Williams Professor Receives Grant from National Science Foundation for Work on Software Errors

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Stephen Freund, assistant professor of computer science at Williams College, has been awarded a five-year, $400,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to research "Hybrid Atomicity Checking," a method of searching for bugs in software systems. The grant will enable Freund to develop the infrastructure necessary to carry out his research and support research collaborations with students. This is a Faculty Early Career Development Program grant, the National Science Foundations' most prestigious award in support of early career development, and is awarded to scholar-teachers who most effectively integrate research and education. "Software bugs -- mistakes made by engineers in a program's source code -- plague virtually all computer systems. The effects of bugs can range from relatively minor inconveniences to catastrophic failures," said Freund. "One particularly difficult kind of bug to identify and fix is an atomicity violation." Atomicity violations are caused when separate pieces of a software system improperly access shared resources, such as data or files, at the same time. Such errors do not occur at predictable times and are difficult to recognize and repair during testing. Freund's NSF project, "Hybrid Atomicity Checking," will develop automated tools to find such atomicity errors in software systems. As hybrid checkers, these tools will both inspect software source code and also monitor running programs. The hybrid approach improves their precision and ease-of-use over existing tools, and the overall result is a more cost-effective way to find atomicity bugs. This project builds on earlier atomicity checking work by Freund and his collaborators, which was funded under a joint NSF/NASA program. Freund teaches classes in introductory computer science, advanced programming, principles of programming languages, and compilers. As part of this grant, he plans to integrate recent advances in software engineering, concurrent programming, and software analysis into the courses he teaches. Freund received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. Before coming to Williams, he was a member of the research staff at the Compaq Systems Research Center.
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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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