C O M P U TER S C IEN C E & SOFT W A RE ENGINEERING D E PA RT M ENT
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C O L L EGE OF ENGINEERING
rising to the CHALLENGes of
Data Science COMPUTER SCIENCE LEADS EMERGING CAL POLY INITIATIVES: • CYBERSECURITY • WOMEN IN COMPUTING • COMPUTING FOR THE INTERACTIVE ARTS • HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING • BIG DATA
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FROM THE CHAIR
Achievements Abound in 2014-15 ... THANKS TO GREAT FACULTY AND STUDENTS, INNOVATIVE CURRICULA AND YOUR GENEROSITY
What amazing progress the Computer Science (CSC) Department has made in the past couple of years! While this edition of “Voices” brims with success stories, it captures only a fraction of our faculty members’ and students’ multi-dimensional achievements. The department and I are deeply grateful to all of our supporters. CSC has outstanding alumni and friends and a superb Industry Advisory Board. We are especially proud of our alumna, Kim Vorrath (B.S., Computer Science, 1988), who just received the 2015 College of Engineering Honored Alumna Award. Congratulations, Kim. Guided by CSC’s strategic plan, our outstanding faculty colleagues have developed truly special educational experiences for our students. Recent additions include new cybersecurity courses; two cross-disciplinary programs, Data Science-Big Data and Computing in the Arts; and high-performance computing courses. Thanks to our generous supporters, we have also developed cutting-edge lab facilities to augment our strategic initiatives. The department has successfully recruited four faculty members in the last year and a half. Each of our colleagues plays a pivotal role in advancing our strategic priorities and developing courses that provide new Learn by Doing opportunities for CSC students. We are also very proud, albeit sad, to see two of our amazing colleagues retire. I am sure that many of our alumni have great memories of professors Chris Buckalew and Gene Fisher. They have given so much to the department and to their students. We have achieved dramatic success in increasing the number of young women in our
College of Engineering Dean Debra Larson (left) and Computer Science Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis welcome a visit from the college’s 2015 Honored Alumna Kim Vorrath.
computer science and software engineering majors. Cal Poly’s program is emerging as a national leader in this endeavor, and with continued donor support, we can achieve much more in this critically important strategic initiative. Interest in both the computer science and software engineering majors is growing at an extraordinary pace. While applications increase every year, the number of students we can accept remains the same, due primarily to our limited number of faculty. I call on our loyal alumni and friends to help! This continued support will help us recruit additional faculty members and add more cutting-edge experiences for our students. As they develop and deliver innovative curricula, faculty members do indeed help to shape students’ lives. Many of our alumni, no doubt, remember a faculty mentor who inspired their career path or was instrumental in their success. I would love to hear from you! Stop by or contact me at ivakalis@calpoly.edu or 805-756-6285. Respectfully,
Ignatios Vakalis | Department Chair, Computer Science Department
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FA L L 2 0 1 5 4-5
REAL-WORLD PROJECTS
ON THE COVER
• DigitalDemocracy.org
6-9
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY CURRICULA
• Computing for the Interactive Arts • Data Science-Big Data
10-18
PROGRAM UPDATES
• High-Performance Computing • Women in Computing • Honored Alumna Kim Vorrath • Cybersecurity
19-21
Software engineering majors Vivian Fong (left) and Esha Joshi collaborate on an assignement with computer science major Andrew Wang in Data Science-Big Data, a new cross-disciplinary minor that combines computer science and statistics. Read about the program on pages 8-9.
FACULTY NOTES
• Professors Buckalew and Fisher retire • Faculty retreat • Welcoming four new faculty members
22-23
HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
A list of our generous alumni and friends — thank you!
Googled Again!
Four Cal Poly Computer Science faculty members welcomed donations from Google last spring to develop innovative curriculum for introductory courses in computer science and software engineering. The grateful recipients are (from left): Zachary Peterson, Michael Haungs, John Clements and Zoë Wood. (See more faculty news on pages 19-21.)
REAL-WORLD PROJECTS
DigitalDemocracy.org COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS and faculty help to develop A USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITE for california
L
earn by Doing took on a whole new meaning earlier this year when DigitalDemocracy.org was officially launched in May 2015. The website is a research tool,
With Cal Poly faculty and staff present, along with visitors from the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy, Professor Foaad Khosmood engages his team in the design and development of the DigitalDemocracy.org website.
informational portal and a search engine designed and developed by computer science students and faculty,
explained Foaad Khosmood, assistant professor in the Computer Science (CSC) Department.
“The institute approached the CSC Department with the DigitalDemocracy idea in 2014,” he said. “The basic problem was
“DigitalDemocracy makes available hundreds of hours of
that Sacramento legislative hearings were inaccessible to ordinary
footage showing California state legislature activities, along with
California citizens. While the proceedings were videotaped, there
fully synchronized, annotated, searchable transcripts, and a host of
was no searchable record.”
other related information,” he said.
With the help of more than a dozen CSC majors, Khosmood
The project is the brainchild of former California State
and CSC faculty colleagues Alex Dekhtyar, Davide Falessi and
Senator Sam Blakeslee, who in 2012 founded the Institute for
Franz Kurfess took up the research and development challenge
Advanced Technology and Public Policy (IATPP). Housed at
to create a rich digital record and a portal allowing Google-like
Cal Poly, the IATPP seeks to bring innovative technological
access to the material.
