Date: Thursday, 21-Nov-96 19:16:08 GMT Server: NCSA/1.2 MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Friday, 29-Sep-95 06:02:50 GMT Content-length: 11777 Johnnie W. Baker


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Johnnie W. Baker
Full Professor

Johnnie W. Baker is the Coordinator for Computer Science. His research interests include parallel algorithms, parallel production systems, application of parallel computers in artificial intelligence, parallel computational geometry, computational chemistry, and parallel computer models. He has also published in the areas of Banach spaces and general topology. Baker received a B.S. degree in mathematics from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas in 1958, a M.S. and Ph.D. degree in mathematics in 1965 and 1968 respectively, from the University of Texas in Austin. He was an assistant professor at Florida State University before joining the faculty at Kent State University in 1973. He is a member of ACM and the Computer Society of the IEEE.

Recent Research Activities:

A major focus of Baker's recent research has been the development of a computational model for associative computing and establishing algorithms and software for this model. The associative model is designed to provide a common platform for the development of appropriate algorithms and software for massively parallel computers in general and an extended version of SIMD computers in particular. Current work is underway to compare this model to other parallel models of computation, including the reconfigurable mesh and the mesh with multiple broadcasts. Other current research interests include developing improved constant time algorithms requiring fewer processors for the reconfigurable mesh, embedding and emulating hypercubes on a 3-D mesh architecture, and developing parallel algorithms and improved sequential algorithms that require less memory and running time for modeling organic compounds at the molecular level.

Selected Master's Theses:
(over 15 total)

Steven Talus, ``Parallel (SIMD) Algorithms for the Zero-One Knapsack Problem'', 1988.

Andrew Miller, ``A Parallel Production System'', 1989.

Jon Wiebrecht, ``Parallel SIMD Algorithms and Implementations for the Traveling Salesperson Problem and the Assignment Problem'', 1992.

Stephen Scott, ``Embedding hypercubes and perfect shuffles into 3-D meshes'', 1992.

Maher Atwah, ``Computing the Convex Hull on the Associative Model'', 1993.

Mary Esenwein ``String Matching Algorithms for an Associative Computer'', 1995.

Paul Durand `` Sequential and associative software to compute the largest common substructure and least common superstructure for pairs or groups of compounds'', (Co-sponsored with Dr. Chung-Che Tsai in the Chemistry Dept.) He plans to defend in Fall 1995.

Doctoral Dissertations Sponsored:

Mark Merry ``Parallel Algorithms for the Reconfigurable Mesh'', 1994.

Maher Atwah, ``Computing the Convex Hull in 2D and 3D Euclidean Space on the Associative Model'', His candidacy examination will be in Fall 1995. (See item 11 in Publications)

Darrell Ulm, ``Comparison of the Associative Model with other Models for Parallel Computation'' This study will involve studying when one model can emulate another model and identification of properties which only one model can support.

Research Visibility and Selected Presentations:

1974
Colloquia presented at Pennsylvania State University, Projection constants of C(X) spaces with the separable projection property.
1984
Colloquia presented to the College of Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin titled Computer Algebra Systems: Multi-disciplinary Research Tools, (sponsored by the Computer Science Department at U.T.).
1985
Organized a special session titled Using Computers in Mathematical Research. at the International Conference on Banach Spaces and Classical Analysis at Kent State University.
1985
Invited address at the Mathematical Association of America Sectional Meeting at the University of Akron, Special Session on Scientific Computing titled A Computer Algorithm for Tsirelson Space Norm, (joint with O. Slotterbeck).
1985
Invited address at the Mathematical Association of America Sectional Meeting at The University of Akron, Special Session on Scientific Computing, Providing a Complex Number Environment for MACSYMA, (joint with O. Slotterbeck).
1989
Presented a lecture on topic, Computing the Tsirelson Space Norm, at the conference, Computer Aided Proofs in Analysis, University of Cincinnati. Joint with O. Slotterbeck and R. Aron.
1995
Presentation titled QSRA Study of Nucleoside Analogs with Anti-HIV Activity Using Molecular Similarity Analysis and Structure-Activity Maps at the Eighth International Conference on Antiviral Research, Santa Fe New Mexico, April 1995, Joint with C. Tsai, P. Durand, and K. Taylor.
1995
Co-organizer of a special session, Foundations and Mathematical Aspects of Computer Sciences, at the American Mathematical Society regional meeting in Fall 1995.
1995
Invited presentation at the American Chemical Society Annual Conference in Chicago in August 1995 titled QSAR Study of Nucleoside Analogs with Anti-HIV Activity Using Molecular Similarity Analysis and Structural-Activity Maps. Joint with C. Tsai, P. Durand, and K. Taylor.

