to make airline travel safer since 9/11, DAVID CASTAÑÓN (ECE/SE) is working to equip these machines with a wider range of sensors and pattern recognition tools and more sophisticated signal processing algorithms to analyze the data in real time. “We need to design a system that’s partially automated and where human intelligence gets used as needed to resolve ambiguities and produce highly reliable decisions,” says Castañón, a College of Engineering Professor and Chair ad interim of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “This involves several systems engineering trade-offs: how much do you automate? What’s the algorithm you put in for making that decision? How do you generate alerts? What sensors do you bring to bear?” Since 2008, Castañón, Clem Karl, a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, VENKATESH SALIGRAMA, (ECE/SE) an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and five PhD students have addressed these questions for potential applications ranging from whole-body imaging to video surveillance in a Department of Homeland Security initiative called Project ALERT: Awareness and Localization of Explosive Related Threats. Focusing on systems engineering solutions, Castañón is associate director and the University’s principal investigator of the project, which draws on experts from 15 academic institutions to improve the nation’s explosives detection capability. The BU team’s effort centers on mathematical problems in machine learning, optimization, and image processing. “We model the capabilities of different sensors,” says Castañón,
Annual Report 2010–2011
“develop algorithms to combine the information they gather to form decisions concerning the presence of a potential risk, and intelligently sequence sensor data to ensure that the system as a whole performs well.” One promising solution emerging from the team’s work is an “adaptive training” system that uses video cameras to monitor pedestrian and traffic behavior, and that “learns” on the job to detect abandoned packages and vehicles by tracking changes in image pixels of sidewalks and streets. The team is also designing an intelligent sensor network system to monitor moving crowds with infrared cameras, chemical sniffers, and other devices. The system tracks individuals’ locations and detects unusual behaviors and explosives nonintrusively yet reliably. “In explosives detection applications, most researchers focus on improving the performance of individual components, such as sharper imaging quality,” says Castañón. “We’re exploring ways of combining components and examining trade-offs to see how different data streams can complement each other to get a more accurate system.” One important trade-off is between throughput and sensitivity. “The question of how to improve both throughput and sensitivity is at the heart of some of the novel pattern recognition and statistical learning techniques being developed at Boston University,” says Saligrama. This story originally appeared in BU Today and the fall 2010 issue of Engineer.
Research | 43
Boosting Wireless Telecom Efficiency by Rachel Harrington, ECE As wireless telecommunication companies look to improve their efficiency, two ECE professors will be behind the scenes, conducting research that could potentially impact both the legal and economic policies of the wireless industry. The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded $714,501 to ECE Associate Professors MURAT ALANYALI and DAVID STAROBINSKI to support their project, “Promoting Secondary Spectrum Markets via Profitability-Driven Methods and Algorithms.” “Wireless telecommunications are undergoing substantial policy reforms in pursuit of better spectral efficiency,” Alanyali and Starobinski wrote in their abstract for the project. “A key element in these reforms entails granting full property rights to spectrum license holders, thereby paving the way to secondary spectrum markets.”
Professor Murat Alanyali (SE/ECE)
Professor David Starobinski (SE/ECE)
How can Alanyali and Starobinski help? They hope to establish methods and algorithms that will ensure that secondary spectrum markets can be profitable for their participants. “A unique feature of this research program is that it spans
Radio spectrum is used to conduct everything from phone calls to texting. When businesses like Verizon buy licensing for spectrum, the purchase is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, as of now, only one company can use a particular chunk of spectrum. The limited access can lead to poor networks and frustrated cell phone customers.
the engineering, regulatory, and business aspects of wireless
One of the challenges in creating secondary spectrum markets is that there are concerns from wireless telecommunication companies about both electromagnetic interference and the economics of opening up the market.
the research team will also include Assaf Zeevi, a professor at
communications,” said Alanyali. “We have an interdisciplinary team that is well-positioned to address these issues, and we are excited about the prospect of making a significant contribution toward shaping the future of wireless communications.” Though Boston University is the lead institution on the project, the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University. The grant for this project will continue through 2014.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
44 | Research
Devising Improved Video Surveillance Method By Mark Dwortzan Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, video camera networks have proliferated in the U.S. and abroad, appearing everywhere from airports to border crossings to city streets. Today more than 30 million surveillance cameras produce nearly 4 billion hours of video footage each week, but the reams of data they produce exceed the processing capacity of human analysts. Even where software is used to sift the data for suspicious activity, the algorithms used are not always up to the task, especially in busy urban areas. Recognizing these mounting challenges, two ECE researchers — Professor Janusz Konrad and Associate Professor VENKATESH SALIGRAMA (ECE/SE)—and Pierre-Marc Jodoin, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada, have devised a new automated method to process video data and pinpoint potential security risks that’s much faster and more reliable than conventional techniques. They report on their research in the lead article in the September 2010 issue of IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. The article advances a new statistical approach for detecting unusual objects or events, such as abandoned packages or illegal vehicle maneuvers, in the most highly cluttered urban environments. Rather than classify and track objects in a video stream, as most video surveillance software does, this approach breaks footage down to a sequence of snapshots, compares pixels in subsequent snapshots for subtle changes, and uses statistical methods to identify and locate pixel-level changes that depart from normal activity within the monitored scene. Data collected on these anomalies could then be tracked via conventional software systems. “Typical approaches entail tagging, identifying and tracking every single object, but in an urban setting with too many moving objects, you can’t track them all,” said Saligrama. “Instead of tagging and tracking objects, our idea is to collect pixel-level statistics and monitor variations over time. Using cameras with embedded algorithms, we’ve shown that pixel-level anomaly detection can work.” The method works by characterizing activity at each pixel within a video frame as either moving—represented by a “1”—or still—depicted by a “0.” Over time, a sequence of consecutive 1s in a set of adjacent pixels signifies a busy period; a sequence of 0s denotes an idle period. Conventional machine-learning techniques can then be applied to this binary data to establish a baseline of typical events within a given space, and thus enable the software to flag those events that depart from the baseline.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Novel video surveillance method identifies a streetcar as an anomaly within the clutter of traffic.
The method’s speed, accuracy and minimal computer memory requirements (algorithms that process the data can be deployed in surveillance cameras rather than run on centralized servers) have garnered favorable attention in industry circles. A paper on the method that the research team published in the April edition of SPIE Professional was cited as the issue’s top downloaded article, and potential industry partners have initiated conversations with the researchers about possible collaborations. Saligrama and his colleagues recently applied for a patent through Boston University. Drawing on funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Homeland Security, National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, and Office of Naval Research, the research team next plans to refine its method by considering different time scales. “While an event may be considered anomalous on a shorter time scale, it may be quite normal on a longer scale, and vice versa,” observed Konrad. “For example, the congestion on the Massachusetts Turnpike under the Photonics Building at 8:33 a.m. on a weekday is likely to be considered normal when compared to traffic at 8:35 a.m. or 8:45 a.m. However, most likely it would be considered anomalous when compared to traffic at 10:33 a.m. We are currently developing new multi-scale models and classification methods to address this.” As the researchers improve their method to account for such issues, they have no expectation that it will completely eliminate the need for the human eye. “I don’t envision removing the human out of surveillance,” said Saligrama, “but reducing the amount of human attention that’s needed.”
Research | 45
Revealing New Cancer Drug Targets by Mark Dwortzan An interdisciplinary team of College of Engineering faculty members—Professor Sandor Vajda and Research Assistant Professor Dima Kozakov (both BME), Professor IOANNIS PASCHALIDIS (ECE/SE) and Associate Professor PIROOZ VAKILI (ME/SE)—has developed a family of powerful optimization algorithms for predicting the structures of complexes that form when two cell proteins bond together—structures that, in some cases, generate erroneous cell signaling pathways that can trigger cancer and other inflammatory diseases. Recognizing the promise of these computational methods to advance new approaches to combating these illnesses, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) recently approved a $1.6 million, five-year grant that will enable the researchers to continue refining them. A joint effort of Boston University’s Center for Information and Systems Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering Research Center, the project combines Paschalidis’ and Vakili’s expertise in optimization and systems theory with Vajda and Kozakov’s knowledge of biophysics and bioinformatics. “Given the three-dimensional structure of two proteins, you’d like to predict with great accuracy the structure of the complex formed once these two proteins bind,” said Paschalidis, who compares the process to characterizing all the possible structures that pairs of Lego blocks can form out of an initial set of 1,000 blocks. “Based on laws of thermodynamics, we’ve developed optimization algorithms that have succeeded in doing just that.” Applying those high-precision algorithms to a related effort, Vajda and Kozakov are also collaborating with BU Associate Professor
Adrian Whitty, Professor John Porco, Professor Karen Allen, and Research Assistant Professor Aaron Beeler (all Department of Chemistry); and Professor Gilmore (Department of Biology) to identify small molecules—potential drugs— that can disrupt protein-protein interactions (PPIs) that produce structures that may provoke illness. An interdisciplinary College Operating under a separate, of Engineering team has four-year, $1.6 million NIH-NIGMS developed computational grant, the BU team aims to develop methods to predict the synthetic molecules that inhibit structures that form when PPI targets at sites identified by two cellular proteins interact. Vajda’s and Kozakov’s innovative Judged the world’s best computational approaches— at a major international without introducing any harmful competition, these methods have drawn more than $3 side effects. In particular, the million in NIH funding. researchers are attempting to design novel molecules that can block chronically hyperactive cell signaling pathways found in human inflammatory diseases and cancers.
Despite decades of effort by the pharmaceutical industry, it has proven extraordinarily difficult to develop oral drugs that inhibit PPIs, Vajda observed. “Current protein-based drugs can disrupt PPIs, but only on the surface of cells,” he said. “But 90 percent of PPIs occur within the cell, and these are the interactions that we’re working to disrupt.”
ENG Algorithms Judged the World’s Best The NIH is funding the development and application of these advanced computational methods because scientists cannot easily observe the complexes formed by protein-protein interactions. Many biologically important PPIs produce fragile complexes that do not remain intact long enough to be subject to direct experimental analysis, but optimization algorithms such as those developed by the ENG team can determine the structure of these complexes with great accuracy based on the structures of the component proteins. As the team improves its methods, they will ultimately be incorporated into Vajda’s and Kozakov’s protein-protein docking server ClusPro, a website to which any user can submit the three-dimensional coordinates of two proteins and receive a supercomputer-calculated prediction of the structure of the
complex formed by those proteins. ClusPro has been used by over 3000 research groups worldwide, and generated over 100 structures reported in the scientific literature. In a worldwide blind prediction experiment conducted by CAPRI (Critical Assessment of Predicted Interactions) in Barcelona last December, judges determined that the ENG team’s computational methods delivered the best performance in modeling selected protein-protein complexes when compared against 64 other predictor groups that combine software models with human analysis, and that ClusPro also performed better than nine other competing automated docking servers, which rely on software alone. Results of the CAPRI experiment will be published in a special issue of the journal Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics in November.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
46 | RESEARCH
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING PROJECT by Mark Dwortzan Past efforts to design more sustainable buildings have largely focused on finding ways to reduce their energy consumption in isolation. Now a new, four-year project drawing on engineering and architecture faculty at Boston University and MIT, respectively, promises to deliver substantial carbon footprint and energy cost reductions not only to individual buildings, but also to other buildings and electricity consumers in their neighborhood and beyond. Funded by a recent $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the project’s collaborators—principal investigator Professors MICHAEL CARAMANIS (ME/SE) and JOHN BAILLIEUL (ME/ECE/SE) from Boston University’s College of Engineering, and Professor Leslie K. Norford and Associate Professor John E. Fernandez from the Building Technology Program in MIT’s Department of Architecture—plan to develop a new method to retrofit existing buildings and design new ones that minimize internal energy consumption and costs, and transact mutually beneficial electric energy exchanges with electric utilities. The research team envisions equipping individual buildings with the capability to integrate production and consumption of electric energy via a smart micro-grid capable of monitoring and controlling smart appliances, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and other grid-friendly devices, as well as onsite electricity generation from rooftop photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Each building would also be configured to exchange electric energy with external energy markets, enabling it to not only draw on external power sources but also to sell some of its own power to the grid—and neighboring electricity consumers on the grid—at low cost. For example, when clean energy generated from rooftop photovoltaic panels exceeds the building consumption rate, the excess will replace fossil fuel-generated electricity consumed by others on the utility side of the meter. “Our framework will enable advanced sustainable buildings to interact with next-generation electricity markets, including synergistic interactions between the built environment, transportation and urban infrastructures that expand the use of wind, solar and other intermittent, renewable energy sources,” said Caramanis. “We consider this adaptive interaction capability the major contribution of our research toward a sustainable energy future.” Toward that end, the research team aims to create a two-layer technology platform that will enable a building to continuously optimize its energy consumption under dynamically changing internal, building-side-of-the-meter conditions—including building capabilities, safety requirements and occupant power use preferences—and external, utility-side-of-the-meter factors, such as weather and energy market trends, requirements and costs.
Annual Report 2010–2011
BU engineering and MIT architectural faculty are developing a new framework for advanced sustainable buildings.
The platform’s first layer, called the Intelligent Information and Execution (IIE) layer, will monitor and control electricity consumption throughout the building, and collect information on utility-side-of-the-meter conditions. Based on that data, the second-layer, the Energy Management Decision System, will return to the IIE a set of optimal actions aimed at reducing energy consumption and costs. “We are proposing to build an advanced intelligence system on the building side of the meter that can monitor and control consumption, forecast demand and obtain occupants’ power consumption preferences regarding heating, cooling and lighting,” said Caramanis. “This system will create a virtual energy market with humans in the loop on the building side of the meter, and enable the seamless and productive exchange of electric energy with energy markets on the utility side of the meter.” After designing this two-layered system, the research team will conduct a pilot experiment in a large BU or MIT building with diverse energy uses. The experiment will help the researchers to better understand building occupant and external energy market behavior, and to synthesize an effective advanced sustainable building design framework. Caramanis envisions that findings from this effort will enhance a parallel project, Smart Neighborhood, which he’s working on with BU colleagues in the College of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Management. Smart Neighborhood seeks to create sustainable neighborhoods by engaging consumers, utilities, government and private sector interests to determine the optimal use of energy, transportation, food, water and green space.
