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Mei-Ling Liu
Assistant Professor
 
Department of Computer Science, 
 Cal Poly, 
 San Luis Obispo, CA 

Mei-Ling Liu joined Cal Poly as an Assistant Professor
of Computer Science in Fall, 1994.  She received her
B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from Iowa State
University and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the
University of California Santa Barbara.  She is also the
holder of an M.B.A. from Cal Poly.

Her primary research interest is in replication of data
in distributed systems. However, she has a wide range
of areas of interest and is involved in supervising a
number of student projects whose topics range from net-
work management to database applications to fault-tolerant
client-server protocols.  Ms. Liu is actively interested
in developing student-participating projects that are
sponsored by corporations and/or the National Science
Foundation.  Currently, she has received campus-level
grants to conduct research in the area of fault-tolerant,
scalable replication of servers on wide-area networks.

Office:  14-208
Phone:   (805) 756-1100
Fax:     (805) 756-2956
Address: Computer Science Department 
         California Polytechnic State University
E-mail:  mliu@csc.calpoly.edu
         See my .plan file on galaxy@csc.calpoly.edu for current 
           schedule.

Courses:
 
CSc118 Fundamentals of Computer Science  


 
CSc404 Computer Networks

CSc347 Introduction to Database Systems

Projects:

Shawn Fang, master thesis

Topic: A resilient information server model. Shinji Yaguma, Fall 1994-present, senior project. Topic: A graphic tutorial for medium access protocols. Susana Mora, Winter 1995-present, senior project. Topic: A report on network management. Tri Do, Linh Tran, Trung Trinh, senior project, Winter95 - present. Topic: ``Housing Management System Project". Jeff Benton, senior project, Spring 1995-present. Topic: A database implementation project for the campus' Audio-Visual Alarm System. Amie Kim, senior project, Winter 1995-present. Topic: An on-line operational procedure using Lotus Notes. Jason Pischer, senior project, Spring 1995-present Topic: A database application for problem tracking at Arcada. Glen Kang, master thesis, Spring 1995-present. Topic: A simulation model for the fault-tolerant replicated server project. Patrica Flores, senior project, Spring 1995 - present. Topic: A database application for a campus club. Oliver Stoll, master thesis, Fall95 - ? Topic: Protocols for scalably replicated servers on a wide-area network. Joseph Hoang, senior project, Summer 1995 - ? Topic: Client-server application. Edik Sarkissian, senior project, Summer 1995-? Topic: Information Server on the Internet. Rob Willhoite, Interactive Learning Group funded project, Summer 95 - Winter 96 Topic: A multimedia study guide to data communication.

MBONE

A multicast channel on the Internet for real-time distribution of audio and video information. Two students are investigating setting up a Cal Poly MBONE facility on an experimental basis, and studying the effect and performance of the facility.

Project Ideas:

Data Network Tutorial

Implement a graphical tutorial on various introductory data network topics such as medium access control, flow control, error control, layer architecture, and multiplexing. Use HTML and graphic display.

MBONE

A multicast channel on the Internet for real-time distribution of audio and video information. Need student(s) to investigate linking Cal Poly to this facility on an experimental basis, and study the effect and performance of the facility.

Network Noise Simulator

Provide the use of a unix program to simulate a network environment where noise is present. There are existing packages (the troll, garbler) that other campuses have used. We can borrow from these. The idea is to make such a package available for CSc404/405 projects.

C++ network application frameworks

Investigate ACE, a C++ framework package implemented by Doug Schmidt. Port the package to one of our machines and use it to implement a communication system.

ATM implementation

Implement ATM on top of UDP. c or c++ programming. Good project to understand the ATM protocol and the principles of cell-relay.

Information Retrieval

Provide an information discovery system for Cal Poly. Many such existing systems are available on the Internet. Need student(s) to install such software, and study the effectiveness and performance of these systems. For master students: studying of the protocols uses and otpimization of these protocols are good projects.

Alumni database system

Help implement an interactive database system for the College of Engineering to obtain and extract data from our alumni. Need students who can implement user-friendly interface, database queries and reports.

Information Security

Study the facilities available for information security on the Internet. Port the PGP (Pretty Good Priviacy) package to a Poly system, study it, and explain how to use it.

Networking mobile hosts

Study and implement protocols for supporting portable hosts on a network. Routing, message distribution, security, and reliability are some of the issues of interest.

Database Implementation

Implement a database to be used in small libraries and career centers, using Microsoft Access and a touch-screen interface.

mliu@cs.calPoly.edu