Rice’s Mamouras wins NSF CAREER Award

Research to enable advanced Internet of Things applications

2024-05-14

(Press-News.org) HOUSTON – (May 14, 2024) – As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows larger and more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to develop applications.

“A common approach to this problem is to move data from the sensing devices to a central location, such as the cloud, for processing,” said Konstantinos Mamouras, assistant professor of computer science at Rice University. “But this centralized approach underutilizes the small IoT devices at the edge of the network and can overwhelm it due to the large movement of data.”

With his five-year, $547,555 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Mamouras aims to decentralize the IoT, relieve network congestion and improve overall efficiency. His proposal is titled “Programming Abstractions and Formal Reasoning for IoT Application Development.”

Some 500 CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation are given annually in support of “early career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.” Mamouras is the fourth Rice Engineering faculty member to receive a CAREER Award this year.

The IoT is a network of devices, vehicles, appliances and other objects embedded with connected sensors and software that permit them to collect and share data. It has many applications in health care, automobiles, home automation, manufacturing and agriculture.

“Placing more computation on the edge or close to the small devices that generate the data makes more efficient use of the infrastructure, but this approach is limited by the complexity of the system,” Mamouras said. “The programming task is a daunting undertaking that requires deep expertise in embedded programming, network protocols and distributed computing.”

Mamouras, who teaches COMP 418, “IoT Programming and Data Analysis,” said he plans to introduce novel programming techniques that will make it easier to enable efficient, reliable IoT applications. New high-level programming abstractions and languages will permit IoT programmers to express complex multidevice application logic.

“We plan to create formal reasoning techniques for establishing that an application respects correctness properties and limits on resource consumption,” he said. “A runtime system will manage the reliable deployment and efficient execution of the applications.”

The CAREER Award will also enable Mamouras to develop educational material for undergraduate and graduate students as well as software tools and learning resources that target nonexpert IoT enthusiasts.

Mamouras earned his doctorate in computer science from Cornell University in 2015, followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Rice faculty in 2018.

⎯ by Patrick Kurp, science writer for the George R. Brown School of Engineering

-30-

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Award information:

Award Abstract # 2340479

CAREER: Programming Abstractions and Formal Reasoning for IoT Application Development
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2340479&HistoricalAwards=false

Image downloads:

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2024/05/230922_Konstantinos-Mamouras_Fitlow_7641.jpg
CAPTION: Konstantinos Mamouras is assistant professor of computer science at Rice University. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

About Rice:

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No. 12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

ISS National Lab announces up to $750,000 in funding for technology development in low Earth orbit

2024-05-14

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (FL), May 14, 2024 – The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is soliciting flight concepts for technology development that would utilize the space-based environment of the orbiting laboratory. This solicitation, “Technology Development and Applied Research Leveraging the ISS National Lab,” is open to a broad range of technology areas, including chemical and material synthesis in space, translational medicine, in-space edge computing, and ISAM (in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing). ...

Counterfeit coins can be detected more easily thanks to a novel approach developed at Concordia

2024-05-14

Metal coins may be just about the oldest medium of exchange still in use today, but ensuring their worth requires some of the most state-of-the-art technology available. Counterfeit coins remain a threat to global currencies, with malicious actors flooding markets with fakes. European police broke up a Spain-based criminal ring in late April, demonstrating the issue’s ongoing urgency. However, no counterfeit is completely detection-proof, no matter how genuine it appears. There are always some tell-tale signals of forgery, even if they are not ...

Professors elected to Academy of Distinguished Scholars

2024-05-14

The University of Texas at Arlington has elected two longtime professors to the Academy of Distinguished Scholars, considered the University’s most prestigious research and scholarship honor. Ramon Lopez, professor of physics, and Michael D. Nelson, associate professor of kinesiology, are being recognized for their sustained and significant contributions to research and creativity. “Members of the Academy of Distinguished Scholars exemplify UTA’s commitment to quality research and creative activity,” said Kate C. Miller, vice president of research and innovation. “Mike and Ramon have both ...

UTA biology students receive awards for excellence

2024-05-14

Thirteen undergraduate and graduate students at The University of Texas at Arlington are being honored for excellence in academics, research, mentoring and/or teaching with awards. The awards are a mix of direct applications from students and others where they were nominated by faculty advisors. A committee of biology faculty then voted on the competitive awards.c “It’s so rewarding to be able to honor the next generation of biologists,” said Melissa Walsh, who chaired the selection committee ...

Making every hair appointment a sound experience #ASA186

2024-05-14

OTTAWA, Ontario, May 14, 2024 – Walking out of a hair salon can have customers feeling brand new, but the noisy environment may have negative effects at the cost of a new “do.” At Image Creators salon in Maryland, owner Silvia Campana along with her employees and customers noticed they had to work hard to understand each other’s words while in the salon, but they couldn’t put their finger on exactly why. In addition to difficulties understanding speech, Campana experienced increased ear pain and tinnitus after long-term exposure to ...

Tennessee teen uses national platform to advocate for CPR and heart health

2024-05-14

DALLAS, May 13, 2024 — The American Heart Association’s National Teen of Impact title offers Gen Z changemakers an influential platform to fight against heart disease to improve health and well-being in communities across the country. This year, Aniston Barnette, a 16-year-old volunteer advocate from Bristol, Tenn., is the 2024 national winner. As a prominent student-athlete, Barnette is supporting the lifesaving mission of the American Heart Association – celebrating one hundred years of lifesaving service – by promoting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) awareness and education. After watching family members suffer and die from ...

Study explores role of epigenetics, environment in differing Alzheimer’s risk between Black and white communities

2024-05-14

A study from North Carolina State University has found that environmentally caused alterations to specific areas of the genome – known as imprint control regions – during early development may contribute to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and that Black people may be more affected than white people. The work adds to our understanding of the ways in which environmental factors can contribute to genetic alterations and disease susceptibility. “In terms of genetics and disease, ...

Aston University researcher’s project selected as part of government support package to rebuild Ukraine’s energy system

2024-05-14

Aston University researcher’s work highlighted by the British government Dr Muhammed Imran and his collaborators to develop and commercialise cascade heat pumps Part of programme designed by British and Ukraine governments over the last 12 months. An Aston University researcher’s project has been selected as part of a package of support to help rebuild Ukraine’s energy system, phase out fossil fuels and support post-war recovery. In November 2023 it was announced that senior lecturer in engineering and technology Dr Muhammed Imran and his collaborators were to receive almost £1 ...

Researchers uncover what makes some chickens more water efficient than others

2024-05-14

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In the first scientific report of its kind, researchers in Arkansas showed that chickens bred for water conservation continued to put on weight despite heat stress that would normally slow growth. Research by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station indicates the specially bred line of chickens developed by Sara Orlowski could save growers thousands of gallons of water and thousands of pounds of food each month without sacrificing poultry health. Orlowski is an associate professor of poultry science with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. As global population increases ...

Looking inside battery cells

2024-05-14

Lithium-Ion batteries presently are the ubiquitous source of electrical energy in mobile devices, and the key technology for e-mobility and energy storage. Massive interdisciplinary research efforts are underway both to develop practical alternatives that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly, and to develop batteries that are safer, more performing, and longer-lasting – particularly for applications demanding high capacity and very dense energy storage. Understanding degradations and failure mechanisms in detail opens opportunities to better predict and mitigate them. In the study, a team of researchers led by the CEA, the ILL and the ESRF in collaboration examined Li-ion ...

Rice’s Mamouras wins NSF CAREER Award

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: