UT Broadens Academic Reach with Two Research Symposiums

This spring, the UT Department of Computer Science launched two new research consortiums with the first annual Texas Systems Research Consortium Symposium and UT Robotics Consortium Symposium.

On March 19, computer systems researchers from across academics and industry gathered at the Gates-Dell Complex to discuss their products and research. Industry researchers and software engineers from Systems Research Consortium partners Google, Microsoft, VMware, and Huawei discussed topics such as data processing infrastructure and public clouds. UTCS professors and Systems Research Consortium faculty members Vijay Chidambaram, Emmett Witchel, Chris Rossbach, and Simon Peter discussed their research, which includes topics such as protecting secret data while it is being processed by untrusted services and how system software is affected by Moore’s Law, or the trend where the density of transistors that can be placed on computer chips increases over time.

Then on April 12, researchers from companies involved in robotics visited the GDC for the UT Robotics Consortium Symposium. Engineers and researchers from Robotics Consortium industry partners Omnicell, Arm, Sandia National Laboratories, and Orbotech presented their robotics products and research in areas such as autonomous systems and national security. Professors Ashish Deshpande and Mitch Pryor and graduate student Christina Petlowany from the UT mechanical engineering department and UTCS professor Scott Niekum shared their research, which includes using robots in places from the home and workplace to hazardous nuclear environments.

Both symposiums included a poster session where students presented their work to fellow symposium attendees.

The Systems Research Consortium and the Robotics Consortium are programs meant to bring together academic researchers and companies that rely on computer science in order to guide research and solve the major problems facing the industry. As a major part of the two consortiums, the systems and robotics symposiums are an opportunity for industry researchers to discuss the technical challenges they have encountered and learn from the work of faculty and graduate students at the university.