July 15, 2005 —
Computer scientist Cyrus Shahabi, who specializes in databases and
information management, will be among the 88 young engineers nationwide
attending this year’s National Academy of Engineering (NAE) “Frontiers
of Engineering” symposium.
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Cyrus Shahabi |
The three-day conference, to be held Sept. 22-24 at GE Global Research
Center in Niskayuna, N.Y., brings together young engineers ages 30 to
45 who are performing cutting-edge engineering research and technical
work in a variety of disciplines. The participants — from
industry, academia and government — were nominated by fellow engineers
or organizations and chosen from a pool of 220 applicants.
"Significant advances in engineering are occurring where disciplines
intersect," said NAE President Willam A. Wulf. "Frontiers of
Engineering provides an opportunity for engineers to learn about
techniques and challenges in areas other than their own. This new
knowledge can spark insights and collaborations that might not have
occurred otherwise."
Shahabi, who won a coveted Presidential Early Career Award for
Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2003, specializes in the fields of
multidimensional, geospatial, multimedia and networked databases.
These technologies enable management and analysis of non-traditional
data using atypical architectures.
Shahabi is currently at work on one data architecture to enable
efficient access and statistical analysis of large amounts of
multidimensional data. The system is called ProDA, for “Progressive
Data Analysis.” The unique characteristic of ProDA is its use of
“wavelets” for efficient query and analysis of large multidimensional
time-series data. ProDA is developed as a three-tier architecture
with extensive use of “web services,” a popular new technology, in its
middle tier.
ProDA has applications in several domains, from immersive environments
to “eSciences” for online data analysis. USC’s Chevron Center for
Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft) and NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are the current sponsors of ProDA.
The Integrated Media Systems Center’s immersive game project, known as
the “20 20 Classroom,” also relies on ProDA’s sophisticated data
analysis capabilities to assess students’ progress by mining users’
data exchange with an educational game.
NAE’s 2005 Frontiers of Engineering symposium will feature several
multidisciplinary topics: ID and verification technologies; engineering
for developing communities; engineering complex systems; and energy.
Sponsors include General Electric Co., the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, DARPA, Microsoft
Corp., and Cummins Inc., as well as individual donors.
For more information about the event, visit NAE’s website at
www.nae.edu/frontiers. To learn more about Shahabi’s research, visit
http://infolab.usc.edu/research.jsp.
