Reidar Conradi (Ed.):

Self-evaluation of SU group at the

Department of Computer and Information Science (IDI), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Trondheim, November 10, 2001

Prepared for the Norwegian Research Council’s evaluation of Norwegian ICT and Mathematics departments in 2001

Preface

The Department of Computer Science (a.k.a. IDI) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (a.k.a. NTNU) has been asked by the Norwegian Research Council (a.k.a. NFR) to provide this document as part of NFR’s evaluation of Norwegian ICT and Mathematics departments, November 2001.

IDI has close to 120 employees, with 44 faculty members (including 10 part-time) and 41 Ph.D. fellows. It has produced about 800 M.Sc. graduates and 60 Ph.D. graduates during the past 10 years. The Department’s internal budget was 50 MNOK in 2000, in addition to 5 MNOK from external research projects. In 2000 IDI served 1100 full-time students, i.e. IDI served 11% of NTNU’s students with 5% of the NTNU budget and 3% of its faculty resources. IDI offers a traditional engineering program, a traditional “open” university program, as well as University-wide service and complementary education courses. IDI also has a small activity in continuing education.

IDI is loosely organized as four divisions where each division typically reflects related research groups. There are currently a total of 10 such research groups in the Department. This document will, in general, be presenting the Department’s research activities group-wise, i.e. there will typically be a subsection for each research group which will reflect the activities associated with that group.

Note: This exerpt contains the general sections 1, 2 (intro only), 3.0 and 3.11 from the general IDI presentation, while the remaining sections are SU specific.

Table of contents

1. Organization of the department

2. Descriptions of the Department’s Research Groups

2.7 Software Engineering Group (SU) – leader: Prof. Reidar Conradi

3. Scientific Cooperation

3.0 General Cooperation for Entire Department

3.7 Scientific Cooperation of Software Engineering Group (SU), short version

3.7B Scientific Cooperation in the Software Engineering Group (SU), large vers.

3.11 Joint or Multidisciplinary Research Groups

Appendix 7: Software Engineering Group (SU)

SU-1 Professor Dr.Ing. Reidar Conradi

SU-2 Professor Dr.Ing. Tor Stålhane

SU-3 Associate Professor Maria Letizia Jaccheri, Ph.D.

SU-4 Associate Professor Monica Divitini, Ph.D.

SU-5 Post.Doc. Dr.Ing. Alf Inge Wang

SU-6 Post.Doc. Marco Torchiano, Ph.D.

1. Organization of the department

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) was created in 1995-96 as the effective merger of four independent units of the “umbrella” University of Trondheim. The merged units were NTH (Norwegian Institute of Technology), AVH (the free or “open” university studies), DKNVS (Historical and Science Museum), and Medicine. The Department of Computer and Information Science (IDI) at NTNU was formed during this reorganization from two previous departments: IFI (The Department of Informatics) from the Lade campus and belonging to the previous AVH, and IDT (The Department of Computer Systems and Telematics or “Datateknikk and Telematikk”) from the Gløshaugen campus and belonging to the previous NTH. About 1/3 of IDI’s current staff were originally with IFI. The resulting IDI in 1996-97 became part of a new Faculty of Physics, Informatics and Mathematics (or FIM), having parts from three previous faculties.

Some history: IFI was established in 1983, and produced B.Sc.-level and M.Sc. candidates in the free studies of informatics. IDT was responsible for educating M.Sc. engineering candidates (“sivilingeniører”) in Computer Engineering (“Datateknikk”), and has roots back to 1972. IDT was in 1987-96 together with Telematics in the previous Faculty for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 1972-1987 it was called IDB under the previous Science Faculty at NTH. The Telematics part of IDT is now a separate department, see below.

IDI now plays a central role in NTNU’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategy. Roughly 50 % of our resources are hence used to provide information technology service course for all of NTNU as well as to contribute to four interdisciplinary study programs. Last year (2000) IDI gave about 80 courses, served 1125 full-time students, and processed 8000 individual exams. This was accomplished with only 5% of the NTNU budget and 3% of its faculty resources.

Although IDI was formally established in July 1996, we were not physically united until we moved into some renovated Physics buildings this past summer (2001).

Within the Department, there are 10 research groups. These groups are now generally split among the following four divisions: Complex Computer Systems, Intelligent Systems, Data and Information Management, and Software and Information Systems.

