Executive Summary

Research
There are several ways in which academics can engage with MSRA for research opportunities. These include Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued by MSR Redmond, Invitations for Proposals (IFPs) issued by MSRA and ad hoc "opportunity" proposals. "Opportunity" proposals are generated by academics whose areas of expertise map to the MSRA research areas and who are regarded as thought leaders in these areas. MSRA or MSR Redmond research managers review these proposals and make decision on their suitability and relevance. Academics who respond to IFPs are invited to attend a workshop where many of the academics would present their proposals and discuss the potential impact generated by their work.

Curriculum
Curriculum innovation is to meet the demand of the academic community and to help evolve the higher education in computing. MSRA encourages the advancement of curriculums in computer science, electronic engineering and related disciplines and works with academics to improve teaching content and explore innovative teaching methodologies.

Academics who respond to IFPs are invited to attend a follow up workshop to showcase their innovative ideas and share their curriculum innovation. All academics are encouraged to place their curriculum notes and classroom slides on a public web site and final curriculum materials are usually uploaded into the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) repository.

Talent Fostering
Fellowship: Students are our future for academia and industry. We all should play a role in providing opportunities for students to excel and show their potential. The MSRA Fellowship program provides PhD students in the early years of their doctorate with the opportunity for a fund award together with an internship at MSRA. These Fellowships are very competitive across universities. Each student recommended for consideration, is evaluated based on his/her academic record, soft skills, publications, and supporting letters of recommendation from his/her academic supervisors.

Internship: With MOU for Strategic Cooperation between Korea MOE and Microsoft Korea, MSRA cooperates to provide internship program at MSRA and MSR Redmond for Korean students in higher education. MSR Asia Internship program is to contribute to talent development by providing a practical platform and the best opportunities to widen students' horizon of knowledge and to enhance their academic and professional skills. MSRA Internship program is designed and administrated to nurture young research talent for research community in the region or worldwide by helping foster outstanding students at graduate levels from Computer Science and Electronic Engineering of the top research universities.

Academic Exchange
MSRA is committed to develop strategic relationships with all levels of academics. We ensure that academics are aware of the various methods of engagement with MSRA and the ways in which their students can also benefit from these engagements. Faculty Summits held by MSR Redmond and MSRA are excellent opportunities for academics who want to find out more about Microsoft and the various engagement models. MSRA is also given the opportunity to invite senior academics to TechFest event held annually in Redmond, WA.

Research Collaboration

There are a number of ways in which academics can experience collaborative research opportunities with Microsoft. These include the following with a brief explanation and some examples:

• Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued by MSR Redmond, External Research and Programs

These RFPs are global and generally state the fund and the expected number of awards that will be made. In the past Professor Beom Soo Kim, Graduate School of Information of YONSEI University won an award for "Trustworthy Computing Curriculum 2006 Request for Proposals".

• Invitations for Proposals (IFPs) or "Theme" projects issued by MSR Asia

During the 2005 and 2006 calendar year, MSRA offered opportunities for academics to participate in "Theme Projects". These Theme Projects were in the areas of Trustworthy Computing and Gaming and Graphics. Awards for Research submissions were made to the following:

Gaming & Graphics:  

• Professor Jehee Lee, Seoul National University - "Animating Game Characters using Motion Capture Data in Large-Scale Virtual Environments"

• Professor Myung Ro Moon, Seoul National University - "Intelligent Agents That Expect Players Behaviors"

• Professor In So Kweon, KAIST - "An Automatic Photo-Album Generation System"

• Professor Chin Wan Chung, KAIST - "Proposal for research of Graphics Technologies"

• Professor Seung Moon Choi, POSTECH - "Designing Vibration Feedback for Mobile Gaming Optimal to Low Power Consumption and High Perceived Intensity"

• Professor Seung Jin Choi, POSTECH - "Gaussian Processes for Learning User's Playing Style in Computer Games"

• Professor Seung Yong Lee, POSTECH - "Multiresolution Random Accessible Mesh Compression"

• Professor Gerard Jounghyun Kim, POSTECH - "Interaction for Multi-modal Hand-held Computing Devices". Now, he is working for KOREA University.

• Professor Shin Dug Kim, YONSEI University - "Enhanced lighting and acclusion culling Methods for 3D Rendering Performance on Direct3D Mobile Platform"

• Professor In kwon Lee, YONSEI University - "Perceptual Metric of Character Motion Data and its Applications"

Trustworthy Computing:

• Professor Sung Deok Cha, KAIST-"Intelligent Visualization of Web Security Anomalies"

• Professor Kwangkeun Yi, Seoul National University -"Development of Two Static Analyzers for Verifying C Programs Memory Accesses"

• Professor Hwan Soo Han, KAIST -"Scalable and precise Buffer Overrun Analyzer for Real World C Applications"

• "Opportunity" projects identified by academics which complement the research undertaken by MSR Asia

Proposals for these projects are reviewed by MSR Asia/MSR Redmond research managers and approved as valuable collaborative research projects. A research manager/senior researcher is nominated as the "sponsor" and funding is provided by the University Relations Manager. Many projects are co-funded by the government or industry.

• Professor Sang Yup Lee, KAIST - "HPC in Biology"

• Professor Myung Soo Kim, Seoul National University -"Multi-User Interface for Manipulating 2D/3D Data Over Network"

• Professor Jong Hyeok Lee, POSTECH - "Statistical MT Approach for Chinese-to-Korean Translation"

• Professor Key-Sun Choi, KAIST - "New Term Detection with Web Mining and Corpus Mining"

• Professor Sung Hyon Myaeng, ICU - "Event Tracking and Trend Analysis"

• Professor Kwangkeun Yi, Seoul National University -"Fully Automatic Static Analysis For Domain-Specific Software Verification"

Curriculum Innovation

Invitation For Proposals were sent to top tier universities inviting responses for curriculum with Windows-Core technology during the 2005 calendar year and with Windows Embedded CE during the 2006 calendar year. The instructional materials by academics awarded are always loaded into the MSDN AA web site. Awards for Curriculum submissions were made to the following:

Windows Core Technology:

• Professor Seung Won Hwang, POSTECH - "Windows in Action under the Hood: A Curriculum Proposal"
• Professor Heon Young YEOM, Seoul National University - "Fault-tolerant Parallel Programming in Windows"

Windows Embedded CE:

• Professor Chuck Yoo, KOREA University - "Proposal for Windows Embedded CE Academic Curriculum Development"

Talent Fostering

Fellowship
The MSRA Fellowship Program offers PhD students typically in their 1st year, with the opportunity to be nominated by their supervisor for consideration for an award as a MSR Asia Fellow. This cash award of US$6,000 is provided to the winners together with a plaque. In the year of 2006, there have been the following 4 winners from 5 nominees in Korea:

• (2006) Hae Woo Park from Seoul National University
• (2006) Young Ki Lee from KAIST
• (2006) Ji Hoon Myung from KOREA University
• (2006) Jong Kyung Kim from POSTECH

Each of these PhD students also has the opportunity to undertake a 3 to 6 months internship at the MSRA lab in Beijing.