News 2007

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October 2007

Essex Professor Awarded Prestigious International Award

Professor Hani Hagras from Computer Science has been awarded by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) the OUTSTANDING PAPER AWARD in the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy systems which is the best international journal in the field. This is the most prestigious international publication award in the field.

The award was for Professor Hagras paper entitled “A Hierarchical Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Control Architecture for Autonomous Mobile Robots”. Citing from the award nomination “This is a pioneering paper which was the first to present the type-2 Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC). The type-2 FLCs are characterised by being able to handle the uncertainties to deliver superior control performance to existing control mechanism including the type-1 FLCs used for the previous 25 years. The paper has led to the release of the great opportunities type-2 FLCs have to control application in general. Since its publication, the paper has led to the growing interest in type-2 fuzzy systems in control as well as in various applications. The paper has also presented ground breaking results which showed how the type-2 FLC can give a very good performance that outperform their type-1 counterparts while using much smaller rule bases”. The paper has led to major breakthroughs in a variety of challenging applications including Intelligent Environments and the speed control of marine diesel engines. The work in marine diesel engines has led to a new approach to engine speed control in challenging environments where this work was awarded the best paper award in the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems that was held in Vancouver, Canada.

The photo shows Professor Hagras receiving the award from Professor Vincenzo Piuri, the President of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society.

Official Opening of the Department of Computing and Electronic Systems

The department was officially opened on Thursday 4th October by new Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Riordan.  A video clip and article about the opening can be found at: http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/video/index.var.8246.0.0.php

Professor Hani Hagras has made the shortlist in the Young Researcher of the year category in the Times Higher Education Supplement Awards.

The University of Essex has also been shortlisted for University of the Year.

Source: http://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2007/nr20070926b.htm

THES says of Hani: "... Hani Hagras is already regarded as a prominent international leader in computational intelligence.  He is one of the key global figures in intelligent environments research..."

Source: THES "The Shortlisted Candidates" supplement, THES #1, 813, 28th September 2007

August 2007

Former departments of Electronic Systems Engineering and Computer Science combine to form Department of Computing and Electronic Systems.

June 2007

The Computer Science department comes 12th in the Guardian League Tables for 2007

The ESE department comes 14th in the Guardian League Tables for 2007

Top Prize for Essex Researchers
Essex Leading Research efforts and vision in the area of Intelligent Environments have been recently awarded by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) the IET Knowledge Network Awards.

The prize was awarded for founding and chairing the IET International Conference on Intelligent Environments which was recognised as the best IET event in 2006/7. Citing from the award nomination "The IET International Conference on Intelligent Environments is emerging as the strongest international conference in the field where it has established a strong forum that will help to make major advances in the area of Intelligent Environments. The conference brings together the contribution of different disciplines to create new research directions in Intelligent Environments research while breaking down barriers between the different disciplines". The conference was launched by Essex in 2005 to mark the opening of the Essex intelligent Flat (iDorm-2) and the second conference was held in Athens, Greece in June 2006 where the third conference will be held in Ulm Germany in September 2007 and the fourth conference will be held in Seattle, USA in July 2008.

The award was presented to Professor Hani Hagras from Computer Science by Mr Earnshaw the Deputy President of the Board of Trustees of the IET during the Members' Spring Conference at the IET headquarters at Savoy Place, London, 28th April 2007.

May 2007

Intelligent Environments Research Exchange Between Essex and Florida

Professor Hani Hagras from the Department of Computer Science has been recently invited by the University of Florida in USA to visit their Mobile and Pervasive Computing Laboratory and to present Essex novel research in embedded agents and Intelligent Environments.

The University of Florida is having a population of 53,000 students and is amongst the four biggest and leading American Universities. The University of Florida is also a world leader in intelligent environments and pervasive systems research. The research exchange has featured the presentation of Essex research and expertise on embedded agents and intelligent environments while the University of Florida has presented their leading work on pervasive system and Middleware. The exchange was then followed by a visit to the Gator smart house in the University of Florida where discussions followed about the similarities and complementary features with the Essex intelligent Flat (iDorm-2).

The Research exchange was followed by detailed discussions on future collaborations between Essex and Florida.

February 2007

Graduates' earnings stay ahead

Maria Fasli has recently had a book published by John Wiley and Sons entitled "Agent Technology for e-Commerce"

"Agents are software systems that are capable of autonomous, reactive, and proactive behaviour, and endowed with the ability to interact with other agents. Agents are especially well-suited for intricate, fast-changing, and constrained environments such as the electronic marketplace. Agent Technology for E-Commerce is a unique introduction to the theory behind and applications of agent technology in e-commerce. It provides a clear introduction to agents, architectures, and multi-agent systems as well as agent interactions, while helping readers versed in computer science comprehend basic principles of economics and game theory. The book also covers the issue of trust and security in agent technology, particularly in the context of electronic markets."

Visit the John Wiley and Sons web page for more information.
 

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