Howard University is pleased to announce the creation of a new
research center in the Department of Systems and Computer Science.
The Center for Research in Evaluating Software Technology (CREST)
will focus its efforts on evaluating the effectiveness and cost
of software technology. Many experts tout the use of various
tools and techniques, but we need empirical evaluation to determine
actual costs and benefits. For example, Pfleeger and Hatton have
shown that formal methods can improve the quality of code, but
their results indicate that formal specification may be of more
benefit than formal design. The researchers at CREST will take
a careful look at real software development to see which methods
and tools give the best "bang for the buck." Their
targets will include reuse, object-orientation, formal methods,
and other techniques with a potential to increase quality and
reliability.
CREST is part of the Air-Force-supported interdisciplinary HUFAST
Institute (Howard University - Air Force Aerospace Science and
Technology), created in 1995 to address the need for higher-quality
software and high-quality software engineers. Thus, HUFAST has
a dual mission: to support superior research programs related
to fault-tolerance and quality, and to provide educational leadership
and innovative approaches to graduate education in a variety of
disciplines. In particular, HUFAST will help to grow highly-skilled
leaders at historically-black institutions.
CREST will be led by Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, who has held top
positions in both industry and academia. As head of Contel Corporation's
measurement program and as principal scientist at MITRE Corporation,
she demonstrated that software measurement can be practical and
cost-effective. As professorial research fellow at City University
of London's Centre for Software Reliability, her work in experimental
methods has created interest in technology evaluation world-wide.
Key CREST researchers include Ron Leach, well-known for his work
in object-oriented methods, measurement, and reuse, Pete Keiller,
a pioneer in software reliability measurement, and Don Coleman,
an expert in fault tolerance.
The CREST team will work with internationally-known researchers to discover how to improve software development in a practical, cost-effective way. CREST is currently affiliated with these prestigious software engineering research centers.
In addition, a high-profile research seminar series will begin this autumn with Deborah Cooper, chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Security and Privacy; D. Ross Jeffery, head of the School of Information Science at the University of New South Wales (Australia); William Agresti, director of the Experimental Software Systems program at the National Science Foundation; Charles Howell, principal scientist at Mitretek Systems; and other distinguished software engineering researchers. The schedule for this seminar is available on the CREST home page,
https://angelou.imappl.org/crest, or by phoning Howard University
at 202 806-4831.
Both CREST and HUFAST intend to focus on practical, effective tools and techniques. To that end, CREST seeks partnerships with industry and government. An organization can participate at three levels:
IEEE Software, July 1996. Shari Lawrence
Pfleeger talks about the difficulties of establishing a reuse
program in "Measuring reuse: a cautionary tale."
Software Metrics: A Rigorous and Practical Approach, 2nd
edition, by Norman Fenton and Shari Lawrence Pfleeger (International
Thomson Press, 1996). A new version of the classic
textbook on software measurement, with additional information
on experimentation in software engineering. It also includes
many more case studies and much more practical advice than the
first edition.
Applying Software Metrics, by Paul Oman and Shari Lawrence
Pfleeger (IEEE Computer Society Press, 1996). A
tutorial and practical guide to the who, what, where, when, how
and why of software measurement, this book is a collection of
papers from accessible journals.
Reusing Software, by Ronald Leach (McGraw-Hill, 1996). An easy-to-read guide to reuse for programmers and managers alike.