In general, each division reflects a set of related areas (e.g. in database technology) which are associated with the core courses typically taught by members from that division. This organization is used since the teaching of core courses is the most stable part of our activities. A research group within a given division may, however, have overlapping research with a research group from another division (e.g. in medical informatics or ICT and learning).

Each division elects their respective leader, called Division Head. The divisions have mainly an administrative, strategic, educational and social purpose. The division should evaluate their needs and propose new courses and new faculty positions within their respective areas. Hiring of new faculty and Ph.D. fellows, and deciding in which fields to work, constitutes a major part of our strategic research activities. The main setting for this type of analysis and discussions will be the divisions.

The divisions also play a research role, through working out new research initiatives, establishing research laboratories, and so on. However, as the divisions are relatively broad - the smaller research groups still play the more active roles here. Currently, research and research projects are mostly initiated by individual researchers and research groups, with little or no overall coordination.

The support staff is organized into two groups: Technical Support and Administrative Support. The latter is lead by a Department Director (“kontorsjef”) who primarily has an administrative responsibility, but whom is also an informatics professional. This person is doing many of the day-to-day tasks which otherwise would have fallen on the Department Head. The Department has four committees which help with planning and assists the Department head:

  • The Committee of Research,
  • The Committee of Education,
  • The Committee of Physical Resources,
  • The Committee of Infrastructure and Research equipment.

As mentioned, the department is led by the Department Head. The decisions and the responsibility of the Department Head are comparable to that of a general manager of a private company. This is due to testing new management models at NTNU. The Department Head has a close consulting group: the deputy Department Head and the Department Director. This group is sometimes extended to a larger group, which includes the Division Heads and the Head of Technical Support. The four committees also prepare issues and make propositions to the Department Head. Above the Department Head is the Department Board. The Board has a strategic rather than operational role, and meets 4-6 times per year. The board decides on the budget, new faculty positions, and strategic plans.

As mentioned, IDI is currently part of the FIM faculty. The NTNU Board decided on September 26 this year (2001) to reduce the number of faculties (“colleges”) from eleven to seven. Effective January 2002, IDI will hence be part of the new Faculty of IKT (ICT, Information and Communication Technology). This faculty will house the following 7 departments:

  1. Computer and Information Science (IDI) – from FIM,
  2. Mathematics – also from FIM,
  3. Telematics,
  4. Telecommunication,
  5. Physical Electronics,
  6. Cybernetics,
  7. Electrical Power Engineering.

The departments listed from 3 to 7 above are all from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications (ET). This reorganization will certainly affect our department. IDI has a turbulent organizational history -- with major reorganizations in 1987, 1996 and a new one coming in 2002. However, it takes many years to form a new organization and develop smooth cooperation between the parties. Fortunately, we feel that this stage has now been reached between IDI and FIM. Nevertheless, we have great hopes and expectations for the new Faculty of IKT, since it compromises all the central ICT departments at NTNU.

We have also introduced a new track into our Ph.D. program, a special “Researcher school”, open to last-year M.Sc. students that want to continue straight to a Ph.D. It is a great recruiting tool - see Section 4 on recruitment for further details.

2. Descriptions of the Department’s Research Groups

In Section 2 and 3, IDI’s ten research groups will be presented in the following order:

  1. Algorithm and Graphics Group (AV), leader: Prof. Arne Halaas,
  2. Computer Architecture and Design Group (DM), leader: Prof. Lasse Natvig,
  3. Database Systems Group (DB), leader: Prof. Kjell Bratbergsengen,
  4. Image Processing Group (BB), leader: Prof. Richard E. Blake,
  5. Information Systems Group (IS), leader: Prof. Arne Sølvberg,
  6. Knowledge Systems Group (KS), leader: Prof. Jan Komorowski,
  7. Software Engineering Group (SU), leader: Prof. Reidar Conradi,
  8. HCI and Systems Development Group (SA), leader: Prof. Torbjørn Skramstad,
  9. Artificial Intelligence and Learning Group (AIL), leader: Prof. Keith Downing,
  10. Information Management Group (IF), leader: Prof. Ingeborg T. Sølvberg,

In addition, we have multidisciplinary research groups between the above groups as well as and with other Faculties and research partners – see Section 3.11.

2.7 Software Engineering Group (SU) – leader: Prof. Reidar Conradi

IDI has had a software engineering group for 15 years. The scientific profile is:

  • Software quality: safety and reliability, software process modeling and improvement, experience bases. Special challenges: combining conflicting qualities and in unstable business conditions.
  • Component-based development and software architecture: object-orientation, software architecture, evolution, versioning and configuration management. Special challenges: the relation between incremental and component-based development, impact of COTS.
  • Cooperative work: Web-based development and CSCW using agents and XML. Special challenges: how to support integration, evolution and customization, how to assess usage, and on applications in above processes.
  • In all the above, we applysystematic empirical studies – our laboratoryis industry and students. The share of papers based on empirical studies are 50% over the last 3 years, and 25% have an international co-author. Special challenges: how to combine quantitative and qualitative methods, and to use own students in this.

Both basic and industrial research projects in the above topics contribute to creating and sustaining a research-based education. That is, we mobilize M.Sc./Ph.D. students in ongoing projects (lighthouse effect of factor 3), and we exploit industrial results and scenarios back into in our education.

The group has four faculty members (Conradi, Stålhane, Jaccheri, Divitini), two Post.Doc.s (Wang, Torchiano), and six active Ph.D. students. Since 1990 the group has produced 14 Ph.D. candidates (plus two in the near future) and tutored 150 M.Sc. theses. The group now teaches eight M.Sc.-level and two Ph.D.-level courses.

3. Scientific Cooperation

3.0 General Cooperation for Entire Department

Cooperation on education and basic research:

For offering continuous education we have an agreement with SINTEF (NTNU’s official external research organ) and University of Oslo in the context of Bedriftsuniversitetet (the Corporate University). Four faculty members[1] have part-time positions with other Norwegian universities and colleges. Two staff members[2] have cooperation with the Simula Research Laboratory outside Oslo (part-time positions).

Industrial cooperation:

IDI has a long tradition for industrial contacts and co-operation. Our M.Sc. and Ph.D. graduates work in almost all sectors of Norwegian industry, public organisations, and research institutions. The external involvement in student projects and theses ensures relevance of our education and fast industrialization. IDI has 12 adjunct faculty members, all being Ph.D. candidates from IDI and now working in ICT-based enterprises. IDI has close to 50 domestic partners in ongoing research projects. The city of Trondheim supports two research parks, the Leiv Eriksson center and Teknostallen, with totally 50,000 m2 of rental space and over 1000 employees, mostly in the ICT area. A tripling of this seed-corn activity is planned before 2005. IDI also participates in the NTNU incubator, currently with one project around ICT and Learning (Staupe and Holme) and DigiMed (Nytrø).

In Trondheim, Clustra and FAST are high-tech companies established on research results from IDI during the last 20 years. They introduce IDI to advanced R&D topics. There is a cooperation agreement between IDI and Fast Search and Transfer (FAST), and one with Clustra is in process. FAST is providing financing of a full professor position, part-time positions, and research projects. The professor position has been advertised, but no qualified person applied. One IDI staff member[3] has a part-time position with FAST. Two IDI staff members[4] have part-time positions with Clustra. Clustra has raised 50 million US$ in international investment capital for R&D in Trondheim since 1995. We can also mention the Troll start-up in Oslo, making competitive graphics solutions. Lastly, IDI has had very good contact with Vingmed who specializes in Ultrasound equipment for medical diagnosis (now a part of General Electric) through Bjørn Olstad (in his previous job) and Jan Komorowski.

NTNU has general agreements of research cooperation with e.g. Telenor, Norsk Hydro and Alcatel. IDI has for a long time cooperated with Telenor, which has financed Ph.D. fellows, part-time faculty positions, and research projects. One IDI staff member[5] has a 20% part-time position at Telenor. There are regular meetings between research staff at Telenor and IDI staff. The exchange of ideas is of mutual benefit. Accenture and Norsk Hydro are also financing Ph.D. fellows.

SINTEF is financing one full professor position and a 20% part-time position[6]. We have had a formal cooperation agreement with SINTEF Telecom and Informatics until 1992, but now the cooperation is more on an ad-hoc level, involving e.g. the AIL and SU groups. One[7] person from IDI staff has an agreement with SINTEF Telematics and Informatics as scientific advisor.

3.7 Scientific Cooperation of Software Engineering Group (SU), short version

The group is and has been engaged in a large number of international and national R&D projects. Each external project will have two seniors and 1-2 Ph.D. students. See each group member’s CV, publication lists etc. in the appendices for details.

