The School of Computing and Information Sciences (SCIS) offers both a Master of Science degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree. The Master of Science degree provides study in state-of-the-art computer applications as well as an introduction to the theoretical foundations of computer science. The Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science is designed to provide study in all major areas of computer science while leading to the frontiers of knowledge in a chosen field of concentration.

There are many areas of specialization within the School, including:

• Database systems, including database design, database management systems and applications, database theory and implementation, database machines, distributed databases, information retrieval in heterogeneous databases, multimedia databases, data mining and digital libraries.
• Software Engineering, including large-scale software design, programming language environments, software development and maintenance methodologies, object-oriented techniques, software reuse, and software quality assurance.
• Parallel and distributed systems, including formal specification methodologies, distributed file systems, distributed multimedia systems and operating systems.
• Computer networks, including network protocols, multimedia networking, and wireless communications.
• Theory, including algorithms and data structures, programming languages, computer security, program verification, and logic.
• Artificial intelligence, including neural networks, expert systems, automated reasoning, term rewriting systems, and intelligent tutoring systems.
• Cognitive Science, with emphasis on the philosophical, psychological, and linguistic underpinnings of artificial intelligence.
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

Naphtali D. Rishe, Director

The High-performance Database Research Center (HPDRC) conducts research on database management systems and various applications, leading to the development of new types of database systems and the refinement of existing database systems.

The HPDRC, a research division of SCIS, has a strong commitment to training graduate students and preparing them for their future roles as scholars and specialists employed by industry.

This Center is funded by government agencies and industry. At $4 million, NASA currently provides the largest amount of funding. Other sponsors include: National Science Foundation ($3M), U.S. Department of Defense (BMDO, ARO, USAF, and DISA), U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Information Agency, NATO, Florida Department of Commerce, Florida Department of Education, and Industry.

Research Scope: Our flagship project is a highly parallel database system based on the semantic/object-oriented approach. This system: provides exceptional usability and flexibility; allows shorter application design and programming cycles; gives the user control via an intuitive information structure; empowers the end-user to pose complex ad hoc decision support queries; provides superior efficiency through a high level of optimization (transparent to the user); allows a manifold reduction in storage size for many applications, such as Data Warehouses; allows full operability via Internet browsers.

The Center also conducts research on such theoretical and applied issues as Internet-distributed heterogeneous databases, database design methodologies, database design tools, information analysis, multimedia databases, database languages, data compression, spatial databases, and data visualization.

In addition, the Center designs specific database systems for highly complex applications. We are presently developing database systems NASA and the Everglades National Park will use for storage and processing of large amounts of environmental data. The Regional Applications Center is a division of the HPDRC chartered by NASA for the purpose of data downlinking from satellites, enhancement of data, support of data querying via the WWW, and distribution of data to users via the Internet and other media.

For details, visit the URL http://hpdrc.cis.fiu.edu

Xudong He, Director

The Center for Advanced Distributed Systems Engineering (CADSE) is a research division of SCIS at Florida International University. Its mission is to establish a streamlined research, technology exploration and advanced training program in the field of distributed and Internet-based computing. The Center's R&D cover both theoretical and practical aspects of distributed software engineering, i.e. using engineering methods and technologies to tackle development problems of complex, reliable, and/or real-time distributed systems. Our research has been supported by grants and contracts for over $3 million by National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Research Laboratory Rome Site, Army Research Office, NASA and Industry. Current projects of the Center focus on formal design methods for distributed systems, distributed system and software architecture, distributed object technology, and software testing.

Current research projects of the Center focus on the following aspects:

• Formal Methods
• Software Architecture
• Software Testing
• Software Reuse
• Object-Oriented Technology
• Distributed Multimedia Information Systems

Dr. Shu-Ching Chen , Director

The Distributed Multimedia Information Systems Laboratory (DMIS) has a mission to conduct leading edge research in multimedia database systems, multimedia data mining, GIS and Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Other research areas of this division include:

• Multimedia Communications and Networking
• Digital Library
• 3D Animation
• Distributed Computing
• WWW

Vagelis Hristidis and Raju Rangaswami, Directors

The mission of the Database and Systems Research Laboratory (DSRL) is to perform cutting-edge research on (i) extracting knowledge from structured and unstructured databases, and (ii) building high-performance, reliable, power-efficient, and secure systems.

Current projects at DSRL include:

• Information Discovery on Clinical and Biomedical Databases
• Analyzing Disaster Management Data
• Resource Management in Virtualized Data Centers
• Energy-efficient Mobile and RAID Storage Systems
• Reliable RAID Storage Systems
• High-performance Storage Systems
• Block-layer Storage Infrastructure for Operating Systems

DSRL sponsors include the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. For more details, you can visit the DSRL web page at: http://dsrl.cs.fiu.edu.

Giri Narasimhan (Head), Tao Li, Vagelis Hristidis

The Bioinformatics Research Group (BioRG) conducts research on problems in the interdisciplinary fields of Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Data Mining, and Information Retrieval. The group's research projects includes comparative genomics, genomic databases, pattern discovery in sequences and structures, micro-array data analysis, prediction of regulatory elements, primer design, probe design, phylogenetic analysis, medical image processing, image analysis, data integration, data mining, smart information retrieval, knowledge discovery in electronic medical records, and much more.

The group also collaborates with scientists from a wide variety of fields outside computer science including biology, medicine, biophysics, biochemistry, pharmacology, finance, social sciences, statistics, mathematics, environmental sciences, soil sciences, and more. This is an active group with a strong publication record. Members of this group have been the highest recipients of the SCIS Best Faculty Research Awards and the SCIS Best Student Research Awards in recent years. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have funded this group’s research.

For details on the members, publications, software, and recently graduated students, visit http://biorg.cis.fiu.edu

SCIS Computing Facilities are located on the second and third floors of the Engineering and Computer Science building. The facility consists of a large number of networked workstations with contemporary hardware/software, which are used by faculty, staff, and graduate students.

The majority of these machines is dispersed throughout the various research and open laboratories located on the second floor. These systems are connected to the campus backbone that also provides our interface to the Internet.

Computing facilities are to be used only for work directly related to duties as a graduate student. Under no circumstances should students allow their accounts to be used by third parties.

Any student who is determined to have used the computer unethically will be expelled from the graduate program. This includes accessing other user's data (files, mail, etc.) without their permission (even if the protection modes allow access).

Any student who is found to have used the computing facilities in violation of any state or Federal laws will be expelled from the University and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This includes using the computer to distribute material in violation of copyright laws, and attempting to violate security protocols on both FIU and non-FIU machines.