Research

02/25/2020 - UPDATE (Jan. 18, 2021): The new approach to securing web browsers described below is now part of the latest version of the Firefox browser, available to all users.

02/04/2020 - Most websites that we use every day are database applications, which means that they involve software that interacts with an underlying database. As these websites evolve to meet the demands of their users, so must the software and the database schema, i.e., the model that determines the layout of the data. This process is extremely time-consuming and error-prone, because developers not only need to transform the data, but also re-implement all the affected parts of the application.

01/09/2020 - There are few pet peeves worse than being unable to find the right song. It’s this endless cycle of shuffling through a music library that inspired UT alumni and faculty to create DJ Monte-Carlo (DJ-MC)—a program tailored to preemptively pick music that suits your mood.

11/20/2019 - The 26th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) took place in London last week. Over the years, CCS has established itself as a high standard research conference in the field of information security, and is one of the "big four" security conferences in the world. Each year since 2012, CCS has recognized one or two papers from the conference a decade earlier with a test-of-time award.

11/01/2019 - $1.5M award from National Science Foundation to support cross-disciplinary machine learning and data science 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.