Field Session Projects 2005

Agilent
ATI
Avaya
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Colorado Performance Academy
CSM #1 Calc III Challenge
CSM #2 Tech Camp
CSM #3 NEES Shake Table
ESE Today
Medtronic
Quantum PM #1
Quantum PM #2
Rhythm and Hues #1
Rhythm and Hues #2
Rhythm and Hues #3
Thomas White Photography
ToBee
Toilers Research
USGS


Agilent

Client:

Jeff Harrell – Technical Marketing Engineer – Agilent Technologies

Background:

Jeff Harrell is currently working with the implementation of circuit board manufacturing test equipment for process control. Simply taking the measurements and catching defects is only a limited use of the equipment. However, the collection and presentation of the data coming from the machine is the next step in controlling the manufacturing process. Visualization and management of this information is the overall scope of this project, and would allow the project team to develop graphical tools, user interface, and charts to provide efficient root cause analysis.

Project Requirements
Develop software that reads data from a measurement tool, and presents the data graphically through charts, statistical calculations, and visualization methods:

Software Deliverables
The code language preference is .NET C#. However, if the learning curve of the new language heavily influences the scope of the project, then C++ is acceptable.

ATI

The Project "Graphics Performance Analysis":

ATI is the world's leader in graphics technology and performance. Our objective is to develop and add features to an existing performance framework. The project includes: We are looking for motivated students who will want assist in this state of the art project. You will have an opportunity to work with 3D interactive graphics/visualization.

The People

You will have the chance to work with several of our senior engineers at AIT who have over 15 years software engineering experience in a variety of different industries (healthcare, business to business, space, pharmaceutical, ...etc).

The Skills

ATI is seeking only talented, creative, and energetic team players. This project will require knowledge of the following:
 

Avaya

Background on Avaya
Avaya designs, develops, and deploys communication systems, applications, and services on a global level. As a leader in the field of enterprise telecommunication systems, Avaya is responsible for meeting the communication needs of small businesses as well as 90% of the companies in the Fortune 500 and the U.S. government.
Project Background
Like many other large companies, Avaya has a significant number of desktop, client-server, and web-based application development projects underway. To ensure a consistent look and feel to users of these applications, the purpose of this field session will be to create a web-based repository for commonly used icons, design templates, style sheets, and graphics.

Project Objectives
The objective of this project is to create a user-friendly web-based repository for uploading and downloading icons that Avaya application developers use for common functions. Icons will be collected from a number of existing Avaya sites and posted on this repository. The icons will be indexed so that they can be categorized and searched. Users of the web site will also be able to use the site to email questions and request new icons. If time permits, the site will be tailored to maintain other reusable GUI assets. These include style sheets, HTML templates, JavaScript code, etc.

Skills Required The project requires knowledge of database-driven web development, Java Servlets, XHTML, JavaScript, and graphic design. Familiarity with XML and XSLT is also desired. The architectural design can be flexible, but must be easily maintained. The application will be deployed on a Windows-based Apache Tomcat Web Server. Effective interpersonal skills are also required.

How Do CSM Students Benefit?
The team that works on this project will be afforded firsthand experience in developing a web-based application for a company that is increasingly investing in web-based application development. This project may give the team members an opportunity to apply web experience they may already have, as well providing them with the opportunity to develop new skills building a real application framework using modern Web technologies.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Develop BLM Project web site for national application:. The website will need to meet DOI/BLM website requirements, such as: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, privacy issues, links, logos, etc. The website should be written in plain English, it should be easy to use, and contain enough background information for the users to understand what the site is used for. The website will be tested for 508 compliance using screen reader programs and accessibility testing. The completed website will be approved by our office, the NIRMC Internet manager, and the BLM public affairs office. A list of BLM website requirements will be given to the students for the project


CPA - Colorado Performance Academy

The Project "HP-Trainer":

"HP-Trainer" is a web based training tool to be used by personal training coaches in training their clients. Our objective to write this program using web-based technology(using Java, C#, or PHP), Graphics(SVG),  and Database (MySql). Students will be working together with experienced professional(s) for review, and guidance of the project.

The Process

CPA believes that a sound development process leads to sound solutions. Our process involves aspects of solid software engineering process and Extreme Programming (XP). Working on this project will provide you the opportunity to work through all phases of the software development cycle including requirements gathering, analysis, design, development and testing.

