ADSC researcher Jiangbo Lu was recently selected to receive the 2012 Best Associate Editor award from IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology (TCSVT). According to TCSVT, the award is given to editors whose tireless work and professionalism have made a significant impact on the reputation of the TCSVT.

ADSC Researcher Jiangbo Lu

TCSVT is a monthly publication by the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society that covers all aspects of visual information technology, including transaction papers and transaction letters covering topics such as image analysis, computer vision, signal processing, multidimensional filters and transforms and image and video compression techniques. Lu joined the editorial board in 2012, which includes around 50 other associate editors.

“It is a great honor and recognition,” Lu said. “I will need to work even more tirelessly now.”

Associate editors play significant roles in ensuring only high quality, scholarly papers are selected to publish in TCSVT. As an associate editor, Lu and the other editors select highly qualified reviewers who evaluate the papers submitted to TCSVT and contribute to the assessment process before publication. Associate editors look at the papers’ novelty of approach, clarity and conciseness and relevance to video and image technology.

ADSC Director Marianne Winslett added that this award demonstrates that Lu picks reviewers who are fair and appropriate, as well as handles communication between reviewers, authors and editors well and is prompt and clear in his review process.

Lu added that this award is an acknowledgement of the hard work that he and his reviewers have put in, and he looks forward to continuing to contribute to TCSVT.

“I sincerely acknowledge the great review support I received from external colleagues and my ADSC colleagues,” Lu said.

The University of Illinois has named Professor Doug Jones as the new director of the Advanced Digital Sciences Center in Singapore. Jones, who will begin his new position on July 1, is succeeding Marianne Winslett, an Illinois professor of computer science, who will step down from her role and return to Illinois as a professor emeritus as of June 30, 2013.

“We greatly appreciate and will miss Marianne’s leadership at ADSC,” said Coordinated Science Laboratory Director and ADSC Associate Director Bill Sanders. “She has established a great team of researchers and staff who have made significant breakthroughs in interactive digital media, smart grid and other research. We look forward to this new phase that ADSC is stepping into as Doug Jones begins to guide ADSC’s future.”

University of Illinois Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Doug Jones

Winslett has led ADSC, a research center funded by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), since November 2009 and looks forward to being in Illinois during the remainder of her daughter’s high school career. Winslett plans to remain with ADSC as a seconded faculty member, continuing her work on ADSC’s DAMSON: Database Management, Security and Optimization project, as well as other ADSC initiatives.

During Winslett’s tenure as director, ADSC received 12 best paper nominations, awards and other honors, while publishing over 150 papers in conferences and journals. ADSC also facilitated four start-up companies and licensed four pieces of IP, with two more currently under negotiation. Today ADSC employs almost 60 full-time researchers living in Singapore, in addition to a substantial internship program that brought in over 40 interns from nine countries in 2012.

“Marianne and Executive Director Jesse Delia and the current leadership did a great job of building up ADSC, so it’s a great opportunity to step into,” Jones said. “It’s a unique opportunity to participate in research in Singapore, where we can bring the benefit back to Illinois and the U.S., as well as contribute to Singapore’s knowledge-based economy.”

Jones has been on the faculty of Illinois’ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 1988, and is a professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory and the Beckman Institute. Jones, who holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Rice University and is an IEEE Fellow, has been on the faculty of ADSC since July 2010. He is currently leading the project, RATEM: Realistic Audio Telepresencing for Entertainment and Meetings, in the center’s interactive digital media theme. This research focuses on creating a low-cost, high-quality and real-time audio telepresence, to allow participants in distant places to communicate with each other in a natural environment.

“Singapore is an unparalleled living laboratory to plug into,” Jones said about why conducting research in Singapore is beneficial to Illinois. “Singapore is very focused on the future and advancing technology, so it’s great for us to plug into people who are interested in research and have different areas of emphasis that maybe aren’t such a high priority in the U.S. or as effective in the U.S.”