Research | 47
External Research Funding Research funding is pursued in affiliation with the Center for Information and Systems Engineering. The following table delineates the new, continuing, and supplemental grants awarded to Division faculty. The total lifetime award funding level of all participating and affiliated faculty is approximately $43.6 M. Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
Combined
ECE, COE
Alanyali, Murat
NeTS: Small: Periodic
National Science
New
7/15/2010
6/30/2013
$345,317
Schedules for Energy-
Foundation
New
9/1/2010
8/31/2014
$714,501
Continuing
7/1/2009
6/30/2014
$400,000
Supplemental
7/1/2009
6/30/2014
$30,000
New
9/15/2010
8/31/2011
$125,000
Source Total
Efficient Wireless Coexistence ECE, COE
Alanyali, Murat;
National Science
NetSE: Medium:
Starobinski, David Collaborative Research:
Foundation
Promoting Secondary Spectrum Markets via Profitability-Driven Methods and Algorithms ME, COE
Andersson, Sean
CAREER: Nonlinear
National Science
Control for Single
Foundation
Molecule Tracking (in conjunction with CNN) ME, COE
Andersson, Sean
CAREER: Nonlinear
National Science
Control for Single
Foundation
Molecule Tracking (REU Supplement) (in conjunction with CNN) ME, COE
Andersson, Sean
A Novel SFM-Based
Department
Method for Studying
of Health and
Single Molecule
Human Services
Dynamics
ME, COE
Andersson, Sean IDBR: Simultaneous Tracking of Multiple Particles in Confocal Microscopy (REU Supplement)
National Science Supplement Foundation
9/1/2007
2/28/2012
$20,000
ME, COE
Andersson, Sean IDBR: Simultaneous Tracking of Multiple Particles in Confocal Microscopy
National Science Continuing Foundation
9/1/2009
2/28/2012
$273,166
ME, COE
Andersson, Sean; RNA Localization and Broude, Natalia Movement in Bacteria
National Science New Foundation
4/1/2011
3/31/2013
$253,669
ME, COE
Andersson, Sean; A formal approach Belta, Calin to the control of stochastic dynamical systems
National Science Continuing Foundation
8/5/2009
8/31/2012
$240,000
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
48 | Research
External Research Funding
(continued)
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
Combined
ME, COE
Andersson, Sean; Porter, Tyrone; Smith, Michael; Swan, Anna; Altug, Hatice
National Science Continuing NUE: Undergraduate Laboratory Experiences Foundation in Nanotechnology Devices and Systems
9/1/2009
8/31/2011
$200,000
ME, COE
Baillieul, John; Belta, Calin; Paschalidis, Ioannis
Department of AIRFOILS: Animal Defense Inspired Robust Flight with Outer and Inner Loop Strategies (MURI)
New
9/1/2010
8/31/2015
$7,500,000
ME, COE
Baillieul, John; Behavioral Dynamics in Department of Castañón, David the Cooperative Control Defense of Mixed Human/ Robotic Teams (MURI07)
Continuing
12/1/2008
6/30/2012
$1,511,222
ME, COE
Baillieul, John
Student Travel Support National Science Continuing Foundation for the 2009 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control
11/20/2009 1/31/2011
$15,000
ME, COE
Belta, Calin
Specification Languages Department of and Distributed Control Defense Schemes for Teams of Unmanned Vehicles
Continuing
3/17/2009
3/16/2012
$229,101
ME, COE
Belta, Calin
Formal Verification and Department of Defense Synthesis of Control and Communication Strategies for Teams of Unmanned Vehicles
Continuing
3/1/2009
11/30/2012
$299,997
ME, COE
Belta, Calin; Cassandras, Christos
Smart Adaptive Reliable Office of Naval Research Teams for Persistent Surveillance
Continuing
9/1/2009
8/1/2012
$4,500,000
ME, COE
Belta, Calin
National Science Continuing CAREER: Hierarchical Foundation Abstractions for Planning and Control of Robotic Swarms
2/1/2005
1/31/2012
$400,000
ME, COE
Belta, Calin
National Science Continuing CSR-EHCS(EHS), Foundation SM: A Formal Approach to Control of Hybrid Systems with Applications to Mobile Robotics
9/15/2008 8/31/2011
$300,000
ME, COE
Belta, Calin
National Science New CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Foundation Efficient Control Synthesis and Learning in Distributed CyberPhysical Systems
9/15/2010
$400,000
Source Total
Annual Report 2010–2011
8/31/2013
Research | 49
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
CS, CAS
Bestavros, Azer
Leveraging Type Systems for the Development of HighAssurance CyberPhysical Systems and Applications
ME, COE
Caramanis, Michael; Baillieul, John
ECE, COE
Type
Start Date
End Date
Combined
National Science Continuing Foundation
9/1/2007
8/31/2010
$99,999
EFRI-SEED Framework for Advanced Sustainable Building Design
National Science New Foundation
8/15/2010
7/31/2014
$1,986,606
Cassandras, Christos; Paschalidis, Ioannis; Bestavros, Azer
EFRI-ARESCI: EventDriven Sensing for Enterprise Reconfigurability and Optimization
NSF Emerging Frontiers of Research and Innovation Initiative
Continuing
11/1/2007
10/31/2011
$1,999,573
ECE, COE
Cassandras, Christos
Real-Time Optimization Department of in Complex Stochastic Defense Environment
Continuing
3/1/2009
11/30/2011
$373,000
ECE, COE
Castañón, David ALERT: Awareness and Department Location of Explosives- of Homeland Security Related Threats
Continuing
7/1/2008
6/30/2011
$1,125,000
ECE, COE
Castañón, David MURI: Fusion and Sensor Management for Automatic Target Exploitation
Department of Defense
Continuing
10/1/2009
4/30/2011
$125,106
ECE, COE
Castañón, David Games, Information, and Deception Exploitation for Adversarial Network Systems
Department of Defense
New
9/15/2010
9/14/2011
$99,772
ECE, COE
Castañón, David Freeswim: Autonomous Department of Behaviors for Undersea Defense Sensors
New
8/20/2010 1/20/2011
$22,001
ECE, COE
Castañón, David Automated Threat Detection for Whole Body Imaging
Department of Energy
New
6/30/2009 6/30/2010
$42,590
BME, COE
Collins, James
Department of Health and Human Services
Continuing
9/30/2008 7/31/2011
$812,500
Source Total
A Network Biology Approach to Antibiotic Action and Bacterial Defense Mechanisms (Director’s Pioneer Award)
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
50 | Research
External Research Funding
(continued)
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
Combined
BME, COE
Collins, James
A Network Biology Approach to Aging: Integrating Synthetic Biology and Systems Biology
Ellison Medical Foundation
Continuing
1/1/2009
12/31/2011
$243,750
BME, COE
Collins, James
Department Comparative Phenotypic, Functional, of Health and and Molecular Analysis Human Services of ESC and IPSC
Continuing
9/1/2009
8/31/2011
$151,519
BME, COE
Collins, James
ImmGen: A Gene Expression Compendium for Immune Cells
Department of Health and Human Services
Continuing
9/1/2010
8/31/2011
$190,850
BME, COE
Collins, James
Department Boston OAIC: A Translational Approach of Health and to Function Promoting Human Services Anabolic Therapies
Continuing
6/1/2010
5/31/2011
$48,750
BME, COE
Collins, James
SysCODE: Tooth Germ Department Design and Engineering of Health and Human Services
Continuing
7/1/2010
6/30/2011
$72,407
BME, COE
Collins, James; Benson, Gary; Cooper, Geoffrey; Waxman, David; Weng, Zhiping
National Science Continuing IGERT: Integrating Computational Science Foundation into Research in Biological Networks - Participant Support Costs
7/1/2007
6/30/2011
$476,520
BME, COE
Collins, James; Benson, Gary; Cooper, Geoffrey; Waxman, David; Weng, Zhiping
National Science Continuing IGERT: Integrating Computational Science Foundation into Research in Biological Networks Bioinformatics Program
7/1/2007
6/30/2011
$173,773
BME, COE
Collins, James; Segre, Daniel
Systems Biology Platform for Characterizing Regulatory and Metabolic Pathways that Influence and Control Microbial Hydrogen Production
Department of Defense
CS, CAS
Crovella, Mark
NeTs: Small: New Directions in Network Dimensionality Reduction for Routing and Beyond
National Science New Foundation
Source Total
Annual Report 2010–2011
Continuing
9/15/2009 9/14/2010
$300,000
7/1/2010
$150,000
6/30/2011
Research | 51
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
Combined
CS, CAS
Crovella, Mark
Passive Methods for Internet Topology Discovery
Department of Defence/ National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
Continuing
6/22/2009 9/1/2012
$230,000
CS, CAS
Crovella, Mark
Computing Innovations NSF Computing Fellows Project Research Association
Continuing
9/1/2010
8/31/2011
$127,500
CS, CAS
Crovella, Mark
Instrumentation and National Science Continuing Measurement for GENI Foundation/ University of Wisconsin
9/1/2010
8/31/2011
$27,913
CS, CAS
Crovella, Mark
TC: Large: Securing the National Science New Open Softphone (REU Foundation Supplment)
3/1/2011
6/30/2011
$40,625
CS, CAS
Crovella, Mark; TC: Large: Securing the National Science New Foundation Homer, Steven; Open Softphone Reyzin, Leonid; Trachtenberg, Ari; Goldberg, Sharon; Karpovsky, Mark; Starobinski, David; Triandopoulos, Nikolaos; Zlateva, Tanya
8/1/2010
7/31/2015
$2,992,896
ME, COE
Dupont, Pierre
Department Steerable MEMS Instruments for Precise of Health and Human Services Intracardiac Surgery (Subcontract via Children's Hospital Boston)
1/1/2011
12/31/2011
$41,101
ME, COE
Gevelber, Michael
National Science Continuing Real-Time Control for Engineering Electrospun Foundation Nanofiber Diameter Distributions for Advanced Applications
9/1/2008
8/31/2011
$224,100
ECE, COE
Ishwar, Prakash
Dynamic Information Collection and Fusion
8/15/2010
8/14/2011
$140,000
ECE, COE
Ishwar, Prakash
CAREER: Information- National Science Continuing Foundation Scaling Lawes, Bit-Conservation Principles, And Robust Coding Architectures in Sensor Networks
Source Total
Department of Defense
Continuing
New
12/15/2005 11/30/2011
$400,000
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
52 | Research
External Research Funding
(continued)
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
ECE, COE
Ishwar, Prakash
National Science Continuing CIF: Small: Foundation Collaborative Research: Towards a Paradigm-Shift in Distributed Information Processing - Harnessing Group Structure and Interaction
ECE, COE
Karl, W. Clement Biomedical Imaging Acceleration Testbed
Start Date
End Date
7/1/2009
6/30/2012
Combined Source Total
National Science Continuing Foundation
12/15/2009 11/30/2010
$34,044
3/16/2009 3/15/2012
$586,046
Mathematics, Kolaczyk, Eric CAS
Statistical Propagation Office of Naval Research of Low-Level Uncertainty to HighLevel Knowledge Tasks in Network Information Environments
Mathematics, Kolaczyk, Eric; CAS Schaus, Scott
Predicting Drug Mechanism Via Chemogenomic Profiling
National Institute Continuing of General Medical Sciences
4/1/2006
3/31/2012
$1,097,694
Mathematics, Kolaczyk, Eric CAS
Wide-Aperture Traffic for Internet Security
National Science Continuing Foundation
7/1/2009
8/31/2013
$723,053
ECE, COE
Little, Thomas; Konrad, Janusz; Ishwar, Prakash
NeTs-NOSS: Localized Computation and Network Path Formation to Enable Pervasive Video Sensing
National Science Continuing Foundation
9/1/2007
8/31/2010
$450,000
ECE, COE
Little, Thomas; Wagenaar, R.
Continuous Monitoring of Activities in the Home and CommunityBased Setting: Activity Risk Factors for Falls
Claude D. Pepper Continuing Older Americans Indepence Centers Pilot/ Exploratory Project
9/1/2008
8/31/2011
$200,000
ECE, COE
Little, Thomas; Konrad, Janusz; Ishwar, Prakash
NeTs-NOSS: REU Supplement, Localized Computation and Network Path Formation to Enable Prevasive Video Sensing
National Science Supplemental 5/1/2008 Foundation
8/31/2011
$16,000
ECE, COE
Little, Thomas; Wagenaar, R; Vaina, L.
Continuous Monitoring of Functional Activities and Movement Disorders in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease
Continuing The Wallace H. Coulter Translational Partners program
3/31/2011
$50,000
Annual Report 2010–2011
Continuing
$249,999
4/1/2010
RESEARCH | 53
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
ECE, COE
Little, Thomas
Consortium for Department of Ocean Sensing in the Commerce Nearshore Environment
ECE, COE
Little, Thomas; Altug, Hatice; Unlu, M.
NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Lighting Administration
CS, CAS
Combined
New
2/1/2010
1/31/2014
$102,274
National Science Continuing Foundation
9/1/2008
8/31/2011
$678,000
Matta, Abraham CNS-NeTS: Medium: A Recursive Internet Architecture
National Science Continuing Foundation
5/1/2010
4/30/2012
$560,000
ECE, COE
Paschalidis, Ioannis; Kozakov, Dmytro; Vakili, Pirooz
Refinement Methods for Protein Docking based on Exploring Multi-Dimensional Energy Funnels
National Institute Continuting of General Medical Sciences
4/1/2010
4/1/2015
$1,580,473
ECE, COE
Paschalidis, Ioannis
An industry consortium Sensor Network of fourteen companies Consortium supporting the consortium activites and research on Senor networks
Continuing
11/1/2004
7/1/2012
$200,000
ECE, COE
Paschalidis, Ioannis; Cassandras, Christos
Distributed Wireless Sensor Networks for Long-Term Deployments
Department of Energy
Continuing
9/1/2006
8/31/2012
$1,152,117
ECE, COE
Paschalidis, Ioannis; Cassandras, Christos; Crovella, Mark; Barford, P.
A Coordinated Approach to CyberSituation Awarness Based on Traffic Anomaly Detection
Army Research Office
New
6/11/2011
6/10/2014
$600,000
ECE, COE
Paschalidis, Ioannis
A Quantitative Approach to Disease Precention and Management Leveraging Electronic Health Records
Dean's Catalyst Award, COE, BU
New
5/1/2011
4/30/2012
$33,315
ECE, COE
Paschalidis, Ioannis
KIOS Center
CISE Collaboration with the University of Cyprus
New
4/1/2011
3/31/2012
$21,645
ECE, COE
Saligrama, Venkatesh
CAREER: A Systems National Science Continuing Approach to Networked Foundation Decision Making in Uncertain Environments
6/1/2005
8/31/2012
$160,000
Source Total
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
54 | Research
External Research Funding
(continued)
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
ECE, COE
Saligrama, Venkatesh
National Science Continuing CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Foundation The Foundations of Implicit and Explicit Communication in Cyberphysical Systems
ECE, COE
Saligrama, Venkatesh
NURI Grant: Video Analytics: An Event Based Statistical Approach
National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
ECE, COE
Saligrama, Venkatesh
Smart Distributed Sensor Fields
Department of Defense/Navy
ECE, COE
Combined
9/1/2009
8/31/2012
$433,000
Continuing
10/1/2009
9/30/2014
$750,000
Continuing
1/11/2010
1/10/2013
$100,000
Saligrama, Venkatesh; Konrad, Janusz
From Frames to Events: National Science Continuing A Statistical Approach Foundation to Activity Analysis in Multi-Camera Systems
7/1/2009
6/30/2012
$507,000
ECE, COE
Saligrama, Venkatesh
A Pixel-Level Statistical MIT/Lincoln Laboratory Approach for Image/ Video Event Detection
New
2/1/2011
10/31/2011
$80,000
ECE, COE
Starobinski, David; Trachtenberg, Ari
CIF: Small: Large-Scale U.S. National Software Dissemination Science In Stochastic Wireless Foundation Networks
Continuing
9/1/2009
8/31/2012
$456,731
ECE, COE
Starobinski, David; Trachtenberg, Ari
Self-Forming Extensible Lunar Extra Vehicular Activity Network (SELENE) Phase II (Subcontract via Scientific Systems Company, Inc.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Continuing
3/18/2009 2/11/2011
$113,489
ECE, COE
Starobinski, David; Trachtenberg, Ari
Department of FAUST: Finite-Field Algebra for Unbeatable Defense Situational Awareness in Tactical Networks
Continuing
5/10/2010
9/17/2010
$6,000
ECE, COE
Trachtenberg, Ari; Starobinski, David
Secure and Efficient Data Distribution in Varying-Topology Networks
Continuing
7/1/2008
12/31/2010
$111,036
ECE, COE
Trachtenberg, Ari; Starobinski, David
A Theory of Monitoring National Science Continuing Foundation Based on Identifying Codes and Their Variants
10/1/2007
9/30/2010
$280,000
Source Total
Annual Report 2010–2011
Deutsche Telekom Laboratories
Research | 55
Dept
Pi
Title Of Project
BME, COE
Vajda, Sandor
BME, COE
BME, COE
Granting Agency
Type
Start Date
End Date
Combined
Department Computational of Health and Mapping of Proteins Human Services for the Binding of Ligands (in conjunction with BioMolecular Engineering Research Center)
Continuing
4/1/2009
3/31/2012
$1,365,877
Vajda, Sandor
A Multistage Approach Department of Health and to Protein-Protein Human Services Docking
Continuing
3/1/2009
2/29/2012
$253,688
Vajda, Sandor
Superfund Basic Research: Research Support Core— Bioinformatics and Molecular Modeling (in conjunction with BioMolecular Engineering Research Center)
Department of Health and Human Services
Continuing
4/1/2009
3/31/2011
$211,797
Source Total
Total Funding
$43,638,102
New Funding
$15,810,211
Continuing Funding
$27,827,891
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
56 | Research
Faculty Publications Book Chapters C. BELTA, “Abstractions for Planning and Control of Robotic Swarms,” in: Bio-inspired Computing and Communication Networks, Auerbach Publications, Y. Xiao and F. Hu (editors), CRC Press, 2010. A. BESTAVROS and M. Ocean, “Virtualization And
Programming Support For Video Sensor Networks With Application To Wireless And Physical Security,” in: Distributed Video Sensor Networks, B. Bhanu, C. Ravishankar, A. Roy-Chowdhury, D. Terzopoulos, and H. Aghajan (editors), Springer, pp. 179-192, 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, C.G. Panayiotou, “Concurrent Simulation
for On-line Optimization of Discrete Event Systems,” in: Realtime Simulation Technologies: Principles, Methodologies, and Applications, K. Popovici, P. Mosterman (editors), CRC Press, 2011.
