CS News Briefs

Read the latest news briefs from and about students and faculty in the UVA Computer Science Department.

    Christopher L. Barrett Elected Member of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine

    October 22, 2021

    Christopher L. Barrett, a professor in the Department of Computer Science, has been elected as a member of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Barrett is the UVA Biocomplexity Institute executive director and a Distinguished Professor in Biocomplexity. Under Barrett's leadership, the Biocomplexity Institute's team has been on the front lines of the national modeling, monitoring, planning and response to COVID-19. 

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    Hongning Wang Earns Information and Intelligent Systems Grant

    October 22, 2021

    Congratulations to Hongning Wang, associate professor of computer science, on winning a prestigious National Science Foundation award for his research on online learning to rank, a modern machine learning technique that adaptively improves result rankings during its interactions with end users. Learn more about the grant.

    Haifeng Xu Awarded NSF Grant

    September 24, 2021

    Haifeng Xu, Alan Batson Career Enhancement Assistant Professor of Computer Science, has been awarded a Computing and Communication Foundations grant from the National Science Foundation: AF: SMALL: ALGORITHMIC PERSUASION: RE-CREATING THE SUCCESS OF MECHANISM DESIGN. The research project studies methods for using information to "regulate" an adversary's attack choices in order to thwart the attack and create enhanced security.

    Felix Lin Awarded NSF Computer and Network Systems Grant

    September 14, 2021

    Felix Lin, associate professor of computer science, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant: Collaborative Research: CNS Core: Medium: Understanding and Strengthening Memory Security for Non-Volatile Memory. Persistent memory is one of promising post-Moore’s Law technology that is expected to get into mainstream computing, from internet of things devices all the way to the cloud. This research anticipates security vulnerabilities of the use of persistent memory and attempts to mitigate potential security breaches that could cause tremendous loss to the industry, defense, scientific research, health, and many other domains that will be relying on future computing devices.

    Lu Feng Awarded NSF Designing Accountable Software Systems Grant

    September 14, 2021

    Lu Feng, assistant professor of computer science and engineering systems and environment, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant under the new Designing Accountable Software Systems program: Collaborative Research: DASS: Accountable Software Systems for Safety-Critical Applications. Feng will be collaborating with Bryan H. Choi, who holds joint appointments with the College of Law and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University. The researchers aim to facilitate the design of safety-critical software systems that are accountable with respect to various regulations and to provide legal insight on how to extend or amend current regulatory approaches to enhance software accountability. The project will also include a series of interdisciplinary workshops and symposiums to bring together experts in software design and law to discuss open research questions and potential solutions to software accountability.

    Panagiotis Apostolellis and Brad Campbell Awarded NSF EAGER Grant

    September 14, 2021

    Panagiotis Apostolellis, computer science assistant professor, and Brad Campbell, assistant professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering, have been named co-investigators on an National Science Foundation grant: EAGER: Adaptive Digital Twinning: An Immersive Visualization Framework for Structural Cyber-Physical Systems. Apostolellis and Campbell are teamed with principal investigator Devin K. Harris, associate professor of engineering systems and environment and co-investigator Jennifer Chiu, associate professor of education in UVA’s Curry School of Education and Human Development. The grant explores the use of digital twins as a method to modernize infrastructure systems for critical services like water supply, transportation, power and communications.

    Yuan Tian Awarded NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Grant

    September 14, 2021

    Yuan Tian, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science has been awarded a National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace grant: Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Toward safe, private, and secure home automation: from formal modeling to user evaluation. Tian’s research aims to gain a deeper understanding of security and privacy risks from internet of things devices in smart homes and then develop methods to mitigate the threats using formal modeling and automated analysis tools. A specific goal is to calculate system attackers’ precise knowledge and influence over smart home internet of things devices in order to design warnings that help users understand their smart home systems better and avoid potential harm.

    Students Present: Link Lab Opens Year with Poster Session

    September 02, 2021

    On August 24th classes began at UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. It was the first opportunity for face-to-face collaboration in over a year. Faculty and students got together in the Link Lab to catch-up and share progress on cyber-physical systems research. From humorous robots, to climate resilience through crowdsourced data, to robotic surgery and even self-powering hardware for IoT, peers and faculty were excited to share ideas while contemplating the important work that will happen in the upcoming year.

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