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“Our student-faculty team deployed cutting-edge technologies, many of which are being taught in our courses — Natural Language
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Processing, Databases, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering,” said Khosmood. By fall 2014, the team already had a working prototype, and
The website project offers a valuable hands-on experience for computer science graduate student Justin Rovin. Looking on (from left) are: faculty members Davide Falessi and Foaad Khosmood; former state Senator Sam Blakeslee; and IATPP Associate Director Christine Robertson.
by May 2015, CSC students Freddy Hernandez and Ashley Dattalo were standing next to Blakeslee and California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom at the DigitalDemocracy launch press conference, held at the State Capitol building in Sacramento. Public reaction to the project has been phenomenal, Department
The project is far from over, said Khosmood, adding, “We are
Chair Ignatios Vakalis acknowledged, citing the positive reviews
closer to the beginning, actually.” The IATPP is raising millions of
published in USA Today, the L.A. Times, San Francisco Chronicle,
dollars from philanthropic institutions to grow the project, he noted,
Sacramento Bee and by the Associated Press.
with plans this academic year to unveil a new video player, video
“They praised Cal Poly and the Computer Science Department,” he said. “Most analysts simply couldn’t believe this
clipping solutions, and expand into other states. “We look forward to exciting research around artificial
valuable tool was created so quickly by college students working
intelligence, knowledge management and computational
part time. The research team we built rivals those at many top
linguistics,” he said. “It will continue to be a wonderful Learn by
universities in size and funding. This project marks an exciting
Doing experience for our research group, which grew this fall to
new chapter for CSC.“
be 40 computing students strong.” VOICES
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CROSS-DISCIPLINARY CURRICULA
Computing for the Interactive Arts Computer Science and Art & Design departments Team Up to offer an enriching tech-art blend
s Apple’s late co-founder
Steve Jobs said, “Technology
alone is not enough — it’s technology married with
liberal arts, married
with humanities, that yields us the results that make our hearts sing.” John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar, describes the equation this way: “Technology inspires art, and art challenges the technology.” The perspectives of these visionaries figure prominently in Computing for the Interactive Arts (CIA), a new crossdisciplinary minor involving Cal Poly’s Computer Science (CSC) Department and the Art & Design Department. The minor
focuses on providing students with the skills to engage in creative computing. “The cross-curriculum provides a collaborative environment in which art and design students integrate coding and algorithmic thinking into creative works, while computer science/software engineering students apply the principles and methodology of design thinking to visual applications,” explained CSC Associate Professor Zoë Wood. “It enables students from these different disciplines to collaborate on projects that require both technical and creative perspectives.” Industry’s need for this tech-art skill set was apparent, but strong student interest also sparked CIA’s development, said Wood, citing a department survey that found 220 students of 300 CSC and art and design students in favor of the minor. Desire for such a blend led to Wood’s crosscourse collaborations with Enrica Costello, a member of the art and design faculty. For the last two years, their complementary classes — CSC 471 Introduction to Computer Graphics, CSC 476 Real-Time 3-D Computer Graphics, and Art 384 Digital 3-D Modeling and Design — have worked in sync, creating linked projects and a solid foundation on which to build the CIA minor. Expanding on those initial offerings, the minor includes three fundamental art courses, three introductory computer science courses, two elective art courses, and two elective computer science courses. “The program also includes a unique two-quarter capstone experience for students to design and implement group projects related to computing for interactive arts,” added Wood. CIA’s cross-disciplinary nature integrates well with another exciting addition in the CSC Department: a concentration in interactive entertainment.
“This concentration consists entirely of existing elective computer science courses related to computer graphics and artificial intelligence,” noted Wood.
Software engineering major Katie Keim presents her game to participants of the 2015 Global Game Jam, hosted earlier this year by the Cal Poly Game Development Club at iFixit in San Luis Obispo (above).
The popularity of extracurricular activities such as Cal Poly Game Development, a student club that hums with activity, is testament to interest in
and the generosity of many other friends
the subject. Assistant Professor Foaad
and alumni.
Khosmood, the club’s adviser, also
“The lab’s layout enables teams of
coordinates Global Game Jam, an annual
students to collaborate on the creation of a
event that offers students the opportunity
game, encouraging lots of Learn by Doing
to develop games outside of classes.
experiences,” said Khosmood. “Because the
The concentration courses are equally
facility is in constant demand, we hope to
popular, filling classrooms and labs.
upgrade its computational infrastructure
Khosmood teaches CSC 378 Interactive
and expand its software tools.”
Entertainment Engineering, and Professor
Additionally, he noted, faculty members
Michael Haung teaches CSC 123, which
are seeking industry partners to collaborate
focuses on game design. Students
on project ideas and mentorships with the
pursuing the computer graphics track
goal of developing multi-quarter capstone
collaborate in Wood’s CSC 476 on a
courses within the CIA minor.
quarter-long team project creating
“Support from the industry and
real-time 3-D games. And Assistant
alumni is critical in enhancing all aspects
Professor Shinjiro Sueda, new to the
of this important strategic initiative,”
faculty (see page 21), brings his exper-
said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis.
tise in human animation to CSC 474
“Our goal is to produce many more highly
Computer Animation.
trained computational artists and game
The faculty and students make good
developers to satisfy industry’s needs.”
use of the CSC Department’s Games/ Graphics computing laboratory, which was The new minor program offers unique courses in advanced rendering and animation (left).
developed four years ago, thanks to key support from department friend Geoff Tate
Please visit https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/ giving/strategic-priorities to support this vital strategic initiative. Thank you! VOICES
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CROSS-DISCIPLINARY CURRICULA
I
t may be called a minor, but it’s a major addition for Cal Poly students who want to be data scientists. After years of deliberations, conversations with faculty around campus and
discussions with industry partners, the Computer Science (CSC) Department, in close partnership with the Statistics Department, now offers a cross-disciplinary minor called Data Science-Big Data. Crafting a data science program at
Cal Poly did not come without challenges, according to CSC Professor Alex Dekhtyar. “First, the term ‘data science’ required a proper understanding by the campus community,” he said. “Conversations with our industry partners established what companies are looking for: professionals able to take on the tasks of collecting, cleaning, modeling and understanding the vast quantities of data that are produced as a result of running businesses. The people they hire to fulfill this niche — distinct from both the traditional software engineering or pure data analysis positions — are called data scientists.” Universities nationwide and abroad have responded to the industry’s needs for data scientists, adding a slate of data science-big data offerings that range from
DATA SCIENCEBIG DATA
STUDENTS ARE DEVELOPING A UNIQUE BLEND OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND STATISTICS SKILLS IN THIS NEWLY ADDED MINOR
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individual courses and bachelor’s degrees to master’s programs, said Dekhtyar. “At Cal Poly, two core questions were, ‘If we want to educate data scientists, who should we target, and how can we do it?’ Our response was to develop this crossdisciplinary minor and integrate it into our computer science and statistics programs.” Computer science and statistics faculty collaborated on the creation of the minor. “Jointly, we put together a list of skills we wanted our students to obtain in the
Professor Alex Dekhtyar congratulates CSC 4+1 student Brandon Livitiski and computer science senior Sean Marpo (left) on successful completion of their project in the Knowledge Discovery and Data course. Opposite page: Teamwork looks like fun for software engineering 4+1 student Vivian Fong (left), CSC 4+1 student Andrew Wang and software engineering senior Esha Joshi.
