Experience the Future
The Wired, a well-known technology magazine, organizes an exposition with 100 technologies "of the future" (http://www.nextfest.net/) every year. They have invited Dr. Ioannis Pavlidis to demonstrate his touchless physiological monitoring concept and laboratory device named ATHEMOS (Automatic Thermal Monitoring System) as part of this year's collection. The exhibit will be part of the biomedical/biometric pavilion.

The demonstration will include measurements of blood flow, pulse, and breathing rate at a distance of several feet from the subject. Part of Dr. Pavlidis' research was funded by an ONR/DARPA grant. The exposition will be held in San Francisco on May 14-16.

New Faculty Position
The Department of Computer Science at the University of Houston (UH) seeks applicants for one tenure-track faculty position at any rank, with preference for that of Assistant Professor. The successful candidate is expected to participate in teaching at all levels and to develop a vigorous research program. The Department is particularly interested in candidates in systems, but will consider strong candidates in all areas. The Department is experiencing a period of strong growth and expects this trend to continue. In the last three years, the department hired six new faculty members.  So far, we have received over 150 applications for the position.

Student News
Mr. Sean O'Malley, a COSC graduate student working with Dr. Ioannis Kakadiaris, is one of the 2004 NSF Graduate Fellowship Award Recipients.  NSF Graduate Fellowships offer recognition and three years of support for advanced study to approximately 900 outstanding graduate students in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, and behavioral and social sciences, and to research-based PhD degrees in science education.  Awards made in March 2004 carry a stipend for each fellow of $30,000 for a 12-month tenure and an annual cost-of-education allowance to the Fellow's institution in lieu of tuition and fees.  Sean received his B.S. degree in Computer Science from UH in May 2003.

The Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) held its first Graduate Cohort for Women Workshop on February 6-7, 2004 in Seattle, Washington.  Ms. Wei Ding, a COSC Ph. D. student, received a travel award from CRA to attend the workshop.  Ms Ding is a Ph. D. student, a wife, a mother and a teacher (at UHCL).  She received her M.S. in Software Engineering from George Mason University and B.S. in Computer Science from Xi'an Jiao Tong University, China.