Computer & Info. Sciences at the University of Delaware

CIS September 2024 Newsletter (prepared by our wonderful CPUs)

We're excited to host Dr Jian Li of Stony Brook University, for our Fall seminar series on Fri, Sep 13th! The title of the talk would be: "Structured Reinforcement Learning: Foundations and Practice." Read more: https://lnkd.in/esU8gVeD

A great photo of the CIS department faculty and staff! Welcome three new faculty members to join the CIS community! John Aromando Dong Dai Yixiang Deng

Dear CIS Community, The fire at Southgate Gardens impacted several CIS graduate students. My heart goes to them, and I am sure yours does, too. If you choose to support these students, please consider donations via this GoFundMe campaign organized by the graduate students' organization. COE EmPOWER has organized a GoFundMe campaign, "Tough People Outlast Tough Times." Together, we will build a strong CIS community! Weisong Shi Alumni Distinguished Professor and Department Chair Department of Computer and Information Sciences

Starting September 1, the University of Delaware welcomes new leadership in its growing fintech ecosystem. Nektarios Tsoutsos from the College of Engineering and Gang Wang from Lerner College will guide UD’s fintech initiatives, continuing the work of their predecessors. Located on UD’s STAR Campus, the FinTech Innovation Hub is at the heart of a dynamic public-private partnership driving innovation in research, health, energy, and more. 📰:https://ow.ly/1T4050TaHlt

Thanks to our alumnus and department advisory council member Mike Crowe !

Congratulations Professor Weisong Shi !

We are thrilled to announce that we’ve received a 4-year, $1.5 million Safe AI award from National Science Foundation (NSF)!!! Our project, #OSLA (Orchestrating model, hardware, system for Safe Learning in Autonomous vehicles), is dedicated to develop end-to-end safety in autonomous driving: #ModelSafety: Develop rational AI models that produce dual-correct predictions — correct predictions anchored by valid rationales; #HardwareSafety: Integrate hardware reliability into AI design to facilitate the tolerance of hardware runtime faults; #SystemSafety: Design a novel RTOS scheduler that balances time predictability with rational AI and hardware reliability. I’m honored to lead this project alongside an incredible team of experts: Xi Peng (Machine Learning), Chengmo Yang (Hardware), and Weisong Shi (Autonomous Driving). This award is a significant milestone of my long-term research in making AI systems safer and more reliable, particularly for high-stake use in science, medicine, and autonomous driving. Thanks to the #NSF for supporting our vision, and a big shout-out to our team and collaborators: DeepREAL Lab, The CAR Lab #NSF #AI #MachineLearning #SafeAI #AutonomousVehicle

Dear CIS Community, Welcome to the new academic year of 2024-2025! I am excited to welcome our new students, who are joining us for the first time, and our returning students, who continue contributing to our vibrant community. Whether you are just beginning your journey with us or returning to further your academic pursuits, we are thrilled to have you as part of the CIS family. As we embark on this exciting journey together, I am thrilled to share some remarkable achievements and updates that highlight the strength and vibrancy of our department. First and foremost, our department continues to rise in prestige and recognition. The US News and World Report has ranked our graduate program seven spots higher this year, placing us at 70th nationally. Additionally, according to CSRankings.org, we have climbed an impressive 16 places since 2022, now proudly standing at 64th. These rankings reflect the hard work and dedication of our entire community. We are fortunate to be home to a team of world-class faculty leading the way in cutting-edge research areas. From AI/ML to Health/Bioinformatics, Computer Vision/Robotics/Autonomous Systems, Computer Networks, Systems and Security, as well as Computing Foundations such as High-Performance Computing, Software Engineering, and Computer Science Education, our faculty are at the forefront of innovation. Notably, 52% of our tenure-track faculty are NSF CAREER Awardees, a testament to their expertise and commitment to excellence. This year, we have also achieved a historic milestone with $12 million in external funding, marking a 140% increase over last year. Our department is experiencing significant growth, reflecting the popularity and impact of our programs. We now have 645 undergraduate and 237 graduate students, including 103 Master's students (a 75% increase) and 133 Ph.D. students (a 24% increase). This expansion not only enriches our academic community but also fosters greater opportunities for networking and collaboration. As we begin this new academic year, I encourage each of you to take full advantage of the opportunities available within our department. Together, we will continue to build on our successes and push the boundaries of what is possible in the field of Computer and Information Sciences. Welcome again to the 24-25 academic year. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together in the coming year! Sincerely, -Weisong Weisong Shi Alumni Distinguished Professor and Department Chair Computer and Information Sciences University of Delaware

We're excited to host Dr Yue Ning of the Stevens Institute of Technology, for our Fall seminar series on Fri, Sep 6th! The title of the talk would be: "Knowledge-Guided Learning for Health Risk Predictions with Imperfect Data." Read more: https://lnkd.in/eN-a9z36