program, mapped these skills to computer
is a de-facto standard tool for many data
science and statistics coursework, analyzed
scientists. Statistics professors Andrew
the gaps, and proposed a series of new
Schaffner (who spearheaded the proposal
courses to close them,” he explained.
for the minor), Gary Hughes, Hunter Glanz
— computer science and
and Dennis Sun will teach data science
statistics students who
The combined list of courses includes the full introductory computer science
courses and work with the students. They
sequence, introductions to statistics and
will be joined by CSC’s Dekhtyar, Assistant
probability, algorithm design and three
Professor Foaad Khosmood and Associate
tech electives from each of the programs:
Professor Lubomir Stanchev, who joined the
Introduction to Databases; Introduction to
faculty this fall (see page 21).
Distributed Computations and Knowledge
“From the beginning, it was clear that
Discovery from Data in the computer
to succeed in preparing students in a truly
science program; and Applied Regression, R Programming and Multivariate Regression
cross-disciplinary field of data science, the educational program had to be a collaborative
from the statistics program.
effort between the constituent programs,”
Four new courses with a new data prefix were also created: Introduction to
said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis. Added Dekhtyar, “Our collective goal is
Data Science; a sophomore gateway course
to produce ‘unicorns’ — computer science
into the minor; a senior-level, three-quarter
and statistics students who have stepped
data science sequence consisting of a data
across the disciplinary boundary and are
science synthesis course that includes
able to use their B.S. degrees with their data
information from all the tech electives; and
science minors to achieve what currently
a two-quarter capstone sequence. Industry
requires advanced degrees and years of
partners will be tapped to volunteer as real-
industry experience.”
world clients for the latter. A diverse group of faculty is actively involved in the new minor. The inaugural data science class will be taught in winter 2016 by Brian Granger, a professor in the Physics Department and a co-author of iPython, a web-based Python engine that
Please visit https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/ giving/strategic-priorities to support this vital strategic initiative. Thank you!
“Our collective goal is to produce ‘unicorns’
cross the disciplinary boundary to use their B.S. degrees with their data science minors to achieve what currently requires advanced degrees and years of industry experience.” — professor Alex Dekhtyar
PROGRAM UPDATES
HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
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STUDENTS find this skill valuable IN ALL PROGRAMS IN the COMPUTER SCIENCE major
T
he year was 2010. The strategic
In recognition of this need, the
initiative: High-Performance
CSC Department has developed a
Computing (HPC). Chris
new laboratory for Massively Parallel
Lupo shifted interest into high
Accelerated Computing (MPAC). Each
gear with a new course called
high-performance workstation in the
Applied Parallel Computing. Developed
MPAC lab offers students the opportunity
and taught by Lupo, an associate professor
to work with two massively parallel
in the Computer Science (CSC) Department,
architectures: an Intel Xeon Phi and a
the course introduced students to the
high-end NVIDIA GPU.
concept of massively parallel computing through the use of hardware accelerators. From this grassroots beginning, Applied
“There is also a state-of-the-art multicore CPU, large memory and highdefinition displays for each workstation,”
Parallel Computing became a regular
said Lupo. “We also have the most
offering and a popular one, inspiring many
advanced software development tools
students to tackle interdisciplinary research
installed on these systems.”
projects with HPC applications. “Cal Poly is now a nationally
Associate Professor Chris Lupo notes that cybersecurity, data science, computational art and interactive entertainment all require high-performance computing expertise.
Generous alumni, private donors, parents and industry affiliates made the
recognized center for parallel computing
that CSC is engaged in high-performance
lab’s development and tools possible, he
education and research,” said Lupo,
computing research projects with students
noted. “Special thanks to Intel Corporation
noting several awards from industry and
and faculty in other programs such as
for helping us build and configure the new
government. “Our faculty and students
aerospace engineering, biology, chemistry,
lab. The MPAC laboratory is truly unique,
have published numerous research papers
applied mathematics, statistics, marketing
and it’s the most advanced computational
on HPC and have had several successful
and art and design. “Demand for students
laboratory in the entire California State
grant proposals funded in this area. These
with skills in high-performance computing
University system. It is really something to
research initiatives are occurring at the
is only increasing.”
be proud of.”
intersection of traditional disciplines.” Research projects include genetic
Several courses use the MPAC lab’s
As with any investment, the MPAC lab will require maintenance and upgrades in
specialized equipment and software.
analysis for dairy cattle, computational
the future to remain on the cutting edge
Applied Parallel Computing and Graduate
ocean modeling, oil and gas pipeline
with the best equipment.
Distributed Systems booked it in the fall,
analytics, genetic identification of
and Computer Graphics and Rendering
role in enhancing the High-Performance
is using it throughout this academic year.
Computing strategic initiative,” said Lupo.
“In spring 2016 we hope to repeat our
“Support for student projects, opportunities
2015 offering and have an engineer from
for students to present at professional
DreamWorks Studios teach a Parallel
conferences, and future lab upgrades are
Computer Animation course,” said Lupo.
critical components of the HPC initiative.
