Research
My doctoral research involved the inverting of multifrequency eddy current data into an electrical conductivity profile. The technique is useful in (among other things) studying solidification processes in casting metals and growing semiconductor crystals. Dr. Wallace left the University of Minnesota to start the Casting Analysis Corporation, which specializes in computer-controlled electromagnetic testing equipment. I have continued working with him on applying eddy current testing to solidification processes.
Independent of my work with Casting Analysis, my current work is divided into three areas: computer ethics, accessible computing and the pedagogy of first year programming courses.
I have studied the attitudes that college students have regarding the copying of copyrighted software and music. I have publised four papers on the topic, one with the late Dr. Allan Ashley of the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business, and I am currently working on another paper with Dr. Salvatore Petrilli.
I am studying computing issues that affect the blind. I have created a scripting language for the blind and visually impaired to use to simplify the task of creating Visual BASIC forms. My students and I developed a tool to examine web pages for accessibilty by the disabled (although the blind are our highest priority) and are using it to see how accessible the home pages of United States colleges and universities are.
I have updated the Reid List of First Programming Languages, which was originally compiled by Richard Reid of Michigan State University and later updated by Frances Van Scoy of West Virginia University. My students and I updated it in 2011 and 2015. The most recent survey also covered second programming courses, usually known as CS2 courses. Dr. Katherine Herbert-Berger of Montclair State University, Dr. Kees Leune and I are working on a paper on this subject.
Since Dr. Chays, Dr. Leune and I have published with Dr. Katherine Herbert-Berger, we now have an Erdos number of 4:
Paul Erdos - Charles Joseph Colbourn and Patrick Eugene O'Neil - Dennis Shasha - Katherine Herbert-Berger - Robert M. Siegfried, David Chays and Kees Leune
Having collaborated with Dr. Chays, Dr. Leune and Dr. Herbert-Berger, I have three separate paths to a Dijkstra number of 5:
Edsger Dijkstra - Richard J. Lipman - Paul Ammann - Phyllis G. Frankl - David Chays - Robert M. Siegfried
Edsger Dijkstra - Richard J. Lipman - Calton Pu - Mike P. Papazoglou - Kees Leune - Robert M. Siegfried
Edsger Dijkstra - Wim H. J.Feijen - David Gries - Narain H. Gehani - Katherine G. Herbert-Berger - Robert M. Siegfried