Letha Margaret Hughes Etzkorn

Computer Science Department

The University of Alabama in Huntsville

Huntsville, AL 35899

Research Interests: Software Engineering (Software Metrics, Program Understanding, Software Reuse), Mobile and Intelligent Agents, Knowledge-based Systems, Object-Oriented Software, Distributed Systems, Computer Networks


EDUCATION     

Ph.D. (Computer Science), University of Alabama in Huntsville, 1997

Dissertation Title: A Metrics-Based Approach to the Automated Identification of Object-Oriented Reusable Software Components. Advisor: Dr. Carl G. Davis

M.S. (Computer Science), University of Alabama in Huntsville, 1992

M.S.E.E. (Electrical Engineering), Georgia Institute of Technology, 1982

B.E.E. (Electrical Engineering), Georgia Institute of Technology, 1980


EXPERIENCE SUMMARY 

Associate Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, UAH, 2004-present

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, UAH, 1998-2004

Lecturer, Dept. of Computer Science, UAH, 1993-1998

Senior Design Engineer, Motorola Transmission Products Div., 1989-1990

Senior Design Engineer, Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., 1985-1989

Electronics Engineer, Lockheed-Georgia Company, 1982-1984


HONORS AND AWARDS

o       Senior Member, IEEE, since 1999

o       Professional Engineer, Georgia, since 1987

o       Computer Science Departmental Award (Masters), 1992

o       Paper (“A Knowledge-Modeling Approach to Evaluating Student Essays in Engineering Courses”) selected as one of two papers from the Journal of Engineering Education in year 2007 to be   included in the Annals of Research in Engineering Education, 2008

o       Amateur Radio Extra Class License, since 1986

o       National Merit Finalist and Four Year Scholarship Winner, 1976

o       Various honor societies, including: Upsilon Pi Epsilon, Omicron Delta Kappa, Sigma Xi

 

PRESENTATIONS

o       “New Kinds of Software Metrics: Program Understanding Metrics and Ontology Metrics,” University of Alabama in Birmingham seminar series, Nov. 30, 2007.

o       “Metrics for Object-Oriented Software,” Huntsville Chapter of the IEEE, Tuesday, October 12, 2004

o       "Information Extraction in Software Reusability Analysis," Computer Science Department Technical Seminar, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, April 2, 1996.

o       "Reuse Assessment: A Metrics-Based Approach to the Automated Identification of Object-Oriented Reusable Components," Computer Science Department Technical Seminar, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, March 3, 1995.

o       "The X.25 Protocol in the Hayes V-Series Modems," Hayes Microcomputer Products Technical Seminar, Norcross, GA, May 18, 1988.


CAREER TO DATE

Associate Professor, Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Ala. in Huntsville, (8/2004-present)

Currently teach courses in several areas, including software engineering, client/server, networking, architecture, among others.  Currently working with several PhD students and MS thesis students.   Have currently published more than 70 refereed papers (see publications list).  PI or co-PI on several grants and contracts (see research funding section).  Have served on and often chaired numerous university and departmental committees (Graduate Council, Graduate Curriculum Committee, College Promotion and Tenure committee, as well as various departmental committees such as search committees, curriculum committees, PhD preliminary examination committee, etc.). Also have served on the Faculty Senate.

Assistant Professor, Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Ala. in Huntsville, (1998-2004)

Taught several different courses, including software engineering, client/server, networking, architecture, among others. Published several refereed journal articles and conference papers (see publications list). PI or co-PI on several grants and contracts (see research funding section). Worked (with another professor) to develop a Systems Networking laboratory for the Computer Science Department, that supports several different CS courses.   Served from 1998-2004 as faculty advisor of the campus ACM.  Attended ACM programming contests with programming teams from 1999-2003.  Served on the faculty senate, 2002-2003.  Served as Program Chair of the ACM Southeast Conference, 2004. Organized a doctoral symposium for the Southeast Software Engineering Conference, 2002 and 2003. Refereed papers for several different journals and conferences.  Refereed several proposals.

Lecturer, Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Ala. in Huntsville, (1/93-8/98)

Taught a wide variety of courses, in software engineering, computer architecture, operating systems, and programming. Published several refereed journal articles and conference papers.