E. coli bacteria, strength analysis, and testing the security of websites. “The need to analyze, visualize, and secure this data demands an unprecedented level of computational power,” said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis. “The department’s strategic initiatives in cybersecurity, data science, computational art and interactive entertainment all require HPC expertise.”
In addition to specialized courses, the
“We’re excited about the MPAC
MPAC lab is serving the needs of several
laboratory and the teaching and research
core courses, allowing students at all levels
initiatives that it provides to faculty and
access to the cutting-edge laboratory.
students,” said Vakalis. “We hope the next
“The MPAC lab also supports the teacher-scholar model for our faculty-led
Aerospace engineering graduate student Morgan Yost and software engineering senior Colin Adams use the MPAC lab during Professor Lupo’s Applied Parallel Computing course (left).
“Industry and alumni play an important
time you visit campus you’ll stop by for a tour.”
research projects in which students and faculty can collaborate in interdisciplinary computational research projects in many applications,” Lupo added. He noted
Please visit https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/ giving/strategic-priorities to support this vital strategic initiative. Thank you! VOICES
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PROGRAM UPDATES
BECOMING A LEADER OF
N
ationwide, in industry and academia, there is a growing focus on the importance of promoting diversity in computer science and software engineering. On average, only 18 percent of computer/information science graduates are women, and at polytechnics like Cal Poly, the problem is typically worse. But Cal Poly is reversing that trend — and quickly.
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WOMEN IN The Computer Science (CSC) Department
only increases company productivity and
has made it a top strategic initiative to
generates positive outcomes, but it also
recruit, retain, empower and support
better reflects the general population of
women in computer science and software
their customers,” she said.
engineering. “Our efforts and dedication are yielding great results,” said CSC Associate Professor Zoë Wood. “The incoming classes of the
WOMEN INVOLVED IN SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE One of the pillars of support for female
past two years have boasted 25-27 percent
CSC students is the grassroots-founded
female students in our computer science and
Women Involved in Software and Hardware
software engineering majors. That’s up from
(WISH). Started by two female computing
8-9 percent in prior years.”
majors in 2007, the club has helped create
CSC’s drive to attract women reflects a
a friendly and supportive environment
national trend in academia, thanks to the
for women in computing. Run today
industry’s growing interest in the female
by a dedicated group of students, it has
perspective, said Wood. “Numerous studies
continued to grow in popularity; this year’s
have shown that having a diverse team not
first meeting drew nearly 100 attendees.
COMPUTING “WISH’s main mission is to provide a
incoming freshmen, said Wood. “Through
sense of community for female computing
careful planning, this program provides
majors,” said Wood. “There are social
opportunities for our new female majors to
events, industry talks, resume workshops,
get personal guidance during their first year
study sessions, ‘Lean-in’ circles and sessions
on campus.”
to help new students navigate computing
That program proved to be a good
A 100-member entourage from the Cal Poly Computer Science Department — 95 of them students — attended this fall’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women conference (above). photo by eva chen
GRACE HOPPER CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN COMPUTING
courses. Club members also participate
model for another mentoring program that
in Cal Poly Open House, representing the
matches senior students with members
department and serving as role models
from the Department’s Industry Advisory
for prospective students and community
Board (IAB). Board members meet with
WISH and the invaluable IAB connection,
members. They demonstrate that women
their student mentees twice a year and stay
the CSC shepherds and coordinates the
can be happy and comfortable as computer
in contact, providing valuable knowledge
participation of its female computing
science and software engineering students
and support from an industry perspective.
majors in the Grace Hopper Celebration
here at Cal Poly.”
Co-founders Wood and IAB Chair Kari
of Women in Computing (GHC).
One of the most powerful retention
Freidman look forward to expanding the
In addition to supporting the efforts of
“At this amazing annual conference,
tools created by WISH students is a
program, which has matched more than 20
young women learn about diverse
mentoring program that pairs seniors with
students with IAB members.
applications of computer science and VOICES
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PROGRAM UPDATES NEWS software engineering, helping them envision industry and academic possibilities in computing,” said Wood. “It has been documented that these celebrations can significantly increase the number of women who choose to study computer science and other technical majors.” For the third time in five years, Cal Poly has ranked in the top 10 among schools that send the most students to GHC. Last year, thanks to GoDaddy’s generosity, Cal Poly ranked second in the nation for sending 71 students to the conference. This fall, thanks to Apple’s generous support, the university ranked No. 1 with 100 attendees.
‘T
he department is deeply
grateful to our incredible
sponsors who make the
GHC trip possible every year, directly supporting the education of so many students. We expect many more than 100 of our female students will be interested in attending the GHC conference in 2016.”
— Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis
Wood encourages industry’s continued participation in mentoring students and welcomes financial support from companies and alumni, emphasizing that both are ongoing departmental needs. “Our goal is for the CSC to be a national leader in preparing young women for successful careers in computer science and software engineering,” she said. Added Vakalis, “We all need to work together today so we can develop a diverse computing workforce for tomorrow.”
Please visit https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/ giving/strategic-priorities to support this vital strategic initiative. Thank you!
The 2014 Grace Hopper conference in also proved popular among female computer science majors. 14 WWW.CSC.CALPOLY.EDU
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Our Super Star
Meet College of Engineering 2015 Honored AlumNA, kim vorrath
K
im Vorrath got her first taste of Apple in the 1980s, savoring the experience as a student intern from Cal Poly. After graduating
in 1988, Vorrath packed her bachelor’s degree in computer science and returned to the company as a full-time employee. She has held a number of positions, including a seat on an early iPhone software team. Twenty-five years later, Vorrath is vice president of Apple’s OS Programs, leading the teams responsible for program and project management, power, performance, stability and the quality of Apple operating systems such as iOS, OS X and watchOS releases. She also serves as Apple’s executive sponsor for Cal Poly, leads the company’s outreach efforts to recruit the university’s top talent, and works to strengthen the campus-industry relationship. Last spring, the College of Engineering chose Vorrath as its 2015 Honored Alumnus.