Academically, there are person exchanges and ongoing research activities with University of Maryland and the CeBASE project (OO design inspections and experience bases); Fraunhofer IESE/Univ. Kaiserslautern and ISERN -- International Software Engineering Research Network (empirical software engineering); RWTH/Aachen and Grenoble (versioning and software architecture); Milano (cooperation technology); Manchester, Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, Pisa and Beijing (process support); London (software metrics and software evolution), Lancaster (software reengineering and reuse); Aalborg, Milano, Toulouse and Bar-Ilan in Israel (cooperation technology); and Lisboa and Groningen (software architecture and UML). Conradi spent his sabbatical in 1999/2000 in Maryland and Politecnico di Milano. We have also done research and written papers with other IDI groups (e.g. DB, IS and KS).

Internationally, we have since 1990 been involved in many, mostly applied EU projects around e.g. software reuse, software quality, versioning, cooperation technology, process support, and process improvement. Relevant projects are REBOOT and SER, PROMOTER / PROMOTER2, PROTEUS, PERFECT, ASSET, RENAISSANCE, COMIC and Campiello, CMEX / ATEX, TELMET, QiS, and now ESERNET -­ with five books published so far. We have ongoing contacts with European IT companies such as Q-Labs, Bull, Siemens, Cap Gemini, ICL, and Intecs.

Nationally, we have similarly been involved in applied research projects like EPOS, SPIQ and PROFIT on software process improvement (the two latter with Telenor, Ericsson, Alcatel, Mogul, Genera, and 15 other IT companies). Through SINTEF we have been consulting with almost 20 mostly Norwegian companies. Several M.Sc./Ph.D. theses have been industrialized, e.g. served as additions to commercial CASE tools. We have also run several eight continuing educational courses for industry the last ten years.

We also have been and are involved in more basic research projects such as E3 and CHAOS (cooperation technology – in Italy), CAGIS (distributed agents), CSE (OO numerics w/ Mathematics), INCO (incremental and component-based development), MOWAHS (mobile process support), WebSys (how to combine “sooner” and “better”), Enterprise-critical IT systems (with NFR), and net-based education (w/ Telenor), and in the upstarting NTNU Webtek program (cooperation and software technologies). In many of these projects we have cooperated with SINTEF and recently with Univ. Oslo (Prof. Dag Sjøberg). Since 2001 we have worked with Univ. Oslo through the software engineering part of the Simula Research Laboratory outside Oslo. The Oslo/Trondheim groups consider themselves as a virtual, national competence center in software engineering.

The group has an internationally acknowledged position in software engineering, with many co-authored publications. The group has arranged the workshops SCM'3 (1991) and EWSPT'92 in Trondheim. The group leader was program chair for SCM'7, EWSPT'2000, and ECSQ’02. Other group members are very active in similar events.

3.7B Scientific Cooperation in the Software Engineering Group (SU), large vers.

The group is currently engaged in seven national projects and one international, see below. It has a large number of industrial and international cooperators, partly in such projects.

Nationally we have participated in the following applied R&D projects with Norwegian industry and supported by the Norwegian Research Council:

  • FORTVER (1984-1985) on inter-procedural analysis of FORTRAN77-programs.
  • EPOS (1986-91) on software configuration management and process modeling, see
  • REBOOT-STP and NSR (1990-94) on software reuse, see
  • SPIQ (1996-1999) and PROFIT (2000-2003) on software process improvement, see and (on PROFIT).
  • Net-based Practise Communities in Matematical Didactics (2001-): focus on flexibility and mobility,sponsored by Telenor R&D, and with IDI and PLU at NTNU.

30-40 Norwegian IT companies have been and are participating in these projects, e.g. ITF/Abelia (branch organization), Computas, DnV Software, EDB4tel, EDBasa, EDB Novit, Ericsson, Fjellanger-Widerøe, Genera, ICON Medialab, InfoStream, Kongsberg-Ericsson, Kongsberg-Spacetec, Mogul Technologies, NERA, Telenor/Bravida etc. etc.For instance, we have studied reuse at Ericsson, Genera and Mogul, estimation models at EDB4tel, design inspections at Ericsson, post-mortem analysis at InfoStream, success factors for SPI in all of these, success factors for experience bases in Computas and Mogul etc. On most of these projects we cooperate with SINTEF (Svein Hallsteinsen, Tore Dybå and others), and in the last 5-6 years also with Univ. Oslo (Dag Sjøberg and colleagues). The industrial impact of these activities and studies is judged to be considerable, and further opportunities are being investigated. Many of the results have been published internationally. In all this, we are involving student projects and MSc/PhD theses.