I want to give this talk to spread the message that games are not just a ‘kid’s toy,’ but are a unique medium that combines art and science into one artifact. These artifacts can not only entertain, but also teach us, train us and evoke new ideas that no other medium has ever been able to do.
Researchers from the University of South Carolina discovered that they could read meter signals at a 400-unit housing complex in such detail they could determine that 27 units were unoccupied. And because the meters send out data every 30 seconds, the researchers could infer some residents' daily habits by spotting sudden jumps in electricity usage. In their paper, the researchers wrote that in one unit in the complex, "the owners got up at 7 a.m., left for work at 9 a.m., and returned home around 6 p.m. on Friday."WISTV has picked up the story: WIS Investigation: students test security of utility's Automatic Meter Reading. You can watch the video online. These research results were published in a paper at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security.
Lead researcher Wenyuan Xu, a professor in USC’s College of Engineering and Computing, says that much of the focus in the research security community right now is on the next generation of devices, the so-called “smart” meters. Utilities hope in the future they will be able to use these smart meters to match electricity flow to individual houses with overall demand, enabling much more efficient allocation of resources.The Industrial Safety and Security Source picks it up in Smart Meters Need to Get Smarter. Computerworld: Some smart electricity meters are stupid about privacy. The University main page: White Knight: USC researcher hacks for good.
Charlie is short for Child Centered Adaptive Robot for Learning Environments, designed by a USC graduate student to help kids with autism. "She is designed to promote basic communication skills," said Charlie creator Laura Boccanfuso. "Two of the most important communication skills are imitation and turn taking." Charlie is designed to be handled by kids but sometimes kids play hard, which is why she has some break away features. "We want the robot to just be sitting on a table, and allow the child to explore her, touch the eyes, touch the nose, and the hands and get to know her so she and he feels comfortable interacting with the robot," said Boccanfuso.Full story at WISTV.com. The College of Engineering coverage of this story. medGaget blog coverage. USC News coverage.
Our objective is to construct a general-purpose heterogeneous parallel computer comprised mostly of these DSPs, and to develop the runtime libraries necessary for them to execute existing scientific codes. This would allow for field portable teraflop-class parallel computers without the need to rewrite application software.
We would like to congratulate Mr. Daniel Grier, a junior in Computer Science and Math, on winning the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship to graduate school! This marks the twentieth consecutive year that USC has had one or more Goldwater Scholars. A total of 41 Goldwater Scholarships have been won by USC students since 1990. William "Cole" Franks, Daniel Grier, and Gerry Koons have been named 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars. The 282 Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,123 mathematics, science, and engineering students, nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. The one and two year scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. The Goldwater Scholarship is awarded nationally to sophomores and juniors pursuing bachelors’ degrees in natural sciences, mathematics, or engineering and intending to pursue a career in research and/or college-level teaching: virtually all the scholars intend to obtain a PhD in their respective fields. The University, as well as all other institutions of higher education, may only nominate four students for this award. Grier is a junior with a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science, and is a member of the South Carolina Honors College. A National Merit Scholar, he is the recipient of both the Lieber and Palmetto Scholarships, as well as the Wilson Scholarship, given by the department of Computer Science and Engineering for undergraduate research. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, he is also the recipient of the Computer Research Association (CRA) Undergraduate Research Award. His current research includes work with Dr. Stephen Fenner in USC’s Computer Science and Engineering Department on two-player mathematical strategy games played over partially ordered sets. Grier is currently participating in the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program in Hungary. He is a member of Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor society, a math tutor at Dreher High School, and plays on the International Men’s Soccer Club Team at USC. Grier plans to complete a PhD in Mathematics and conduct research in discrete mathematics while teaching at the university level. Also see the Daily Gamecock article.