W. C. KARL, E. L. Miller, “Digital Subsurfacing Imaging,’’ in: Introduction to Subsurface Imaging,’’ B. Saleh (editor), Cambridge University Press, 2010. L.B. LEVITIN, T. Toffoli, “A unified bound on the rate of quantum dynamics,” in: Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, A. Lvovsky (editor), American Institute of Physics, 2010.
A. Agarwal and T.D.C. LITTLE, “Opportunistic Networking in Delay Tolerant Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks,’’ in: Advances in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks: Developments and Challenges, M. Watfa (editor), IGI Global, pp. 282-301, 2010. E. Ermis, P. Jodoin, V. SALIGRAMA, “Information Fusion and Anomaly Detection with Uncalibrated Cameras in Video Surveillance,” IEEE Press, in press, 2011.
D. CASTAÑÓN, “Linear Algebra,” in: Introduction to
Subsurface Imaging, B. Saleh (editor), Cambridge University Press, April 29, 2011.
Journal Articles (Refereed) M. ALANYALI, “A Note on Adjusted Replicator Dynamics in
Iterated Games,” Journal of Mathematical Economics, 46(1): 86–98, 2010. A. Al Daoud, M. ALANYALI, D. STAROBINSKI, “Pricing Strategies for Spectrum Lease in Secondary Markets,” IEEE/ ACM Transactions on Networking, 18(2): 462–475, 2010. A. Al Daoud, M. ALANYALI, D. STAROBINSKI, “Reservation Policies for Revenue Maximization from Secondary Spectrum Access in Cellular Networks,” Elsevier Journal of Computer Networks, in press, 2011. M. ALANYALI and M. Dashouk, “Occupancy distributions of homogeneous queueing systems under opportunistic scheduling,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 57(1): 256–266, 2011. M. ALANYALI, A. Al Daoud, and D. STAROBINSKI,
D. Baronov and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Controlling a magnetic force microscope to track a magnetized nanosize particle,” IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 9(3): 367–394, 2010. Z. Shen and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Tracking Nanometer-Scale Fluorescent Particles in Two Dimensions With a Confocal Microscope,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, PP(99): 1–10, 2010. P.I. Chang, P. Huang, J. Maeng, and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Local raster scanning for high speed imaging of biopolymers in atomic force microscopy,” Review of Scientific Instruments, 82(6): 063703, 2011. Z. Shen and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Bias and precision of the fluoroBancroft algorithm for single particle localization in fluorescence microscopy,” IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, PP(99): 1, 2011.
“Profitability of Dynamic Spectrum Provision for Secondary Use,” IEEE Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN), pp. 136–145, May 2011.
S.B. ANDERSSON, “A nonlinear controller for three-
M. ALANYALI, V. SALIGRAMA, “A Token Based Approach to
J. BAILLIEUL, W.S. Wong, “Control Communication
Distributed Computation in Sensor Networks,” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing, in press, 2011.
Complexity of Distributed Actions,” IEEE Transactions on Automalic Control, in press, 2011.
Annual Report 2010–2011
dimensional tracking of a fluorescent particle in a confocal microscope,” Applied Physics B, 2011.
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Journal Articles (Refereed) (continued) J. BAILLIEUL, D. Baronov, “Decision Making for Rapid
Information Acquisition in the Reconnaissance of Random Fields,” PROCEEDINGS of the IEEE Special Issue on Interaction Dynamics at the Interface of Humans and Smart Machines, in press, 2011. M. Imielinski and C. BELTA, “Deep epistasis in human metabolism,” Chaos, 20(2): 026104, 2010. B. Yordanov and C. BELTA, “Formal analysis of discrete-time piecewise affine systems,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 55(2): 2834–2840, 2010. M. Kloetzer, C. Mahulea, C. BELTA, and M. Silva, “An automated framework for formal verification of timed continuous Petri nets,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 6(3): 460–471, 2010.
J. Mao and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Optimal Admission Control of Discrete Event Systems with Real-Time Constraints,” J. of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, 20(1): 37–62, 2010. J. Mao and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “On-line Optimal Control of a Class of Discrete Event Systems with Real-Time Constraints,” J. of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, 20(2): 187–213, 2010. X. Ning and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Dynamic Sleep Time Control in Wireless Sensor Networks,” ACM Trans. on Sensor Networks, 6(3): 21–37, 2010. X. Ning and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Message Batching in Wireless Sensor Networks—A Perturbation Analysis Approach,” J. of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, 20(4): 409–439, 2010. M. ZHONG and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Asynchronous
M. Kloetzer and C. BELTA, “Automatic deployment of distributed teams of robots from temporal logic motion specifications, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 26(1): 48–61, 2010.
Distributed Optimization with Event-Driven Communication,” IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, AC–55(12): 2735–2750, 2010.
M. Kloetzer and C. BELTA, “Reachability analysis of multi-affine systems,” Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control, Special Issue on Hybrid Systems, 32(5): 445–467, 2010.
“Perturbation Analysis and Optimization of Stochastic Hybrid Systems,” European Journal of Control, 16(6): 642–664, 2010.
G. Smaragdakis, N. Laoutaris, P.Michiardi, A. BESTAVROS, J. Byers, and M. Roussopoulos, “Distributed Network Formation for n-way Broadcast Applications,” IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 21(10): 1427–1441, October 2010.
in Multiclass Stochastic Flow Models,” Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems, 5(2): 301–319, 2011.
H. Morcos, G. Atia, A. BESTAVROS, and A. MATTA, “An Information Theoretic Framework for Field Monitoring Using Autonomously Mobile Sensors,” Ad Hoc Networks: Special Issue on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems, 9(6): 1049–1058, 2010. N. Laoutaris, G. Smaragdakis, K. Oikonomou, I. Stavrakakis, and A. BESTAVROS, “Distributed Server Migration for Scalable Internet Service Deployment,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, in press, 2011. J. Londono, A. BESTAVROS, and N. Laoutaris, “Trade and Cap: A Customer-Managed, Market-Based System for Trading Bandwidth Allowances at a Shared Link,” The Computer Networks Journal (COMNET): The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking, in press, 2011.
C.G. CASSANDRAS, Y. Wardi, C.G. Panayotou and C. YAO,
C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Resource Contention Games
C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Perturbation Analysis and
Optimization of Multiclass Multiobjective Stochastic Flow Models,” J. of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, 21(20): 219–256, 2011. A. KEBARIGHOTBI and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Optimal
Scheduling of Parallel Queues Using Stochastic Flow Models,” J. of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, pp. 1–30, 2011. C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Perturbation Analysis of
Stochastic Hybrid Systems and Applications to Resource Contention Games,” Frontiers of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in China, in press, 2011. C.G. CASSANDRAS and I.C. PASCHALIDIS, “Optimizing
the Transportation System’s Response Capabilities,” J. of Homeland Security, in press, 2011.
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Journal Articles (Refereed) (continued) E. Rodriguez-Diaz, D. A. CASTAÑÓN, S. K. Singh, and I. J. Bigio, “Spectral Classifier Design with Ensemble Classifiers and Misclassification-Rejection: Application to ElasticScattering Spectroscopy for Detection of Colonic Neoplasia,” Journal of Biomedical Optics, 16(6): 067009, 2011. M. Mahvash, and P. DUPONT, “Stiffness Control of Surgical Continuum Manipulators,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 27(2): 334–345, 2011. M. Mahvash, P. DUPONT, “Mechanics of Dynamic Needle Insertion into a Biological Material,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 57(4): 934–943, 2010. P. DUPONT, J. Lock, B. Itkowitz, E. Butler, “Design and Control
of Concentric Tube Robots,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 26(2): 209–225, 2010. X. Yan, M. GEVELBER, “Investigation of Electrospun Fiber Diameter Distribution and Process Dynamics,” Journal of Electrostatics, 68: 458–264, 2010. N. Ma and P. ISHWAR, “On Delayed Sequential Coding of Correlated Sources,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 57:3763, 2011. A. Kumar, P. ISHWAR, and K. Ramchandran, “High–Resolution Distributed Sampling of Bandlimited Fields with LowPrecision Sensors,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 57: 476–492, 2011. L. He, B. Orten, S. Do, W.C. KARL, A. Kambadakone, D. Sahani, H. Pien, “A Spatio-Temporal Deconvolution Method to Improve Perfusion CT Quantification,” IEEE Trans. on Medical Imaging, 29(5): 1182–1191, May 2010. M.A. Kramer, U.T. Eden, E.D. KOLACZYK, R. Zepeda, E.N. Eskandar, S.S. Cash, “Coalescence and fragmentation of cortical networks during focal seizures,” Journal of Neuroscience, 30(30): 10076–10085, 2010. J. Di and E.D. KOLACZYK, “Complexity-penalized estimation of minimum volume sets for dependent data,” Journal of Multivariate Analysis, 101(9): 1910–1926, 2010. E.J. Cosgrove, T.S. Gardener, E.D. KOLACZYK, “On the choice and number of microarrays for transcriptional regulatory network inference,” BMC Bioinformatics, 11: 454, 2010. X. Jiang, D.L. Gold and E.D. KOLACZYK, “Network-based auto-probit modeling for protein function prediction,” Biometrics, 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
L.B. LEVITIN, M.G. Karpovsky, M. Mustafa, “Minimal Sets of Turns for Breaking Cycles in Graphs Modeling Networks,” IEEE Trans. Parallel and Distributed Systems, 21(9): 1342– 1353, 2010.
Y. Rykalova, L.B. LEVITIN, R. Brower, “Critical phenomena in discrete-time interconnection networks,” Physica A, 389(22): 5259–5278, 2010. J. Touch, I. Baldine, R. Dutta, G. Finn, B. Ford, S. Jordan, D. Massey, A. MATTA, C. Papadopoulos, P. Reiher, and G. Rouskas, “A Dynamic Recursive Unified Internet Design (DRUID),” Computer Networks, 55(4), 2010. D. Beglov, R. Brenke, S.R. Comeau, D.R. Hall, D. Kozakov, K. Li, I. C. PASCHALIDIS, Y. Shen, S. VAJDA, P. VAKILI and J. ZHENG, “Achieving Reliability and High Accuracy in Automated Protein Docking: ClusPro, PIPER, SDU, and Stability Analysis in CAPRI Rounds 13–19,” Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, Special Issue: Fourth Meeting on the Critical Assessment of Predicted Interactions, 78(15), pp. 3124–3130, November 15, 2010. I. C. PASCHALIDIS and Y. CHEN, “Statistical Anomaly Detection with Sensor Networks,” ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks, 7(2), 2010. I.C. PASCHALIDIS and B. LI, “On Energy Optimized Averaging in Wireless Sensor Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Special Issue on Wireless Senor and Actuator Networks, in press, 2011. E. PEKOZ, M. Shwartz, “Approximate models for aggregate data when individual-level data sets are very large or unavailable,” Statistics in Medicine, 29(21): 2180–2193, 2010.
M. Brown, E. PEKOZ, S. Ross, “Some results for skipfree random walk,” Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences, 24: 1–17, 2010. K.L. Stolzmann, M. Meterko, M. Shwartz, G.J. Young, E. PEKOZ, J.K. Benzer, K. Osatuke, B. White, D.C. Mohr,
“Accounting for Variation in Technical Quality and Patient Satisfaction: The Contribution of Patient, Provider, Team and Medical Center,” Medical Care, 48(8): 676–682, 2010. V. SALIGRAMA, M. Zhao, “Thresholded Basis Pursuit: A Linear Programming Approach to Optimal Support Recovery of Compressed Sparse Signals,’’ IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 57(3): 1567–1586, 2011.
Y. Benezeth, P. Jodoin, V. SALIGRAMA, “Abnormality Detection Using Low-Level Co-occurring Events,’’ Pattern Recognition Letters, 32(3): 423–431, 2011.
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Journal Articles (Refereed) (continued) S. Aeron, V. SALIGRAMA, M. Zhao, “Information Theoretic Analysis for Compressed Sensing,’’ IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, 56(10): 5111–5130, 2010. E. Ermis, P. Jodoin, V. SALIGRAMA, “Activity Based Matching in Multi-Camera Networks,’’ IEEE Trans. on Image Processing, 19(10): 2595–2613, 2010.
Y.-W. Wang, J.-W. Xiao, and H.O. WANG, “Global Synchronization of Complex Dynamical Networks with Network Failures,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 20(15): 1667–1677, 2010.
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 27(5): 18–33, 2010.
M. Yang, Y-W. Wang, J.-W. Xiao, and H.O. WANG, “Robust Synchronization of Impulsively-Coupled Complex Switched Networks with Parametric Uncertainties and Time-varying Delays,” Nonlinear Analysis B: Real World Applications, 11(4): 3008–3020, 2010.
E. Ermis, V. SALIGRAMA, “Distributed Detection for MultiModal Limited Range Sensors,’’ IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 58(2): 843–858, 2010.
F. Liu, Z.-H. Guan, and H.O. WANG, “Controlling Bifurcations and Chaos in TCP-UDP-RED,” Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications, 11(3): 1491–1501, 2010.
