From left to right are: Jason Chong Lee, Virginia Tech graduate student; Hari Pulijal, Meridium vice president of product development; Scott McCrickard, Virginia Tech associate professor of computer science; Todd Stevens, Meridium development team leader.
Scott McCrickard, associate professor of computer science (CS) at Virginia Tech, and Todd Stevens, development team leader, Meridium, Inc., the leader in asset performance management software and consulting solutions, recently received a National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer grant of $150,000 for the first phase of a software research and development project called “Integrating scenario-based usability engineering and agile software development practices.”
“Usability engineering” focuses on how to design interfaces that meet the end user’s needs in terms of utility, efficiency and ease of use. “Agile software development” is an approach to software engineering that utilizes highly collaborative teams working in an iterative development process to deliver software that meets the changing needs of customers. “Often, agile teams develop software without considering usability, resulting in software systems that meet functional, budgetary and scheduling requirements but which can be difficult or frustrating for end users,” McCrickard said.
This research project will identify key interactions, communication mechanisms and design representations that can enable the successful integration of usability into agile processes. Stevens said Meridium’s goal is to deliver more usable, value-added software to customers, and the company hopes to foster a closer, more effective collaboration, thus helping to reduce the need for excessive customer support calls and improve customer satisfaction and retention.
Jason Chong Lee, a Virginia Tech Ph.D. candidate who is working part-time at Meridium, will help plan and coordinate this joint effort as a component of his dissertation work.
“We see this as a unique opportunity to apply and further our goal of developing ways to integrate usability engineering models and techniques into an agile software development environment,” said McCrickard. “We look forward to continuing collaborations with Meridium as we work to strengthen ties between research and industry to foster the mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge and experience.”
To better support the research project and to leverage Virginia Tech’s expertise in software development and risk management, Meridium has opened an office in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center, a growing research park for high-technology companies. The new Meridium office in Blacksburg will host both Virginia Tech interns as well as full time Meridium employees engaged in a variety of software development projects.
“I'm happy to be working with the Virginia Tech faculty on an important aspect of software engineering. It is my hope that, in securing this grant and opening a Meridium office in Blacksburg, we will have more opportunities for collaboration with the Virginia Tech computer science, as well as other departments', faculty. I am currently engaging some other faculty members in discussions about potential research areas and topics, as well as other collaboration mechanisms," said Stevens, a Virginia Tech Ph.D. alumnus.
According to Bonz Hart, president and chief executive oficer of Meridium, “We’re pleased to be working with a top-tier university like Virginia Tech on this important research. We have been moving toward this type of relationship with Virginia Tech’s Computer Science Department for years. We’re looking forward to generating new ideas, sharing knowledge, building experience and connecting academics with industry to find creative and innovative ways of working with our software to solve problems for the clients and industries we serve.”
About Meridium, Inc.
Meridium, Inc. is the leader in asset performance management solutions for process, power, mining and discrete manufacturing industries. With Meridium software and services, companies can improve profitability and achieve predictable production capacity without additional capital expense by increasing reliability and improving the performance of their production assets. Industry leaders such as Eastman, Lyondell, Marathon Petroleum and Xcel Energy rely on Meridium for enterprise wide asset performance. Founded in 1993, Meridium is headquartered in Roanoke, Va., USA, with regional offices in Houston, Texas, USA; Dubai, UAE; Walldorf, Germany; and Perth, Australia. For more information, visit www.meridium.com
About the CS department at Virginia Tech
The Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech (www.cs.vt.edu) was established in 1971 and is part of the College of Engineering (www.eng.vt.edu), the premier engineering school in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The college has a history of innovation, including cost-effective supercomputing (System X) and entrepreneurial research innovation, leading to three new buildings for research in critical technologies and applied science.
The Department of Computer Science is distinguished by interdisciplinary research in high-end computing systems, computational biology and bioinformatics, and human-computer interaction as well as core areas in computing. The graduate program, offering M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Blacksburg and at the Northern Virginia Center, was ranked among the top 30 programs as measured by the most recent study of Ph.D.s awarded. The graduates of the accredited undergraduate program are highly sought by industry and well prepared for further study.