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Last updated: Dec 2008
pdf version available upon request

Alix L.H. Chow
Computer Science Department
University of Southern California
Email: lhchow at usc dot edu


Research Interests
  • Peer-to-Peer data dissemination systems
  • Distributed multimedia streaming systems
  • Overlay and peer-to-peer networks
  • Computer and network security

Education
  • Ph.D. Candidate
    (USC Annenberg Graduate Fellow)
    Computer Science
    University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA
    Thesis: "QoS-based Design of Distributed Data Distribution and Streaming Systems"
    Advisor: Professor Leana Golubchik
    GPA: 4.00

    		•  Aug 2003 - Present
  • Master of Philosophy
    Computer Science and Engineering
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong
    Thesis: "Dynamic Control and Adaptation of Multi-path Multimedia Streaming"
    Advisor: Professor John C.S. Lui
    GPA: 3.96         Major GPA: 3.98

    		•  Sep 2001 - Aug 2003
  • Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honor)
    Computer Engineering
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong
    GPA: 3.67         Major GPA: 3.88

    		•  Sep 1998 - Jun 2001
Awards/Honors
  • USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship

    		•  2007 - 2008
  • Croucher Foundation Scholarship

    		•  2003 - 2006
  • The Best Teaching Assistant Award, CSE Department, CUHK

    		•  2002
  • Excellent Teaching Assistantship, CSE Department, CUHK

    		•  2001, 2002
  • Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship

    		•  2001
  • First Class Honor Graduate, CUHK

    		•  2001
  • Chung Chi College Scholarship, CUHK

    		•  2001
  • EPSON Foundation Scholarship

    		•  2000
  • Dr. Lu Chung-Lin Memorial Scholarship

    		•  1999
  • Dean's List, Faculty of Engineering, CUHK

    		•  1999, 2000, 2001
  • Dean's List, Chung Chi College, CUHK

    		•  1999, 2000, 2001
Research Experiences
(Please refer to the Research page for details of the research projects)
  • Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Streaming, USC
    • Examine existing P2P streaming approaches
    • Propose schemes that i) provide upload incentives, ii) improve overall system QoS, and iii) provide high quality experience

  • Improving BitTorrent (BT), USC

       Seeding Capacity
    • Propose models to study the effect of seeds and free-riders in BT
    • First work on modeling both seeds and free-riders
    • Propose schemes to better utilize the seeding capacity which i) improve the system performance, and ii) discourage free-riders
    • Evaluate our schemes through extensive experiments

       Multi-Torrent
    • Study the benefits and incentives for nodes to stay-around as seeds in BT
    • Propose cross-torrent based schemes to encourage nodes to stay-around as seeds
    • Evaluate our schemes through extensive experiments

  • Multi-Tree-Based Streaming, USC
    • Evaluate the delay characteristics and buffer space requirements in multi-tree-based streaming
    • Propose tree construction algorithms that are collision free and achieve perfect load balance
    • Propose dynamic adaption algorithm to allow node churn
    • Develop a multi-tree-based streaming simulator
    • Perform extensive experiments to evaluate our algorithms

  • Multi-Path Streaming, CUHK and USC
    • Propose models to evaluate the benefits of multi-path streaming
    • Extend the models to reflect the load-dependent path loss characteristics
    • Develop a multi-path streaming simulator using CSIM
    • Perform extensive experiments (including NS2 simulations)
    • Design and implement a GUI-enabled prototype multi-path streaming system, used extensively in demos for IMSC

Publications
Employment
  • Graduate Level Co-op, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
    The Next Generation Distributed Systems Department

    		•  May 2008 - Aug 2008
  • Research Assistant, Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC), USC



    		•  Aug 2008 - Dec 2008
    May 2007 - Aug 2007
    Aug 2006 - Dec 2006
  • Teaching Assistant, Computer Science Department, USC
    CSCI 558L - "Internetworking and Distributed Systems Laboratory"

    		•  Jan 2007 - May 2007
  • Teaching Assistant, Computer Science Department, USC
    CSCI 599 - "Applied Cryptography"

    		•  Aug 2006 - Dec 2006
  • Teaching Assistant, CSE Department, CUHK
    CEG 4430 - "Distributed Systems and Networks"

    		•  Jan 2003 - May 2003
  • Teaching Assistant, CSE Department, CUHK
    CSC 5470 - "Computer and Network Security"

    		•  Aug 2002 - Dec 2002
  • Teaching Assistant, CSE Department, CUHK
    CSC 4430 - "Distributed Systems and Networks"

    		•  Jan 2002 - May 2002
  • Teaching Assistant, CSE Department, CUHK
    CSC 3150 - "Introduction to Operating System"

    		•  Aug 2001 - Dec 2001
  • Research Assistant, CSE Department, CUHK

    		•  Jun 2001 - Aug 2001
Released Software
  • Reliable Multimedia Streaming Server Plus (RMSS+)
    Server and Client Software Package for Performing Dynamic Multicasting of Multimedia Content

References
  • Professor Leana Golubchik
    Associate Chair, Department of Computer Science
    University of Southern California
    Los Angeles, CA 90089
    Phone: (213) 740-4524, Fax: (213) 740-7285
    Email: leana at cs dot usc dot edu

  • Professor Vishal Misra
    Department of Computer Science
    Columbia University
    New York, NY 10027
    Phone: (212) 939-7061, Fax: (212) 666-0140
    Email: misra at cs dot columbia dot edu

  • Professor John C.S. Lui
    Chair, Department of Computer Science & Engineering
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong
    Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong
    Phone: (852) 2609-8442, Fax: (852) 2603-5024
    Email: cslui at cse dot cuhk dot edu dot hk


© alix - 2008