Center for Parallel and Distributed Intelligence Systems

该奖项启动了一项为期五年的持续拨款，以支持匹兹堡大学并行和分布式智能系统的工业/大学合作研究中心。近年来，计算机行业（制造商、程序员、用户）已经认识到以下重要的关键研究领域：人机界面、概念建模、编程环境、数据库设计、系统架构、性能和系统仿真。各种会议、讲习班和讨论会都强调“可视化”和“可视化计算机”的概念是这些关键领域的重要研究方法。可视化计算机不是一个“黑盒”，而是一个“透明的盒子”，有许多窗口，用户可以看到系统的不同方面，计算机可以看到用户的各个方面，从而自适应地提高其性能。该中心最初将专注于可视化计算机方法，在分布式智能系统的一般领域进行研究，并在用户界面工程、编程语言和环境以及新型系统架构方面进行具体项目。首席研究员张世强博士是计算机科学系系主任，是中心主任的最佳人选。他已聘请斯坦福大学（Stanford University）前教授Bruce G. Buchanan博士担任该中心的联席主任，Bruce G. Buchanan博士因其在人工智能和专家系统方面的研究而享誉国际。12家美国公司提供了加入该中心的意向书，金额为25,000美元/年；此外，大学将在前三年将所有间接成本返还给中心，此后间接成本率仅为10%。提供了足够的空间和研究实验室，并分配了至少两名新的计算机科学常任教员。美国国家科学基金会建议每年5万美元的持续资助，为期5年。2-5年，每年奖励5万美元。项目主任将根据以下标准每年审查中心的进展情况，包括：1)大学/行业互动和合作的发展程度；2)中心支撑基础扩大的程度；3)一个强有力的研究项目正在发展的程度。建议在第一年额外提供5000美元，用于支持本科生研究助理Patricia Rapp小姐进行“可视化并行算法”的研究，这是中心的一个项目。张s.k.博士将指导拉普小姐的研究。

This award initiates a five-year continuing grant to support an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Parallel and Distributive Intelligence Systems at the University of Pittsburgh. In recent years the computer industry (manufacturers, programmers, users) has acknowledged the following critical research areas of importance: human-computer interfaces, conceptual modeling, programming environments, database design, system architecture, and performance and system simulation. Conferences, workshops and seminars have emphasized the concept of "visualization" and of a "visual computer" as a vital research approach to these critical areas. A Visual Computer is not a "black box," but a "transparent box" with many windows for the user to look into different aspects of the system and for the computer to visualize various aspects of the user and therefore adaptively improve its performance. The Center will initially concentrate on a Visual Computer approach to research in the general area of distributed intelligence systems with specific projects in user interface engineering, programming languages and environments, and novel systems architectures. The Principal Investigator, Dr. S.K. Chang, is chairman of the Department of Computer Science and is eminently qualified to be Director of the Center. He has recruited Dr. Bruce G. Buchanan, formerly of Stanford University and internationally recognized for his research on artificial intelligence and expert systems, to be co-director of the Center. Twelve U.S. companies have provided letters of intent to join the Center at $25,000/year; furthermore the university will return all indirect costs to the Center during the first three years and the indirect cost rate will be only 10% thereafter. Adequate space and research laboratories have been provided plus an allocation of at least two new permanent faculty members in computer science. An NSF continuing grant of $50,000 per year for five years is recommended. For year 2-5, $50,000 will be awarded on an annual basis. The Program Director will review annually the progress of the Center on a number of criteria, including: 1) the extent to which university/industry interaction and collaboration are developing; 2) the extent to which the support base for the center is expanding; and 3) the extent to which a robust research program is developing. An additional $5,000 is recommended during this first year to support an undergraduate research assistant, Miss Patricia Rapp, in work on "Parallel Algorithms for Visualization," a Center project. Dr. S.K. Chang will supervise Miss Rapp's research.