Category: Applied Computing

Sidike Paheding Publishes Paper in Top Journal

A scholarly paper co-authored by Assistant Professor Sidike Paheding, Applied Computing, has been published in the April 2021 issue of ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, published by Science Direct.

The title of the paper is, “Field-scale crop yield prediction using multi-temporal WorldView-3 and PlanetScope satellite data and deep learning.”

View the article abstract here.

Paheding is a member of the Institute of Computer and Cybersystems’s (ICC) Center for Data Sciences.

Biocomputing, Digital Health Focus of New Research Center


The Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) and the Health Research Institute (HRI) have established the Joint Center of Biocomputing and Digital Health (BDH).

The new research institute was co-founded by HRI member Jingfeng Jiang (BME) and ICC member Jinshan Tang (CC).

The mission of Joint Center of Biocomputing and Digital Health (BDH) is to conduct research, develop innovative solutions, and provide educational opportunities in the area of biocomputing and digital health, thereby enhancing Michigan Tech’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality researchers and students, elevating Michigan Tech’s presence in developing technologies for healthcare delivery, and increasing knowledge sharing in the global community.

Jingfeng Jiang is a professor with the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research interests are in biomechanics, automated control of ultrasound scanning including the use of 3D printing technology, image and signal processing, non-invasive assessment of biomechanical properties of soft tissues, and computer aided analyses of cardiovascular flow.

Jinshan Tang is a professor in the Department of Applied Computing. His research interests are in image processing and pattern recognition, biomedical imaging and medical image analysis, and medical informatics and intelligent medical diagnosis systems. Tang is a member of the ICC’s Center for Cyber-Physical Systems.

The Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) creates and supports an arena in which faculty and students work collaboratively across organizational boundaries in an environment that mirrors contemporary technological innovation.

The Health Research Institute (HRI) aims to establish and maintain a thriving environment that promotes translational, interdisciplinary, and increasingly convergent health-related research and inspires education and outreach activities.

Please contact Jingfeng Jiang (jjiang1@mtu.edu) with questions.

Info Sessions for CyberCorps Scholarship Are March 22, March 30

An exciting scholarship opportunity has been announced for Michigan Tech students who wish to pursue cybersecurity-related degrees and work for government agencies after graduation.

Two informational sessions will be presented, on March 22 and March 30, to help students complete the application process for the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service (SFS) Program.

Both sessions will provide the same information. Prior registration is required. Following, you will receive a confirmation email and instructions for joining the session.

Recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the SFS Program provides full scholarships for two or three years of support for undergraduate and graduate students in selected cybersecurity-related degree programs.

In return, following graduation recipients must agree to work for for the U.S. government in a cybersecurity-related position for a period equal to the duration of the scholarship.

Applications are being accepted for the 2021-2022 cohort. The deadline to apply is June 1, 2021. View the list of eligible degree programs on the SFS website.

Session #1 is on Monday, March 22, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. EST. Register for Session #1 here.

Session #2 is on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. EST. Register for Session #2 here.

For more information, please visit the SFS website at https://www.mtu.edu/sfs/, or contact Professor Yu Cai (cai@mtu.edu).

Read a Michigan Tech press release about this new scholarship opportunity:
https://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2021/february/cybercorps-offers-huskies-scholarship-for-service-opportunity.html

Computing Programs Ranked Among Best in Nation

Several Michigan Tech College of Computing degree programs have been ranked among the best in the nation by Intelligent.com. In addition, the research guide ranked the University number three among all colleges in Michigan.

Intelligent.com looked at nearly 2,300 accredited colleges and universities nationwide making evaluations based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation and post-graduate employment. Programs were evaluated on a scale of 0 to 100 with Michigan Tech making it to the final list for 12 separate degree programs.

The four College of Computing programs and their national ranking as rated by Intelligent.com are:

Additional Michigan Tech degree programs included in the ranking are:

Sidike Paheding Awarded MSGC Seed Grant

Michigan Space Grant Consortium

Assistant Professor Sidike Paheding, Applied Computing, has been awarded a one-year MSGC Research Seed Grant for his project, “Monitoring Martian landslides using deep learning and data fusion.”

Professor Thomas Oommen, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, is Co-PI of the project. The grant will support part-time employment of two students during the award period.

This grant is supported in part by funding provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), under award number 80NSSC20M0124, Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC).

The MSGC Research Seed Grant Program supports junior faculty and research scientists at MSGC affiliate institutions. The program also helps mid-career and senior faculty develop new research programs. The objective of this program is to allow award recipients to develop the research expertise necessary to propose research activities in new areas to other federal or nonfederal sources.

College of Computing Invites Applications for Two Faculty Positions

Are you interested in a faculty position with the new Michigan Tech College of Computing? Do you know someone who is?

Michigan Technological University’s College of Computing invites applications for two (2) assistant, associate, or full professor positions to start in August 2021.

Areas of particular interest include cybersecurity, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and data science; exceptional candidates in other areas of computing will also be considered.

Successful candidates will demonstrate a passion for their research, an enthusiasm for undergraduate and graduate education, and a strong commitment to cultivating diverse and inclusive learning environments.

View the positions description and apply here: https://www.employment.mtu.edu/cw/en-us/job/492473

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. To learn more about this opportunity, please visit https://www.mtu.edu/computing/about/employment/ or contact the search chair, Dr. Timothy Havens, at thavens@mtu.edu. Applications received by March 1, 2020 will receive full consideration.

