Computer Science Graduate Student Newsletter
1995-08
August 1, 1995
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Dr. Leiss's New Book Published

Professor Ernst L. Leiss's book, titled "Parallel and Vector
Computing: A Practical Introduction," was published recently by
McGraw-Hill.  Based on over 10 years of experience with
different high-performance systems, the book emphasizes
practical aspects of programming.  This is the third book
written by Dr. Leiss.  His first, "Principles of Data Security,"
was published by Plenum Pub. Co. in 1982.  His second, "Software
Under Siege: Viruses and Worms," by Elsevier was published in
1990.

Professor Leiss is scheduled to teach graduate courses in the
Fall using the Data Security book (COSC 7371) and the Parallel
and Vector Computing book (COSC 6365).

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Prof. Loftin Won NASA Invention Award

Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, Professor of COSC and Director of Virtual
Environment Technology Laboratory at UH, won the NASA Government
Invention of the Year Award.  Professor Loftin's invention, a
General Purpose Architecture for Intelligent Computer Aided
Training, enables NASA to build training systems for mission
critical tasks quickly and inexpensively.

Dr. Loftin recently received a $6.2 million grant to continue
his research on Virtual Reality.  He is also a Physics Professor
at UH-Downtown.

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Dr. Scott Appointed Distinguished Prof.

Dr. L. Ridgway Scott, Professor of Mathematics and Computer
Science, was appointed M. D. Anderson Distinguished Professor by
the University.  

Professor Scott received his Ph. D. degree from MIT in 1973.  He
joined the faculty of the University of Houston in 1989.  His
areas of specialization are: Parallel Languages and Compilers,
Scientific Computation, and Scientific Visualization.  Dr. Scott
is one of the six professors receiving such appointments at the
June 22 meeting of the Board of Regents.  

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Prof. Bastani: On Leave for Fall

Dr. Farokh Bastani will be taking a leave of absence from the
department for the Fall semester.  One of his scheduled courses,
"Self-Stablizing Systems" (COSC 6397), will be canceled.  The
department is trying to find a visiting professor to teach
"Fundamental of Software Engineering" (COSC 4351). 

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2 Scholarships for Graduate Students

Two scholarships are available for graduate students for the
1995-96 academic year.  Both scholarships carry a $300 award
plus possible tuition reduction (for non-resident students).  

One scholarship was donated by ChineseStar International, a
local engineering consulting firm, for a graduate student with
interests in engineering applications.

The second scholarship was donated by Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Huang
for a graduate student with financial need.  Application
deadline for both scholarships is August 17.  Students should
contact Ms. Amanda Vaughan for application forms.

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Spring Qualifying Examination Result

The result of the Spring 1995 qualifying examinations is now
available.  Mr. Ching-Rong Lin and Mr. Nidal Zeidat successfully
completed the qualifying process and became Ph.D. candidates. 
Both of them completed the process in three semesters.  A
summary of the QE result is given below.

Spring 1995 	Excl 	Pass 	Marg 	Fail 	Poor 	Total 
Soft. Eng. 	1 	1 	2 	0 	0 	4 
Prog. Lang. 	0 	2 	0 	0 	0 	2 
Data Mana. 	0 	3 	0 	0 	0 	3
Oper. Sys. 	2 	2 	1 	0 	0 	5 
Summary 	3 	8 	3 	0 	0      14