“Saying that Kim has been supportive
of Vorrath’s passion for helping women
of the Computer Science (CSC) Department
to succeed in technological fields and an
is an understatement,” said Department
acknowledgment that their viewpoint is
Chair Ignatios Vakalis. “As our internal
valuable to the industry.
champion at Apple, she was instrumental
While CSC benefits from her consistent
in our getting support to develop an Apple
support, Vorrath continues to reap the
Lab in 2011 and upgrade it in 2013. She’s
rewards of her Cal Poly education. She
an active member of our Industry Advisory
says that Learn by Doing still figures
Board. And for 22 years she has been a
prominently in her work today.
dedicated donor to her beloved alma mater.” Vakalis also appreciates Vorrath’s visits
“Learn by Doing involves both innovation and teamwork,” said Vorrath.
to give talks and mentor the female students
“At Cal Poly, one of the key things I learned
in the major. Her connection with current
was how to work in teams. At Apple, that’s
students extends to their participation
what we do every single day.”
this year in the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (see pages 12-14). The support she secured from Apple helped to send 100 Cal Poly attendees — 95 of them students — to the conference in Houston, Texas. It’s indicative
Alumna Kim Vorrath (center) is a role model and mentor to the growing number of females in computer science and software engineering.
PROGRAM UPDATES
Cybersecurity CAL POLY PROGRAM EXPANDS TO MEET industry DEMAND FOR more EXPERTs
H
acking. Phishing. Identity theft. You name it. With cybercrime and security concerns running rampant worldwide, Zachary
Peterson and his colleagues saw an urgent need to ramp up Cal Poly’s cybersecurity program and fight back. “The facts are troubling,” said Peterson, an assistant professor in the Computer Science (CSC) Department. “The United States is falling behind in its ability to meet current demands for information technology security professionals, and cybersecurity education programs are finding it difficult to meet workforce demands and the need for competent computer security engineers.” Cal Poly recently established a Center for Cybersecurity on campus, appointing Parsons Vice President for Cyber Strategy Bill Britton as its director. “The center’s goal is to bring together under a single administrative umbrella all Cal Poly faculty with interests in cybersecurity,” said Peterson. “It will externally represent the university’s growing capabilities in cybersecurity research and education.” The CSC Department is also responding to the need by making cybersecurity education and applied research a priority and a strategic initiative. The result: two recent faculty hires, the development of novel cybersecurity curricula, and the construction of a cybersecurity lab — “not to mention exciting new relationships with our industry partners,” said Peterson. In 2012, Professor Phil Nico, CSC’s long-standing advocate for cybersecurity, welcomed Peterson to the faculty. His expertise is in secure storage systems and applied cryptography. Professor Bruce DeBruhl, an expert in cyber-physical systems, mobile and network security, arrived on campus this fall (see page 20). 18
continued on page
Professor Zachary Peterson works with computer engineering sophomore James Cleary and his classmates in the Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Lab. VOICES
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PROGRAM UPDATES
CYBERSECURITY continued from page
17
The team has wasted no time in expanding the department’s cybersecurity offerings, adding five courses that address critical topics: Cryptography Engineering, Software Security, Malware Analysis, Network Security and Cyberphysical Systems. “Additionally, CSC is integrating security into the existing core curriculum,” said Peterson. “Students taking the introductory programming sequence through upper division courses such as Operating Systems and Networking, will be exposed to these important security concepts in a relevant context.” The first-year experience now includes a new security-themed course designed to engage incoming freshmen in computing through context-rich projects. “It explores computer science concepts through a collection of security-themed games, not unlike quarter-long capture-the-flag exercises,” Peterson explained. “We strive to foster curiosity in security as well as a lifelong love for computer science.” Opportunities for Cal Poly students to explore cybersecurity aren’t limited to 18 WWW.CSC.CALPOLY.EDU
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coursework. White Hat, a cybersecurity and “ethical hacking” club on campus, sponsors hack-a-thons, capture-the-flag games,
Peterson is able to provide a unique, hands-on approach to cybersecurity in the newly opened Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Lab.
research projects, student- and industry-led tech talks, and other social events centered around issues of cybersecurity. “White Hat has been extremely successful in attracting students from all over campus,” said Peterson. “The club provides a safe space for members to hone their hacking skills and helps to prepare them for careers in a range of security disciplines.” Besides expanding its curriculum, the CSC Department continues to strengthen its cybersecurity program through industry partnerships, according to Professor Nico. In spring quarter 2013, CSC welcomed eight engineers from McAfee Corporation (now Intel Security) who visited campus to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a hands-on course in malware and software security. Their areas of expertise included digital forensics, mobile malware and software exploitation. “It was the first course of its kind in the
highly specialized environments. We look forward to a repeat.” Another generous industry partner, Northrop Grumman, provided support to build a lab designed specifically to teach cybersecurity courses. “You can’t deal with live malware in a typical computer lab environment,” Nico explained. The Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Lab — specialized and highly configurable for separation from the campus network — employs virtualization technology to simulate realworld attack and defense techniques. This valuable support from industry partners and alumni is crucial to the program, said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis. “Our goal is add many more highly trained cybersecurity experts to the workforce.”
nation,” said Nico. “Our students were able to explore and learn by interacting with live malware samples and by performing tasks typically restricted to engineers working in
Please visit https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/ giving/strategic-priorities to support this vital strategic initiative. Thank you!
FACULTY NOTES
A Fond Farewell
BEST WISHES to retiring PROFESSORS CHRIS buckalew and GENE fisher
S
tudents, STAFF AND faculty colleagues bade FAREWELL to professors Chris
Buckalew and Gene Fisher, who HAVE retired from the computer science department. “these RESPECTIVE giants of graphics and software engineering will be missed,” said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis. “WE WISH THEM THE VERY BEST.”
