Lois Wright Hawkes received a BS degree in Pure Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario, an MS degree in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Communications) from the University of London, the Imperial College of Science and Technology. She came to FSU in 1980 and currently holds the rank of Full Professor in the Computer Science Department. While a member of the faculty she was Director of Graduate Studies as well as the co-director of the High-performance Computing & Simulation Research Lab in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. She has been active in university-wide committees as well as supporting women in computing, both locally and nationally. She was awarded the William R. Jones Outstanding (doctoral) Mentor Award in 2004.
Research
Dr. Hawkes research interests relate to the development of fault-tolerant protocols that will support reliable, large data transfers over high-speed WANs. This is in response to the increasing need for high-performance disaster-tolerant networks that allow for the use of backup sites at a significant distance from the main site, thus ensuring a single disaster will not take down both sites. Included in this work are the development of fault-tolerant network protocols, quality of service issues, and reliability in end-to-end performance for the transfer of very large data sets. The corresponding infrastructure must be both cost-effective and robust.
Selected Publications
- Huan-yu Tu, L.W. Hawkes, “Families of Optimal Fault-tolerant Multiple-bus Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Parallel & Distributed Systems, V. 12, No. 1, Jan. 2001, pp 60-73.
- L.W. Hawkes, S.J. Derry, “Advances in Local Student Modeling using Informal Fuzzy Reasoning,” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Dec. 1996, 45(6), pp 697-722.
- L.W. Hawkes, “Combinatorial Filing Schemes with Fewer Buckets, and Improved Redundancy and Construction Characteristics,” Information Sciences, an International Journal, Nov. 1992, 65(1&2), pp 99-122.
