Category: News

Virtual reality (VR) offers a captivating and immersive way to revolutionize learning and training, especially when it comes to safety-related concepts.

Despite its potential, the intricate development process has slowed its widespread use—until now. In an exciting breakthrough, the University of Texas at Dallas computer science professors Drs. Balakrishnan Prabhakaran, Shiyi Wei, Yu Xiang, and Jin Ryong Kim have secured an impressive $750,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for their groundbreaking Scan to Multi-sensorial Interactive Learning Environment (SMILE) project. This substantial funding highlights the innovation behind SMILE and marks a significant step forward in bringing cutting-edge VR learning experiences to life.

Recently, Dr. Zygmunt J. Haas, Distinguished Chair in computer science and professor in the Department of Computer Science in the Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, offered some remarks to help commemorate 30 years of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) MobiCom conference, which will be held in Nov. 2024 in Washington, DC. The annual conference serves as the premier international forum addressing networks, systems, algorithms, and applications that support the symbiosis of mobile computers and wireless networks. MobiCom also covers all areas of mobile computing and mobile and wireless networking.

Dr. Jin Ryong Kim and his innovative team at the Multimodal Interaction Lab (MI Lab) have recently garnered acclaim for their groundbreaking advancements in haptic and thermal technologies. Their exceptional contributions have been recognized with several prestigious awards, highlighting their transformative work in these dynamic fields.

At the IEEE Haptics Symposium 2024, Dr. Kim and his students were awarded the Best Demonstration honorable mention for their presentation on “Thermal Masking.” This phenomenon, also displayed at the 2024 ACM Conference on Computer Human Interaction (CHI) in Hawaii, showcases a novel thermal illusion where thermal referral completely masks the original thermal sensation, leaving only the tactile site to register thermal feedback.

A UTDesign® Capstone team from The University of Texas at Dallas comprised of electrical and computer engineering and computer science students placed first in the spring 2024 Raytheon Technologies, Inc.’s Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle (AUV) competition held in North Texas. This is the second time the team has won the annual event — a UT Dallas team also placed first in 2022.

A University of Texas at Dallas student team won a third-place award at an international competition for building a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can collect data on temperature, pressure and chemicals in the ocean.

The students demonstrated their vehicle, named VESPA, in an Olympic-sized pool in Kingsport, Tennessee, in June at the annual MATE ROV Competition, a program of the Marine Technology Society. The 2024 international collegiate competition focused on ocean-based solutions to climate change.

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham recently received the prestigious IEEE Computer Society’s Impact Award from the Technical Committee on Multimedia Computing (TCMC) for her groundbreaking research in secure multimedia data systems. This award is usually presented at the annual IEEE Computer Society  MIPR (Multimedia Information Processing and Retrieval) conference. This year, the conference took place in San Jose, CA, on Aug. 8, 2024. She is the first woman to receive this highest technical award from the TCMC.  

Dr. Yu Xiang leads the Intelligent Robotics and Vision Lab (IRVL) in the department of computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The lab focuses on fundamental research in intelligent robotics and computer vision, and Dr. Xiang considers the scientific question: How can robots conduct tasks autonomously in the physical world to assist humans? For example, he is interested in building robots that can cook a meal or clean a kitchen table for people.

The new age of AI and machine learning is reminiscent of the level of buzz and activity the region saw in the late 1990s and early 2000s for telecom, networking, and the World Wide Web. So says Dr. Gopal Gupta, professor of computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, Erik […]

AI, or artificial intelligence, grabbed the attention of every industry in 2023, creating hope for easier, more streamlined work processes and stoking fear that the technology could advance enough to replace employees. “Accuracy cannot be guaranteed,” said Dr. Gopal Gupta, professor of computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, Erik […]

Via Dallas Morning News — Darcy Desjarlais, senior truck operations specialist at Aurora, hovers both hands under the steering wheel of Aurora’s self-driving truck as it cruises at 65 miles per hour down Interstate 45, heading in its typical route towards Houston.

Above his palms could be the future of short and long hauls for transported goods.