Jones’ research interests lie in the general area of signal processing and his research at Illinois has led to significant advancements in intelligent hearing aids, biologically inspired sensory systems and ultra-low-power electronic systems, among other areas. He also is the principal investigator of the Neuroengineering IGERT at Illinois, which trains engineers and neuroscientists to attack problems in a collaborative way. In November, he and colleagues at eight other universities, led by UC Berkeley, received $27.5 million to integrate smart, networked sensors and actuators into our cyber-physical world.

“Almost all of my research has been collaborative,” Jones said. “I enjoy putting people together to go after interesting new problems. I’m excited to do that on another scale, as A*STAR is a larger operation with many possibilities. I’m looking forward to seeing if I can help facilitate some of those relationships.”

Looking forward, Jones plans to continue to lead ADSC in the areas it already excels in, such as computer vision, digital hardware, information mining, depth imaging, video tracking and smart grid, as well as facilitating collaborations in Singapore and the U.S. and strategically focusing ADSC’s areas of research emphasis.

“ADSC needs to take advantage of the unique opportunities that come from being located in Singapore,” he said. “So far, we’ve been in a growing phase and always trying to get bigger. Going forward, we’re going to be a little more strategic on what we want to focus on and emphasize.”

The Advanced Digital Sciences Center is a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign research center in Singapore. Its research is led by Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science faculty at the University of Illinois. ADSC focuses on innovations in information technology.

Donna Foley has been named managing director for the Advanced Digital Sciences Center in Singapore. Foley will work out of the Coordinated Science Laboratory on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

Donna Foley – Managing Director

“ADSC is a very intriguing organization in a lot of ways,” she said. “The global aspect of the people and the research drew me in. I’m looking forward to helping ADSC maximize its potential both on campus and in Singapore.”

Foley, who began on February 18, joins ADSC from the College of Business, where she was the Assistant Director for the Masters in Technology Management program. Previously, Foley served as the Assistant Director for Development in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and as a Media Communications Specialist in the Creative Services Office. Foley received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and she will graduate with her master’s in business administration in May 2013 from the University of Illinois at Springfield, with a focus on operations and management information systems.

Her responsibilities include managing the activities of ADSC in Illinois, coordinating the interaction of Illinois faculty with the Singapore-based research and educational programs, in addition to overseeing the publicity and outreach in Illinois and Singapore. She will also work closely with ADSC’s director to further the research and educational agenda of ADSC.

Donation to Establish Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis Wise announced today that The Grainger Foundation, Lake Forest, Illinois, has pledged $100 million to support the College of Engineering through establishment of the Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative. The contribution is made in memory and honor of William W. Grainger, a 1919 Illinois graduate in Electrical Engineering, and the founder of W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Dr. Wise said, “We are tremendously grateful for this extraordinary gift from The Grainger Foundation, which is an investment in the future of engineering, the future of our engineering faculty and students, and, indeed, an investment in the campus as a whole. This transformative gift will ensure a chain reaction of possibilities that will fortify the campus as a preeminent, globally-recognized institution.”

The Grainger Foundation, a long-term benefactor of the College of Engineering at Illinois, has made this pledge to ensure the continued global standing of the engineering program at Illinois by providing the support and infrastructure necessary for Illinois to lead the most important engineering breakthroughs of the future. With this generous support, the College is well-poised to continue its national leadership and enhance its global reach far into the future.

University of Illinois President Bob Easter said, “Thanks to the immense generosity of The Grainger Foundation, and its investment in the College of Engineering at Illinois, the University of Illinois can achieve its ambitious and bold program of knowledge production and excellence in education that will foster innovation to address the critical societal issues of today, and future grand challenges for generations to come.”

The resources from the Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative will be used as support for the faculty, students, and facilities of the College of Engineering at Illinois. It will also allow the College of Engineering at Illinois to consistently and repeatedly create new engineering breakthroughs by investing in research areas of transformative impact to society and to attract and educate the engineering leaders of tomorrow. 