PROFESSOR CHRIS BUCKALEW
In 1990, a month after completing his
the new technologies,” Buckalew said. “But every year Mother Nature delivers
doctorate in computer science (graphics)
hard lessons — sometimes devastating. It’s
at the University of Texas in Austin, Chris
lifelong learning with a vengeance.”
Buckalew began teaching at Cal Poly.
Buckalew plans to return to Cal Poly
Now semi-retired, he has countless fond
for a few more years to teach during fall
memories from his 25-year career.
quarter. He loves visits from alumni and
Looking back, he is especially impressed by the caliber and creativity of
extends the invitation to visit him in Texas. “If you’re ever in Forestburg, stop by
his students’ work, “which inspired some
and see the current collection of tractors —
of the best senior projects and theses,”
eight and counting — plus a really cool gas
he recalled. “There were lots of three-
turbine generator!” he said.
dimensional (3-D) modeling projects, and
“Thank you all for many wonderful
starting in the late ’90s, the machines were
memories of great students, projects, staff
fast enough to support 3-D graphics games
members and colleagues,” he added.
and animations.” In 1997, Buckalew partnered with
PROFESSOR GENE FISHER
professors Clint Staley and Ray Boche to
Looking back on his 25 years of
start a company called Vizolutions. Their
teaching experiences in the Computer
mission: to build 3-D graphics visualization
Science Department, Gene Fisher says that
software for oil field reservoir engineers.
“Cal Poly’s exceptional students” tops his
As a Learn by Doing opportunity, the
collection of fond memories. “They are
company employed students who were
bright, energetic and very hard working,”
enrolled in Buckalew’s graphics classes. In semi-retirement the professor spends most of his time in Texas,
he said. “And they never run out of challenging questions to ask!” Fisher taught a variety of classes,
growing and selling organic
including introductory computing,
vegetables, eggs, chicken and pork.
systems programming, human-computer
“We think we have it tough in
interaction, programming languages and
computer science, keeping up with
software engineering. He enjoyed Cal Poly’s teacher/scholar model, which enables faculty to combine their teaching and research interests. His research collaborations with graduates and undergraduates, mainly involving humancomputer interaction, produced a number of co-authored publications. Fisher also enjoyed the collegial
Professors Chris Buckalew (above) and Gene Fisher
atmosphere among his faculty colleagues over the years. “They have indeed been a pleasure to work with,” said Fisher. “Under the guidance of our current outstanding department chair, I am confident that I am leaving the department in very good hands.”
VOICES
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FALL 2015 19
FACULTY NOTES
Bruce DeBruhl
Davide Falessi
Lubomir Stanchev
Shinjiro Sueda
Growing Our Faculty
FOUR NEW HIRES BRING WIDE-RANGING EXPERTISE TO COMPUTER SCIENCE
S
triving to make
BRUCE DEBRUHL
an exceptional
CYBERSECURITY Bruce DeBruhl believes it is essential for engineers and computer scientists to have an understanding of security — “particularly as digital and physical worlds grow more intertwined.” A newcomer to computer science and computer engineering faculties, his Cal Poly experience began by teaching a cybersecurity course this fall. He will share his expertise in cyber-physical security, wireless security and systems engineering in quarters to come. DeBruhl earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Mich. He completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn. His research there focused on security of cyber-physical systems with varying opponent assumptions. “I look forward to continuing my exploration of real-world security challenges in collaboration with Cal Poly students and faculty,” said DeBruhl. He also expressed an eagerness to work on expanding the program’s connections with industry partners in various areas of cybersecurity.
program even better, the department
has added four faculty members who bring to campus additional expertise in cybersecurity, software engineering, animation, graphics and data sciencebig data. TheSE new positions enable the DEPARTMENT to increase its course offerings. “I am delighted to welcome these talented educators to our team,” said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis. HERE THEY ARE, profiled in alphabetical order.
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“Cal Poly boasts exceptional faculty, students and a program that has an emphasis in hands-on technological education,” he noted enthusiastically. “I am particularly excited about developing new courses and projects that allow students to explore the practical challenges of security in a cyber-physical world.”
DAVIDE FALESSI SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing approach inspired Davide Falessi to join the Computer Science Department in 2015 as an associate professor in the software engineering program. “It matches my style of teaching perfectly,” he said. “The department’s great reputation was an additional incentive.” Falessi earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in computer engineering from the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy. He is the associate editor and multimedia editor of the online journal Software Engineering Economics and the lead author of more than 10 manuscripts published in various software engineering journals. Falessi serves on the program committees of several international conferences,
BY THE SEA
Cal Poly Computer Science faculty members flocked to Pismo Beach in September for their annual retreat. “It’s an opportunity for colleagues to gather in a more relaxed atmosphere and enjoy the sun and sea air while brainstorming ideas for the program,” said Department Chair Ignatios Vakalis.
including Software Engineering (ICSE –
data: storing it, indexing it, and using it
SEIP); eXtreme Programming (XP); Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM); Software Architecture (WICSA); Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE); and Product-Focused Software Development and Process Improvement (PROFES). “At Cal Poly, my ultimate goal is to have a significant and positive impact with my collaborators through research and teaching,” he said.
efficiently.” Stanchev completed his doctorate in
Sueda completed his doctorate at the University of British Columbia, where his thesis work focused on computational
computer science at the University of
biomechanics with a specialization in hand
Waterloo in Canada. He previously taught
and tendinous simulation.
at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Ind.