V. SALIGRAMA, J. Konrad, “Video Anomaly Identification,’’
D. STAROBINSKI and W. Xiao, “Extreme-Value FEC for
Reliable Broadcasting in Wireless Networks,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication (JSAC), Special Issue on Simple Wireless Sensor Networking Solutions, 28(7): 1180–1189, 2010. D. Kozakov, G.Y. Chuang, D. Beglov, S. VAJDA, “Where does amantadine bind to the influenza virus M2 proton channel?” Trends Biochem Sci. 35(9): 471–475, 2010. G.Y. Chuang, R. Mehra-Chaudhary, C.H. Ngan, B.S. Zerbe, D. Kozakov, S. VAJDA, L.J. Beamer, “Domain motion and inter-domain hot spots in a multi-domain enzyme,” Protein Sci., 19(9): 1662–1672, 2010.
B. Wang, H. Fang, and H.O. WANG, “Second-order Consensus in Networks of Dynamic Agents with Communication Timedelays,” Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 21(1): 88–94, 2010. F. Liu, Z.-H. Guan, and H.O. WANG, “Stability and Hopf Bifurcation Analysis in a TCP Fluid Model,” Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications, 12(1): 353–363, 2011. E.J. Butler, H.O. WANG, and J.J. Burken, “Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model-Based Flight Control and Failure Stabilization,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamcis, in press, 2011.
Y.-W. Wang, H.O. WANG, J.-W. Xiao, and Z.-H. Guan, “Synchronization of Complex Dynamical Networks under Recoverable Attacks,” Automatica, 46(1): 197–203, 2010.
Proceedings (Refereed) A. Al Daoud, M. ALANYALI, D. STAROBINSKI, “Reservation Policies for Revenue Maximization from Secondary Spectrum Access in Cellular Networks,” WiOpt 2010, Avignon, France, June 2010. M. ALANYALI, A. Al Daoud, D. STAROBINSKI, “Profitability of
Dynamic Spectrum Provision for Secondary Use,” 2011 IEEE Symposium, Aachen, Germany, May 2011. M. Lahijanian, J. Wasniewski, S.B. ANDERSSON, and C. BELTA, “Motion planning and control from temporal logic specifications with probabilistic satisfaction guarantees,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2010. R. Walker IV, S.B. ANDERSSON, C. BELTA, and P. DUPONT, “In-Haptics: Interactive navigation using haptics,” Haptics Symposium, pp. 463–466, 2010.
S.B. ANDERSSON, “A nonlinear approach to tracking single
nanometer-scale fluorescent particles,” American Controls Conference, pp. 4981– 4986, 2010. Z. Shen and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Optimal measurement constellation of the fluoroBancroft localization algorithm for position estimation in tracking confocal microscopym,” 5th IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems, 2010. Z. Shen and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Minimum time control of a second order system,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp.4819–4824, 2010. M. Lahijanian, S.B. ANDERSSON, and C. BELTA, “Controlling an MDP from a PCTL specification,” 2011 American Controls Conference, in press, 2011.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Proceedings (Refereed) (continued) P. Huang and S.B. ANDERSSON, “Generating images from non-raster data,” 2011 American Controls Conference, in press, 2011. J. BAILLIEUL and D. Raghunathan, “Search Decisions in a Game of Polynomial Root Counting,” Proceedings of the 2010 American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD, pp. 2396 – 2403, 2010. J. BAILLIEUL and D. Baronov, “Topology guided search of
potential fields,” Proceedings of the 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Atlanta, GA, pp. 5511 – 5517, 2010. Y. CHEN, X.C. Ding, A. Stefanescu, and C. BELTA, “A Formal
Approach to Deployment of Robotic Teams in an Urban-Like Environment,” 10th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotics Systems (OARS), Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010. J. Tumova, B. Yordanov, C. BELTA, I. Cerna, J. Barnat, “A Symbolic Approach to Controlling Piecewise Affine Systems,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Atlanta, GA, 2010. X.C. Ding, C. BELTA, C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Receding Horizon Surveillance with Temporal Logic Specifications,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Atlanta, GA, 2010. B. Yordanov, J. Tumova, C. BELTA, I. Cerna, J. Barnat, “Formal Analysis of Piecewise Affine Systems through FormulaGuided Refinement,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Atlanta, GA, 2010. Y. CHEN, A. Stefanescu, and C. BELTA, “A Hierarchical
Approach to Automatic Deployment of Robotic Teams with Communication Constraints,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Taipei, Taiwan, 2010.
M. Atighetchi, J. Webb, P. Pal, J. Loyall, A. BESTAVROS, and M.J. Mayhew, “Dynamic cross domain information sharing: Flexible adaptive policy management,” Proceedings of CCS’10: The ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, Chicago, IL, October 2010. A. BESTAVROS, A. Kfoury, A. Lapets, and M. Ocean, “Safe Compositional Network Sketches: The Formal Framework,” Proceedings of HSCC’10: The 13th ACM International Conference on Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (in conjunction with CPSWEEK), Stockholm, Sweden, April 2010.
V. Ishakian, A. BESTAVROS, and A. Kfoury, “A Type-Theoretic Framework for Efficient and Safe Colocation of Periodic Real-time Systems,” Proceedings of RTSCA’10: The IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications, pp. 143-152, Macau, China, August 2010. V. Ishakian, R. Sweha, J. Londono, and A. BESTAVROS, “Colocation as a Service: Strategic and Operational Services for Cloud Colocation,” Proceedings of NCA’10: The IEEE International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications, Cambridge, MA, July 2010. J. Londono, A. BESTAVROS, and N. Laoutaris, “A Trading System for Fairly Scheduling Fixed-Sized Delay-Tolerant Jobs at a Shared Link,” Proceedings of Globecom’10: The IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, Miami, FL, December 2010. J. Londono, A. BESTAVROS, and N. Laoutaris, “Trade and Cap: A Customer-Managed, Market-Based System for Trading Bandwidth Allowances at a Shared Link,” Proceedings of NetEcon’10: The USENIX/ACM OSDI Workshop on the Economics of Networks, Systems, and Computation, Vancouver, Canada, October 2010.
S.L. Smith, J. Tumova, C. BELTA, and D. Rus, “Optimal path planning under Temporal Logic Constraints,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Taipei, Taiwan, 2010.
H. Morcos, A. BESTAVROS, and A. MATTA, “Preferential Field Coverage Through Detour-Based Mobility Coordination,” In Proceedings of Med-Hoc-Net’10: The IFIP/IEEE Mediterranean Ad Hoc Networking Worshop, Jun-Les-Pins, France, June 2010.
L.C.G.J.M Habets and C. BELTA, “Temporal Logic Control for Piecewise-Affine Hybrid Systems on Polytopes,” 9th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS 2010), Budapest, Hungary, July 2010.
M.C. CARAMANIS, C.G. CASSANDRAS, T. LITTLE, and I. PASCHALIDIS, “The Cyber-Physical Electric Power
M. Kloetzer, S. ltani, S. Birch, and C. BELTA, “On the Need for Communication in Distributed Implementations of LTL Motion Specifications,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2010), Anchorage, Alaska, 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Generation-Delivery-Consumption Platform: Research Challenges for Optimal Investment Tradeoffs Between the Platform’s Cyber and Physical Components,” Proc. of NSFDOE-NIST Workshop on the Smart Grid, June 2010.
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Proceedings (Refereed) (continued) M.C. CARAMANIS, J.M. FOSTER, “Coupling of Day Ahead and Real Time Power Markets for Energy and Reserves Incorporating Local Distribution Network Costs and Congestion”, Proceedings, 48th annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control and Computing, pp. 42–49, September 28–October 1, 2010. M.C. CARAMANIS, J.M. FOSTER, and E.A. Goldis, “Load
Participation in Electricity Markets: Day-Ahead and HourAhead Market Coupling with Wholesale/Transmission and Retail/Distribution Cost and Congestion Modeling,” Proceedings First IEEE Conference on Smart Grid Communications, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, pp. 513–518, October 2010. J.M. FOSTER, M.C. CARAMANIS, “Energy Reserves and
Clearing in Stochastic Power Markets: The Case of Plug-InHybrid Electric Vehicle Battery Charging,” Accepted 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp.1037–1044, December 2010. R. D. Tabors, G. Parker, M.C. CARAMANIS, “Development of the Smart Grid: Missing Elements in the Policy Process,” IEEE Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, (HICSS–43), January 2010. A. Savvides, M.C. CARAMANIS, and I.C. PASCHALIDIS, “Cyber-Physical Systems for Next Generation Intelligent Buildings,” ACM/IEEE Second International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (ICCPS), Chicago, Illinois, April 2011. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative control and optimization
in an uncertain asynchronous wireless networked world,” Proc. of 18th IEEE Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, June 2010. C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Perturbation Analysis
of Stochastic Hybrid Systems and Applications to Some Non-Cooperative Games,” Proc. of 2010 Intl. Workshop on Discrete Event Systems, pp. 69–74, Sep. 2010. C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “A Stochastic Hybrid System
C. YAO, X.C. Ding, and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Receding Horizon Control for Multi-agent Rendezvous Problems in Uncertain Environments,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, pp. 4511–4516, Dec. 2010. M. ZHONG and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Distributed Coverage
Control and Data Collection with Mobile Sensor Networks,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, pp. 56045609, Dec. 2010. T. WANG and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Optimal Discharge and Recharge Control of Battery-powered Energy-aware Systems,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, Dec. 2010. C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Using Infinitesimal
Perturbation Analysis of Stochastic Flow Models to Recover Performance Sensitivity Estimates of Discrete Event Systems,” Proc. of 18th IFAC World Congress, in press, 2011. A. KEBARIGHOTBI and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Optimal Scheduling of Parallel Queues with Stochastic Flow Models: The c-mu-rule Revisited,” Proc. of 18th IFAC World Congress, in press, 2011. Y. GENG and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Dynamic Resource
Allocation in Urban Settings: A “Smart Parking” Approach,” Proc. of 2011 IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control, in press, 2011. C.G. CASSANDRAS and I.C. PASCHALIDIS, “Wireless Sensor Networks for Localization and Coverage Control,” DOE NNSA University and Industry Technical Interchange Review Meeting, Dec. 2010.
A. K. Bangla and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Pseudo-Polynomial Auction Algorithms for Nonlinear Resource Allocation,” 2011 American Control Conference, June 2011. R. Kumar and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Advanced Traveler Information Systems with Communication Constraints,” 2011 American Control Conference, June 2011.
View at a Class of Non-Cooperative Games,” Proc. of 26th IEEE Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, Nov. 2010.
K. Jenkins and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Information-Based Adaptive Sensor Management in Sensor Networks,” 2011 American Control Conference, June 2011.
C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “A Solution of the Lot Sizing Problem as a Stochastic Resource Contention Game,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, pp. 6728–6733, Dec. 2010.
D.A. CASTAÑÓN, K. Trapeznikov, V. SALIGRAMA, “Active
Boosted Learning,” 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, April 2011. K. Chen and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Robust Multifrequency Inversion in Terahertz Diffraction Tomography,” IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging, January 2011.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Proceedings (Refereed) (continued) D. Hitchings and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Adaptive Sensing with Continuous Action and Measurement Spaces,” 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, December 2010. K. Jenkins and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Fast Algorithms for Adaptive Feature-Based Sensor Management,” 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, December 2010. A. Bangla and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “Auction Algorithms for Nonlinear Resource Allocation,” 2010 Conference on Decision and Control, December 2010. C. Crawford, J. Beaty, D.A. CASTAÑÓN, and H. Martz, “Facilitation of Third-party Development of Advanced Algorithms for Explosive Detection Using Workshops and Grand Challenges,” 10th Annual IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security, November 2010. J. WANG, D.A. CASTAÑÓN, and V. SALIGRAMA, “Markov and
Hidden Markov Model Group Testing,” Allerton 2010: 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, September–October 2010. D. Montamed, V. Vazieri, D.A. CASTAÑÓN and V. SALIGRAMA, “Decentralized Compressive Sensing,” Allerton 2010: 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, September– October 2010. R. Kumar and D.A. CASTAÑÓN, “A New Algorithm For Outlier Rejection in Particle Filters,” 13th International Conference on Information Fusion (Fusion 2010), July 2010.
J. Lock, G. Laing, M. Mahvash, P. DUPONT, “Quasistatic Modeling of Concentric Tube Robots with External Loads,” Conf Proc IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 2325–2332, 2010. M. Mahvash, P. DUPONT, “Stiffness Control of a Continuum Manipulator in Contact with a Soft Environment,” Conf Proc IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp.863– 870, 2010. M. Mahvash, P. DUPONT, “Stiffness Control of Surgical Continuum Manipulators,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 27(2): 334–345, 2011. E. Butler, C. Folk, A. Cohen, N. Vasilyev, R. Chen, R. del Nido, P. DUPONT, “Metal MEMS Tools for Beating-heart Tissue Approximation,” Conf Proc IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 411–416, 2011. J. Lock, P. DUPONT, “Friction Modeling in Concentric Tube Robots,” Conf Proc IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 1139–1146, 2011. C. Bedell, J. Lock, A. Gosline, P. DUPONT, “Design Optimization of Concentric Tube Robots Based on Task and Anatomical Constraints,” Conf Proc IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 398–403, 2011. T. Anor, J. Madsen, P. DUPONT, “Algorithms for Design of Continuum Robots Using the Concentric Tubes Approach: A Neurosurgical Example,” Conf. Proc, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 667–673, 2011.
R. Kumar, D.A. CASTAÑÓN, E. Ermis, and V. SALIGRAMA, “A New Algorithm for Outlier Rejection in Particle Filters,” 13th International Conference on Information Fusion (Fusion 2010), July 2010.
K. Guo, P. ISHWAR, and J. Konrad, “Action Recognition Using Sparse Representation on Covariance Manifolds of Optical Flow,” 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Video and Signal-Based Surveillance (AVSS), August–September 2010.
G. Gursun, M. CROVELLA, and A. MATTA, “Describing and Forecasting Video Access Patterns,” Proceedings of the 30th IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM) – Mini Conference, Shanghai, China, April 2011.
K. Guo, P. ISHWAR, and J. Konrad, “Action Recognition in Video by Sparse Representation on Covariance Manifolds of Silhouette Tunnels,” IEEE International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR), August 2010.
V. Bharti, P. Kankar, L. Setia, G. Gursun, and M. CROVELLA, “Inferring Invisible Traffic,” Proceedings of CoNEXT 2010, Philadelphia, PA, December 2010.
Y. Wang, S. Rane, W. Sun, and P. ISHWAR, “On Unconditionally Secure Computation with Vanishing Communication Cost,” Allerton 2010: 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, September–October 2010.
P. DUPONT, J. Lock, B. Itkowitz, “Real-time Position Control
of Concentric Tube Robots,” Conf Proc IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 562–568, 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
L. Eger, P. ISHWAR, W.C. KARL, and H. Pien, “ClassificationAware Dimensionality Reduction Methods for Explosives Detection using Multi-Energy X-ray Computed Tomography.” Proceedings of SPIE Conference on Computational Imaging IX, volume 7873, San Francisco, CA, February 2011.
Research | 63
Proceedings (Refereed) (continued) B.B. Orten, P. ISHWAR, W.C. KARL, V. SALIGRAMA, and Pien, H. “Sensing-Aware Classification with High-Dimensional Data.” Proc. 2011 IEEE Int’l Conf. on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Prague, Czech Republic, May 22–27, 2011. L. Eger, S. Do, P. ISHWAR, W. C. KARL, H. Pien, “A Learning Based Approach to Explosives Detection Using Multi-Energy X-Ray Computed Tomography,”.Proc. 2011 IEEE Int’l Conf. on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Prague, Czech Republic, May 22–27, 2011.