The People

You will have the chance to learn from one of our senior engineers who has over 15 years software engineering experience in a variety of different industries (healthcare, business to business, space, pharmaceutical, ...etc).

The Skills

CPA is seeking only talented and energetic team players. This project will require knowledge of web-based technologies ( Java Servlets/JSP(Struts) or C#, PHP) Web Servers, and Databases (MySQL). An understanding of these technologies will be important to the success of the project. If you do not know them already, it is suggested you read up on them.


CSM #1

This goal of this project will be to create web-based materials to support transfer students needing to take a challenge exam for the line and surface integrals portion of Calc III.  You will be developing instructional material and practice questions that cover the material from this portion of the course.

Time permitting, you will also be creating similar online materials for the Laplace transform portion of MACS 315. 

Technical Skills: Students should have strong math skills.  Students should either know or be willing to acquire the ability to develop webpages.  Development environment TBD.

CSM #2

Summer computer camps provide a fun environment for children to learn about many subjects that are not offered at the middle or high school level. Today's leading computer camps offer subjects such as programming, robotics, 3D modeling, web design, and digital video creation. Of course, the knowledge acquired at these computer based technology camps does not come free. These camps typically charge between $600 and $700 for a child to attend for one week, and these charges do not include food or lodging. In other words, the valuable information presented at technology camps is often restricted to children from affluent homes.
The vast majority of technology camp attendees are white males. In computer science and technology, there continues to be a great deal of discussion and concern over the low numbers of women and minorities who participate in these fields. In 2001, only 27.9% of computer science bachelor degrees were awarded to women and only 5.3% and 9.9% of the degrees were awarded to Hispanics and African Americans, respectively. In order to increase the interest of minorities in technological fields, middle school students from Adams County District 50 will be invited to attend one of two week-long technology camps. Fifty-four percent of the students in this district are Hispanic and 42% of the students qualify for free or reduced cost lunches. This generates the need for a camp specifically designed to provide middle school students with the opportunity to learn about technology at little to no cost.
The first camp will be offered to an equal mix of male and female middle school students with diverse ethnic backgrounds. The second camp, which will have identical content, will be restricted to female students. Sixteen middle school students will attend each camp. There are four camp instructors. For field session you will:
  1. Create and implement lessons for the technology camp.
  2. Create and implement assessment to determine what the students learned at the camp and how the different environments in the two camps affected students.
  3. Attend every day of each camp and help the camp instructors. . The camps will run during the weeks of June 6th and June 13th.
  4. Create a binder with all lesson plans and camp materials for reproduction in the future.
  5. Help camp instructors with any other miscellaneous tasks with respect to the camp.

CSM #3

NEES Telereality Laboratory
The Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) is a national collaboratory that provides revolutionary capabilities for earthquake engineering research by linking world-class laboratories around the country with a state-of-the-art network to make possible collaborative and remote research on experiments, computational modeling, and education (http://nees.org/index.php). A bench-scale NEES site has been established here at Mines to test concepts and explore new ideas in distributed testing with over $30k in funding from NSF, CSM and PCB. The Mines NEES site includes bench-scale (small-scale) actuators and a shaking table (seismic simulator). The mines site is fully connected to the NEES network and has all of the functionality of one of the full NEES equipment sites.
This project will complete the development of the bench-scale NEES site here at Mines that can be remotely operated (using a Java-based web page interface) and observe (via streaming video and data) over the internet to conduct bench-scale research and teach concepts in structural engineering (e.g. courses such as Mechanics of Materials, Structural Theory, Vibrations) here at CSM and around the world. The Field Session team will be responsible for developing the front end internet-based interface for teleoperation and teleobservation. Further details regarding the NEES network (NEESgrid) can be found at: http://it.nees.org/ under documentation. The backend control of the equipment and acquisition of data will be conducted in parallel by Dr. Richard Christenson (Engineering Division) and associated engineering students (to some extent at your direction).
MACS User Interface team developed a java-applet for teleoperation of the bench-scale shake table last semester. To see their work go to: https://neespop.mines.edu/ (Username: guest, Password: mines), click on the tab "UCIST" at the top and then the side tab "Shake Table". Select an available camera (Camera 1 is the only one working outside of the subnet currently), adjust the amplitude (try 2 cm) and frequency (try 4 Hz) and press "start". I am asking the Field Session team to greatly enhance this teleobservation and teleoperation and will encourage your creativity and ideas. NEES and NEESit are very interested in this project.

