News

DAC is proud to announce that we will now be offering a new graduate certificate in data analytics.  The certificate is offered collaboratively by Virginia Tech’s departments of computer science, statistics, and electrical and computer engineering.  The 12-credit program will be open to students both in Blacksburg and the National Capital Region.  It will better prepare students for careers in data analytics and data science, one of the nation’s fastest growing fields.  For more information about our certificate in data analytics, click here.

DAC Director Naren Ramakrishnan gave the opening keynote talk at the Pacific Asia Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference on April 20, which was held in Auckland, New Zealand this year.  Dr. Ramakrishnan provided overview and perspectives about DAC’s EMBERS project aimed at a data mining audience. To learn more about the conference, click here.

DAC Director Naren Ramakrishnan guest edits IEEE Computer’s April 2016 issue, which is focused on Big Data.  Dr. Ramakrishnan guested edited along with Ravi Kumar from Google.  Read the issue to explore the latest in databases, algorithms, and applications of big data here.

DAC, in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Office of Economic Development, is taking part in an important study to measure the Roanoke and Blacksburg region’s growth in entrepreneurship. DAC will provide an analysis of entrepreneurs’ social-media use in the hopes of promoting jobs and entrepreneurship in the region. To read more about the study, click here.

DAC was happy to participate again this year at the local science and engineering fairs. Brian Goode, DAC research scientist, served as a judge at the Northern Virginia Science and Engineering Fair at Wakefield High School in Arlington. To read more about Virginia Tech’s involvement in the science fair, click here.

DAC faculty members Devi Parikh and Dhruv Batra interview wit WVTF Public Radio and RADIO IQ to discuss their leading efforts in the‪ artificial intelligence community. Parikh and Batra shared insight into their Visual Question and Answering (VQA) project, which tackles the next frontier in artificial intelligence, which is teaching computers to ‘see,’ that is, to recognize unique objects the way humans do. To hear Parikh and Batra’s interview, click here.

 

 

 

DAC faculty member, Aditya Prakash has co-authored a book titled “The Global Cyber-Vulnerability Report,” in collaboration with the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

This book establishes metrics to measure cyber-vulnerability of countries and quantify the cyber-vulnerability of countries. In addition, it offers useful data-driven policy advice for law-makers and policy-makers in each country. It is also the first that uses cyber-vulnerability data to explore the vulnerability of over four million machines per year, covering a two-year period as reported by Symantec. Analyzing more than 20 billion telemetry reports comprising malware and binary reputation reports, this book quantifies the cyber-vulnerability of 44 countries for which at least 500 hosts were monitored.

Click here for more info about “The Global Cyber-Vulnerability Report.”

Devi Parikh, DAC faculty member and assistant professor of the department of electrical and computer engineering received the Office of Naval Research Young Investigators Award, one of the oldest and most selective scientific research advancement programs in the country!

Parikh is being recognized for her exceptionally creative research which holds promise across a range of naval-relevant science and technology areas. Click here to read more about her award.

 

DAC associate director, Chris North, along with other Virginia Tech researchers led by Joseph Gabbard, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, received a grant from Microsoft for the amount of $100,000.  The grant will be used to explore the potential uses of its HoloLens devices for advancing research in the area of mixed reality and the possibilities of holographic computing. The team of researchers includes faculty from theInstitute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Center for Human-Computer Interaction.  To read more about this grant click here.

The Washington Post director for Big Data and Personalization, Sam Han, discussed the Post’s collaboration with DAC at the Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit in San Diego this past weekend.  Yaser Keneshloo, DAC Ph.D. student, has been working with the Post on improving user experience by predicting the popularity of a news article.  His work allows editors to prioritize stories, identify under-performing articles for content variable testing, and supports advertising opportunities.  To read more about Sam Han’s presentation click here.