Rodney R. Howell

December, 2021

Educational Background:

Ph.D. Computer Science (May, 1988), University of Texas at Austin
B.S. Computer Science (May, 1984), Wichita State University

Refereeing Activities Performed for:

Transactions on Algorithms, Advances in Petri Nets, Fundamenta Informaticae, Performance Evaluation, Real-Time Systems, IEEE Trans. on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Information Processing Letters, IEEE Trans. in Automatic Control, IEEE Computer, IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering, IEEE Trans. on Computers, Acta Informatica, SIAM Journal on Computing, Real-Time Systems Symposium, International Conference on Distributed Computer Systems, Symposium on Partial Evaluation and Semantics-Based Program Manipulation, International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets, Symposium on Applied Computing, International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems, and ACM Computer Science Conference.

Fellowships and Awards:

Kansas State Scholarship (1980-1984)
McGregor Scholarship (1980-1984)
Microelectronics and Computer Development Fellowship (1984-1986)
GTE Fellowship (1987)

Areas of Research Interest:

Real-Time Systems, Self-stabilization, Petri Nets, Process Planning Networks, Graph Algorithms, Computational Complexity, Theory of Computation, and Temporal Logic

Employment History

1988-present:

Associate Professor, Department of Computing and Information Sciences, Kansas State University.
  • August 2014-present: Undergraduate Programs Director
  • August 2019-June 2020: Special Assistant to the Dean

1988:

Research Fellow, Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.

1986-1988:

Research Assistant, Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.

1985-1987:

Teaching Assistant, Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.

1982-1984:

User Services Consultant, Digital Computing Center, Wichita State University.

1982-1983:

Student Assistant, Computer Science Department, Wichita State University.


M.S. Students:
  1. Muralidhar K. Venkatrao, Date of Completion: June, 1991.
  2. Thiagarajan Rajagopalan, Date of Completion: July, 1993.
  3. Pamela Hsu, Date of Completion: August, 1994.
  4. Xiaodong Wang, Date of Completion: July, 1996.
  5. Yan Zhou, Date of Completion: August, 1997.
  6. Varsha Mahadevan, Date of Completion: December, 2002.
  7. Vineet Tadakamalla, Date of Completion: May, 2011.

Grants and Contracts:

  1. Joint Study Contract Between Hitachi, Ltd., and KSU, (with M. Mizuno), $173,685, January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2008, to conduct research on a real-time operating system and device drivers for control programs for automotive systems.

  2. ``Software Control Laboratory,'' NSF Grant No. DUE-9351911 (with D. Gustafson, M. Calhoun, M. Mizuno, and V. Wallentine), $31,202, with matching funds from KSU, June 1, 1993 - November 30, 1995, to equip a laboratory to be used for programming exercises in several undergraduate courses and for senior-level projects and honors students. The equipment includes two mobile robots, a stationary robotic arm, and other hardware and software support.

Survey Articles:

  1. Feasibility Problems for Recurring Tasks on One Processor (with S. Baruah and L. Rosier), Theoretical Computer Science 118 (1993), pp. 3-20.
  2. Recent Results on the Complexity of Problems Related to Petri Nets (with L. Rosier), Advances in Petri Nets 1987, LNCS 266, pp. 45-72, Rozenberg, G., Ed., (Springer, Berlin, 1987).

Journal Articles/Submissions:

  1. Finite-State Self-Stabilizing Protocols in Message-Passing Systems (with M. Nesterenko and M. Mizuno), Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing 62 (2002), special issue on Self-Stabilizing Distributed Systems, pp. 792-817.
  2. On Non-Preemptive Scheduling of Recurring Tasks Using Inserted Idle Times (with M. Venkatrao), Information and Computation 117 (1995), pp. 50-62.
  3. The Complexity of Problems Concerning Structurally Bounded and Conservative Petri Nets, Information Processing Letters 39 (1991), pp. 309-315.
  4. Bounded Self-Stabilizing Petri Nets (with L. Cherkasova and L. Rosier), Acta Informatica 32 (1995), pp. 189-207. A similar version has appeared in Advances in Petri Nets 1993, LNCS 674, pp. 26-50, Rozenberg, G., Ed., (Springer, Berlin, 1993).
  5. Completeness Results for Single-Path Petri Nets (with P. Jancar and L. Rosier), Information and Computation 106 (1993), pp. 253-265.
  6. Algorithms and Complexity Concerning the Preemptive Scheduling of Periodic, Real-Time Tasks on One Processor (with S. Baruah and L. Rosier), Real-Time Systems 2 (1990), pp. 301-324.
  7. The Instability of Self-Stabilization (with M. Gouda and L. Rosier), Acta Informatica 27 (1990), pp. 697-724.
  8. Normal and Sinkless Petri Nets (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), Journal of Computer and System Sciences 46 (1993), pp. 1-26.
  9. A Taxonomy of Fairness and Temporal Logic Problems for Petri Nets (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), Theoretical Computer Science 82 (1991), pp. 341-372.
  10. Global and Local Views of State Fairness (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), Theoretical Computer Science 80 (1991), pp. 77-104.
  11. Problems Concerning Fairness and Temporal Logic for Conflict-Free Petri Nets (with L. Rosier), Theoretical Computer Science 64 (1989), pp. 305-329. A similar version of this paper has appeared under the title, On Questions of Fairness and Temporal Logic for Conflict-Free Petri Nets, in Advances in Petri Nets 1988, LNCS 340, pp. 200-226, Rozenberg, G., Ed., (Springer, Berlin, 1988).
  12. Completeness Results for Conflict-Free Vector Replacement Systems (with L. Rosier), Journal of Computer and System Sciences 37 (December 1988), pp. 349-366.
  13. An O(n1.5) Algorithm to Decide Boundedness for Conflict-Free Vector Replacement Systems (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), Information Processing Letters 25 (April 1987), pp. 27-33.
  14. Some Complexity Bounds for Problems Concerning Finite and 2-Dimensional Vector Addition Systems with States (with L. Rosier, D. Huynh, and H. Yen), Theoretical Computer Science 46 (1986), pp. 107-140.
  15. An Analysis of the Nonemptiness Problem for Classes of Reversal-Bounded Multicounter Machines (with L. Rosier), Journal of Computer and System Sciences 34 (February 1987), pp. 55-74.

