Institute for Multimedia Applications

The Institute for Multimedia Applications (IMA) is a premiere institute for computer visualization, animation and multimedia integration. The IMA is envisioned to be a facility where students, faculty, staff and others interact with state of the art technology to create new products, procedures and applications. The initial IMA thrust will be in scientific and engineering research, education and entertainment technology. Silicon Graphics (SGI) has been a major collaborator with Howard University in this venture. SGI is the leader in high performance visual computer technology. Most people have become familiar with them through the special effects generated by their machines in films such as Jurassic Park and The Mask. They are also known for providing a wide range of products and services for the scientific, film, video, broadcast and emerging interactive media industries Thrust areas include: network reliability, distance learning, scientific calcluations, smart sensors, remote sensing, visualization, protocol development, animation, etc. These objectives span a remarkably wide range, from computer-aided visualization to smart sensors to educational testing with implications for the future participation in a $100 billion (by the year 2000) multimedia revolution. Visit IMA online at: www.imappl.org.

Howard University Future Aerospace Technology (HUFAST) Center

The Howard University Future Aerospace Technology (HUFAST) Center is a program funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The primary goal of the center is to develop state of the art research program in the area of fault-tolerant distributed systems for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I). HUFAST also promotes the increase of minority scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who can impact future technological needs. HUFAST is composed of faculty from schools and colleges within Howard University and faculty and research from collaborating outside institutions. Visit HUFAST online at: https://www.hufast.howard.edu/.

Center for Research in Evaluating Software Technology (CREST)

The Center for Research in Evaluating Software Technology (CREST) was founded in August 1996 as a project of the HUFAST Institute. CREST's goal is to investigate software engineering tools, techniques, processes and resources. We form partnerships with industry and government to work on joint projects; we are affiliated with similar research institutes worldwide. Our aim is to help developers and maintainers to be effective (in terms of time, cost and quality) when allocating and using their resources. CREST industrial partners include:

• Reliable Software Technologies, Inc.
• American Management Systems, Inc.
• Mitretek Systems Inc.
• Fannie Mae
• Atlantic Systems Guild
• Sun Microsystems

Distributed Systems Research Group (DSRG)

Howard University's Distributed Systems Research Group (DSRG) is concerned with distributed software/hardware systems: their development, their use, and the principles underlying both. Members of HU's distributed systems group conduct research in the areas of operating systems, database performance evaluation, computer architecture, parallel processing, and computer networking.