A Message from the Director: Spring 2013 Connect

CSL has long provided fertile ground for multidisciplinary initiatives to take root. From parallel computing to novel brain-machine interfaces, CSL has served as the launch pad for initiatives that have gone on to create a name in their own right.

So when the College of Engineering announced its support of six new interdisciplinary research projects through its Strategic Research Initiatives program last year, it makes sense that CSL would play an integral role. Of the six areas funded by the College, the Lab and its researchers support three. They are:

A Theory of Cognitive and Algorithmic Decision Making

CSL Professor Andy Singer (ECE) leads this project, which will imagine the next generation of human-machine decision systems by pairing Illinois strengths in decision theory and machine learning with expertise in social networks and human decision making. Applications range from data-driven and machine-aided battlefield decision making to financial forecasting. Other CSL faculty include Tamer Başar (ECE), Maxim Raginsky (ECE) and Angela Nedich (ISE), along with Karrie Karahalios (CS), co-director of CSL’s Center for People and Infrastructures.

Beyond Speech: Towards an Interdisciplinary Study of Sound

Administered through CSL, this project aims to bring together all of Illinois’ sound-related research under one umbrella. Researchers will explore such areas as audio recognition for computers and robotics, universal language applications and recordings and audio databases for applications such as sound and music retrieval, biomedical diagnosis, ocean monitoring and more. Paris Smaragdis (CS and ECE) will lead the project, with support from CSL’s Mark Hasegawa-Johnson (ECE) and Rob A. Rutenbar (CS), among other researchers.

Digital/Cyber Security and Nuclear Security

Rizwan Uddin (NPRE) and I will be teaming up together with a group of colleagues who will develop new, advanced and nuclear-grade digital control and cyber security technologies. The goal is to marry the expertise available at Illinois to develop a center for digital control and cyber security for nuclear-specific applications.

While these projects are currently in early stages, I am confident that each will make major contributions in these areas in the future. And as the SRI program continues to grow, I believe CSL researchers will remain central to its success.

William H. Sanders