ESE Today


Goal: to develop an online component for a seminar provider's course support.

Overview: MattSoft Publishing Inc (MPI) is developing online journals for professional academic communities and would like to add the benefit of web support for their client's short courses.  These short components should plug in as a cgi and/or use db structures to articulate the various information (such as course, student, grade, etc.) metrics to the provider.

MPI has built online journal proof of concept with a link to a temporary course "brochure" which in the near future will further link to an actual online course support structure.  For this project, MPI is seeking software engineers with an interest in gaining experience in building cgi and/or db interface routines for its online seminar support section. 

There are several proposed projects for this client.  For more information, see the document included here.

Medtronic Navigation

Medtronic Navigation is the world’s leading supplier of integrated computer-assisted surgery (CAS) products. In less than 15 years, Medtronic Navigation has grown from 8 inspired individuals to an established team of more than 350 employees worldwide dedicated to expanding the boundaries, utilization and variety of procedures for computer-assisted surgery. With a mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life, Medtronic Navigation is committed to providing leading-edge technology to assist in improving patient outcomes today and in years to come. As part of the summer field session project, you can take pride in the fact that your work may contribute to enhancing or saving a life. 

The Project

CAS systems perform similar to satellite navigation. System localizers detect the position of surgical instruments by emitting and receiving inferred or electromagnetic signals. Once the instrument position is determined, it is visually illustrated on the system monitor providing surgeons with real-time information allowing them to increase their precision while decreasing the surgical exposure, providing benefit to both the surgeon and the patient. In order to increase understanding and usability of existing products, you could be part of a team that will be responsible for designing, implementing, and testing a product to enhance application functionality across a variety of solutions. The software should be implemented in C++ and will require some interactive GUI elements. 

Experience Required

It is important that participants be proficient in C++.  Other valuable skills include: GUI programming, familiarity with Linux and software engineering. 


Quantum PM #1

QuantumPM, LLC is a Colorado-based project management professional services company. We provide software products and consulting services in the field of project management. We are highly respected in the field of project management. We are a Microsoft Certified Partner, and will soon publish a book, “Special Edition Using Project Server 2003: Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 Unleashed”, through SAMS Publishing on Microsoft’s product offering, Microsoft Office Project Server 2003.

Over the last two years, we have employed several Colorado School of Mines students as interns and as full-time employees upon graduation. We have found that experience to be very helpful to the students and to our organization.

This year we are revitalizing our website, www.quantumpm.com. This will include a new visual design, architectural structure, navigation structure, and publishing capabilities. We are currently exploring the possibility of .php pages for dynamic update capabilities. We are also incorporating web analytics software.


The Project:


Software Products
Tools that will be used to further develop the website include: Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect, Macromedia Dream weaver UltraDev, Macromedia Fireworks 4, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Visual Studio, Visual Source Safe CodeRush, MS Office, Office Web Components. Languages include VB.Net, C#.Net, ASP.Net, PHP, HTML, DHTML, Flash, JavaScript, XML, and SQL. Platforms include Windows Server 2003, SQL Server, and IIS.

QuantumPM Web Site Evolution:
The site was originally designed in basic HTML. JavaScript was used for the menu system. We then redesigned the navigation and the site was converted over to ASP driven pages with Visual Basic scripting and layers. The current site was converted to .NET (aspx) pages keeping in tack the basic navigation structure using dynamic HTML layers. The main template design of the site is built using header/footer elements in .NET. The header.aspx and the footer.aspx files combine to create an HTML table that contains content and dynamic elements of the site.

We look forward to the opportunity to work with you!
The QuantumPM Team

QuantumPM #2

QuantumPM, LLC is a Colorado-based project management professional services company. We provide both software products and consulting services in the field of project management. Our customers are located primarily in the US and Canada although we are beginning to reach to other parts of the globe as well.

We are well-respected in the field of project management and will soon publish a book through SAMS Publishing on Microsoft’s product offering, Microsoft Office Project Server 2003. Because we are a growing company that is concerned about employee welfare, we want to facilitate employee personal growth through a feedback and communication site that is dedicated to maintaining employee satisfaction. This web-based application will provide users with access to personalized information, support questionnaires and feedback entry mechanisms. The site will be the front-end of a secured MS SQL Server database containing the personal input and information.