S. Ambwani, W.C. KARL, A. Tawakol and H. Pien, “Joint cardiac and respiratory motion correction and superresolution reconstruction in coronary PET/CT,” IEEE International Symposium Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), Chicago, Il, May 2011. I.Stojanovic, N.Mohan, B. Vakoc, W.C. KARL, “Fast angiographic OCT imaging using sparse representations over learned dictionaries,” IEEE International Symposium Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), Chicago, Il, May 2011.
M. Wang, J. Konrad, P. ISHWAR, Y. Jing, and H. Rowley, “Image Saliency: From Intrinsic to Extrinsic Context,” IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Colorado Spring, CO, 21–23 June, 2011.
L.B. LEVITIN, T. Toffoli, “Heat-to-work conversion by
Y. Wang, S. Rane, S. C. Draper, and P. ISHWAR, “An Information-Theoretic Analysis of Revocability and Reusability in Secure Biometrics,” 6th IEEE International Workshop on Information Theory and its Applications, San Diego, CA, 6–11 February 2011.
information,” The 10th International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, QCMC 2010, Brisbane, Australia, July 2010.
N. Mohan, I. Stojanovic, W.C. KARL, B. E. A. Saleh, and M.C. Teich, “Compressed sensing in optical coherence tomography,” Proc. SPIE 7570, San Francisco, CA, February 2010. S. Do, W.C. KARL, M.K. Kalra, T.J. Brady, and H. Pien, “Clinical low dose CT image reconstruction using high-order total variation techniques,” Proc. SPIE, San Diego, CA, 2010. S. Do, W.C. KARL, M. K. Kalra, T.J. Brady, and H. Pien, “A variational approach for reconstructing low dose images in clinical helical CT,’’ IEEE International Symposium Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), Rotterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 784–787, 2010. L. Eger, W.C. KARL, P. ISHWAR, H. Pien, “Classificationaware dimensionality reduction methods for explosives detection using multi-energy X-ray computed tomography,” in Computational Imaging, C. A. Bouman, I. Pollak, P. J. Wolfe, editors, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7873, SPIE, San Francisco, CA, January 23–27, 2011. S. Do, M. K. M. D. Kalra, H. Pien, S. Sarabjeet, W.C. KARL, T. Brady, “High-order noise analysis for low dose iterative image reconstruction: ASIR, IRIS, and MBAI,” SPIE Physics of Medical Imaging, Lake Buena Vista, Orlando, 12–17 February 2011 S. Do, W. C. KARL, and H. Pien, “A Novel Hybrid Algorithm for Accelerating CT Reconstructions and Improving Low-Dose Image Quality”, IEEE International Symposium Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), Chicago, Il, May 2011.
exploiting quantum correlations,” The 10th Conference on Quantum Structures, QS2010, Boston, MA, June 2010. L.B. LEVITIN, T. Toffoli, “Work recoverable from two-particle
T.D.C. LITTLE, A. Agarwal, J. Chau, M. Figueroa, A. Ganick, J. Lobo, T. Rich, P. Schimitsch, “Directional Communication System for Short-Range Vehicular Communications,” Proc. 2nd IEEE Vehicular Networking Conf. (VNC 2010), Jersey City, December 15, 2010.
S. Guo and T.D.C. LITTLE, “Throughput Estimation for Singleton Video Streaming Application over Wireless Sensor Networks,’’ Proc. 6th Intl. Conf. on Wireless Communications, Networking, and Mobile Computing, (WiCOM2010), September 2010, Chengdu, China. S. Guo and T.D.C. LITTLE, “QoS-Enabled Video Streaming in Wireless Sensor Network,’’ Proc. Intl. Symposium on Network Computing and Applications (NCA2010), Cambridge, MA, June 2010. A. Agarwal and T.D.C. LITTLE, “Role of Directional Wireless Communication in Vehicular Networks,’’ Proc. 2010 Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, San Diego, CA, June 23, 2010. A.M. Vegni and T.D.C. LITTLE, “A Message Propagation Model for Hybrid Vehicular Communications Protocols,’’ in Proc. 2nd Intl. Workshop on Communication Technologies for Vehcles, (Nets4Cars 2010), Northumbria University, Newcastle UK, July 2010. Z. Wu and T.D.C. LITTLE, “Network Solutions for Non-LOS Problem of a New Free Space Optical System,’’ Proc. 7th IEEE, IET Intl. Symp. on Communication Systems, Networks, and Digital Signal Processing CSNDSP, University of Northumbria at Newcastle UK, July 2010.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
64 | Research
Proceedings (Refereed) (continued) A.M. Vegni, C. Vegni, and T.D.C. LITTLE, “Opportunistic Vehicular Networks by Satellite Links for Safety Applications,’’ Proc. the Fully Networked Car Workshop, Geneva International Motor Show, Geneva, Switzerland, March 3-4, 2010.
G. Gursun, A. MATTA, and K. Mattar, “Revisiting A Soft-State Approach to Managing Reliable Transport Connections,” Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Protocols for Future, Large-Scale and Diverse Network Transports (PFLDNeT), Lancester, PA, November 2010.
J.C. Chau, K. Matarese, and T.D.C. LITTLE, “IP-Enabled LED Lighting Supporting Indoor Mobile and Wireless Communications,’’ Abstract and poster, MobiSys 2010, San Francisco, CA, June 2010.
T. Edrich, G. Frendl, J. Rawn, and I.C. PASCHALIDIS, “Modeling the Effects of Bivalirudin in Cardiac Surgical Patients,” Proceedings of the 33rd Annual International IEEE Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), Boston, Massachusetts, August-September, 2011.
A. Ganick, M. Figueroa, J. Lobo, P. Schimitsch, T. Rich, and T.D.C. LITTLE, “Vehicular Networking Using Optical Transceivers,’’ Abstract and poster, MobiSys 2010, San Francisco, CA, June 2010. E. Trouva, E. Grasa, P. Pheland, M. Ponce de Leon, J. Day, A. MATTA, L. Chitkushev, and S. Bunch, “Is the Internet an unfinished demo? Meet RINA!,” TERENA Networking Conference (TNC), Prague, Czech Republic, May 2011. L.Chiaraiglio and A. MATTA, “An Energy-Aware Distributed Approach for Content and Network Management,” Proceedings of the IEEE INFOCOM 2011 Green Communications and Networking Workshop, Shanghai, China, April 2011. A. Medina, G. Gursun, P. Basu, and A. MATTA, “On the Universal Generation of Mobility Models,” Proceedings of the 18th Annual Meeting of the IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS), Miami Beach, Florida, August 2010. L. Chiaraviglio and A. MATTA, “GreenCoop: Cooperative Green Routing with Energy-efficient Servers,” Proceedings of the First International Conference on Energy-Efficient Computing and Networking, University of Passau, Germany, April 2010. V. Ishakian, A. MATTA, and J. Akinwumi, “On the Cost of Supporting Mobility and Multihoming,” Proceedings of the IEEE GLOBECOM 2010 Workshop on Network of the Future, Miami, Florida, December 2010. F. Esposito, A.M. Vegni, A. MATTA, and A. Neri, “On Modeling Speed-based Vertical Handovers in Vehicular Networks,” Proceedings of the IEEE GLOBECOM 2010 Workshop on Seamless Wireless Mobility, Miami, Florida, December 2010.
I.C. PASCHALIDIS and B. LI, “On Energy Optimized Network Construction for Distributed Averaging in a Dynamic Environment,” Proceedings of the 18th IFAC World Congress, Milan, Italy, in print, August-September, 2011. I.C. PASCHALIDIS and Y. Lin, “Mobile Agent Coordination via a Distributed Actor-Critic Algorithm,” MED 2011: The 19th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, Corfu, Greece, June 2011. R. MOAZZEZ-ESTANJINI and I.C. PASCHALIDIS, “Improved
Delay-Minimized Data Harvesting with Mobile Elements in Wireless Sensor Networks,” 9th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt ’11), pp. 49-54, Princeton, May 2011. I.C. PASCHALIDIS and R. MOAZZEZ-ESTANJINI, “The
Capacity of Sparse Ad Hoc Networks Under Controlled Mobility,” 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2010. I.C. PASCHALIDIS, W. Lai, and F. HUANG, “On Distributed
Multiple Access Control for Wireless Sensor Networks,” Allerton 2010: 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, Illinois, September-October 2010. P. Jones, V. SALIGRAMA, S. Mitter, “Probabilistic Belief Revision with Structural Constraints,” NIPS, 2010. P. Jones, S. Mitter, V. SALIGRAMA, “Revision of Marginal Probability Assessments,” Fusion, Edinburgh, UK, 2010. M. Zhao, V. SALIGRAMA, “Noisy Filtered Processes: Reconstruction and Compression,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Atlanta, Dec. 2010. M. Zhao, V. SALIGRAMA, “Compressed Blind Deconvolution,’’ ICASSP, 2010. M. Cheraghchi, A. Karbasi, S. Mohajer, V. SALIGRAMA, “Graph Constrained Group Testing,’’ ISIT, 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
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Proceedings (Refereed) (continued) S. Aeron, S. Bose, H.P. Valero, V. SALIGRAMA, “Sparsity Penalized Reconstruction Framework for Broadband Dispersion Extraction,’’ pp. 2638-2641, ICASSP, 2010. V. SALIGRAMA, B. Orten et. al., “Sensing-aware Classification with High-Dimensional Data,” ICASSP, 2011
M. Boyle, A. Klausner, D. STAROBINSKI, A. TRACHTENBERG, and H. Wu, “Poster Abstract: Gait-based Smartphone User Identification,” 9th International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Service (MobiSys 2011), June 2011. N. Fazlollahi, D. STAROBINSKI, and A. TRACHTENBERG, “Connected Identifying Codes for Sensor Network Monitoring,’” IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference (WCNC), March 2011. N. Fazlollahi, D. STAROBINSKI, and A. TRACHTENBERG, “Connecting Identifying Codes and Fundamental Bounds,’” 6th Information Theory and Applications Workshop, February 2011. M. Veeraraghavan and D. STAROBINSKI, “A Routing Architecture for Scheduled Circuit Services,” Association for Computer Machinery, November 2010. W. Xiao, S. Agarwal, D. STAROBINSKI, and A. TRACHTENBERG, “Reliable Wireless Broad- casting with Near-Zero Feedback,” IEEE INFOCOM, 2010, San Diego, CA, March 2010. T. Borogovac, N. SUN and P. VAKILI, “Control Variates for Sensitivity Estimation,” Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 2624-2641, Dec 2010.
F. Liu, Z.-H. Guan, Y. Li, G. Zhu and H.O. WANG, “Analysis and Control of Bifurcations in TCP Fluid Model,” Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference on Control & Automation (ICCA), pp. 1764-1768, Xiamen, China, June 9-11, 2010. Y.-J. Chen, H. Ohtake, K. Tanaka, W.-J, Wang, H.O. WANG, “Stability Analysis for the Polynomial Fuzzy Systems by Utilizing Equality Constraints of Sum-of-Squares Program,” Proceedings of the 2010 International Conference on System Science and Engineering, pp. 36-40, Taipei, July1-3, 2010. J. Wei, H. Fang, and H.O. WANG, “Consensus of Multiagent System with Communication Delays by Self-delay PD control,” Proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation (WCICA), pp. 22952300, Jinan, China, July 6-9, 2010. F. Liu, Z.-H. Guan, G. Zhu , T. Li, H.O. WANG, “Stability Analysis and Impulsive Control of Bifurcations and Chaos in Fluid Flow Model for TCP/AQM Networks,” Proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation (WCICA), pp. 1257-1261, Jinan, China, July 6-9, 2010. F. Liu, Z.-H. Guan, G. Zhu, and H.O. WANG, “Stability Analysis and Impulsive Control of Bifurcations in Delayed Networks,” Proceedings of the 29th Chinese Control Conference (CCC), pp. 559- 563, Beijing, China, July 29-31, 2010. F. Liu, Z.-H. Guan, G. Zhu, and H.O. WANG, “Passive Control of Chaos in TCP/AQM Networks with Time Delay,” Proceedings of the 29th Chinese Control Conference (CCC), pp. 3453-3457, Beijing, China, July 29-31, 2010.
Parametric Simulation,” Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 2666-2677, Dec. 2010.
Y. Cai, H.O. WANG,, and X. Xu, “The Kalman Filtering for a Class of Local Strongly Coupled Systems,” Proceeding of the 2011 Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC), Mianyang, China, May 23-25, in press, 2011.
E. Butler, H.O. WANG, and J. Burken, “Modeling, Control, and Failure Stabilization of a Modified F-15: A Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model Based Approach,” Proceedings of the 2010 AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference (GNC), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August 2-5, 2010.
Y. Cai, H.O. WANG, K. Tanaka and X. Xu, “Robust Filtering for Networked Systems with Random Transmission Delays and Packet Dropouts,” Proceedings of the 2011 American Control Conference, San Francisco, California, in press, June 29 –July 1, 2011.
K. Tanaka, H. Ohtake, T. Yamaguchi and H.O. WANG, “Stability Analysis of Nonlinear Systems via Multiple Mixed Max-Min based Lyapunov Functions,” Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, pp. 2899-2905, Barcelona, Spain, July 18-23, 2010.
K. Tanaka, H. Ohtake, T. Seo and H.O. WANG, “An SOS-Based Observer Design for Polynomial Fuzzy Systems,” Proceedings of the 2011 American Control Conference, San Francisco, California, in press, June 29- July 1, 2011.
X. TANG and P. VAKILI, “Importance Sampling for Efficient
H. Ohtake, K. Tanaka and H.O. WANG, “Fuzzy Model-based Servo Control with Constraints on both of Inputs and States,” Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control, pp.107-110, Yokohama, Japan, Sept. 8-19, 2010.
H. Ohtake, K. Tanaka and H.O. WANG, “An Improved Approach to Fuzzy Model Construction and Servo Control with Constraints based on Error Dynamics,” Proceedings of the 2011 American Control Conference, San Francisco, California, USA, in press, June 29-July 1, 2011.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
66 | Research
Invited Lectures S. ANDERSSON, “High-speed AFM imaging of biopolymers
and other string-like samples,” University of Nevada-Reno, Department of Mechanical Engineering, October 2010. S. ANDERSSON, “Tracking single molecules in a confocal
microscope,” University of Minnesota, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, November 2010. S. ANDERSSON, “From no-go to go in three tries,” National
Science Foundation CAREER workshop, April 2011. J. BAILLIEUL, “Decision Making in Search, Surveillance,
and Reconnaissance,” Seminar, Laboratoire des Signaux & Systemes, Universite Paris-Sud 11, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, June 2010. J. BAILLIEUL, “Random Differentiable Structures and Games
of Search, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance,” Workshop on Geometric Methods in control and robotics, La Cristalera, Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid, Spain, October 2010. J. BAILLIEUL, “Decision Making in Search, Surveillance, and
Reconnaissance,” United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), August 2010. C. BELTA, “A Formal Approach to the Deployment of Robotic
Teams,” AFOSR Dynamics and Control Program Review, Arlington, VA, August 2010. C. BELTA, “Synthesis of provably-correct control and
communication strategies for distributed mobile systems Workshop on Formal Methods for Robotics and Automation,” ICRA, Anchorage, Alaska, 2010. A. BESTAVROS, “Network and Cloud Resource Packing
Games,” Distinguished Colloquium at Institut Eurecom, Sophia Antipolis, France, June 2010. A. BESTAVROS, “Network and Cloud Resource Packing
Games,” Joint Networking Seminar at Technical U of Berlin & Deutsche Telekom, June 2010. A. BESTAVROS, “Network and Cloud Resource Packing
Games,” Distinguished Colloquium at the University of British Columbia, ECE Dept, Vancouver, Canada, October 2010. A. BESTAVROS, “Network and Cloud Resource Packing
Games,” Colloquium at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, CS Dept, Lowell, MA, September 2010. A. BESTAVROS, “Trustworthy Interaction in the Cloud,”
Presented at InfraGard Boston, a Professional Development Lecture, Boston, MA, November 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
A. BESTAVROS, “Green Computing: Challenges and Opportunities,” Plenary presentation at the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center’s 6th Conference on Clean Energy, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, November 2010. M. CARAMANIS, “Renewable Generation Intermittency and Demand Provided Reserves: Are Market Solutions Viable?,” INFORMS National Meetings, Austin Texas, November 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization
in an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” 18th IEEE Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, Marrakech, Morocco, June 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization in
an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” 7th Intl. Conference on Electrical Engin., Computing Science, and Automatic Control, Tuxtla Gutierez, Mexico, September 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization
in an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” Information Science and Technology Center (ISTeC), Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, October 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Perturbation Analysis and Optimization
of Stochastic Hybrid Systems and Resource Contention Games,” Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy, May 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization
in an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia, August 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Perturbation Analysis and Optimization
of Stochastic Hybrid Systems and Resource Contention Games,” Invited Lecture, CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico, September 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization
in an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” George Mason University, Washington, DC, October 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Perturbation Analysis and Optimization
of Stochastic Hybrid Systems,” Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, October 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization
in an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, November 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “A Stochastic Hybrid System View at a
Class of Non-Cooperative Games,” 26th IEEE Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, November 2010.
