RUI Impact Statement

The University of San Francisco (USF) is a liberal arts college historically known for its excellence in teaching. In recent years, and due in no small part to the efforts of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Stanley Nel, USF has blossomed as a research institution. Computer Science has been one of the departments that has excelled. When David Wolber, the principal investigator for this proposal, came to USF in 1993, he was the first computer science Ph.D. in the department and there was no publishable research being performed. Over the past eight years, Wolber has written a number of articles published in prestigious conferences (e.g. CHI, UIST, IUI) and journals (TOCHI, ACM Communications) and has written two chapters for Henry Lieberman’s book on Programming by Example, Your Wish is My Command. He has also collaborated on two papers with Brad Myers of Carnegie Mellon University, and served as a dissertation committee member on one of Brad’s Ph.D. students, Richard McDaniel. In the past few years, USF has been able to hire two more computer science Ph.D.s onto the faculty, Greg Benson and David Galles. Both have produced excellent research and Benson, along with the chair Peter Pacheco, has procured a private grant to build a parallel computing system. Two other changes are in the works that will further enhance the research capabilities of the department. First, computer science will be moving to a four-unit program in the fall of 2002, which will reduce faculty teaching load from three courses a semester to two (actually 2-2-2-3 over four semesters). Second, a search is being conducted this spring to hire yet another new faculty member in computer science. With these changes, and the work that has already taken place, USF is on the cusp of becoming a significant member of the research community, and one that can provide another academic research presence in the Bay Area along with Stanford and Berkeley. Funding of the proposed NSF grant can have a major impact on this evolution. Currently, USF provides internal funding for generally one part-time student research assistant per faculty member every summer, and travel expenses to a single conference. Such funding is clearly inefficient for a full-fledged research program. Top student research assistants are often lost to full-time employment, and the ones that do join projects typically must work in their off hours, and work elsewhere to support themselves and their education. The lack of travel funds is also a serious detriment to a research program. The synergy one experiences at conferences is vital, as are the relationships that can be established. For students, the experience of attending a conference can be an incredibly motivating factor in their lives. Such experiences are few and far between at an undergraduate institution like USF; funding of this grant could change that. The proposed funding can provide David Wolber with the resources necessary to transform from “a guy doing some neat work at a small university”, to being a researcher competing on equal footing with the top researchers at major institutions. It would be the first NSF grant for the department, and along with the private grant obtained by Benson and Pacheco, provide USF with two significant and supported projects. Enhancing the Educational Environment Besides helping to push USF computer science to the next level, the grant would have a major impact on the student environment. Historically, few USF students have proceeded to graduate school, partially due to a lack of exposure to research. This grant would fund three students for the next three years, both in the summer and during the school year. Wolber has an excellent record with working with students, and has seen the effect that participating in a research program can have on a student’s knowledge and motivation. For instance, two students, Michael Kepe and Igor Ranitovic, participated in the preliminary work for this project. They both have been inspired to work long hours and accomplish great things, and have said that they have learned more in this project than they could ever have imagined. Both are now planning to apply for Ph.D. programs. The two could have accomplished even more had they not been compelled to take jobs over the summer (one writing web pages, the other managing a database system) and thus could only work on the project in their off-hours. With funding, they could have focused their work hours primarily on the project, learning significantly more and making even greater strides. Besides affecting those that directly participate, a funded research program can also have a significant impact on the rest of the students in the department. Learning of the publications and accomplishments of their professors and fellow students can inspire students to learn more, work harder, and even think “out of the box”. Such an effect is enhanced even more if this research is integrated within the classroom, as Wolber plans to do. Attracting Students and Measuring Student Involvement Wolber plans to integrate small projects related to the research into his courses, including his junior-year software engineering course. Interested students will then be asked and encouraged to apply for research assistant positions. The positions will also be publicly listed and advertised on the department’s posting boards. If applicants are of equal quality, preference will be given to underrepresented groups in computer science, including women. The department will monitor the students to measure the effects of involvement, and specifically how many go on to graduate programs. Though the test pool will most likely contain only top students, historically only a small percentage of USF’s top students have proceeded to graduate programs. Thus, if a fair amount of the research assistants do proceed, the effect of the project will be clear.