This development effort will proceed through the full software development lifecycle. We estimate that the scope of this project will be achievable within the field session timeframe and will be scoped to fit into that timeframe. There will most likely be a day or two of introduction to our development environment, .NET, InfoPath and SharePoint. The technologies used will be a combination of SQL database development, MS ASP.NET with the possibility of leveraging MS InfoPath technology in combination with a MS SharePoint Portal site and lists. Reports from the site may leverage MS SQL Reporting services, with the reports themselves being written in .NET.

Over the last two years, we have employed several Colorado School of Mines students as interns and as full-time employees upon graduation. We have found that experience to be very helpful to the students and to our organization. The students who have joined us have learned new technologies and have participated in the creation of our Software Development Life Cycle which is used on all of the products that we create.

We look forward to the opportunity to work with you!
The QuantumPM Team

Rhythm and Hues #1

Project 1. Tetrahedralization:

We need to simulate elastic material such as flesh and muscles. In order to do this we need to take a model
of an existing surface containing a solid and build a 3 dimensional tetrahedral mesh in its interior. This information will then be used as input for dynamical simulation of the material made up of tetrahedrons.

Four students (S1, S2, S3, S4) would be required of the project.

S1 - Write a visualization tool using GLUT so that we can visualize a tetrahedral structure. See http://www.xmission.com/~nate/glut.html

S2- Develop code that can read model input file formats and and design data structures.  - possibly borrow Maya's obj format.  Read from externally defined shape (maya obj)

Maya obj reference (search 'maya obj format' in  google)

http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~danix/modeling/Format_Obj.html
- develop a new file format for tetrahedra

S3,4 - Look at the work done by http://tetgen.berlios.de/index.html and integrate this environment into their environment.

The end product would be to input a "obj" model and output its tetrahedralization. You'll get to see the results of your work on the BIG screen --- probably Garfield and maybe if its really successful good Superman.

Rhythm and Hues #2

Project 2. Rigid Body simulation:

Refer mostly to http://www.d6.com/users/checker/dynamics.htm and papers listed there

S1 - Write visualization  using GLUT http://www.xmission.com/~nate/glut.html

S2,3,4 - upgrade his code to support more general shapes and be able to correctly handle physical
quantities such as center of mass, moment of inertia, volume,....
                       
Read from externally defined shape (maya obj)

Maya obj reference (search 'maya obj format' in google)
http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~danix/modeling/Format_Obj.html

Rhythm and Hues #3

Algebraic Multigrid

This project is mathematical and will use numerical analysis skills. At each stage of the "flesh"
simulation described above we need to solve a large system of linear equations. The solver of this system needs to be fast and robust. An excellent technique is to use the so called algebraic multigrid method (an alternative is the conjugate gradient method.

At the end of the project you would have a utility that would solve general linear systems using the algebraic multigrid approach. The project would require linear algebra and numerical methods. It could be implemented in either C++ or Matlab.

Thomas White Photography

Adobe has announced an upcoming upgrade to their Creative Suite programs. Creative Suite 2 is tentatively scheduled to ship on May 15th. CS2 will feature upgrades to Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and GoLive products.

In addition to these industry standard graphics programs the new suite will include a new program, Adobe Bridge.

Bridge is a new generation of digital-asset-management (DAM) software replacing the "File Browser" in the previous Photoshop CS.  Bridge will allow users to caption, organize and manipulate digital images in ways DAM software has not done in the past and enhance interoperability between the Creative Suite applications.  Adobe is hoping that Bridge will quickly become a central tool for photographers shooting digital images, replacing a suite of other utility applications.

The architecture of Bridge allows for a high level of customization using javascript to automate program functions.  Adobe provides a detailed guide to the Bridge javascript DOM and a suite of interface and cross platform script development tools.

Students in the project group will be asked to create a suite of scripts to aid digital photographers and photojournalists using Bridge to automate the digital-camera workflow.  Because the final product is still in the Beta development cycle the final guidelines for the scripts to be created will not be determined until the project's first week.  The guidelines for the project will come from Adobe software engineers, product managers, Adobe's Photoshop volunteer Beta tester community and working photographers.

To be a valuable member of the project team a student should be familiar with javascript and related languages like C and C++.

Students participating in the project may be using Adobe proprietary materials and Beta software and may be required to sign Adobe "non-disclosure agreements."