Research | 67
Invited Lectures (continued) C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Real-Time Optimization for Stochastic
M. CROVELLA, “Statistics of Networks Workshop,” Isaac
Hybrid Systems and Resource Contention Games,” 2010 AFOSR Grantees meeting, Arlington, VA, April 2010.
Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, UK, June 2010.
C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Preprint servers and how they can
M. CROVELLA, International Computer Science Institute
synergistically coexist with traditional publishers,” IEEE-CSS sponsored Panel Discussion Atlanta, GA, December 2010.
(ICSI), Berkeley, CA, July 2010.
C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Joys and Perils of Automation”, NSF
Workshop on “Ideas and Technology of Control Systems,” Atlanta, GA, December 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Distributed Coverage Control and Data
Collection with Mobile Sensor Networks,” 49th IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, Atlanta, GA, December 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Sensor Networks and Cyber-Physical
Systems,” Chengdu University, Chengdu, China, September 2010.
W.C. KARL, “Object-based tomography for joint
segmentation and reconstruction,’’ Tomography in Materials Science Workshop, Dayton, OH, December 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Drug target prediction: Finding biological
needles in a haystack of networks,” Department of Statistics, Columbia University, March 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Network-based auto-probit modeling with
application to protein function prediction,” Stern School of Business, New York University, March 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Predicting gene targets of perturbations
C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control and Optimization
in an Uncertain Asynchronous Wireless Networked World,” Chinese Academy, Beijing, China, October 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Resource Contention Games,” Tsinghua
University, October 2010. D. CASTAÑÓN, “A Random Set Framework for Object
Recognition, Data Fusion and Control of Active Sensing,” Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, June 2011. D. CASTAÑÓN, “Distributed Task Partitioning in ISR Missions,” Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Dynamics and Control Meeting, June 2011. D. CASTAÑÓN, “Games, Information and Deception
Exploitation for Adversarial Network Systems,” Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Dynamics and Control Meeting, June 2011. D. CASTAÑÓN, “Advanced Imaging Systems for Security
via network-based filtering of mRNA expression compendia,” Center for Systems Biology, Duke University, March 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Drug target prediction: Finding
biological needles in a haystack of networks,” Seminar in Computational and Applied Mathematics, Notre Dame University, April 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Drug target prediction: finding biological
needles in a haystack of networks,” Probability Seminar, Cornell University, May 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “(Anti)social Behavior in Malicious Internet
Source IPs: Characterisation and Detection,” Statistics of Networks Workshop, Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, England, June 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Drug Targets Prediction: Finding Biological
Needles in a Haystack of Networks,” Statworks Workshop, University of Bristol, Bristol, England, June 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “A Compressed PCA Subspace Method for
Applications,” Northeastern University, March 2011. D. CASTAÑÓN, “Stochastic Network Attack Games,”
University of California, San Diego, October 2010. D. CASTAÑÓN, “Task Partitioning and Human Supervision in ISR Missions,” Defense Research & Engineering (DDR&E) and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) meeting, August 2010.
Anomaly Detection in High-dimensional Data,” International Conference on Statistics and Society, Renmin University, Beijing, China, July 2010. E.D. KOLACZYK, “Statistical Analysis of Network Data,”
Program on Complex Networks, Opening Workshop, Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI), RTP, North Carolina, August 2010. L.B. LEVITIN, ”Fundamental Physical Capabilities and
M. CROVELLA, “The Past, Present, and Future of
SIGMETRICS,” SIGMETRICS 2010, New York, NY, June 2010.
Limitations in Communication and Computing,” Foundations of Probability and Physics 6, FPP6, Vaxjo, Sweden, June 2011.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
68 | Research
Invited Lectures (continued) T.D.C. LITTLE, “Evaluation of Directional Communication for Short-Range Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications,’’ Department of Applied Electronics, University of Roma Tre, Rome Italy, March 2010. T.D.C. LITTLE, “Opportunistic Network Access via Visible Light Communications,’’ Department of Applied Electronics, University of Roma Tre, Rome Italy, March 2010.
E. PEKOZ, “Approximate Bayesian Hierarchical Models for Aggregate Data When Individual-Level Data is Confidential or Unavailable,” National University of Singapore Department of Statistics and Applied Probability seminar, National University of Singapore, Singapore, January 2010. V. SALIGRAMA, “Graph Constrained Group Testing,” NSF
Workshop, UT Austin, 2010.
T.D.C. LITTLE, “How Smart Lighting Fills a Gap for Wireless Communications,’’ Smart Lighting ERC Industry—Academia Day, Boston University, February 2010.
V. SALIGRAMA, “A Statistical Approach to Video Analysis,” MIT Lincoln Labs Imaging Seminar Series, 2010.
A. MATTA, “Transport Tussle,” Panel at the International
Theory and Applications Workshop, UCSD, 2010.
Workshop on Protocols for Future, Large-Scale and Diverse Network Transports (PFLDNeT), Lancaster, PA, November 2010.
V. SALIGRAMA, “Video Analytics,” NGA Research Symposium, September 2010.
A. MATTA, “Apps” in 2020,” Panel at the IEEE
V. SALIGRAMA, “Token Based Algorithm for Distributed Computation in Sensor Networks,” Informs, 2010.
Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks (SECON), Boston, MA, June 2010. I. C. PASCHALIDIS, “Optimization Techniques for
Protein Docking,” Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications, University of Athens, January 2011. I. C. PASCHALIDIS, “Anomaly Detection for Data Security and
Algorithms for Disease Prevention and Management,” EMC Corporation-Boston University Meeting, January 2011. I. C. PASCHALIDIS, “AIRFOILS: Real-Time Optimization for
Animal Inspired Agile Flight,” Office of Naval Research (ONR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Kickoff Meeting, University of Washington, October 2010.
V. SALIGRAMA, “Blind Compressed Sensing,” Information
A. TRACHTENBERG, “Smartphone Security through Gait Analysis,” Infragard, Boston, MA, November 2010. A. TRACHTENBERG, “Non-trivial applications of trivial codes,” Bar Ilan University CS colloquium, May 2011. A. TRACHTENBERG, “Concrete cybersecurity,” GM research,
May 2011. A. TRACHTENBERG, “Identifying codes: from theory to practice... and back again,” Tel Aviv Electrical Engineering colloquium, May 2011. A. TRACHTENBERG “Reconciliation of distributed data,” Ben Gurion University CS colloquium, May 2011.
E. PEKOZ, “Stein’s method for option pricing, variance reduction and improving approximations,” Department of Statistics Risk Seminar, Columbia University, New York, November 2010.
P. VAKILI, “DataBase Monte Carlo (OBMC) & Generic Control Variates for Efficient Parametric Estimation,” Information
E. PEKOZ, “Stein’s Method and the Equilibrium Distribution Coupling,” Stochastic Modeling Techniques and Data Analysis International Conference, Crete, Greece, June 2010.
National Laboratory, June 2010.
E. PEKOZ, “Bayesian Computation for Confidential Data Using Approximately Sufficient Statistics,” Statistics Department seminar University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, March 2010. E. PEKOZ, “Progress in Stein’s method, Centered Poisson and Binomial Approximations for the Poisson Binomial,” National University of Singapore, Singapore, January 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
P. VAKILI, “Science and Technology Seminar,” Los Alamos
S. VAJDA, “Prediction and druggability of protein-protein interactions,” SUNY Buffalo, Department of Structural and Computational Biology, Buffalo NY, January 2010. S. VAJDA, “Computational studies of molecular interactions,” Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, March 2010. S. VAJDA, “Finding druggable sites and fragment hits for protein-protein interaction targets,” Second Annual ProteinProtein Interactions as Targets, Cambridge Healthtech Institute, San Diego, CA, April 2010.
RESEARCH | 69
Invited Lectures (continued) S. VAJDA, “Druggability of protein-protein interactions using
S. VAJDA, “Finding druggable sites in protein-protein
hot spot principle,” 3Dsig 2010, Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Biophysics, an ISMB satellite meeting, Boston, MA, July 2010.
interfaces by computational fragment mapping,” Structural Biology & Drug Discovery Conference, Ocean Coral, Maya & Turquesa, Puerto Morelos, Mexico, December 2010.
S. VAJDA, “Multi-scale models in protein-protein docking,”
Coarse-Grained Modeling of Structure and Dynamics of Biomacromolecules, Telluride, CO, July 2010.
Abstracts C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Real-Time Optimization for Stochastic
Hybrid Systems and Resource Contention Games,” 2010 AFOSR Grantees meeting, April 2010. C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Control of Distributed
Wireless Networked Systems,” IEEE CSS Workshop, November 2010.
N. Vasilyev, N. Lang, H. Yamauchi, C. Folk, A. Cohen, R. Chen, P. del Nido, P. DUPONT, “Image-Guided BeatingHeart Closure of Patent Foramen Ovale Using Novel MEMS Closure Device,” Transcatheter Therapeutics (TCT) 2010, Washington, DC, September 2010.
Transportation System’s Response Capabilities,” DHS Science Conference, Washington, DC, March 30-April 1, 2011.
N.V. Vasilyev, H. Yamauchi, J. Lock, E.J. Butler, R. Chen, G. Schmitz, M. Wu, P. del Nido, P.E. DUPONT, “Novel MEMS Endocardial Tissue Removal Device: A Feasibility Study,” International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery, Annual Scientific Meeting, Washington, DC, June 2011.
Y. GENG and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “A “Smart Parking”
R. MOAZZEZ-ESTANJINI and I. C. PASCHALIDIS, “A Least
C.G. CASSANDRAS and I. C. PASCHALIDIS, “Optimizing the
Approach for Urban Settings,” INFORMS 2011 Northeastern Conference, May 2011. D.A. CASTAÑÓN and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative UAV
Mission Control in Uncertain Environments,” 2010 AFOSR Grantees meeting, April 2010.
Squares Temporal Difference Actor-critic Algorithm with Applications to Warehouse Management,” Invited, INFORMS Northeast Regional Conference, Amherst, MA, May 6-7, 2011. I.C. PASCHALIDIS and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Distributed
Wireless Sensor Networks for Long-term surveillance missions,” Invited, DOE NNSA University and Industry Technical Interchange Review Meeting (UITI 2010), Knoxville, Tennessee, December 2010.
Editorials B. Liu, A. BESTAVROS, D.-Z. Du, and J. Wang, Editorial on Research Advances in Wireless Algorithms, Systems, and Applications, EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, August 2010.
Patents Z. Liang, W.C. KARL, H. Pien, T. Brady, “A method for super resolution processing and degradation artifact removal from medical images,” United States Patent Number 7,689,017. March 30, 2010.
S. Do, H. Pien, W.C. KARL, M. Kalra, “LARA: low amperage, reduced angle for low-dose CT imaging,” Patent Disclosure. 2010.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Student Publications and activity Presentations Y. CHEN, X.C. Ding, A. Stefanescu, and C. BELTA, “A Formal
A. KEBARIGHOTBI, “Timeout Control in Distributed Systems
Approach to Deployment of Robotic Teams in an Urban-Like Environment,” 10th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotics Systems (OARS), Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010.
Using Perturbation Analysis,” 2011 National Control Engineering Students Workshop, April 28-May 1, 2011.
Y. CHEN, A. Stefanescu, and C. BELTA, “A Hierarchical
Approach to Automatic Deployment of Robotic Teams with Communication Constraints,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Taipei, Taiwan, 2010. J. FOSTER, “Tractable Transmission Topology Control,”
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Staff Technical Conference on Increasing Real-Time and Day-Ahead Market Efficiency through Improved Software, Washington, District of Columbia, Jun. 2011. J. FOSTER, “Electric Vehicle Grid Integration Research:
Creating a Path to Transportation Electrification,” San Antonio Clean Tech Leaders visit to National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, Jun. 2011. J. FOSTER, “Boston University Smart Neighborhood:
Smart Grid Load Control,” Smart Spaces: A Smart Lighting ERC Academia-Industry Day, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, Jan. 2011. J. FOSTER, “Energy Reserves and Clearing in Stochastic
Power Markets: The Case of Plug-In-Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery Charging,” 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Invited Session, Atlanta, Georgia, Dec. 2010. J. FOSTER, “Renewable Generation Intermittency and
Demand Provided Reserves: Are Market Solutions Viable?” INFORMS 2010 Annual Meeting, Invited Session, Austin, Texas, Nov. 2010. I.C. PASCHALIDIS, W. Lai, and F. HUANG, “On Distributed Multiple Access Control for Wireless Sensor Networks,” Allerton 2010: 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, Illinois, September-October 2010.
Annual Report 2010–2011
R. MOAZZEZ-ESTANJINI and I.C. PASCHALIDIS, “Improved
Delay-Minimized Data Harvesting with Mobile Elements in Wireless Sensor Networks,” 9th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt ’11), pp. 49-54, Princeton, May 2011. I.C. PASCHALIDIS and R. MOAZZEZ-ESTANJINI, “The
Capacity of Sparse Ad Hoc Networks Under Controlled Mobility,” 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2010. T. Borogovac, N. SUN and P. VAKILI, “Control Variates for Sensitivity Estimation,” Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 2624-2641, Dec 2010. X. TANG and P. VAKILI, “Importance Sampling for Efficient Parametric Simulation,” Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 2666-2677, Dec. 2010. J. WANG, D.A. CASTAÑÓN, and V. SALIGRAMA, “Markov and
Hidden Markov Model Group Testing,” Allerton 2010: 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, September-October 2010. T. WANG and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Optimal Discharge and Recharge Control of Battery-powered Energy-aware Systems,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, Dec. 2010. C. YAO and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “A Solution of the Lot
Sizing Problem as a Stochastic Resource Contention Game,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, pp. 67286733, Dec. 2010.
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Posters Presented Y. GENG, A smart parking system based on dynamic resource allocation, Advisor: C.G. Cassandras, Univ. of Mass., Amherst.