He was recently awarded a Research
He is no stranger to peer-reviewed
in Undergraduate Institutions grant from
papers, which he has had published in the
the National Science Foundation to study
areas of query optimization, automatic
the biomechanics of the knotting behavior
physical design, knowledge representation
of hagfish.
and reasoning, semantic web, and semantic document search. “My main research interests are
“At Cal Poly, I hope to share my enthusiasm for computing and applied mathematics with our bachelor’s and
LUBOMIR STANCHEV
in databases and data mining,” said
DATA SCIENCE-BIG DATA Passionate about teaching and eager to engage Cal Poly’s undergraduate and graduate students in his research, Lubomir Stanchev joined Cal Poly’s Computer Science Department in fall 2015 as an associate professor. Stanchev has recently worked on extracting meaningful information from high-quality data sources such as WordNet and Wikipedia. “This information can be used for semantic search — that is, retrieving documents based on their meaning,” he explained. “I’m interested in the general problems of structured and unstructured
master’s students through computer
Stanchev. “I look forward to teaching
graphics and animation,” said Sueda. “I’m
the undergraduate Data Science-Big
also eager to expose my students to cutting-
Data course, as well undergraduate and
edge academic research.”
graduate-level courses on distributed
In summer 2015, Sueda’s collaboration
databases, knowledge representation and
with one of his students, Kyle Piddington,
reasoning, and the semantic Web.”
an undergraduate software engineering
SHINJIRO SUEDA COMPUTER ANIMATION/GRAPHICS Prior to joining the Computer Science Department as an assistant professor in 2014, Shinjiro Sueda was a post-doctoral associate at Disney Research Boston and MIT, working on computational fabrication. He was recognized for his work in 2013 with the Disney Inventor Award.
major, won the best poster award at the Symposium on Computer Animation, a workshop attended by world-class researchers from industry and academia. Besides teaching specialized/technical elective courses, Suelda loves to teach firstyear programming courses. “I also enjoy bringing my yellow Labrador puppy, Milton, to my outside office hours,” he said. VOICES
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FALL 2015 21
HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
C O M P U T E R S C I E N C E D E PA RT M E N T AL U M N I A N D F R I E N D S
Thank You!
The Computer Science Department extends a heartfelt thanks to the following contributors for their generous support. Your contributions make a significant difference to us! One hundred percent of this money goes to the department and is used to benefit students and our faculty’s professional development. With these contributions we continue to keep our focus on the future. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this listing of contributors who made between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Regrettably, mistakes do sometimes occur. If you find an error, please contact us at 805-756-2824.
Marta Adriance
Joseph P. and Warenne P. Casano
Edward C. and Janet H. Geehr
Clement M. Kamo
Michael N. Agostino
Alyssa C. and Evan M. Caulley
Diana F. and Kenneth R. Kantola
Mohammad Akhavain and Zohreh Alaghemand
Allan Y. Chan and Florence Y. Fong
Kenneth A. and Melinda M. Gelsinger
Kin K. Chan and Vicky Y. Chung
Richard D. Giuli and Amie Bend
Deepali Karnik
Lillie and Taghi Alereza
Robert K. Chan
Carl B. Godkin
Doreen Y. and Matthew G. Kasson
Alexander K. Andresen
Jo-Chi Chang and Che-Pin Huang
Virginia R. Gollery
Nathan E. and Sarah N. Keeney
Donna T. and Randall A. Antosiak
David Chapman
Glen M. and Stacy M. Goto
Catherine L. Kilcrease
Susan M. Armstrong and Keith Marzullo
Peter A. Chargin and Jenn Kuhn
Gail A. Kirschenmann
Nicolas C. Artman
Christine W. Chau and Julian Lau
Susan M. Graham and Bruce C. Mengler
Albert Arustamov
Ying-Lin Chen
Kenneth L. Astl
Connor C. Citron
Yuri Kapulkin
John M. and Lissa Griffith
Alex K. Kleissner and Elizabeth M. Sullivan
Sandra L. Gross
Hans-Peter Klett
James T. and Sandra L. Gryder Charles F. and Diane L. Guenther
Laurence I. Koeppel and Marilyn J. O’Connor
Scott and Rosemary E. Guthrie
Gagandeep S. Kohli
Julie J. Hall
Lisa O. and Robert J. Konigsberg
Nan K. and Christopher C. Hall
Michael A. Lady
Max S. Hamilton
Judy A. Lakes
Scott A. Daniel
Scott R. Hancock and Stephanie A. Ludi
Kenneth J. and Carmen M. Lambert
Stephen P. Daniel
Garrick Y. He
Mark S. Dietz and Carey Holubar
Cindy S. and Salvatore J. Lascola
Jeremiah J. and Leslie J. Hench
Kenneth E. Dildine
Lois and Tony Lazar
Linda S. Herman
David and Wendy Dorn
Lori D. and Marc Le Renard
William H. Hess
Ann K. and Robert W. Dowrick
Lydia T. Le
James L. and Rebecca L. Hillmann
Adam M. Dukovich
Sharon M. Lee
Gregory E. and Nancy L. Hobbs
Austin A. Dworaczyk Wiltshire
Lenz Family
Amy Bertorelli
Edin and Sandra Hodzic
Carolyn A. and Gerald L. Dybsetter
David L. Leong
Timothy E. Biggs
Ethan M. Hoewisch
Steven P. Elkins and Julie Matsuda
Billy Liang
Gordon W. and Janis E. Blair
Jeffrey C. Holden
Lynda S. Elliott
Ross W. Light
Richard M. Botta and Elizabeth Rozycki
Ruth Holly and David B. Kennedy
Donald E. and Marguerite E. Erickson
Monica L. James Stein
Jason S. Boyle
Kenny Hom
O’Shaughnessy T. Evans
Arlene W. Lum
Charles S. and Dori E. Boyles
Seokjune Hong
Thomas B. Bridgwater
Joseph J. and Maria T. Fazio
Jimmy Hua
Michael R. and Monica K. MacFaden
Kathy Brower
Todd E. Feather Ray and Sydney D. Feeney
Brian D. Jacobs and Allison Lewis-Jacobs
Angela N. Maestre
Gregory F. Buchanan and Christine J. Kolberg
Victor W. Fehlberg
Steven M. and Melissa A. Jankowski
Jennifer K. Mar and Jeffrey Wong
Konni F. Bunya
Nancy L. and Rick Fierro
Michael A. Jew
Linda and Jon Burt
Eric C. Firestone
Douglas F. Jimenez
Guy W. Martin and Lisa E. Gillette-Martin
Donna and Gary D. Busching
Raymond C. Fischer and Louise B. Perry
Albert L. Johnson
Andrew P. and Marilyn V. Mascsak
Carol C. and Florentino P. Calip
Marie-Jeanne C. and Lance Forbes
Jill A. and Jake Johnson
Donna A. Matheson
Robert G. Campbell and Pearl L. Cheng
Leslie H. and Stephen S. Francis
Leanne M. Jones
Brandy J. and Richard J. McAniff
Kevin L. Carr
Edna T. and Goro I. Fujiwara
Benjamin N. Ju
Richard J. McCluskey
Iris O. and Jacob Avidan
John V. and Martha J. Conti
Maureen A. Bagley and Dennis K. Doughty
Kimi and Paul Cousins Laurie L. and Bradley J. Craig
Helen and Ron Baker
Andrew J. Cushingham
K. N. and Meera Balasubramanian
Charles H. Dana Jr.