Selected Editorial and Refereeing Activities:

Since 1991, Baker has served as an editor for Parallel Processing Letters, published by World Scientific Publishers. He has also refereed multiple papers for the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, Parallel and Distributed Systems, Frontiers of Massively Parallel Computation, and the International Conference on Parallel Processing as well as occasional papers from other journals and conferences. He has also served as a referee for a number of advanced textbooks including the following well-known texts: Designing Efficient Algorithms for Parallel Computers by Michael Quinn (McGraw Hill), Artificial Intelligence by Patrick Winston (Addison Wesley), and Artificial Intelligence by Morris Firebaugh (PWS).

Selected Relevant Refereed Publications:

  1. Providing a complex number environment for MACSYMA and VAXIMA, Proceedings of the 1984 MACSYMA Conference, Edited by V. Ellen Golden, General Electric, 39-49, (with Oberta A. Slotterbeck).
  2. A Parallel Production System Extending OPS5, Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on the Frontiers of Massively Parallel Computation, Edited by Joseph JaJa, 1990, 110-118 (with Andrew Miller).

  3. Software for Computing the Tsirelson's Space Norm, Published as Appendix B in Tsirelson's Space by Peter Casazza and Thaddeus Shura, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, 1989, 159-203.
  4. Computing the Tsirelson's Space Norm, Published in Computer Aided Proofs in Analysis, Edited by Kenneth Meyer and Dieter Schmidt, The I.M.A. Volumes in Mathematics and Its Applications, Vol. 28, 1991, 12-21 (with Oberta A. Slotterbeck and Richard Aron).
  5. Embedding the Hypercube into the 3-Dimensional Mesh, Proceedings of the 4th Symposium on the Frontiers of Massively Parallel Computation, 1992, 577-8 (with S. Scott).
  6. A Constant Time Sorting Algorithm for a Three-Dimensional Mesh and Reconfigurable Network, Parallel Processing Letters, accepted, (with Mark S. Merry).
  7. ASC - An Associative Computing Paradigm, Special Issue on Associative Processing, IEEE Computer, Vol. 27, No. 11 (1995), 10,19-25, (with Jerry Potter, Stephen Scott, Arvind Bansal, Chokchai Leangsuksun, and Chandra Asthagiri).
  8. A Constant Time Algorithm for Computing the Hough Transform on a Reconfigurable Mesh, Image and Vision Computing Journal, Accepted, (with Mark Merry).
  9. A Constant Time Algorithm for the Channel Assignment Problem Using the Reconfigurable Mesh, Journal of Parallel Algorithms and Applications, To Appear in Vol. 7, No. 3 & 4, (with Mark Merry).
  10. Solving a Two-Dimensional Knapsack Problem on a Mesh with Multiple Buses, International Conference on Parallel Processing, August 1995, 168-171.
  11. A Parallel Graham Scan Convex Hull Algorithm for the Associative Model, Parallel and Distributed Computing and Systems Conference, October 1995, (with Maher Atwah and Selim Akl).
  12. String Matching Using an Associative Computing Model: Exact Match and Match with Don't Cares, To be submitted, (with Mary Esenwein).

Additional Selected Refereed Publications:

  1. Some uncomplemented subspaces of C(X) of the type C(Y), Studia Mathematica, 36(1970), 85-103.
  2. Compact spaces homeomorphic to a ray of ordinals, Fundamenta Mathematicae, 76(1972), 19-27.
  3. Ordinal subspaces of topological spaces, General Topology and its Applications, 3(1973), 85-91.
  4. Dispersed images of topological spaces and uncomplemented sub- spaces of C(X), Proceedings American Mathematical Society, 41(1973), 309-314.
  5. Projection constants of C(X) spaces with the separable projection property, Proceedings American Mathematical Society, 41(1973), 201-204.
  6. Uncomplemented C(X)-subspaces of C(X), Transactions American Mathematical Society, 186(1973), 1-15.
  7. On the existence and uniqueness theorems of R. C. Pierce for extensions of zero-dimensional compact metric spaces, Studies in Topology, edited by Starvakas and Allen, Academic Press, 1975, 29-42.
  8. Some mappings which do not admit an averaging operator, Pacific Journal Mathematics, 62(1976), 43-47 (with R. C. Lacher).
  9. Averaging operators and C(X)-spaces with the separable projection property, Canadian Journal Mathematics, Vol. 28, No. 5(1976), 897-904 (with John Wolfe).



farrell@mcs.kent.edu