NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION - RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES

Computational Physiology Lab, University of Houston, Houston, TX - Summer 2009

• Developed computer game engine prototype for use in laboratory experiments and research efforts of Dr. Dvijesh Shastri.
• Produced two-dimensional graphical animations using Apple's CoreAnimation technology.
• Unlocked cutting-edge solution to transform the iPhone into a powerful game controller.

INTERN DEVELOPER

InfoWorks Inc., Nashville, TN - Summer 2007, 2008

Summer 2008

• Developed reports using Crystal Reports XI and 2008 for the State of Tennessee.
• Worked as part of a team of business analysts and developers.
• Constructed tables and imported data into an Oracle 10g database.
• Researched, streamlined, and documented import process from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to Oracle 10g database tables. This strategy increased productivity of developers by approximately 30 minutes per database table.

Summer 2007

• Developed a mid-sized database and custom web application using Microsoft SQL Server 2005, ASP.NET, and C# for a major university.
• Worked with business analyst and developer as a three member team.
• Attended requirements and status meetings with client and business analyst.
• Application met client's goals: to update and optimize business processes/workflow.

JAVA PROGRAMMING TUTOR

Nashville, TN Spring 2008

• Tutored students of Belmont University’s upper level computer programming classes.
• Helped students solve programming problems and understand the steps required to achieve solutions.

TECHNICAL LAB ASSISTANT

Belmont University, Nashville, TN Spring 2007- Fall 2007

• Maintained lab computers.
• Updated Norton Ghost hard drive images for use with Deep Freeze ("reboot and restore" software).
• Maintained Linux based web server, MySQL database server, and file server.

Spring 2009 Sneak Preview ...

Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium Abstract:
“Sniffica: Wireless Network Detection and Coverage Map Generation for the iPhone”

Ross Buffington
Faculty Advisor: Dr. William Hooper

As technology and society become increasingly mobile, it is essential to develop new tools for analyzing our environment. For a mobile individual to stay connected to the Internet, they must know where to find wireless networks. In many situations, a geographical map of wireless network coverage would suffice.

Sniffica is a native application for the iPhone, developed in the Objective-C programming language. Its purpose is to collect wireless network beacons and GPS coordinates, and then use this data to calculate the locations and ranges of wireless access points. This information is then represented on a geographical map of the individual’s surroundings.

A further application of Sniffica is its use in pinpointing areas of interference between competing wireless access points. By generating and analyzing a coverage map, a network administrator could detect and remove rogue access points as well as minimize wireless network interference, thereby improving their organization’s network infrastructure.

Discipline: Computer Science

 

Fall 2008 "Objective-C and the iPhone"

Abstract: The Objective-C computer programming language was influenced by C and SmallTalk. It is now the foundation of Apple's Mac OS X operating system as well as the iPhone. By diving deep into the language, I hoped to learn more about Object Oriented architechure and development. See my Introduction to the Objective-C Programming Language.

As a result of my research, I developed an iPhone application with my research partner, Will Proffitt. The application is called Belmont WIFI and its purpose is to help students of Belmont University connect and authenticate with the school's WIFI system.

We were also featured online and in the printed version of The Belmont Vision (Belmont University's newspaper)

 

Spring 2008 “WEP (In)Security”

Abstract: As more computer networks make the migration to wireless, many factors come into play. Among these, two requirements take a high priority: data encryption and network authentication. One of the first attempts to satisfy these requirements for the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard is known as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP).

In 2001, Scott Fluhrer, Itsik Mantin, and Adi Shamir released research detailing a catastrophic weakness in the RC4 encryption algorithm of WEP. By collecting enough data packets and extracting their unique initialization vectors (IVs), the encryption key can be computed statistically with near perfect accuracy.

With a basic knowledge of computer programming, the Linux terminal, and wireless networking, anyone can successfully gain unauthorized access to a WEP protected network and the traffic therein. Because attacks on wireless networks are easy to execute and relatively untraceable, a strong data encryption method is of utmost importance. Therefore, businesses, schools, and even common households should pursue alternatives to WEP encryption. (Full Paper)

 

Spring 2007 “Artificially Intelligent Game Play with Connect Four”

Abstract: Connect Four is a popular game in which two players compete to “connect” four of their respective pieces in a line (vertical, horizontal, diagonal). The game board size is 6 rows X 7 columns. This game has been the subject of a great amount of analysis including a master’s thesis by Victor Allis of Vrije University.

The program, SAMSON, was written in the Java programming language in order to solve this game, acting as a virtual opponent. SAMSON has the ability to implement a variety of artificially intelligent search algorithms to find the best possible move at any given game state. This list includes a very effective search algorithm known as the Limited Depth First Search. To determine whether a future game state is better than others, SAMSON uses a heuristic function, which analyzes the board and finds “almost finished” lines. These perspective game states are assigned a score based on how many possible, winning lines they have.