Contact Information | Directions to ISIS | Maps | Some ISIS History
 

CONTACT INFORMATION

MAILING ADDRESS:
Institute for Software Integrated Systems
Vanderbilt University
Box 1829, Station B
Nashville, TN 37235

 BUILDING ADDRESS:
2015 Terrace Place

COURIER ADDRESS:
Institute for Software Integrated Systems
Vanderbilt University
2015 Terrace Place
Nashville, TN 37203

The Main ISIS Contact is Kristy Fisher at 615-343-7472.
The ISIS fax number is 615-343-7440.

Need More Information?
If you have any questions, please call Kristy Fisher at (615) 343-7472.



How to get to ISIS:

ISIS is located in a two-story brown brick building (2015 Terrace Place) on the Terrace Place between 21st Ave. S. and 20th Ave. S. The entrance to ISIS faces Terrace Place. Please watch for the ISIS sign.

From Nashville International Airport, take I-40 W and follow the directions below for I-40.
From points North using I-65 S (or I-24 E to I-65 S), take I-265 S to I-40 E and follow the directions below for I-40.
From I-24 W, take I-65 S to I-40 W and follow the directions below for I-40.
I-65 (from points south): Take I-65 N to I-40 W and follow the directions below for I-40.

I-40 (from points east/west): Take the Broadway exit and head west (away from downtown Nashville). Within 0.5 mile Broadway will split into Broadway (left) and West End (right). Stay right through the light onto West End Avenue. You will go through several stop lights. Turn left at a light onto 21st Avenue South. Take the next left onto Terrace Place. ISIS will be the second building on your right. Immediately across from ISIS is the Terrace Place garage.

I-440 (from points east/west): Take the 21st Ave./Hillsboro Rd. exit. Take 21st Ave. northbound. 21st Ave. will curve to the right and become Broadway. Immediately after 21st becomes Broadway, turn left onto 20th Ave. Turn left onto Terrace Place. ISIS will be on your left. The Terrace Place Garage will be on your right.

Parking Information:
Vanderbilt contracts with an outside towing company that definitely operates as a for-profit enterprise, so be sure to pay, if you park in any of the specified pay spaces!

Please note: You can park in the Terrace Place Garage in any of the spots that are not "Reserved" or marked as pay spots using a free permit ISIS can supply.

Nearby Lodging
For lodging close to the ISIS, we recommend Holiday Inn (2613 W End Ave., Nashville, TN 37203-1424 (615) 327-4707, Fax (615) 327-803), Hampton Inn (1919 W End Ave., Nashville, TN 37203-2319 (615) 329-1144, Fax (615) 320-7112) or Marriott (2555 W End Ave., Nashville, TN 37203 (615) 321-1300, Fax (615) 321-1400). To get to any of the hotels, take I-40 West, until the exit at Broadway. Make a left (West). After a quarter of a mile, Broadway will split slightly to the left. Keep right and stay on West End. All three hotels will be on your left.

The Marriott hotel offers high speed internet access in the guest rooms, as well as dial-up access. In the lobby areas, they offer wireless internet access.

The Hampton Inn is easily within walking distance to ISIS (< 5 minutes).



Area Maps for ISIS

This map shows the location of ISIS at a medium zoom level:


This map shows the location of ISIS at a high zoom level:


This map shows the location of ISIS at a low zoom level:


A Description of ISIS

The Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) was established in 1998 as an outgrowth of the Measurement and Computing Systems Laboratory (MCSL) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Our mission is to make significant contributions to the technology of software-integrated systems by
  • creating and demonstrating methods and tools supporting the design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance of software-integrated systems for defense and industry,
  • conducting basic research in Model-Integrated Computing (MIC), and
  • participating in government/industry-led collaborative research to solve problems that have practical importance and contribute to our broader understanding of the impact of advanced information technology on engineering systems.

Our research is organized into two main areas: core technology for model-integrated computing and applications for software-integrated systems. The objective of our research in the core technology is to create an infrastructure for model-integrated computing. The research approach is architecture-based and focuses on the MultiGraph Architecture. Applications are tightly integrated with the core research effort and cover a broad range in manufacturing, aerospace and instrumentation.

The Challenge: Software-Integrated Systems
Information processing is increasingly becoming an integral part of physical systems. It dramatically increases the potential interactions among physical components and processes, generates complex dynamics, and establishes component interdependencies unknown in previous-generation systems. The tight integration of "physical" and "information" processes creates tremendous challenges for the software technology. First of all the "conceptual construct" of the software is inextricably combined with the conceptual construct of its "external environment"; that is, with the structure of physical processes. Consequently, the software cannot be static, it must change, evolving together with its embedding environment. Another well-known difficulty in the design and implementation of embedded information systems is that software is becoming a component of a physical system. The overall system behavior can only be understood if information, material and energy transfer processes are modeled and analyzed together. This means that software artifacts need to be modeled "in their context", using a modeling language - or modeling paradigm - that is meaningful for the design, analysis and operation of the whole system. An additional challenge that must be answered is criticality. Software directly impacts the operation of physical processes and failure may cause unacceptable social or economic damage. Thus the software technology must offer methods and tools for verifying and maintaining dependability requirements.

The Approach: Model-Integrated Computing
Model-Integrated Computing (MIC) addresses these problems by providing rich, domain-specific modeling environments including model analysis and model-based program synthesis tools. This technology is used to create and evolve integrated, multiple-aspect models using concepts, relations, and model composition principles routinely used in the specific field, to facilitate systems/software engineering analysis of the models, and to automatically synthesize applications from the models.

The Technology: MultiGraph Architecture
The MultiGraph Architecture (MGA) has evolved during the last decade as a software framework and infrastructure for model-integrated computing. MGA includes generic, customizable tools for constructing domain specific modeling, analysis, and program synthesis environments. The technology has matured in major applications developed for the government and private industry, including fault detection, isolation and recovery systems for aerospace applications, on-line problem solving environments for the chemical manufacturing industry, high-performance parallel instrumentation systems, embedded simulators for turbine and rocket engine testing, and manufacturing execution systems.