Although Niagara is primarily a teaching school, research has a prominent role on our campus and in our department. We are proud of our faculty's and our students' activity in research. Recent CIS research achievements are discussed on this page.

Areas of Activity

• Computer Crime and Ethics: The use of computer networks to spread viruses and other "malware," commit fraud and identity theft, make illegal copies of software, etc., is a large and growing problem in modern life. Prof. Wagner conducts research in these areas.
• Computer Networks and Security: The construction and administration of computer networks is one of the fastest-growing areas of computing.  Computer security and the detection and prevention of various forms of computer crime fall into this category.  Prof. Cress is a researcher in this area.
• Computers in Society: How are computers changing business and social practices?  Prof. Wagner investigates such questions.
• Mathematical Theory of Computing: This is an umbrella for several areas of modern research.  Prof. Boxer is active in the following areas:
  • Algorithms:  This is the study of computer solutions and the resources they require (time, memory, and accuracy in the case of an approximate solution). Among Prof. Boxer's interests are algorithms for parallel computers, computational geometry, image processing, and search/find operations.
  • Digital Topology: This may be thought of as a mathematical theory of the geometric properties of digital images.
• Scientific Applications:
  • Bioinformatics: This area of research uses computers to study problems in biology and biochemistry that require massive computing resources. Problems in this realm come from areas such as genetics and drug design. Prof. Boxer's search algorithms are motivated, in part, by problems in genetics.
  • Lightning Phenomena: Access to NASA image databases has helped Prof. Boeck make fundamental contributions to the world's understanding of lightning.
• Systems Analysis: Roughly, this is the study of how large software systems are developed and maintained. Prof. Seilheimer studies the development of complex business software systems and Web sites.

Student Research

• Coach's software: Vicky Topper '01 wrote a computer program for her Honors Thesis, under the direction of Prof. Rensel (formerly of CIS, now a member of the Business faculty), to enable a hockey coach to record game performance data for later analysis. The data concerns shots on goal by position on the ice.  This enables a coach to study tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of shooters and goalies.
• Computer crime:  Joseph Nyiri '05 (CRJ) collaborated with Prof. Wagner in a study of Neutralization Theory and student attitudes towards digital theft.
• NASA image databases:  Prof. Boeck led a multi-year project to develop software to manage image databases for NASA.  Among his student assistants:  Paul Bonnette '94, Travis Galoppo '98, Michael Simons '99.
• Search algorithms: Stephen Englert '05 and Robert Abrams '06 wrote computer programs to demonstrate the advantages of new search algorithms proposed by Prof. Boxer.
• Genetics research: Matthew Seamon '07 and David Stoveld '08 developed software to help Prof. Kelemen (a former CIS faculty member) analyze genetic data.

Recent Publications

• W. Boeck and A.R. Jacobson, "Preliminary Comparison of Narrow Bipolar Events with TRMM/TMI 85-GHz Ice-scattering Signature," Proceedings of the American Geophysical Union, 2004.
• W. Boeck and M.J. Heavner, "Ground based ISUAL validation with the Los Alamos Sferic Array," Proceedings of the American Geophysical Union, 2004.
• W. Boeck, D. M. Suszcynsky, T. E. Light, A. R. Jacobson, H. J. Christian, S. J. Goodman, D. E. Buechler, and J. L. L. Guillen,  "A demonstration of the capabilities of multisatellite observations of oceanic lightning," Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 109, 2004.
• L. Boxer, A Pre-Processing Algorithm for String Pattern Matching, Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Algorithmic Mathematics and Computer Sciences, 29-32
• L. Boxer, Digital Products, Wedges, and Covering Spaces, Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision 25 (2006), 159-171.
• L. Boxer, Fundamental Groups of Unbounded Digital Images, Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision 27 (2007), 121-127.
• L. Boxer, Homotopy Properties of Sphere-Like Digital Images, Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision 24 (2006), pp. 167-175
• L. Boxer, Properties of Digital Homotopy, Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision 22 (2005), 19-26
• L. Boxer, Remarks on Digital Deformation, Note di Matematica, to appear.
• L. Boxer and I. Karaca, The Classification of Digital Covering Spaces, Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision, to appear.
• L. Boxer and R. Miller, Coarse Grained Gather and Scatter Operations with Applications, Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing 64 (2004), 1297-1310.
• R.D. Gopal, G.L. Sanders, S. Bhattacharjee, M. Agrawal, and S.C. Wagner, A Behavioral Model of Digital Music Piracy, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Vol. 14 Issue 2, 2004, pp. 89-106.
• T. Ireland, J. Nyiri, and S.C. Wagner, Neutralization Theory: Student Attitudes Toward Digital Theft, Proceedings, Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology, 2005, to appear.
• R. Miller and L. Boxer, Algorithms Sequential and Parallel, 2nd ed., Charles River Media, 2005
• S. Seilheimer, M. Ishman, and P. Seilheimer, "Technology Support for the Enhancement of Productivity in International Virtual Teams," Journal of Information Science and Technology 2 (2005), 4-17.