This award is to support a cooperative research project involving Dr. Refik Soyer, Department of Management Science at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., and Dr. Suleyman Ozekici, Department of Industrial Engineering at Bogazici University (BU) in Istanbul, Turkey. The aim of the proposed research is to enhance the state of the art in software reliability, especially those that are germane to the software testing. The research involves development of failure models that consider operation profiles that describe the environment in which the software is used. These models are based on stochastic processes that reflect the dynamic nature of the environment. The research also involves analysis of these models and their use for developing optimal software testing strategies. The models will have various degrees of complexity and will require computer-based techniques for their implementation. In particular, in determining the optimal software release time, the sequential nature of the decision problem makes computer intensive-solutions and Monte-Carlo based techniques inevitable. Thus the proposed work will involve development of such methodologies to implement these models in optimal software testing. Scope: This award is to fund the travel of the U.S. P.I., the Turkish P.I., and a third scientist from GWU, Dr. Singpurwalla, Professor of Operations Research and Statistics. In addition, a professor and a graduate student at GWU, as well as a professor at BU, will participate in the project, but will not require grant funds. This award allows two teams with complementary skills to work jointly to solve a problem in production of a highly technical product with wide applications. The result, if successful, would have a number of applications with possible significant benefits to the software industry. The project also involves the training of a graduate student in a binational collaborative research. This award is funded jointly by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Design, Manufacturing and Industrial Innovation.