TōBee Video Snipper

Intent

TōBee provides very simple tools and a web infrastructure that lets anyone quickly and very inexpensively create and deliver streaming rich media presentations. One of the major steps an “author” takes to build these presentations is cutting out video clips from raw footage. This step is important but can be made simple. Microsoft provides a tool with XP called Movie Maker (and there are others out there including GNU) that performs these functions but the GUI is cumbersome, non-intuitive, and laden with features that make it’s use confusing and complicated to the author. The intent of TVS is to provide very simple tools to do just a few critical functions as preparation for our Composer product. If more robust editing is to be done we will continue to recommend that other products be used. Our software tools are free and intended to be and remain simple to use.

Overview

TVS will allow the author to select a video file that has already been captured to his or her computer, identify one or more parts of the timeline using start and end markers, and export those parts or “snips” in a preset video format. The snip markers and snip names will be saved along with other basic information for the author to recall later if needed. The GUI is to be as simple as possible. Flexibility typically means complexity so the design will have limited variations.

Platform

TōBee is based on Windows dotNET, DirectX, Windows Media SDK, and XML. TVS will possibly be combined with other existing dotNET projects in the future but the task at hand is to build a standalone install version. We use dotNET flavored Microsoft Installer for our installations currently.

Input video formats to be supported are all variations of wmv, avi, and mpg. Output format will be wmv as defined by a separate profile (.prx) file. If time allows, and “advanced” version of output for other format variations can be included.

More Details

For more details, see the document included here.

Toilers Research Group

Client: The Toilers Research Group 

    http://toilers.mines.edu

	Colorado School of Mines 

	Tracy Camp (MCS Faculty)
	Stuart Kurkowski (MCS Ph.D. Student) 

	Tuli Mushell (MCS B.S./M.S. Student)


Background:
The Network Simulator 2 (NS-2) is a popular and powerful simulation environment. The Toilers research group at CSM has recently developed a new visualization and animation tool for use with NS-2 wireless simulations. Visual analysis of a wireless environment is important for three areas of NS-2 based simulation research: (1) validating the accuracy of a mobility model's output and/or the node topology files used to drive the simulation; (2) validating new versions of the NS-2 simulator itself; and (3) analysis of the resulting NS-2 trace files. Our interactive NS-2 protocol and environment confirmation tool (iNSpect) program can accurately handle all three of these areas. iNSpect is freely available to researchers to improve the accuracy of their simulations, and has already been shared with over 40 different research groups in 15 different countries. See http://toilers.mines.edu for more information about iNSpect and
http://toilers.mines.edu/EXTERNAL/twiki/bin/view/Toilers/NsInspect for a small demo.

Skills required:
Technology:
Project Goal:
The project goal is to extend iNSpect to support image and movie capture. iNSpect is currently a research tool which we want to extend to a teaching tool. By supporting image and movie capture, researchers will be able to use the output from iNSpect in both classrooms and conference presentations. iNSpect makes use of many object oriented design principles including multiple inheritance, operator overload, and large data structures. By the end of Field Session, you should be able to add some shiny bullet points to your resume and speak intelligently on:


U.S. Geological Survey

Background:

The USGS office on Mines Campus is home of the National Earthquake Information Center. We are developing new near real-time systems for post-earthquake information, response, and recovery. This project pertains to a new, prototype notification system, the Earthquake Notification System (or ENS, see http://ens1.gps.caltech.edu). ENS allows individuals to sign up for completely customizable earthquake notifications and alerts, delivered to them via pager/cell or email. User information and geospatial notification requirements are stored in a relational database. Currently the GUI is PHP/CGI scripts to a MySQL database, but interactive mapping and other options suggest that a JavaScript or pure Java applet would improve the interface substantially.

Project Requirements:

Develop a web-based GUI for this database for a variety of use notification options, in part geographically based, to replace existing PHP GUI. (Example of a GUI with some similarities to what is needed: http://www.pubsub.com/earthquakes.php) Insure correct interaction with existing relational (MySQL) database. Take full advantage of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Test system on off-line production system. Produce documentation for the interface and software developed.

Skills Required or to be learned:

UNIX, CGI/PERL scripting, CSS, MySQL, PHP and Web interface development. JAVA or JavaScript. Some use in Generic Mapping Tools (GMT).

What Students will get from this Project:

Real-world experience working with a Federal Agency on a practical tool used widely for scientific and public information. Opportunities to work with and learn widely-used development tools.