Interim Engineering Dean Michael Bragg said, “On behalf of the College of Engineering, I express heartfelt thanks to The Grainger Foundation for its long-standing support of the College of Engineering at Illinois. Its commitments to the excellence of our programs over the past decades have contributed greatly to our accomplishments and ongoing excellence. With support from the Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative, the future of the College of Engineering at Illinois is bright indeed.”

A substantial portion of the Grainger Foundation gift will create an endowment for engineering chairs and professorships to attract and retain renowned scholars to lead the College’s thrust for groundbreaking impact and international stature in the next wave of engineering research and education. The gift will also create an endowment to provide broad research support for high impact engineering research collaborations. Bioengineering and “Big Data” are two prime areas targeted to receive significant resources for new faculty positions and research support.

A portion of this gift will also provide the leadership gift to launch a $100-million fundraising campaign for an endowment for scholarships for students in the College of Engineering, and provide another lead gift for the $40 million renovation of the soon-to-be-vacated Everitt Laboratory building on the engineering campus. The increased scholarship funds resulting from the new endowment will strengthen the College’s ability to attract and retain the most exceptional engineering students. Everitt Laboratory, which currently houses the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will be renovated to meet the needs for state-of-the-art facilities for engineering instructional laboratories, new engineering research centers, and the Department of Bioengineering at Illinois.

Provost Ilesanmi Adesida remarked, “This generous donation from The Grainger Foundation will strengthen the College of Engineering’s ability to maintain its legacy of groundbreaking accomplishments and remarkable new discoveries that change the world and enrich the lives of people everywhere. We are certain that this very generous gift to the College of Engineering at Illinois will have broad impact across all of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and beyond.”

About The Grainger Foundation and William Wallace Grainger
The Grainger Foundation, an independent, private foundation, located in Lake Forest, Illinois, was established in 1949 by William Wallace Grainger, founder of W.W. Grainger, Inc., North America’s leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating products. Since its founding, the Foundation has provided substantive support to a broad range of organizations including museums and educational, medical, and human services institutions. Today, the Foundation is guided by the leadership of David W. Grainger, President and Director since 1979.

William W. Grainger founded W.W. Grainger, Inc. in 1927 and was its President until he retired from active management in 1968. He served as a Director from 1927 until his death in October 1982 at the age of 87.

Born in Chicago, Mr. Grainger graduated from Crane Junior College in Electrical Engineering in 1916 and entered the University of Illinois as a junior. In 1917 his academic career was interrupted by military service in the Navy during World War I. Mr. Grainger reentered the University of Illinois and graduated in June 1919 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. During World War II, Mr. Grainger served with the War Production Board as a Dollar-A-Year executive.

Mr. Grainger first worked as a designer of electric motors, and early in his career he recognized the need for the independent distribution of electric motors at the wholesale level in the United States. It was this foresight that led Mr. Grainger to establish his company in 1927. His vitality and leadership established the framework and nurtured the continued growth of W.W. Grainger, Inc. for more than 55 years.

Inquiries: All inquiries about this gift should be addressed to Robin Kaler, Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (217) 333-5010, rkaler

The University of Illinois has named Marianne Winslett as Director of the Advanced Digital Sciences Center (ADSC) in Singapore. ADSC, operated by the University of Illinois and funded by the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), is focused on breakthrough innovations that will make human-machine interactions as seamless and trustworthy as our interactions with each other.

Winslett, a professor of computer science and a member of the Coordinated Science Laboratory and Information Trust Institute at Illinois, assumed the title of Director on Oct. 1, 2009. She has been transitioning responsibilities with outgoing Director Benjamin Wah, an Illinois professor of electrical and computer engineering, who has accepted the position of Provost at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Winslett assumed full operational responsibilities on Nov. 1, 2009.

“I am happy to welcome Marianne into the research community at Fusionopolis in her new role as Director of ADSC,” said Prof Chong Tow Chong, Executive Director of the Science and Engineering Research Council of A*STAR. “I believe that Marianne, with her vision of excellence and wealth of experience in program building, is well-poised to drive development of future collaborations between ADSC and A*STAR. We look forward to working together with the Illinois faculty and students at ADSC to develop cutting-edge science, and generate activities that add to the vibrancy and diversity of local digital sciences and media technologies.”