Conference Articles:

  1. Computing First-to-First Propagation Delays Through Sequences of Fixed-Priority Periodic Tasks, in the Proceedings of the 24th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems, pp. 343-352, Pisa, Italy, July 2012.
  2. Propagation Delays in Fixed-Priority Scheduling of Periodic Tasks (with M. Mizuno), in the Proceedings of the 22nd Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems, pp. 219-228, Brussels, Belgium, July 2010.
  3. Using Graph Drawings to Find Short Paths in Large Graphs (with T. Weninger and W. Hsu), in Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Las Vegas, Nevada, July 2009.
  4. Finite-State Self-Stabilizing Protocols in Message-Passing Systems (with M. Nesterenko and M. Mizuno), in the Proceedings of the 19th ICDCS Workshop on Self-Stabilizing Systems, pp. 62-69, Austin, Texas, June 1999.
  5. An Integrated Environment for Feature-Based Design and Process Planning for Turned Components (with S. Sayani, J. Lazcano, and P. Krishnaswami), in the Proceedings of the 22nd Midwest Mechanics Conference, pp. 330-331, Rolla, Missouri, October 1991.
  6. Single-Path Petri Nets (with P. Jancar and L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, LNCS 520, pp. 202-210, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, September 1991.
  7. Bounded Self-Stabilizing Petri Nets (with L. Cherkasova and L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets, pp. 42-61, Gjern, Denmark, June 1991.
  8. On Preemptive Scheduling of Periodic, Real-Time Tasks on One Processor (with S. Baruah and L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, LNCS 452, pp. 173-179, Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia, August 1990.
  9. System Simulation and the Sensitivity of Self-Stabilization (with M. Gouda and L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, LNCS 379, pp. 249-258, Porabka Kozubnik, Poland, August-September 1989. A similar version also appeared under the title, The Instability of Self-Stabilization, in the Proceedings of the MCC Workshop on Self-Stabilizing Systems, MCC Technical Report No. STP-379-89, Michael Evangelist and Shmuel Katz Eds., Austin, Texas, August 1989.
  10. Normal and Sinkless Petri Nets (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), in the Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Fundamentals of Computation Theory, LNCS 380, pp. 234-243, Szeged, Hungary, August 1989.
  11. A Taxonomy of Fairness and Temporal Logic Problems for Petri Nets (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), in the Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, LNCS 324, pp. 351-359, Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia, August, 1988.
  12. Completeness Results for Reachability, Containment, and Equivalence, with Respect to Conflict-Free Vector Replacement Systems (with L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 14th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming, LNCS 267, pp. 509-520, Karlsruhe, West Germany, July 1987.
  13. On Questions of Fairness and Temporal Logic for Conflict-Free Petri Nets (with L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 8th European Workshop on Applications and Theory of Petri Nets, pp. 197-214, Zaragoza, Spain, June 1987.
  14. On the Complexity of Containment, Equivalence, and Reachability for Finite and 2-Dimensional Vector Addition Systems with States (with D. Huynh, L. Rosier, and H. Yen), in the Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science, LNCS 247, pp. 360-370, Passau, West Germany, February 1987.
  15. On Global vs. Local State Fairness (with L. Rosier and H. Yen), in the Proceedings of the 24th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, pp. 721-729, Allerton House, Monticello, Illinois, October 1986.
  16. An Analysis of the Nonemptiness Problem for Classes of Reversal-Bounded Multicounter Machines (with L. Rosier), in the Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, LNCS 233, pp. 422-430, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, August 1986.

Other Papers:

  1. On Asymptotic Notation with Multiple Variables, KSU Technical Report 2007-4 (revised Jan. 18, 2008).

Books:

  1. Algorithms: A Top-Down Approach, World Scientific, 2023, ISBN: 978-981-126-383-5.

Invited Talks:

  1. Scheduling Problems Involving Both Deadlines and Accuracy, Hitachi Central Research Laboratory, August 1, 2008.
  2. Optimal Scheduling and Handling Potential Overload, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, October 28, 1993.
  3. On Nonpreemptive Scheduling of Recurring Tasks Using Inserted Idle Time, The University of Texas at Austin, August 4, 1992.
  4. System Simulation and the Sensitivity of Self-Stabilization, Iowa State University, November 9, 1989.
  5. The Complexity of Problems Concerning Conflict-Free Petri Nets, an interview talk given at the following universities during March and April, 1988:

    Southern Methodist University, Kansas State University, The Wichita State University, State University of New York at Buffalo, Texas A&M, Washington University (St. Louis), and The University of Missouri at Rolla.

Rod Howell (rhowell@ksu.edu)