Quality Research, Huntsville, AL (5/92-7/92)

Participated in National Test Bed CASE tool experiment. Worked for the Strategic Defense Command (now SMDC) on a team evaluating Cadre Teamwork. Received a letter of commendation from the SMDC for my work on this project.

Research Assistant, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, (2/91-12/91)

Performed mathematical analysis of atmospheric data. FORTRAN programming.

Senior Design Engineer, Motorola Transmission Products Div. (formerly Universal Data Systems/UDS), Huntsville, AL (1/89-9/90)

Had sole responsibility for the real time firmware for an 8 port statistical multiplexer running the X.25 protocol. This included the design and implementation of an X.25 packet layer, LAPB link layer, and CCITT PAD (X.28, X.29, X.3). Wrote interrupt drivers. Implemented a multitasking operating system/executive. Also supported an X.25 modem project. Directed the Telenet certification of the X.25 modem project. C language , Z80, 8031 assembly language

Senior Design Engineer, Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. Norcross, GA, (6/85-1/89)

Designed and implemented real time firmware for the Hayes V-series modems. This included the design and implementation of an X.25 packet layer, large portions of a CCITT PAD (X.28, X.29, X.3), and high level control firmware for all Hayes V-series modems, including the first Hayes V.42 modem. Was involved in the design and development of a message-passing operating system that was used in all Hayes V-series modems. Was involved in the setup of a code management system/development environment. Was responsible for certification of the Hayes X.25 modems using the Telenet, Defense Data Network, and Tymnet certification tests, as well as connection tests to Compuserve and various other networks. In a separate project at Hayes, was responsible for test specifications and a test set for digital and analog surface mount hybrids. C language, Z80 assembly language.

Electronics Engineer, Lockheed-Martin (formerly Lockheed-Georgia Company), Marietta, GA (4/82-1/84)

Designed and implemented a graphics terminal driver program, in JOVIAL on a MIL STD 1750A computer, for the C5-B project. Also wrote communications driver for a MIL STD 1553 bus interface card. Hardware design and software for a TI 990 computer/IEEE 488 interface card. Software for a TI 990 computer based display system. JOVIAL programming, MIL STD 1750A assembly language, TI 990/TI 9900 assembly language.

Teaching Assistant, The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (3/81-3/82)

Taught an operational amplifier laboratory course.

Student Assistant, The Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA (4/79-9/79)

Assisted engineers with projects, some programming.

Goodyear Tire&Rubber Company, Gadsden, AL (6/78-9/78)

Drafting, engineer's assistant.

Operator, WREK Radio, The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (4/77-6/78)

Monitored transmitter, automated music devices. Held third class radiotelephone license.



 

TEACHING

So far, I have taught more than 23 different courses (including different versions of a course), 28 different courses if selected topics courses, and thesis and dissertation courses are included.

 Current List of Courses taught:

Graduate Courses:

CS799¾Doctoral Dissertation

CS796¾Intelligent and Mobile Agents

CS795¾Selected Topics in Computer Science

CS699¾Master’s Thesis

CS695¾Selected Topics in Computer Science

CS685—Computer Security

CS670¾Computer Networks

CS650¾The Software Engineering Process

CS586¾Microprocessor Architecture

CS570¾Intro. To Computer Networks

CS553¾Client/Server Computing--Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) and .NET Programming

CS552—Analysis and Design Patterns

CS552¾Object-Oriented Design

CS513¾Computer Architecture

Undergraduate Courses:

CS499¾Senior Project: Team Software Development

CS495¾Selected Topics in Computer Science

CS495 ¾Metrics Analysis Course

CS490¾Introduction to Operating Systems CS490¾Systems Software

CS470¾Intro. To Computer Networks

CS413¾Computer Architecture (undergraduate)

CS309¾Switching Theory (Digital Logic)

CS308¾Computer Organization and Assembly Language Programming

CS207, CS208¾Computer Science II:  Data Structures (C and Pascal)

CS121, CS107, CS108¾Computer Science I: Intro. to programming (C++, C, and Pascal)

 

Dissertation and Thesis Students Advised:

PhD Students Who Have Graduated

Maureen Raley

Metrics for Risk Determination in Large-Scale Distributed Systems Maintenance

Spring, 2008

Ph.D

Craig Eichelkraut

A Mobile Agent Based Approach For Optimizing Real-Time Geographically Distributed Control Systems Using Swarm Intelligence

Spring, 2008

Ph.D

Bradley L. Vinz

A Synergistic Approach to Program Comprehension: Combining Code Understanding with Comment Understanding

Spring, 2008

 

Ph.D

Hector Olague

Assessing Maintainability: Information Theory, Metrics and Iterative Software Processes

Fall, 2006

Ph.D.