Phillip Bartholo
Stephen J. D’Angelo
Joseph E. Bayless Bud Beacham Cynthia L. and Robert Beauchamp Glen S. Beebe Jr. Lou and Patty Bellardo Larry A. Bergman Richard A. Bergquist and Lynn A. Loughry
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George L. Lang
Deanna M. and Jim L. Mangin
Charles E. McDowell and Linda L. Werner
Teal M. Owyang
Charles M. and Danielle Samson
Brett Van Steenwyk
Leslie H. Sandiland
Bruce J. and Suzanne M. McKenzie
Kirstin E. and Tony Paloma
Venkatanagendrababu Vankineni
Jackson N. Pang
Sherry A. Sarmiento
Frank A. Vasquez
Robert A. Paplin
April and Richard Schmiedt
Kimberly E. and Darren K. Vorrath
Richard E. Shawlee
Jorge P. Mendoza
Joseph Pasqua and Mary K. Kenney
Diane E. Walker
Claudia B. and Alan R. Silverman
David W. and Shelly L. Meny
Karin H. and Mark K. Watanabe
Mitesh R. Patel
Andrew J. Sinclair
Halli E. Meth
Mark W. Weaver
Steven R. and Carol J. Pearson
Robert E. Somers
Gary N. Miller
Dan M. and Toni C. Weeks
Donald R. and May W. Pederson
Scott P. and Sandra M. Spencer
Eric L. Missakian
Donald J. and Jennifer C. Welch
Chun Hui Pek
Richard A. and Joy K. Spohn
Daniel E. Moczarny
Mark D. Whatley and Danuta M. Zaroda
David F. and Shannon K. Perdue
James A. Squires
Arnel and Maria M. Molina
Carole S. White
David Perkins
Kurt C. Staufenberg
Jeanne L. and Russell P. Morris
David G. and Bernice White
Suwat Phruksawan
Stefan R. Steiner
David C. Mott
Brent R. Williams
Deidra S. Picciano
Marsha A. Steinfield
Jodi S. and Richard B. Muirhead
Jennifer M. and Jock Williams
Jeff A. and Jodi L. Pieczynski
Crystal G. and Larry M. Steinke
Emilie and Pat Munsch
Benjamin D. Wilson
Vivian S. Poon and Jack B. Kwan
Eric B. Stenson
Susan Ezzell Murgia and Marco A. Murgia
Jon R. and Lisa A. Wiseman
Johanda Pramana and Meredith Lynn Serra
Michael J. Stewart
Steven P. and Dinah L. Witten
Melissa Nakamura
Patricia J. and Raymond Presgrave
Michael J. Strand
Kerry Witzeman
Kevin Navero
Kathleen M. and Dan Quick
Mark E. and Susan I. Swanson
Prentice Wongvibulsin
Bruce E. Naylor
Christopher P. Ratzlaff
Ray M. Tam
William K. and Yan Y. Woo
David Newberry
Jonathan W. Rawson
Colleen and Geoff Tate
John W. and Valerie J. Wookey
Jason Nguyen
Elsa Reyes
Ketki and Milan Thanawala
Steve and Wenne W. Yao
Shane E. Niebergall
Janice L. Rideg
Patrick S. Thomas
Katy Yeager
Loretta A. Nierat
Adrian E. and Archana D. Ridner
Bob and Kathleen Thomson
Jaeil and Sanghui Yoo
Brian K. and Susyn C. Normington
Gregory A. Ripa and John H. Vu
Stanley and Wai Ling M. Tong
Catherine J. Young
David J. Norris and Susan L. Ong
Steven D. Roberts
Naomi F. and William Norris
Barry D. and Tracie L. Robinson
Kuldip S. Oberoi
Richard A. and Serina Rosenkjar
Dana R. and Sean P. O’Brien
Justin M. Rovin
Amy and John B. Olson
Earl C. and Susan A. Ruby
Brian M. Oppenheim
Matthew A. Rung
Dorothy C. and Patrick M. Ota
Stephen and Theresa M. Rutledge
Ryan N. McLeod Thomas W. and Patricia K. McRae
Morgen Sagen
Khai T. Tran Nathan C. and Julie Tsoi Kevin M. Tsuchida Dirk T. and Judith E. Tysmans Sean C. and Terry L. Vahey Abhijith P. Vaishnav Jack M. Van Den Bogaerde Barbara J. Van Ness
Software engineering students Christina Daley and Patrick Beninga partner on the Art Nouveau Curves project in their Introduction to Computing-Computational Art course (see pages 6-7).
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KEYS TO SUCCESS
Computer science graduate students (from right) Kevin Ly, Sean Sheen and Cody Thompson compute at high-performance workstations in the Massively Parallel Accelerated Computing lab. (See page 11.)