Computer and Information Science
Leading the Way in Networking Research

Who doesn’t like to receive money for their birthday? For the Department of Computer and Information Science—one of the oldest computer science departments in the country—turning thirty this year was reason to celebrate. And the occasion was sweetened by the department’s recent receipt of nearly $1 million in grants from the National Science Foundation and the Intel Curriculum Foundation that will enable researchers to break new ground in the area of networking.

Since the department’s creation in 1969, the University of Oregon long has been among the forward-looking universities in recognizing the importance of computer science. During the years, the department has made changes to keep up with emerging technologies. Modern computers have replaced the department’s original clunky mainframe computer, and a little more than a decade ago, the department got a substantial upgrade with the completion of Deschutes Hall. The three-story, 30,000-square-foot structure is a vast improvement over the department’s previous campus quarters in the cramped basement of Prince Lucien Campbell Hall. Curriculum also has expanded on all levels. According to department head Sarah Douglas, after the Ph.D. program was added in 1982, the department’s focus shifted from teaching to a greater emphasis on research. Today, that research predominantly centers on networking.

“In the broadest sense, networking is hooking computers together so they can share information and computational power,” explains Virginia “Ginnie” Lo, associate professor. “The latest thing is trying to use the Internet and all the different computers that are hooked to it for high-performance computing.”

For Lo, assistant professor Daniel Zappala, professor Andrzej Proskurowski, and professor and associate department head Arthur Farley, the three-year, $922,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will support research on the scientific foundation for multicast technology, an advanced form of networking. Simply put, multicast is group communication using the Internet. Research will target large-scale communication capacity along with transmission quality. For example, in the future a television network may want to broadcast a program through the Internet to personal computers. “If CNN sends all those video images to each person who wants to receive it, that would totally overwhelm the Internet. Multicast is a way to send it to lots and lots of receivers very efficiently,” says Lo. She sees the technology ultimately branching from one source to multiple sources with interactive multiple receivers.

The one-year, $70,000 grant from Intel will support the team of Lo, Zappala and associate professor Allen Malony in their efforts to develop laboratory-based coursework in networking and operating systems. Zappala began teaching networking at the UO in 1997, but now will expand graduate courses to include creating software that uses technological research such as multicast. In turn, undergraduate students will benefit by using that software in their courses, says Zappala. The grant also will fund a 20-computer Internet lab designated for networking research and courses.

For the 500-plus students currently majoring in computer science, CIS’ focus on networking research and coursework will give them an advantage as they enter the job market. A recent projection by the Department of Commerce shows Oregon’s technology workforce tripling in the next six years, with intense growth in the area of networking.

Joannie Humphreys recently completed her undergraduate degree as a joint math and computer science major and soon will begin her graduate studies. She sees her career choices as spanning from research to systems administration to teaching computer science. “I’m definitely interested in anything networking-related. Even as an undergraduate, there is an amazing amount of jobs out there,” she says.

Sivaramakrishna Iyer Krishnan applied to the CIS graduate program after completing his undergrad studies in India. He received four job offers during the summer, including from Intel and CISCO. “I see myself as a leading researcher in the field of computer science who will contribute a lot to science,” he says.

Photo: CIS master’s student Joannie Humphreys (sitting) and Professors Ginnie Lo and Daniel Zappala. (Photo by Cindy Lundeen)