Harry Hochheiser

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Towson University

7800 York Road, Room 425
Towson, MD 21252
Phone: 410 704 3090, Fax: 410 704 3868
hhochheiser@towson.edu

Research

My research interests include (but are not limited to): information visualization, bioinformatics, usability, and the social impact of computers. Specific projects include:

The Open Microscopy Environment, an international project aimed at providing data models, data storage, and user tools for supporting high-content digital microscopy.

My dissertation work focused on Interactive Query Specification for Time-Series Data. This project was profiled in an article in ComputerWorld.

Other interests and past work include bioinformatics visualization, empircial studies of menu interfaces in web environments, universal usability, interactive analysis of web log files, and the social implications of privacy protocols.

Many of my publications are available electronically.

I am currently accepting both undergraduate and graduate students interested in conducting independent studies, research projects, and thesis/dissertation work. Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

Integration of advanced visualization tools and biological model organism databases.
Menu selection task performance for blind users of screen readers
Advanced interfaces for annotation and user-oriented categorization of biological images
Accessible security tools
Energy conservation and computer usage.

Please contact me if you are interested in any of these areas.

Classes

Fall 2008:

COSC 237

COSC 617

Previous Semesters:

Spring 2008: COSC 237, COSC 605
Fall 2007: COSC 236 sections 002 and 004, COSC 617
Spring 2007:COSC 236, COSC 686
Fall 2006:COSC 236,COSC 483

Computers and Policy

I am interested in the public policy implications of computing technologies. Some of my activities in this area:

The U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery (Executive Committee member since 2005). Most recently, I helped draft an ACM report on statewide voter registration databases.

I co-founded the ACM SIGCHI US Public Policy Committee, which is working to bring HCI expertise to bear on US public policy issues.

I have been a member of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for many years, including two terms as a member of the board of directors (1997-2003), and participation in the board advisory council since fall 2005.

This work has led to a variety of mentions in the press.

Education

Ph.D. (May 2003), Computer Science, University of Maryland

B.S.,M.S. (1991), Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

My C.V.

This "Last-updated" sentence was last updated on May 22, 2008