H. MIRZAEI, An Efficient Rigid Body Minimization Algorithm
F. HUANG, A Distributed Polynomial-time Algorithm for Obtaining an Effective Solution to The Maximum Weighted Independent Set Problem, Advisor: I.C. Paschalidis, BU Science Day, March 23, 2011.
X. TANG, Importance Sampling for Parametric Estimation, Advisor: P. Vakili, 2010 Winter Simulation Conference.
A. KEBARIGHOTBI, Timeout Control in Distributed Systems
Using Perturbation Analysis. Advisor: C.G. Cassandras, BU Science Day, March 23, 2011. X. LIN, An optimal control approach for persistent monitoring
problem, Advisor: Prof. Christos. C.G. Cassandras, BU Science Day, March 23, 2011. X. LIN, An optimal control approach for persistent monitoring
problem, Advisor: C.G. Cassandras, April 29, 2011, 2011 National Control Engineering Students Workshop.
For Protein Docking, Cohort Workshop, April 1, 2011.
T. WANG, Optimal Discharge and Recharge Control
of Battery-powered Energy-aware Systems, Advisor: C.G. Cassandras, April 29, 2011, 2011 National Control Engineering Students Workshop. T. WANG, Optimal Discharge and Recharge Control of Battery-powered Energy-aware Systems, Advisor: C.G. Cassandras, BU Science Day, March 23, 2011. C. YAO, X.C. Ding, and C.G. CASSANDRAS, “Cooperative Receding Horizon Control for Multi-agent Rendezvous Problems in Uncertain Environments,” Proc. of 49th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, pp. 4511-4516, Dec. 2010.
Internships JUSTIN FOSTER
CHEN YAO
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems, Electric Vehicle Grid Integration.
• Research Intern, Mechatronics and Control Department, Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab (MERL).
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Division of Policy Development.
XIAOJIN TANG
• State Street Global Advisor, Quantitative Research Analyst.
NA SUN
• State Street Global Advisor, Global Active Equities, Advanced Research Center.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Research Laboratories Andersson Lab
BioRobotics Research Group (BRG)
http://www.bu.edu/anderssonlab 110 Cummington St., Boston, MA 02215 617-353-4949 Professor Sean Andersson
http://www.bu.edu/biorobotics/ 110 Cummington St., Boston, MA 02215 617-358-1232 Professor Pierre Dupont
The Andersson Lab at Boston University focuses on systems and control theory. We are primarily interested in the application areas of nanotechnology, nanobioscience, and robotics. We believe the potential of scanning probe microscopy has not yet been realized. We are investigating novel methods for rapid imaging of samples and for studying dynamics in systems with nanometer-scale phenomena. By replacing the traditional raster-scan approach to imaging with feedback control laws, which drive the sampling scheme, the domain of applicability of scanning probe technologies can be extended deeper into the realm of dynamic processes. Our research on robotics centers on the framework of symbolic control. We aim to develop methods for handling the complexity of robotics in real-world environments. Ongoing work includes the use of symbols to tokenize the environment as well as the control and applications in cooperative control.
The BioRobotics Research Group (BRG) solves theoretical and practical problems in minimally invasive surgery. They specialize in medical robot and instrument design, development of imaging techniques for surgical guidance, modeling tool-tissue interaction; and teleoperation / automation of instrument motion. They utilize analytical tools from robotics, dynamics and control together with innovative design techniques to create successful solutions. The team members come from diverse backgrounds with degrees in mechanical / biomedical / electrical engineering and medicine. Their specialties range from biomedical robotics, clinical practice and imaging to product design and many areas in between.
Advanced Materials Process Control Laboratory http://www.bu.edu/pcl/ 15 St. Mary’s St., Brookline, MA 02446 617-353-9572 Professor Michael Gevelber
Research in this laboratory focuses on improving materials processing capabilities by applying a controls-based approach. Our controls-based approach integrates process modeling, sensor development, both system and control design, and experimentation to achieve greater control of material microstructure as well as improving yield and maximizing production rate. Research projects, typically conducted with industry partners, span a range of application areas including opto-electronic applications, advanced engines, power systems, and biomedical applications. Ongoing research projects include real-time control for plasma spray for thermal barrier coatings and fuel cells, e-beam deposition for precision optical coatings, electrospinning of nanofibers, chemical vapor deposition, and Czochralski crystal growth.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Collins Lab http://www.bu.edu/abl/ 44 Cummington St., Boston, MA 02215 617-353-0390 Professor Jim Collins
Our lab is currently working in two areas: 1) We are developing and implementing computational-experimental methods to reverse engineer and analyze gene regulatory networks in microbes and higher organisms. 2) We are designing and constructing synthetic gene networks for a variety of biotechnology and bioenergy applications. We are also using engineered gene networks to study general principles underlying gene regulation.
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Professors Hua Wang and John Baillieul with students and robots in the Intelligent Mechatronics Laboratory.
Control of Discrete Event Systems (CODES) Laboratory
Hybrid and Networked Systems Lab (HyNeSs Lab) http://hyness.bu.edu/ 15 St. Mary’s St., Brookline, MA 02446 617-353-9586 Professor Calin Belta
http://vita.bu.edu/cgc/CODES/ 8 Saint Mary’s Street, Boston MA 02215 617-353-7154 Professor Christos Cassandras
Discrete event systems have their own distinctive features and behavior. The objectives of the CODES Laboratory range from the study of basic mathematical and computer simulation models for these systems to the development of actual software for controlling them. Some of the best-known analytical frameworks and methodologies in this field, such as Rapid Learning Technology (RLT), have been pioneered by members of the CODES Laboratory. Ongoing projects are geared toward applications in automated manufacturing, communication and sensor networks, cooperative control systems, hybrid systems, and the development of the next generation of computer simulation tools. These projects are supported by several federal agencies and by industry. One of the unique characteristics of the CODES Laboratory is its problem-driven philosophy: real world problems motivate some of the best theoretical advances while providing workable solutions for technology transfer.
We are interested in phenomena that occur when continuous dynamics, described by systems of differential equations, are combined with discrete dynamics, modeled as automata or state transition graphs. Such systems are called hybrid, and examples range from man-made systems such as mobile robots, to naturally occurring systems such as biochemical networks, where the continuous dynamics of metabolic processes is regulated by the logic of gene expression. Our approach to the analysis and control of such systems combine concepts and tools from computer science and control theory. Our current application areas are networked mobile robotics, swarming, gene networks, and genome scale metabolic analysis.
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INFORMATION SCIENCES & SYSTEMS (ISS) LABORATORY
INTELLIGENT MECHATRONICS LABORATORY
http://iss.bu.edu/ 8 St. Mary’s St., Brookline, MA 02446 617-353-1668, 617-353-9919 Professors Murat Alanyali, Jeffrey Carruthers, Christos Cassandras, David Castañón, Clem Karl, Janusz Konrad, Thomas Little, Prakash Ishwar, Hamid Nawab, Bobak Nazer, Ioannis Paschalidis, Venkatesh Saligrama, David Starobinski, Ari Trachtenberg
http://www.bu.edu/iml/ 110 Cummington Street, Boston MA 02215 617-353-9848 Professors John Baillieul, Calin Belta and Hua Wang
The ISS Laboratory groups researchers at Boston University with common interests in research, training and technology transfer in the field of information systems and sciences. Although members of the ISS Laboratory have a wide variety of research interests, there are four primary concentration areas, namely Image Video & Biomedical Signal Processing, Statistical Learning, Communication Networks, and Systems Control & Optimization. Research from these areas finds application in a wide variety of critical national and international needs, including biomedical signal and image processing for disease detection, remote sensing for atmospheric science, buried land mine detection, distributed and mobile computing, sensor networks, and advanced visual communication and entertainment. The above topics and applications form the focus for exciting and challenging study and thesis work. Several dozen PhD, MEng as well as undergraduate students carry out research within the laboratory. They are supervised by more than a dozen dynamic faculty of international renown and with abundant financial support. The research in the laboratory is supported by various sources, such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as well as industry.
This laboratory is equipped with a wide variety of robotic devices including RF-networked sensor arrays, nearly forty mobile robots, surgical robots, and haptic interfaces. Additional resources include real-time control software, handheld computing and communication devices, workstations, and a wide variety of sensors and actuators. This equipment is dedicated to research in limited-bandwidth control problems, symbolic control, cooperative systems and control, and imageguided minimally invasive surgery. LABORATORY OF NETWORKING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS (NISLAB) http://nislab.bu.edu/ 8 St. Mary’s St., Boston, MA 02215 617-353-0202, 617-353-1581 Professors David Starobinski and Ari Trachtenberg
DNISLAB is involved in providing novel perspectives to modern networking with emphasis on scalability, heterogeneity, and performance. Our research roots into the mathematical fields of graph theory and algorithms, probability and stochastic processes, and coding theory with applications to content synchronization, network monitoring, wireless spectrum management, and advanced networking for scientific applications. Laboratory activities include a number of practical and theoretical projects involving about a dozen graduate and undergraduate students in the department.
Miniature cars move autonomously on the streets of the Robotic Urban Like Environment (RULE is a collaboration between the labs of ME/SE Professor Belta and ECE/SE Professor Cassandras).
Annual Report 2010–2011
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Multi-Dimensional Signal Processing (MDSP) Laboratory
Multimedia Communications Laboratory http://hulk.bu.edu/ 8 St. Mary’s St., Boston, MA 02215 617-353-9877 Professor Thomas D.C. Little
http://mdsp.bu.edu 8 St. Mary’s St., Boston, MA 02215 617-353-1668 Professor W. Clement Karl
The MDSP laboratory conducts research in the general areas of multi-dimensional and multi-resolution signal and image processing and estimation and geometric-based estimation. The development of efficient methods for the extraction of information from diverse data sources in the presence of uncertainty including:
The Multimedia Communications Laboratory (MCL) at Boston University focuses on topics in ubiquitous distributed computing. Our legacy work is in the area of distributed multimedia information systems emphasizing timedependent and continuous media data such as video. Recent work targets mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and sensor networks (SNETs).
• Enhanced resolution image reconstruction for Cardiac Computerized Tomography • Multisource data fusion • Nanoscale optical microscopy • Biological interface estimation and tracking
Threepio, a robot developed in the Intelligent Mechatronics Laboratory.
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STRUCTURAL BIOINFORMATICS LABORATORY http://structure.bu.edu/ 44 Cummington St., Boston, MA 02215 617-353-4757 Professor Sandor Vajda
The focus of this laboratory is the development and application of computational tools for the analysis of protein structure and protein-ligand interactions. Some of the particular problems we currently study are the evaluation of binding free energy in protein-protein complexes, development of efficient docking algorithms, computational solvent mapping of proteins using molecular probes to identify the most favorable binding positions, method development for fragment-based drug design, construction of an enzyme binding site database, and improving the prediction of protein active sites by homology modeling.
Students in the CODES Laboratory, directed by Professor C.G. Cassandras, set up its miniature city test bed for an experiment under the “smart parking” research project.
Annual Report 2010–2011
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The Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE) http://www.bu.edu/systems/ 15 Saint Mary’s Street, Brookline MA 02446 617-358-1295
New faculty in 2010-2011
The Systems Engineering Division is affiliated with the Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE). CISE provides an interdepartmental home for faculty and students interested in research in information and control systems theory and its relevance to various application domains encompassing the analysis, design, and management of complex systems that have come to prominence as a result of the information, communication, and computation revolution. Information and systems engineering research at Boston University is strong and accomplished, and it is spread across departments, colleges and schools within the University.
• Nalin Kulatilaka, Finance (SMG), Professor
• Ayse Coskun, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ENG), Assistant Professor
CISE was created by the Boston University Trustees in 2002 and has raised the visibility of systems engineering and fostered greater interactions among Boston University researchers. In keeping with its mission, CISE fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and research in emerging applications and the use of methodologies such as optimization methods, information theory, control theory, applied probability, statistics, simulation, decision theory, multiscale modeling, queueing, algorithms, and stochastic processes.
• Ben Lubin, Information Systems (SMG), Assistant Professor • Bobak Nazar, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ENG), Assistant Professor Participating Faculty Mechanical Engineering (ENG): Professors S. Andersson,
J. Baillieul, C. Belta, M. Caramanis, P. Dupont, M. Gevelber, J. Perkins, P. Vakili, H. Wang Biomedical Engineering (ENG): Professor S. Vajda Computer Science (CAS): Professors A. Bestavros,
M. Crovella, A. Matta Electrical and Computer Engineering (ENG):
Professors M. Alanyali, J. Carruthers, C. Cassandras, D. Castañón (CISE Co-Director,) P. Ishwar, C. Karl, L. Levitin, T. Little, I. Paschalidis (CISE Co-Director), V. Saligrama, , D. Starobinski, A. Trachtenberg Math/Statistics (CAS): Professor E. Kolaczyk Operations Management (SMG): Professor E. Pekoz
Primary application interests are in the areas of: Administration
• Automation, Robotics and Control
• David Castañón, Co-Director
• Communication and Networking • Computational Biology
• Ioannis Paschalidis, Co-Director
• Information Sciences
• Linda Grosser, Associate Director
• Production, Service and Energy Systems
• Denise Joseph, Administrator
CISE has grown from 13 to 31 affiliated faculty as of June 2011. Faculty come from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering; the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences; and the Departments of Information Systems and Operations Management in the School of Management. CISE faculty have been successful in bringing in multi-million dollar external research support. There are over 100 graduate students affiliated through CISE faculty.
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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CISE ACCOMPLISHMENTS Publications Database
CISE Seminars and Events
CISE maintains a searchable database of systems and information engineering publications authored by CISE affiliated faculty and their students. Benefits to faculty include:
CISE manages one of the most vibrant Seminar Series on campus featuring prominent academic and industrial researchers who present their work to the university audience. These seminars are usually held on Fridays at 2 PM at 8 St Mary’s Street. The following table lists the seminar speakers from September 2010 through June 2011.
• ability to cite pre-publication of technical papers in proposals • ability for grad students to “publish” • a resource representing scholarship across departments In 2010 the CISE Publication Database was enhanced to provide an automated interface and new security options as well as to include a variety of searchable documents such as journal articles, conference proceedings, posters abstracts and presentations. In 2011 the system is being updated to enhance the research branding of CISE.
CISE Seminar Series 2010–2011 Speaker
Title
Department
17-Sep-10
Justin Romberg
Assistant Professor
School of Electrical and Georgia Institute Computer Engineering of Technology
An Overview of Compressed Sensing and Application to Two Localization Problems
Venkatesh Saligrama
24-Sep-10
Devavrat Shah
Associate Professor
department of electrical engineering and computer science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Message Passing Networks
Mark Crovella
1-Oct-10
Jerry Zhu
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Sciences
University of WisconsinMadison
Is Machine Learning the Wrong Name?
