The demand for network services is growing at an exceptional rate. This growing demand requires that the necessary infrastructure be developed to facilitate rapid and easy access to vast, distributed information stores. The focus of this research is the essential base technologies required to make distributed information systems generally useful. Specifically, this research includes: high performance file system design and analysis, rotationally optimal disk scheduling, and distributed caching data. The research will result in a high-performance, distributed information server, utilizing new file system techniques, advanced disk scheduling algorithms, and caching based upon network topological location (geographical push-caching). The file system design borrows the essential characteristics of today's log-structured and journaling file systems, combining them with adaptive, rotationally optimized disk scheduling techniques. New caching techniques designed for scalability enhance the file system's feasibility by reducing user-perceived latency for distributed requests. The teaching component emphasizes curriculum development for both computer science concentrators and non-concentrators and training programs for undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants. For concentrators, the focus on undergraduate curriculum complements Harvard's commitment to the establishment of a strong computer systems research group. Undergraduate courses have been and will continue to be modified to incorporate the fundamental concepts in an area, the classic literature, and research activities. This combination of class activities is the cornerstone for producing undergraduates who can fully participate in ongoing research projects. For non-concentrators, the introductory computer science sequence has been modified to emphasize design and problem solving skills over programming mechanics. Future developments will extend this idea still further with the development of an introductory design course. The course is intended to serve both as a common ground for computer science and engineering concentrators as well as a broad introduction for non-concentrators. The focus of the graduate curriculum development is on the application of the scientific method to systems research. Students are asked to critique published work, design experimental evaluation platforms, analyze and critique data sets, and produce quality research. The last aspect of the teaching proposal is the development of teaching assistant training seminars. Professor Seltzer has been working closely with the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, participating in their workshops and presenting panels and seminars with her teaching assistants. The orientation procedure she has developed will be enhanced so that it will be suitable for teaching assistants in all compute science classes, and potentially other fields.
