News

Distinguished Lecture on "Role-based Collaboration"

On November 19, 2009, Professor MengChu Zhou from New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, delivered a distinguished lecture on “Role-based Collaboration” at Northrop Grumman Corp., Redondo Beach, CA. The topic is highly interesting. It caused hot discussions between him and several engineers who had undertook and/or were presently undertaking complex software-hardware system projects requiring intensive collaborative efforts not only among attendees but also among participating companies. Dr. Zhou’s research on role-based collaboration and resulting methodologies and tools can potentially break the Brooks’ law. Frederick P. Brooks is the father of the IBM System/360. His law states that “Adding personnel to a late software project makes it even later”. The participants of his lecture further indicate that “Adding personnel to any late project makes it even later”. Dr. Zhou also outlined the potential impact of role-based collaboration theory on new programming languages and efficient software development methodologies.

Collaboration is a common activity in a society of people. Collaboration means to work together. It commonly mentions joint intellectual work. It is inferred that collaboration or group work is required when one single person cannot complete a whole task. Computer-based systems are tools to extend the abilities for people to work. They should not only provide virtual environments or platforms for people to work but also provide more technologies and mechanisms to improve their work. Clear role specification and related mechanisms play an essential role in developing intelligent collaborative systems. Dr. Zhou’s presentation helps clarify the concept of roles and role-based collaboration and answers the following questions: What do we mean by roles in collaboration? Why do we need them? How can we support them? What are their implications in software engineering?

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.

Dr. Zhou’s distinguished lecture clearly arose the engineers’ interests in the research and application of role-based collaboration and helped the recruitment for IEEE members. Dr. Zhou was the third top recruiter in the Northeastern USA Region in 2009. He is serving as a member of Board of Governors of IEEE SMC Society, Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Part A, and Editor of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering. He has been a Fellow of IEEE since 2003.

Submitted by:

| IEEE HOME | IEEE WEB ACCOUNTS | IEEE XPLORE | SMC SOCIETY | CONTACT IEEE |
IEEE Office 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor New York, New York 10016-5997 U.S.A. Tel: +1 212 419 7900 Fax: +1 212 752 4929