FIU/SCS INDUSTRY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Headquarters of Siemens Carrier Networks
November 21, 2003
Meeting Agenda and Discussion Points
I. Review of the latest status of University Projects.
A. R&D, Funding and Industry Joint Projects
1. Received $1.8M from NSF (total $4.5M/5 years + $0.7M FIU matching) for
creating “Center of Emerging Technologies for Advanced Information
Processing and High-Confidence Systems” at FIU. Four major research
components:
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High confidence software system design and analysis
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Multi-dimensional data modeling and intelligent query research
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Assistive technology
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Information processing for neuroscience applications.
2. Received $400K Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Award from NSF.
3. Schedule to receive from IBM in December 2003 a 42-node IBM R/6000 SP
system with 80+ GFlops peak capacity (List price: $3.3M) for supporting SCS
research.
4. Selected recent grant proposals:
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DHS: Homeland Security Distributed, Collaborative, Education and Training
Portal Proposal.
NASA: TerraFly: A Web-based Spatial Data Management & Distribution
System.
NSF: Model-driven framework for studying software system dependability.
Information extraction from massive data sets.
Secure interagency disaster management communications.
5. New initiatives on industry projects – in active discussion.
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Goldman Sachs: Collaboration Proposal: Data warehousing, data mining &
visualization
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Lennar Technology Transfer Proposal: 1) Terrafly customization for land
management; 2) Context-Based Filtering for home elevation management.
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IBM Linux proposal: Expanding parallel processing capability of Linux
kernel.
6. New R&D Initiatives:
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Intelligent IP-based multimedia communication and collaboration. Three tier
research initiative:
o Tier 1. Multiparty IP-based multimedia communication technology and
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infrastructure.
o Tier 2. Application API and Metamodels
o Tier 3. Domain specific multiparty multimedia communication and
collaborations.
Timely, secure and dependable inter-agency communication via Network of
Intelligent Information Exchange Gateways.
B. New and Ongoing Education & Training Initiatives
1. SCS Faculty approved the proposal for new 4+1 combined BS & MS degree
programs in 5 years. Target starting date: September 2004, Status: awaiting
university decision.
2. FIU IT Training Institute Proposal. Reached agreement with FIU office of
outreach; set to start in first part of 2004; target training areas: Linux/Unix,
networking, security, databases. Goal: to FIU as the premier Linux training
provider in South Florida.
3. Weekend IT program – offering BS Information Technology Degree to working
professionals who already have Bachelor degree in other disciplines. Courses
will be taught on weekend only. Program set to starts March 2004.
C. SCS Management & Operations
1. Completed SCS Program Review report. Formal program review to be
scheduled in April 2004. This is an important event, which will impact
university support to the School. Review committee includes FIU
President/Provost, Vice Presidents, Deans and Office of Institutional
Effectiveness. SCS programs will be reviewed and assessed by external
consultant.
2. SCS Undergraduate Program is accredited by CSAB/ABET, which is subject to
re-accreditation every 5 years. The new accreditation will occur in Fall 2004.
Preparation has begun since last year, which is now in full swing. This is a
major undertaking for the School.
3. Revised policy for graduate student support, effective in Spring 2004 –
increased financial incentive and performance accountability.
4. Following the Board’s suggestion, we are taking steps to build alliance among
local universities. First step: Yi Deng visited College of Engineering at
University of Miami, and presented FIU/SCS capability in R&D to the UM
faculty/administrators.
II. Review of SCS Strategic Directions
1. The Business of State University: Concepts, Constraints, Practices & Strategies
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The key of a successful university is FACULTY.
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o Good faculty brings prestige and visibility
o Top notch faculty attracts top notch faculty, researchers and staff
o Successful faculty brings in significant funding.
o Good faculty attracts good students, particularly at graduate level.
A state university is about open access, i.e. we cannot refuse to accept
students.
Size is important to a state university
o State funding to university is based on student FTE
o Size means weight and influence to the state legislature, governor,
and local governments.
