Research

10/28/2019 - College of Natural Sciences News by Grace Dickens

10/28/2019 - People turn to many different sources for clothing style advice, from magazines to best friends to Instagram. Soon, though, you may be able to ask your smartphone. A University of Texas at Austin computer science team, in partnership with researchers from Cornell Tech, Georgia Tech and Facebook AI Research, has developed an artificial intelligence system that can look at a photo of an outfit and suggest helpful tips to make it more fashionable. Suggestions may include tweaks such as selecting a sleeveless top or a longer jacket.

05/16/2019 - Computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to do something that usually only humans can do—take a few quick glimpses around and infer its whole environment, a skill necessary for the development of effective search-and-rescue robots that one day can improve the effectiveness of dangerous missions.

04/19/2019 - Water, sunlight, nutrients—these ingredients are essential for plant growth. However, these basic ingredients don’t always yield the ideal plant. In fact, optimizing these variables is complicated, causing some plants to fall flat on flavor. Machine learning can help.

04/11/2019 - Imagine a world where accessing and interacting with technology doesn’t require keyboard or voice input—just a quick mental command. Imagine “speech prosthesis” technology that would allow people who are unable to communicate verbally to speak without expensive and highly customized interfaces. Imagine a device that could read a users’ mind, and automatically send a message, open a door, or buy a birthday present for a family member.

04/10/2019 - On Thu, 4 Apr 2019, the UT Programming Contest (UTPC) team competed at the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals at the University of Porto in Porto, Portugal. The competition consisted of teams from 135 regions (approx. 405 students) trying to solve 11 problems in 5 hrs. The first-place team, Moscow State University, solved 10 problems.

03/06/2019 - Gene-editing or genome engineering is the altering of DNA within a living organism. Once believed to be far-fetched and unthinkable, it is becoming more and more common due to scientific breakthrough techniques like CRISPR. What most people don’t know though is the use of computing tools in conjunction with CRISPR make gene-editing as efficient and mistake-free as possible—making it a viable cure to deadly genetic diseases.

01/25/2019 - Quantum computers are sophisticated machines that harness the strange laws of quantum physics to solve particular kinds of problems. These machines have been “trending” for quite some time now with popular media calling them “supercomputers” or “supermachines” and implying that they have the power to basically answer any and all currently unsolvable problems. These is, however, a misconception.

12/04/2018 - When we think of robots, we envision the future. Intelligent mobile robots that can answer questions, give directions, complete tasks, and walk us through an ever-changing world—these robots could one day make more static technologies like Alexa, Siri, and GoogleHome look outdated.

11/01/2018 - The internet is a vast network of knowledge, containing the sum of humanity’s greatest accomplishments, algorithms, and stories. However, accessing this information usually requires the critical eye of a human user. Greg Durrett, a Texas Computer Science Assistant Professor, is using statistical machine learning to change just that.