Current Research Projects
The following provides
a brief overview of my current research projects; several of these are with
colleagues at The
Policy-based
Autonomic Management. We are
looking at how policies can be used to specify operational requirements of
distributed systems and applications to collections of autonomic managers. These managers would then translate the
policies, automatically, into management operations for ensuring the operation
of the computing environment as specified.
Current work addresses questions around how the managers cooperate, what
information can be extracted from the policies and used, what other information
about the systems and applications is needed to ensure that requirements are
met, how collective groups of managers can dynamically collaborate to achieve
multiple, sometimes conflicting, objectives.
Remote
Control of Experimental Facilities. This
work stemmed from a research project, Science
Studio, funded by CANARIE, to investigate and develop a web-based platform
for access to large scientific instruments.
Science Studio provides an
experiment management system that can be used by groups of researchers to
remotely control and execute experiments, store results and analyses. Out initial focus has been on control of the
VESPERS X-ray diffraction beamline at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) and the
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) at the Nanofabrication Facility at The University
of Western Ontario. Control of the
VESPERS beamline can be done through Science Studio and operation of the
beamline has been done from as far away as Australia. We have also extended the Science Studio platform to provide
remote access to robotic arms. The aim
was to generalize the capabilities of Science Studio and to provide remote
access to robotic devices in laboratories for training and experimentation by
students in mechatronics programs.
Students can use desktops, laptops or handheld devices (tablets, phones)
to access a robotic arm and carry out laboratory exercises. We are now looking to extend the platform to
encompass a mobile robotic device.
Intelligent
Automotive Driving Assistance Systems. In collaboration with Dr. Steven Beauchemin,
we have been working on the development of an intelligent driving assistance
system based on the rapid collection and analysis of images from on-board
cameras in automobiles, from cameras monitoring the drivers eyes and from
vehicle to vehicle communication. The
objective of the work is to have algorithms which can build tri-modal models
(driver, automobile, environment), exchange that information with other
automobiles, and the predict driver behavior in order to ensure the safe
operation of the vehicle and avoid accidents.
Research questions include how to process the large amount of data
collected to extract `meaningful’ data, what the models look like and how to
build them and change them, what information to share with other vehicles, and
how to model and predict driver behavior.
Some of the current work is concerned with understanding driver gaze and
cognitive load.
Applications of Computation and
Technology in Medical Health Informatics. With colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine,
the Lawson Health Sciences Research Institute, and Faculty of Health Sciences, I
have been looking at computational/mathematical models for use in predicting
disease and outcomes from multiple sources of medical, health, image and biomic data. With
Dr. Femida Gwadry-Sridhar, we have looked at methods for the prediction of
Alzheimer’s disease from image, health and other data. With Dr. Aleksandra Zecevic, we have
studied incidents in which London-Middlesex Emergency Medical Services has been
called to assist patients with lifting them after they have fallen; we continue
looking at these incidents. I am also
working with Dr. Lorie Donelle and Dr. Sandra Regan on studying the potential
advantages of home sensor monitoring and keep patients at home rather than in
hospitals or nursing homes. With a
colleague in Computer Science, Dr. Dan Lizotte, we are collaborating with Dr.
Kevin Shoemaker on understanding student mental health challenges. I am also interested in the use of multiple
models to predict outcomes and diseases.
I am currently looking at means of being able to characterize patients
that have multiple chronic diseases.
Related to this, I have collaborated with individuals in Family Medicine
on determining patterns and frequencies of multiple chronic illnesses in
patients.
Current Research Topics for Interested Graduate Students
I am looking for highly qualified and highly
motivated students that might be interested in working on one of the following
research topics. Students interested in
pursuing graduate studies and who are interested in one or more of these
topics, should indicate this when they apply to the Department of Computer
Science. While I will consider students
interested in other aspects of my research interests, my preference would be to
accept students with interest in one of the following.
Unfortunately,
… none at this time … keep checking periodically!