Robert Marmorstein Associate Professor Department of (Math and) Computer Science Longwood University Rotunda 329 Tel: (434)395-2185 My public key.

Classes

Assignments, syllabi, and class notifications can be accessed by following the links below. If you are a student in one of my classes, you should check the course web site at least once a week to be sure that you have not missed an important announcement (a new due date, for instance).

About me

About my family

Beth and I were married in 2004. She taught high school math until our daughter was born, but is now very happy to be a stay-at-home mom. She does lots of sewing, knitting, and even a little programming. She is also really awesome at setting up phone and Ethernet networks. We have four terrific children, Abby, Ric, Caspian, and Peter, who we homeschool.

My mom keeps a blog here and my Dad has a set of really neat presentations on different topics here.

How to get (at least) a B in my classes

If you plan to pass my courses, there are four things that you absolutely need to do. Computer Science isn't a magical skill that some people are born with and others aren't. If you work hard at these four things, you will almost always be able to earn at least a "B" in my class. If you don't, you will probably not pass the course. They may seem kind of obvious, but most students who fail my classes do so because they did not keep up in one of these four areas.

Show up for class on time

The book and other class resources are helpful, but usually are not enough to get you a passing grade in my class. It is very important to show up for each class so that you can make sure of getting ALL the material. Furthermore, if you don't show up for class, you are likely to miss assignments. I give unannounced pop quizzes, so if there is a good reason you must miss class, be sure to clear it with me ahead of time.

Take notes in class

Not only will taking notes help you stay awake, it will provide you with another resource to use for exam review. You don't need to write down everything I say (and shouldn't try!), but it is probably a good idea to copy down any definitions, theorems, examples, or blocks of code I write on the board.

Complete assignments on time

Late work really hurts your grade and makes it harder to keep up with the rest of the class. In computer science, the material tends to start easy and get increasingly difficult as the semester progresses. If you get behind, it can be very hard to catch up. Late work also makes my life much harder, so if you don't get an assignment to me on time, expect to earn a zero.

Take advantage of office hours

If you're really stuck on something, ask me about it. I won't do your work for you, but a lot of the time I can point you to a solution or help you understand what you missed. Even if you're not stuck on something, swing by my office from time to time. I enjoy hanging out with students and will show you something cool we didn't have time cover in class or play a game of chess with you. Getting to know you outside of class is especially helpful for writing letters of recommendation when you graduate and need help finding a job. It's hard to be a reference for a student you only see in class. If I have a better idea of your plans and interests, I'm much more likely to think of you when internship or scholarship opportunities arise. Finally, being in my office when OTHER students have questions can help you "get" something you didn't even realize you'd misunderstood.

Research

Whether or not you plan to go to grad school, a research project can be a great way to develop important logical, writing, and technical skills. It also looks great on a resume! Doing research on a topic you are interested in helps you develop marketable skills in that area and build a deeper understanding of that topic. If you are interested in pursuing a research project in operating systems, security, formal methods, or system administration, shoot me an e-mail or drop by my office to talk about setting up a directed study course.

Current and ongoing research projects

• Supporting environmental science research using Arduino(with the Longwood Environmental Observatory)
• Educational tools for course management
• Testing firewall policies against a formal specification

Past research projects

• Construction of an arcade kiosk to support interdisciplinary research projects (with Eric Whitehead and Charles Smith)
• Making Binary Search faster in the average case (with Elizabeth Cho)
• Designing the world's best compile farm
• Using open source to teach software engineering concepts
• Defenses against (and analysis of) e-mail address harvesting using poisoned addresses (with Daniel Oppecker, Damian Bailey, Andrew Armes, Claire Keith, Cameron Rinaldi, and Laurence Kelly)
• Constructing cheap devices for improving wireless reception (with Kyle Sachs)
• Configuring a Linux Cluster (with Andrew Parker)
• Development of highly efficient algorithms for performing arbitrary precision arithmetic (with Nick Pastore)
• Comparison of structured text files for Data Deduplication (with Matthew Gaines and Amanda Buckley)
• Active Learning in an upper-level Networking Course
• VoIP configuration and installation (with Luke Acree)
• Debugging Tools for Graphical Applications (with Michael Souza)
• Linux Kernel Driver Development for a USB nerf missile launcher (with Charlie Trainum)
• Adapting Linux firewall polices to XML (with Nathan Welch)

Ideas for future research

Here are some ideas for undergraduate research projects:

• Benchmarking Linux and Cisco QOS implementations
• Integrating open-source applications with Akonadi
• Development of better open-source parental control software
• Development of firewall testing and debugging tools
• Parallelizing algorithms which have mathematical or scientific significance
• Automation of tasks on the web and on graphical desktops
• Integrating intrusion detection tools with package management systems

Publications

Here are some of my research publications. They can give you a good idea of which topics I have been working on recently:

Do not send e-mail to these addresses:
Marcus Smith: kko2175@pamplinhealth.blogsite.org
Marcus Smith: gka2176 AT pamplinhealth DOT blogsite DOT org
Marcus Smith: gro.etisgolb.htlaehnilpmap@7712luu
Marcus Smith: rqd21#78@p#am#plinhea#l#th.b#log#si#te#.o#r#g#