VOLUME 12, NO. 1     JUNE 1998

Professors win NSF CAREER awards

eorge T. Heineman, assistant professor of computer science, James C. Hermanson, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Christof Paar, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, have received the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. The program encourages the development of young faculty members as both educators and researchers.

Heineman will receive $205,000 over four years for his project, "A Model for Designing Adaptable Software Components"; Hermanson, $210,000 over four years for his research, "Disruption and Vaporization of Superheated Droplets in Compressible Flow"; and Paar, $210,000 over four years for his project, "Cryptography on Reconfigurable Hardware: Algorithmic and System Aspects."

Heineman's research focuses on how to build software applications from premade components. "There is a growing interest in component-based software development, and this research will make such efforts practical and possible," he says. "Our contributions will impact all fields of computer science struggling with the difficult problems of developing large-scale, high-quality and robust software applications."

Hermanson's work will address issues important to the high-speed mixing and combustion of liquid fuels in supersonic combustion ramjets (scramjets) - the type of engine likely to be used in aerospace planes and hypersonic cruise missiles. The focus will be the combined effects of liquid superheating and compressibility on the disruption and vaporization of liquid fuel droplets. "There are significant benefits to scramjets in using liquid hydrocarbon fuels, such as their high density and ease of storage and handling compared to liquid hydrogen fuel," says Hermanson.

Paar will use the NSF funds to enhance data security in modern communication and information systems, using the relatively new approach of treating cryptography as an engineering discipline. His central idea is a systematic and comprehensive treatment of reconfigurable hardware, making use of the improving capabilities of this hardware that allow even complex algorithms to be implemented on it.

"The to-be-built information superhighway will allow such services as electronic payment systems, medical applications, home shopping and interactive digital TV, to name only a few possibilities," says Paar. "Considerable portions of the corresponding information infrastructure will be wireless. At the same time, security aspects of information and communication systems are of growing concern. Without a doubt, there will be a major need for 'crypto engineers' by U.S. industry in the near future."

These awards bring to seven the number of WPI faculty members who have won CAREER awards since the NSF's Faculty Early Career Development Program was initiated in 1995.

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