Congratulations CS class of 2009! Way to go and good luck.
Congratulations CS Class of 2009
Honor’s Thesis Abstract — Pasko Paskov
A Parallel Algorithm for Derivation of Regression Coefficients on the Graphics Processing Unit
Pasko Shterev Paskov
Regression analysis is one of the most common methods of statistical inference, finding its roots into scientific research from all areas for more than two centuries. It is used widely due to its intuitive way to establish a relationship between observations of different variables, and therefore provide empirical proof for a hypothetical connection, or dependence, between them. Regression is an invaluable tool for both research and commerce alike, and has understandably received much attention from software companies in the past two decades, as they realized the immense potential of computers to improve and facilitate the use of the method. Although the contribution of such software to the use of regression should not be understated, the massive amounts of information that have become available with the rise of the digital age has made it increasingly more time consuming, and at instances near impossible, for machines to derive the estimated coefficients of regression. This is a very computationally intensive problem, and improving the efficiency of the algorithm is crucial to time-sensitive applications of regression. The series of graphics cards introduced in the past two years has found wide recognition as providing an accessible alternative to parallel computer clusters for many applications. The architecture and parallel capabilities of the GPU entail a great potential for an improvement of regression analysis calculations. This thesis introduces a new parallel regression algorithm in CUDA for use on the GPU, and demonstrates that this algorithm is between four times faster for smaller datasets and six hundred times faster for larger, depending also on the GPU architecture.
Honor’s Thesis Abstract — Alexander Jackson
A Parallel Algorithm for Fast Edge Detection on the Graphics Processing Unit
Alexander Jackson
Often, it is a race against time to make a proper diagnosis of a disease. In areas of the world where qualified medical personnel are scarce, work is being done on the automated diagnosis of illnesses. Automated diagnosis involves several stages of image processing on lab samples in search of abnormalities that may indicate the presence of such things as tuberculosis. These imageprocessing tasks are good candidates for migration to parallelism which would significantly speed up the process. However, a traditional parallel computer is not a very accessible piece of hardware to many. The graphics processing unit (GPU) has evolved into a highly parallel component that recently has gained the ability to be utilized by developers for non-graphical computations.
This paper demonstrates the parallel computing power of the GPU in the area of medical image processing. We present a new algorithm for performing edge detection on images using NVIDIA’s CUDA programming model in order to program the GPU in C. We evaluated our algorithm on a number of sample images and compared it to two other implementations; one sequential and one parallel. This new algorithm produces impressive speedup in the edge detection process.
Anne Van Devender, a senior women’s soccer standout and Computer Science major, awarded 2009 Marjorie Berkley Scholar-Athlete Award as top female student-athlete in ODAC conference
Follow the links to the official ODAC article: http://odac.bridgewater.edu/scholar_ath.htm and the WLU article: http://www.wlu.edu/x32874.xml
Congratulations Anne!
Honors Thesis Presentations: Friday, May 22
Friday, May 22
2:30 P.M.
A Parallel Algorithm for Fast Edge Detection on the Graphics Processing Unit
by Alex Jackson
Parmly Hall P405
Reception @ 2:15
AND
Friday, May 22
3:30 P.M.
A Parallel Algorithm for Derivation of Regression Coefficients on the Graphics Processing Unit
by Pasko Paskov
Parmly Hall P405
Reception @ 2:15
Senior CS Major Anne Van Devender on W&L Facebook
See clip of Anne on W&L Facebook with her recollections of becoming a CS major!
Seniors’ Conference Experiences
As previously posted, seniors Nicole Carter and Anne Van Devender were awarded scholarships to attend conferences earlier this month. Here is a brief summary of their conference experiences.
Nicole Carter’s Experience at the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing
I thought the conference was an amazing experience to see the types of projects that are taking place all over the country. There was definitely a great sense of pride of being a part of this growing conference which helps motivate and inspire students and faculty from different organizations and schools to work in computing or related fields.
The most interesting thing I learned was the current implementation of tele-immersive technology, which allows two people to dance in two different geographic locations and puts them in a virtual 3D space, which looks as if the people are really interacting. This topic was presented by Ruzena Bajcsy who is collaborating with UC-Berkley and Illinois-UC. This research was so fascinating because it gives new meaning to what it means to be in a space, especially when you are not really there.
The most interesting person I met was Prof. Andrew Williams who teaches at Spelman College. His family was so poor that his bed used to be a cardboard box, yet he still was motivated to go to grad school and get his Phd and was able to coach a winning all women robotics team at Spelman.
Anne Van Devender’s Experience at CHI (Computer-Human Interaction)
The conference was great. It really is amazing to see all of the great minds in HCI come together in one place. The whole thing was really inspiring. Just walking down the halls of the convention center, I saw people who I had read about in my HCI course or in Interactions magazine.
I think the most interesting event or talk has to fall into two separate categories: entertainment and interest. The most entertaining talk was on “The Status of Ethnography in Systems Design.” It was basically a debate on whether or not ethnography should be used for design. It was just these two groups presenting absurd powerpoints to argue their points. The most interesting talks to me were the ones on “Online Relationships” and “Computer-mediated Communication.” There is a lot of potential in each of those areas.
As for the most interesting person I met, I think just the graduate students in general. I would say 85% of the talks I went to were led by graduate students and that really surprised me. It was very exciting to see such impressive research being done by students!
Overall, the conference was a great experience and I think more W&L students should attend them so that they can see what research looks like!
Seniors Graduate School Bound
Apparently, seniors Alex Jackson and Anne Van Devender haven’t had enough of school. This fall, they’re both enrolling in Ph.D. programs!
Alex will be pursuing his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of North Carolina.
Anne has decided to go to Northwestern University’s Technology and Social Behavior program for her Ph.D.
Congratulations, Anne and Alex!
CS Department Spring Picnic
Professor Lamber is hosting the CS Department’s Spring Picnic on Sunday, April 26. There will be plenty of food and games and good times!
The sign up sheet to attend is on the department office door.
Lucy Simko Awarded Scholarship to Study in Cairo
Sophomore Lucy Simko was awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship for participation in the Arabic intensive summer language institute. The highly selective award provides complete funding for studying at the institute in Cairo, Egypt for 8 weeks.
Lucy is majoring in both computer science and classics.