Our strategy: grow quality via quantity. Why and How?
o Large student body allows us to hire large number of researchoriented faculty, hence more research funding, publications, and wide
coverage of technical expertise.
o Large student body provides big pipelines for us to select top notch
students to more advanced levels (MS, Ph.D.)
o Large student body allows us to offer rich & cutting edge curriculum
& classes. (It’s not wise to have too many small classes in this
political and fiscal climate.)
o Large student body allows us to offer special honor classes.
2. Strategic Technical Areas of Excellence
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Software Engineering, particularly modeling, design, testing and analysis of
complex, high confidence, real-time, distributed systems.
Databases, particularly, multimedia, spatial and temporal databases and
applications.
Multidisciplinary informatics, e.g. bioinformatics, health informatics,
environmental informatics.
Why these areas of focus: 1) We already have sizable presence in the first
two broad areas in terms of number of faculty, research track record, funding
success; 2) these areas are of critical importance to industry, research
funding, and future evolution of the field; 3) bio, health, medical sciences are
the strategic directions of FIU, developing the third area positions SCS as the
critical enabler for FIU’s future.
3. SWOT Discussion – Strengths and Weaknesses of Our School (see attached).
4. Five Year Goals.
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Be among the top 3 computer science programs in the state.
Be among the top 50 computer science departments in the nation in terms of
competitive research funding.
Increase our student body size to 1,300 undergraduate and 200 graduate
students including 75 doctoral students.
Graduate on an average, approximately 150 undergraduates, 50 masters, and
4 doctoral students every year.
Be a leading provider of computing and IT expertise to the South Florida
industry and community.
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III. Board Activities – Defining Steps for the Next Year
1. Development of an Industry Center of Excellence
2. Developing joint FIU-Industry R&D projects
3. Fund raising for faculty endowment.
IV. Synchronizing the 2004 calendar
1. Proposed date for April '04 Board meeting
2. Quarterly Dinner Meetings
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FIU School of Computer Science SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
1. Momentum – our institution and School has experienced an amazing
transformation into full fledged research university and CS program
in a short amount of time.
2. Active research programs with success in Federal competitive
research funding.
3. Rapid research faculty growth (10 new faculty hires in 5 yrs) will
significantly enhance SCS competitiveness both in the region and
nationally.
4. Largest & best CS program in South Florida. Well established PhD,
MS, BS (accredited) degrees in CS with healthy growth.
5. Largest and best producer of Hispanic students, which gives us
significant leverage in Federal funding and industry attention.
6. Active student body. ACM and other student organization are
blossoming.
7. Strong technology group: network and systems administration,
application development and systems integration.
1. Lack of national/international visibility at both institutional and
program levels, which are essential to attract quality faculty, students,
funding.
2. Lack of critical mass in research faculty to create greater impact.
3. Lack of “superstar” faculty members who can attract greater
attention.
4. Lack of support from community, governments & industry.
5. Lack of strong industry R&D base in the region.
6. University resource allocation of budget, space, etc. lower than
national standards of ranked research universities.
7. Far from adequate funding from the State.
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Opportunities
Threats
1. No top ranked CS program in South Florida – window of opportunity
for us. We are determined to be the first!
2. South Florida is a strategic location for collaborating with all the
Americas. Our Hispanic diversity can open more doors.
3. IT industry participation: South Florida’s broad IT related industries
needs a strong CS program to produce the professionals and
innovations to fuel local IT industry success and staying power.
4. Computing and information are the critical enabler for every existing
and emerging discipline or industry, which creates great
opportunities for CS programs.
5. IT remains a dominant professional need nationwide – expect IT
personnel to be in big demand as economy expands.
6. CS discipline research is still expanding. Areas like software
engineering and database are central to many innovations.
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Further decrease in State funding threats university and CS
program growth and expansion. Large scale internal FIU
initiatives (medical school, bio/life sciences) may further drain
limited funding from CS and other programs.
Stronger competition from other CS programs nationwide, as
almost every research university in the nation are investing
heavily in CS.
Continued withdraw by IT industry from Florida may further
drain industry partnerships.
Competition from other South Florida Univ. (FAU, UM) or
Florida programs (UF and UCF).
Long term direction for the School and support from FIU
administration unclear. Will we stay semi-independent or will be
fully integrated into a college.