For this work, I am parsing the complete text of a book, extracting named entities (character names), and developing a character graph of the relationships among those entities. The occurrence count of each entity relates to the size of its node in the charactergraph, while each relationship between entities is characterized by degree of co-occurrence and the sentiment expressed in text surrounding each co-occurrence. A time-based component of this work enables exploration of changes to relationships in the character graph through the course of the book. <<read more>>
Sentiment expressed on social media changes over time for a given search term. Building on previous success in this area, this project tracks changes in sentiment analysis over time from sources such as Twitter for a desired search term, constructing a graph to express those changes. <<read more>>
This research involves the design of a hypothetical nanocompiler, that is a source code compiler that translates a high level language to both a low level machine description and the executable code that will run on that machine. These ideas fall within the rapidly advancing field of computational nanotechnology, inspired by the work of K. Eric Drexler and others. <<read more>><<and more>>
To encourage student-faculty collaborative research, and to provide a viable place for anyone interested in developing innovative uses of computers to solve problems, I founded the Applied Computing Technology (ACT) Laboratory in 2005. The ACT Lab is open to any interested researchers, and is dedicating to following neat computing ideas wherever they may lead. <<ACT Lab>>
I am collaborating with Dr. Michael Mason of VCU on a number of text-messaging-based projects. Our initial framework used Tropo to handle SMS interactions, and now relies on an integration of Qualtrics and TextIt for data collection and flow control. <<read more>>
Understanding how technology can be used, and misused, is key to being a literate person in today's information-flooded world. My research focuses on educational techniques that foster greater understanding of technology, creating a more literate citizen. A key avenue of this research is the use of a science satire web site I developed in 1997 that is now used worldwide as an educational tool by librarians, teachers and students to explore critical thinking and reading, and evaluation of information skills that are so crucial to being an information literate person. <<read more>>
Now on hold, I previously collaborated with Dr. Mary-Angela Papalaskari and an interdisciplinary team of Villanova professors and students to conduct research into innovative educational methods that combine the sciences with theatre and magic. The project was a broadening of a successful magic and science camp begun in the Summer of 2005, involving university faculty, and students at the graduate, undergraduate, high school and elementary school levels. <<read more>>
last updated: 09/27/21