Venkatesh Saligrama
8-Oct-10
Sean P. Meyn
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Dynamic Models for Electric Power Markets
Michael Caramanis
14-Oct-10
Tara Javidi
Associate Professor
electrical and computer engineering
University of California, San Diego
Opportunistic Routing in Ioannis Wireless Multihop Networks Paschalidis
15-Oct-10
Ayse K. Coskun
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Boston University
Energy-Efficient Temperature Ioannis Management for High Paschalidis Performance Multiprocessor Systems
Annual Report 2010–2011
Institution
Talk Title
Hosting Professor
Date
Research | 79
CISE Seminar Series 2010–2011
(continued)
Date
Speaker
Title
Department
Institution
Talk Title
Hosting Professor
21-Oct-10
Daniel Abramovitch
Research Fellow
Agilent Laboratories
Santa Clara, California
How Not to Present Your Work
Sean Andersson
22-Oct-10
Daniel Abramovitch
Research Fellow
Agilent Laboratories
Santa Clara, California
A Tale of Three Actuators: Sean How Mechanics, Business Andersson Models and Position Sensing Affect Different Mechatronic Servo Problems
28-Oct-10
Vijay Subramanian
Research Fellow
Information Theory
Hamilton Institute, NUIM, Ireland
Stochastic Switched Networks: Fine Properties of Max-Weight Scheduling
29-Oct-10
Balaji Prabhakar
Professor
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Stanford University
It Pays to Do the Right Thing: Prakash Incentive Mechanisms for Ishwar Societal Networks
5-Nov-10
Tony Jebara
Associate Professor
Computer Science
Columbia University
Learning from Data Using Matchings and Graphs
10-Nov-10
Alessandro Abate
Assistant Professor
Delft Center for Systems and Control (DCSC)
Delft University of Stochastic Hybrid Systems: Technology (The Formal Analysis and Netherlands) Computable Verification
Calin Belta and Sean Andersson
12-Nov-10
Ali Abur
Professor and Chair
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Northeastern University
Role of Synchronized Measurements In Operation of Smart Grids
Michael Caramanis
19-Nov-10
Uday V. Shanbhag
Assistant Professor
Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Nash Games Under Michael Uncertainty: Characterization Caramanis Statements and Distributed Computation
3-Dec-10
Shailesh Vora
Fuel Cells Technology Manager
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy’s SECA Program: 2010 Progress and Plans
Srikanth Gopalan
21-Jan-11
Alex Stankovic’
Professor
Electrical Engineering
Tufts University
Smart Grid and Other Desiderata: A Future for Electric Energy
Michael Caramanis and Yannis Paschalidis
28-Jan-11
Hadas KressGazit
Assistant Professor
Sibley School of Cornell University Language, Logic and Control: Sean Mechanical and Synthesizing Correct, HighAndersson Aerospace Engineering level Robot Behaviors
4-Feb-11
Rakesh Kumar
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Ayse Coskun Computing with Stochastic Processors: Embracing Errors in Architecture and Design of Processors and Applications
11-Feb-11
Claire Tomlin
Chancellor’s Professor
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
UC Berkeley
Verification and Control of Hybrid Systems using Reachability Analysis
Ioannis Paschalidis
Venkatesh Saligrama
Christos Cassandras
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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CISE Seminar Series 2010–2011
(continued) Hosting Professor
Date
Speaker
Title
Department
Institution
Talk Title
18-Feb-11
Kenny Gross
Distinguished Engineer/ Team Leade
System Dynamics Characterization and Control team in Oracle’s Physical Sciences Research Center in San Diego
Oracle
Intelligent Power Monitoring and Management for Enterprise Data Centers
25-Feb-11
Pablo Ariel Ruiz
Senior Associate
Electrical Engineering
Charles River Tractable Cost-Reducing Michael Associates (CRA) Dynamic Topology Control in Caramanis Electricity Networks
4-Mar-11
Constantine Caramanis
Faculty
Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Texas
Robustness in Highdimensional Statistics:
Yannis Paschalidis
11-Mar-11
Andrew Ott
Senior Vice President
Markets
PJM Interconnection
Alternative Technology Resources in the PJM Wholesale Power Market
Michael Caramanis
25-Mar-11
Sathish Gopalakrishnan
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of British Columbia
Dr. GoodEnough: Or how I learnt to make tradeoffs between information quality and energy efficiency
Azer Bestravos
1-Apr-11
Alejandro DomínguezGarcía
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
University of Illinois, Urbana
Coordination and Control of Distributed Energy Resources for Provision of Ancillary Services
Michael Caramanis
8-Apr-11
Chun-Hung Chen Professor
Systems Engineering & George Mason Operations Research University
Stochastic Simulation and Optimization: An Optimal
Christos Cassandras
8-Apr-11
Loo Hay Lee
Associate Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
National University of Singapore
Stochastic Simulation and Optimization: An Optimal
Christos Cassandras
11-Apr-11
Andreas Krause
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
California Institute of Technology
Adaptive Submodularity: A New Approach to Active Learning and Stochastic Optimization
Yannis Paschalidis
15-Apr-11
John Langford
Senior Researcher
Yahoo! Research
Yahoo! Research
Reductions for Machine Learning
Venkatesh Saligrama
22-Apr-11
Mehryar Mohri
Professor
Courant Institute of New York Mathematical Sciences University
Learning Kernels Can Help Performance
Venkatesh Saligrama
29-Apr-11
David Blei
Assistant Professor
Computer Science
Princeton University
Scalable Topic Modeling
Venkatesh Saligrama
6-May-11
Ramesh Johari
Assistant Professor
Department of Management Science and Engineering (MS&E)
Stanford University
Mean Field Equilibria of Dynamic Games: An Introduction and Application to Auctions
Michael Caramanis
Annual Report 2010–2011
Ayse Coskun
Research | 81
Hosting Professor
Date
Speaker
Title
Department
Institution
Talk Title
11-May-11
Massimo Franceschetti
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California
The Interference Barrier: Promises and Limits of Cooperative Communications
Venkatesh Saligrama
13-May-11
Mircea Lazar
Assistant Professor
Control Systems group of the Electrical Engineering Faculty
Eindhoven University of Technology
Polyhedral Lyapunov Functions via Proper Conic Partitions
Calin Belta
Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Q-Learning and Enhanced Yannis Policy Iteration in Discounted Paschalidis Dynamic Programming
University of California, Irvine
Network Interference Management via Interference Alignment
Bobak Nazer
National University of Singapore
Guaranteed Global Performance through Local Coordination
Calin Belta
20-May-11 Huizhen Janey Yu Postdoctoral Researcher
25-May-11
Viveck Cadambe
PhD Candidate
10-Jun-11
Hai Lin
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
CISE sponsors a variety of events that support its interdepartmental mission and extend its visibility. A description of those events is listed below: Carbon Day—September 17, 2011 Boston’s Back Bay CISE sponsored BU’s Smart Neighborhood tent, connecting people and research for clean energy and a more sustainable Back Bay. This outdoor event brought vendors of clean technology as well as academic researchers to Copley Square where they mingled with Back Bay residents, school children, office workers and tourists.
The Smart Spaces conference was hosted by Boston University, and sponsored by the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC), a National Science Foundation center funded at $4M/yr. The ERC is an interdisciplinary, multiinstitution organization with the vision to transform the way society uses light by improving the energy-efficiency, productivity and health of society.
Smart Spaces: Smart Lighting ERC conference— Tuesday, February 8, 2011 BU Photonics Center Nearly 120 participants from academia, government and industry attended “Smart Spaces: A Smart Lighting ERC Academia—Industry Day” at the Boston University Photonics Center. Presenters represented the Smart Lighting ERC’s partner universities—Boston University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of New Mexico—and many other academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. The meeting focused on “smart spaces” that integrate illuminators, sensors, controllers and communications technology into LED-based lighting systems that enhance and adapt to human needs and activities.
Lab Tour group meeting in Smart Lighting Lab
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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Smart Spaces: Smart Lighting ERC conference— Tuesday, February 8, 2011 (cont.) Thomas Little (CISE affiliated faculty) is Principal Investigator and Associate Director of the NSF Smart Lighting ERC and oversees the Boston University effort of the grant as Site Coordinator and is also the Outdoor Communications and Transportation Testbed Leader. The Smart Lighting Center at Boston University (smartlighting.bu.edu) is part of the $18.5 million, multi-year Center with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of New Mexico. The Smart Lighting Center is developing the optical communication technology that would make an LED the equivalent of a WiFi access point.
8th Annual CISE Awards—for Annual Research Symposium—April 1, 2011 15 St. Mary’s Street In conjunction with the BU Science & Engineering Symposium on Wednesday, March 23, the Center for Information and Systems Engineering celebrated CISE graduate student research with the 8th annual CISE awards. This year the CISE First Prize Award ($500) was given on March 23 by President Brown along with the other main awards. CISE Honorable Mention winners were announced at the CISE Pizza Party and Award Ceremony on April 1.
Invited Speaker Dominic O’Brien – “Visible Light Communications: Achieving High Data Rates”
Congratulations to Smart Lighting Award winner • Margo Monroe – Advisor, Selim Unlu, “Multiplexed, Rapid Point of Care Device to Quantify Allergen –Specific IgE” The 2011 CISE judges were • John Baillieul, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering • Mark Crovella, Professor, Computer Science, College of Arts and Sciences • Ioannis Paschalidis, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Entries were judged on scientific or engineering innovation, relevance, promise of future impact, societal implications, and the exhibitor’s presentation. All students whose advisors are CISE affiliated were considered for the CISE awards.
• Ari Trachtenberg, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Congratulations to CISE First Prize winners
• Hua Wang, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
• Joseph Wang – Advisor, David Castañón, “Kernelizing Low-Rank Representation and Learning”
• Piroz Vakili, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
• Sonal Ambwani – Advisor, W. Clem Karl, “Joint Motion Correction and Super-resolution Based reconstruction in Coronary PET/CT Imaging” Congratulations to CISE Honorable mention winners • Ajay Kumar Bangla – Advisor, Advisor David Castañón, “Distributed Algorithms for Nonlinear Resource Allocation” • Zachary Sun – Advisor, W. Clem Karl, “Non-Rotational Tomography for Luggage Scanning using Krylov Methods” • Kirill Trapeznikov – Advisor, David Castañón,“Active Boosted Learning”
Annual Report 2010–2011
Honorable mention students for CISE Science Day awards (left to right): Kirill Trapeznikov, Ajay Kumar Bangla, Zachery Sun.
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Smart Lighting Challenge— Saturday, April 9, 2011 BU School of Management, 595 Commonwealth Ave. Boston This student-run competition focused on developing the optimal design, manufacturing, operations and product strategy for solid state lighting technologies under development at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC). The competition involved seven student teams from BU, one team from Tufts and one team from Babson. Teams, made up of both graduate and undergraduate students, competed to devise approaches to a Smart Lighting case. The case was authored by Professor Tom Little, CISE faculty and ERC Associate Director. Judges for the event included CISE Associate Director Linda Grosser, Tom Little, other ERC members and industry participants. The winning teams: • First Place: $1000: “Utilize Smart Lighting for Shopping Cart Analytics and Communication” • Second Place: $300: “Opportunities in Las Vegas” • Third Place: $200: “Green Light – Blue Ocean: Smart Lighting Benefits in the Hospitality Sector”
“Spark Dialogue”—Sustainable Neighborhood Living Lab meeting, Friday, June 17, 2011 BU Photonics Center Over 50 thought leaders came together at Boston University to engage in discussion about the Sustainable Neighborhood Living Lab. The Sustainable Neighborhood Living Lab will be developed in the Back Bay in part with an EFRI (Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation) grant for CISE faculty, Michael Caramanis and John Ballieul and industry partners NSTAR and Ruben Co. Stakeholders from across academia, industry, government, and the neighborhoods gathered to hear from leading researchers at Boston University and share ideas on the opportunities and challenges of moving urban ecosystems toward increased sustainability. Presenters included CISE faculty: • John Baillieul, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, “Framework for Advanced Sustainable Building Design”
Student team presenting at the Smart Lighting Challenge Event.
Industrial Outreach CISE has an active industrial outreach program, engaging private sector partners in research collaboration, conference participation and seminar presentations. These partnerships provide strategic value to CISE in their support for research proposals and in providing placements for CISE graduate students. In addition, they enhance the vitality of our research by helping us to better understand the priorities of the private sector. Recent industrial participants have included representatives from Constellation Energy, Draper Laboratories, Ember Corporation, EMC, Enernoc, Honeywell International, IBM Corporation, Lenox Hotel, Lincoln Laboratories, Millennial Net, Inc., MITRE Corporation, NSTAR, Raymond Corporation, Ruben Companies, Schott Solar North America, Schlumberger, Siemens Building Technologies, and Textron Systems.
Outreach In an effort to improve communication and visibility with academic, industry and interested partners, CISE: • Enhanced its brochure available in paper or digital format at: http://www.bu.edu/systems/about/cise-brochure/ • Adopted commercial cloud based technologies which synthesize email communication and contact organization.
• Nalin Kulatilaka, Professor of Finance, School of Management, “Enabling Clean Energy Financing” • Thomas Little, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, “Smart Lighting and Sustainability”
Boston University College of Engineering | Division of Systems Engineering
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VISITING COMMITTEE MEMBERS TAMER BASAR, Swanlund Endowed
P. R. KUMAR, Franklin W. Woeltge
Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; CAS Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Center for Advanced Study; Research Professor, Coordinated Science Laboratory; Research Professor, Information Trust Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; As of September 2011, Professor and College of Engineering Chair in Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University.
DIMITRIS BERTSIMAS, Boeing Professor
MARK T. MAYBURY, Executive Director,
of Operations Research and CoDirector, Operations Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MITRE Information Technology Division; Chief Scientist, US Air Force.
ANDY GRACE, Vice President of
STEFAN MIESBACH, Vice President,
Engineering and Design Automation, The MathWorks, Inc.
Energy Division of Siemens, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Voice & Video Infrastructure.
YU-CHI (LARRY) HO, Professor Emeritus,
ROBERT R. TENNEY, Vice President,
Harvard University; Chief Scientist and Chaired Professor, Center for Intelligent and Networked Systems, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
BAE Systems Advanced Information Technologies.
KIRK E. JORDAN, Emerging Solutions
PRAVIN VARAIYA, Professor of Electrical
Executive and Associate Program Director, Computational Science Center, IBM T.J. Watson Research; Member, IBM Academy of Technology.
Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley.
Annual Report 2010–2011
Boston University Division of Systems Engineering Annual Report 2010–2011 © 2011 Boston University Design and production: Tess Mattern Photography: Boston University Photo Services; Graduation Photos by John Kim Content: Elizabeth Flagg, Cheryl Stewart, SE staff, and SE faculty Front Cover: Miniature cars move autonomously on the streets of the Robotic Urban Like Environment (RULE is a collaboration between the labs of ME/SE Professor Belta and ECE/SE Professor Cassandras). Front Cover (bottom): ECE/SE Associate Professor David Starobinski (center) discusses wireless networking research with SE PhD students Wei Si (left) and Emir Kavurmacioglu (right). Back Cover: Professor Ioannis Paschalidis, Yin Chen (PhD ‘11), and Elizabeth Flagg, Graduate Programs Manager, at the College of Engineering PhD Hooding Ceremony held on May 21, 2011. (Photo credit: John Kim) This report provides a description of the instructional and research activities of the Division of Systems Engineering at Boston University during the 2010-2011 academic year. Instructional activities are reported from the Fall 2010 through Summer 2011 semesters while scholarly activities and budget information are reported from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. Boston University’s policies provide for equal opportunity and affirmative action in employment and admission to all programs of the University. For more information or to download this report as a PDF, please visit our website at www.bu.edu/se
Boston University College of Engineering D i v i s i o n
o f
S y s t ems
E n g i n eer i n g
Annual Report 2010–2011
Boston University College of Engineering Division of Systems Engineering 15 Saint Mary’s Street, Room 118 Brookline, MA 02446 617-353-2842 se@bu.edu www.bu.edu/se