Scope

Autonomic computing (AC) denotes a broad area of scientific and engineering research on methods, architectures and technologies for the design, implementation, integration and evaluation of special- and general-purpose computing systems, components and applications that are capable of autonomously achieving desired behaviors. AC systems aim to be self-managed in order to enable independent operation, minimize cost and risk, accommodate complexity and uncertainty or enable systems of systems with large numbers of components. Hence, system integration and automation of management are important areas of research whose contexts subsume other AC research topics. These might include, to varying degrees, self-organization, self-healing, self-optimization (e.g. for power or speed), self-protection and other so-called self-* behaviors. CAC research activities will advance several disciplines that impact the specification, design, engineering and integration of autonomic computing and information processing systems. They include design and evaluation methods, algorithms, architectures, information processing, software, mathematical foundations and benchmarks for autonomic systems. Solutions will be studied at different levels of both centralized and distributed systems, including the hardware, networks, storage, middleware, services and information layers. Collectively, the participating universities have research and education programs whose strengths cover the technical areas of the center. Within this broad scope, the specific research activities will vary over time as a reflection of center member needs and the evolution of the field of autonomic computing.

Personnel

Research at the participating universities will be undertaken by faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers from multiple disciplines including electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, aerospace engineering, and mechanical engineering. Where necessary (e.g. ITAR issues), university research participants on specific projects in the Center may be restricted. In addition to university personnel, industry and government partners are welcome to have researchers in residence at the Center or as temporary visitors to campus making use of its facilities.