“With her strong background in data security and scientific databases, Marianne is uniquely equipped to lead the Center into its next phase,” said Ilesanmi Adesida, Dean of the College of Engineering at Illinois and Willett Professor. “She has a strong technical expertise, is a visionary, and drives innovation.”

Winslett holds a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University. She joined Illinois in 1987, subsequently receiving a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and being named an ACM Fellow. In addition, she currently serves on the editorial boards of ACM Transactions on Information and System Security and the Very Large Data Bases Journal.

Her research interests focus on information security and the management of scientific data. Most recently, she was the co-leader of the TrustBuilder project that resulted in the development of new approaches to access control and authentication for use in open computing environments. In her new role as Director, she will provide leadership on the Human Sixth Sense Program, ADSC’s signature project that seeks to seamlessly integrate human and machine interactions.

  • Health Monitoring: Researchers are working to design a scalable, trustworthy cyber-physical infrastructure for continuous health monitoring. They aim to build sensors that can unobtrusively monitor body temperature, blood pressure, and other vitals, while at the same time capture readings and sense activity from external monitors and other objects.
  • Intelligent Transportation: This thrust will focus on developing scalable transportation solutions that minimize congestion and maximize throughput.

In addition, Winslett will oversee ADSC’s educational focus. Several workshops have already been planned for 2010, including the first of a series of courses on multimodal information access and synthesis, co-organized with A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R). In the summer of 2010, Illinois experts will travel to Fusionopolis to conduct a multicore programming course and discuss breakthroughs in parallel computing research, in an event co-organized by A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC). More details are available at https://adsc.illinois.edu/calendar.html.

ADSC draws on the collective strength of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, with expert faculty in medical devices, embedded and real-time systems, hardware/software codesign, networking and distributed systems, information trust and security, cloud computing, and computer vision.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity for us to carry out an exciting new research program while building bridges to researchers and industry in Asia,” Winslett says.

Please visit the ADSC website (www.adsc.illinois.edu) for more information.

The Advanced Digital Sciences Center (ADSC) and the Experimental Power Grid Centre (EPGC) of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) co-hosted a major symposium on “Information Technology for Smart Grid Systems” in Singapore on Thursday, December 9.

The one-day workshop focused on the technology development, technology transition, and awareness that are seen as essential for developing the next generation of “smart” power grid systems. It brought together representatives from industry, government, and academia to leverage key strengths of each community and engage in dialogue in pursuit of common smart-grid goals, including cyber security, energy efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

The Symposium was ADSC’s inaugural smart grid event, and reflects ADSC researchers’ significant technical expertise and strong collaborative connections in the smart grid area. ADSC intends to establish itself as a leading force in smart grid research in Singapore. Its growing importance in the field is reflected by the diverse set of over 100 participants who attended from prestigious institutions around the globe.

The Symposium opened with remarks from Ilesanmi Adesida, who is the Dean of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Ashwin Khambadkone, who is the Programme Director of EPGC and an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the National University of Singapore. Also attending were William H. Sanders, Director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory at Illinois, and Andreas Cangellaris, Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois.

Additional Symposium speakers came from ADSC; the City University of Hong Kong; the Energy Market Authority (EMA), Singapore; IBM T.J. Watson Research Center; the Institute for Infocomm Research; Nanyang Technological University; National Instruments; the National University of Singapore; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, including the Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid Center (TCIPG) at Illinois.

Slides for many of the Symposium talks are available via the Symposium agenda page.

Images from the Symposium:

Ilesanmi Adesida, Dean of Engineering at the University of Illinois, opens the Symposium

Ashwin Khambadkone, Programme Director of EPGC, makes opening remarks

Symposium attendees prepare for a session

Sim Jim Ho of the Energy Market Authority, Singapore, presents a talk

Prof. David Nicol of the University of Illinois addresses the crowd