Michigan Tech is building a culturally diverse faculty committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications from all individuals. We are an ADVANCE Institution having received three National Science Foundation grants in support of efforts to increase diversity, inclusion, and the participation and advancement of women and underrepresented individuals in STEM.

Michigan Tech actively supports dual-career partners to retain a quality workforce; we offer career exploration advice and assistance finding positions at the University and in the local community. Please visit https://www.mtu.edu/provost/programs/partner-engagement for more information.

An applicant must have earned a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computing, or a closely related area. Michigan Tech places a strong emphasis on balancing cutting-edge research with effective teaching, outreach, and service. Candidates for these positions are expected to demonstrate potential for excellence in independent research, excellence in teaching, and the ability to contribute service to their department and profession. Salary is negotiable depending upon qualifications.

Michigan Tech is an internationally renowned doctoral research university with 7,100 students and 400 faculty located in Houghton, Michigan, in the scenic Upper Peninsula on the south shore of Lake Superior. The area provides a unique setting where natural beauty, culture, education, and a diversity of residents from around the world come together to share superb living and learning experiences.

The College of Computing has 36 faculty members, 650 undergraduate students in five degree programs (Computer Science, Computer Network and System Administration, Cybersecurity, Electrical Engineering Technology, Mechatronics, and Software Engineering) and 90 graduate students in four MS degree programs (Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Health Informatics, and Mechatronics) and Ph.D. degree programs in Computer Science and Computational Science and Engineering.

Sidike Paheding Wins MDPI Electronics Best Paper Award

A scholarly paper co-authored by Assistant Professor Sidike Paheding, Applied Computing, is one of two papers to receive the 2020 Best Paper Award from the open-access journal Electronics, published by MDPI.

The paper presents a brief survey on the advances that have occurred in the area of Deep Learning.

Paheding is a member of the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems’ (ICC) Center for Data Sciences (DataS).

Co-authors of the article, “A State-of-the-Art Survey on Deep Learning Theory and Architectures,” are Md Zahangir Alom, Tarek M. Taha, Chris Yakopcic, Stefan Westberg, Mst Shamima Nasrin, Mahmudul Hasan, Brian C. Van Essen, Abdul A. S. Awwal, and Vijayan K. Asari. The paper was published March 5, 2019, appearing in volume 8, issue 3, page 292, of the journal.

View and download the paper here.

Papers were evaluated for originality and significance, citations, and downloads. The authors receive a monetary award , a certificate, and an opportunity to publish one paper free of charge before December 31, 2021, after the normal peer review procedure.

Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access journal on the science of electronics and its applications. It is published online semimonthly by MDPI.

MDPI, a scholarly open access publishing venue founded in 1996, publishes 310 diverse, peer-reviewed, open access journals.

Paper Abstract

In recent years, deep learning has garnered tremendous success in a variety of application domains. This new field of machine learning has been growing rapidly and has been applied to most traditional application domains, as well as some new areas that present more opportunities. Different methods have been proposed based on different categories of learning, including supervised, semi-supervised, and un-supervised learning. Experimental results show state-of-the-art performance using deep learning when compared to traditional machine learning approaches in the fields of image processing, computer vision, speech recognition, machine translation, art, medical imaging, medical information processing, robotics and control, bioinformatics, natural language processing, cybersecurity, and many others.

This survey presents a brief survey on the advances that have occurred in the area of Deep Learning (DL), starting with the Deep Neural Network (DNN). The survey goes on to cover Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), including Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), Auto-Encoder (AE), Deep Belief Network (DBN), Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), and Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). Additionally, we have discussed recent developments, such as advanced variant DL techniques based on these DL approaches. This work considers most of the papers published after 2012 from when the history of deep learning began.

Furthermore, DL approaches that have been explored and evaluated in different application domains are also included in this survey. We also included recently developed frameworks, SDKs, and benchmark datasets that are used for implementing and evaluating deep learning approaches. There are some surveys that have been published on DL using neural networks and a survey on Reinforcement Learning (RL). However, those papers have not discussed individual advanced techniques for training large-scale deep learning models and the recently developed method of generative models.

Sidike Paheding

Dean Livesay to Hold Open Office Hours Fridays, 3-4 pm

New College of Computing Dean Dennis Livesay will hold open virtual office hours every Friday from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., beginning February 5, 2021.

All faculty, staff, and students who wish to chat with Dr. Livesay are invited to “stop in” to this weekly Zoom meeting. Appointments are not needed.

Open office hours will not be held when classes are not in session.

Link to the meeting here: https://michigantech.zoom.us/j/83846079187.

ETS-IMPRESS Scholarship for Transfer Students in Technology Majors

Applying to MTU as a transfer student? Interested in engineering technology? Check out the ETS-IMPRESS scholarship program.

Open to community college transfer students, applicants must select as their major the College of Computing undergraduate degree programs in Computer Network and System Administration (CNSA) and Electrical Engineering Technology (EET), or the Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) bachelor’s program.

The program requires participation in the Honors Pathway Program in the Pavlis Honors College, as well as mentoring activities. It fulfills unmet need of $4,500.

Other requirements are listed on the scholarship website, and the deadline for application is February 15.

When I had discovered the ETS-IMPRESS scholarship, it took very little time to understand how helpful it would be to my life, both in and out of college. Not only was I able to afford to go to college, but I was also getting more out of my college experience.

Brad Gipson, 3rd-year CNSA major

Check out ETS-IMPRESS scholar Caleb Devonta Rogers’ story, below, in which he describes his journey to MTU and his plans for his Honors Project, and remember to apply by February 15!

View the original blog article.