Haining Yao

A Semantic-Based Approach for Software Reusable Component Classification and Retrieval

Fall, 2005

Ph.D.

Anthony M. Orme

A Measurement Oriented Approach to E-Commerce Distributed Transactions Based on a Mobile/Intelligent Agent Framework

Spring, 2005

Ph.D.

Cara Stein

Semantic Metrics for Source Code and Design

Summer, 2004

Ph.D.

 

Master’s Thesis Students Who Have Graduated

Name

Title of Work

Department

Term Completed

Degree

Richard Dabney

A Fault-Tolerant Approach To Test Control Utilizing Dual Redundant Processors

Computer Science

Spring 06

MSCS

Owen Funkhouser

Comparing UML Use Cases to Internal Program Documentation in Object-Oriented Code

Computer Science

Fall 04

MSSE

Stephen Quattlebaum

A Comparison of the Results of Object-Oriented Metrics in C++ and Java

Computer Science

Summer 04

MSCS

Raed Shatnawi

A Comparison of Modern Object-Oriented Programming Languages and Compilers Using Standard Gang of Four Design Patterns

Computer Science

Fall 03

MSSE

 



PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Currently Serving as:

            Member of Editorial Board/Associate Editor for International Journal of Computers and Applications, ACTA Press, 2006-present

            Member of Editorial Board/Associate Editor for Advances in Software Engineering journal, Hindawi Publishing, 2008-present

            Guest editor (together with Dr. Tim Menzies from West Virginia University) of a Special Issue on Information

                        Retrieval for Program Comprehension for the Empirical Software Engineering journal

Member of Program Committee for IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering and Applications (SEA 2008)

 

Previously Served as:

            Program Chair for ACM Southeast Conference (ACMSE 2004)

            Doctoral Symposium Chair for Southeast Software Engineering Conference (2002, 2003)

            Member of Program Committee for:

IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC 2008)

                        IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering and Applications (SEA 2006, SEA 2007)

                        Information Resources Management Association Conference (IRMA 2006, IRMA 2007)

                        ACM Southeast Conference (ACMSE 2006, ACMSE2007)

Have refereed(reviewed) several papers for various journals, including:

                        IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering

IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering

IET Software (formerly IEE Proceedings Software)

Software: Practice and Experience

Software Quality Journal

Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice

IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems

Information Processing Letters

Information Technology and Management

                   Information Sciences

                   International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems

                        Acta Cybernetica

                        Information and Software Technology

                        Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering

                        Computers and Industrial Engineering

                        Science of Computer Programming

Reviewed books/ textbooks:

Encyclopedia of Software Engineering article reviewer

                        Reviewed a CORBA/Middleware textbook for Morgan Kaufmann

                        Reviewed a digital systems design textbook for Cambridge University Press

Served as external reviewer for Assistant Professors going up for tenure+promotion.



RESEARCH                     

Grants and Contracts:

 

PI or co-PI on more than $2.5 million in grants and contracts.  Funding agencies include NASA/GSFC, NASA/MSFC, U.S. Army AMCOM, CRA-NSF/EOT-PACI, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis:(NSF, ACM, CISCO), among others.  Titles of the grants include:

 

            Conceptual Architecture Modeling & Simulation System (co-PI)

            Finding Frequent Web Page Access Patterns (co-PI)

Semantic Metrics for Object-Oriented Design (PI)

Metrics for the Advanced Engineering Environment of the 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program (co-PI)

CORBA Support for Missile Guidance (PI)

Use of the CORBA Notification Service and Current Status of Real Time CORBA (PI)

Knowledge-Bases for Program Understanding (PI)

Internet Related Systems Laboratory at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (PI)

among others.

 

Publications:

See separate list of publications by clicking on Publications at home page.