Dissertation Idea Paper Submitted Today...Thank goodness..
posted by Ron Wolak at 6:48 PM

Wireless videoconferencing is a possible project if the equipment becomes available.
posted by Ron Wolak at 8:45 AM

Need to find out from Dr. Littman what she requires for an annotated bibliography.
posted by Ron Wolak at 9:25 PM

Received CIO's approval on the following dissertation topic and case study yesterday.
posted by Ron Wolak at 8:29 PM

2nd Meeting with Dissertation Advisor
Met with Dr. Littman yesterday at 2 pm in her home. Her are a few of her comments:
1. Do not use the word "it"
2. In the paper, describe your job position, and responsibilities related to the topic of the dissertation. This research is... and serves as.....
3. Another phrase is "This dissertation documents the process by which a manufacturing enterprise may implement..
4. Use the phrase "As a consequence" instead of "therefore"
5. When included Web URLs in the paper, place them in parenthesis (e.g. (http://www.yahoo.com))
6. The work "can" is stronger than the word "may"
7. Another phrase - Wireless technologies will induce a cultural shift allowing employees to work during meetings, in the cafeteria, and at home.
8. Delete the Definition of Terms section in the idea paper
9. Begin the summary with "This idea paper ..."
10. Indicate in the idea paper that the four component projects are funded.
11. Recommended the 802.11b and ETSI Portal Web sites as sources of references
12. Include Biometrics (i.e. C400 with internal mini-PCI wireless card and PCMCIA thumbprint scanner)
13. Suggest the dissertation include: “A case study of wireless LAN technologies in a large enterprise: The AAM solution”
14. Do not use the word “most.”
15. Do not use the word “many.”
16. Use the word “conducted” instead of “done.”
17. Use the word “generally” instead of “most.”
18. Instead of “therefore” use “conversely.”
19. Use “In the present day” instead of “currently”


Questions for Dr. Littman coming out of the meeting:
1. Case Study References
2. Her requirements to submit an annotated bibliography
3. At what point in the process should we contact the other committee members Sumitra Mukherjee and Junping Sun. Is it appropriate to meet with them (probably not)?

Important Things to Do:
1. Finish Idea Paper prior to Dec 21st
2. Dissertation Tracking Form must be filed with the Program Office for progress grade to be issued. Which means Idea Paper must be approved.
3. Need to provide Dr. Littman with a Certification of Authorship of Dissertation Work form
4. Submit Dissertation Approval Form with Idea Paper
5. Obtain signed approval from Abdallah on Idea Paper
6. Obtain PGP electronic signatures
posted by Ron Wolak at 6:39 AM

Dissertation Update – Ron Wolak
12/10/01


1. Previous Meeting - Met with Dr. Littman on 9/20/01 to discuss possible dissertation topics. She indicated that a topic related to wireless networking at work would be interesting. Her comments included the following:
a. Web sites may be referenced in the dissertation.
b. Recommended the use of the systems model in the dissertation (Whitten text).
c. Possible areas to cover within the dissertation were biometrics, intrusion
detection, sniffing, and protocol analyzers.
d. Need to obtain approval when discussing proprietary information.
c. Structure of dissertation could be a case study similar to that used by David
Metcalf or Salim Yazbeck. Surveys should be avoided.
d. Recommended text by Jim Geier.

2. Wireless Projects - The implementation of wireless technologies within the enterprise will be of great importance during the next couple of years. Among my Top 5 objectives for 2002 recently submitted to the CIO were projects directly related to wireless technologies.

3. Dissertation related Conferences - I am currently approved to attend the following dissertation related conferences in 2002:

March 11-13 Gartner Wireless Access, Chicago
March 17-21 CTIA/IEEE Wireless, Orlando
April 10-12 Gartner Windows XP/.NET, Los Angeles
August 11-14 IEEE Radio and Wireless (RAWCON), Boston
October 16-18 CTIA Wireless IT and Internet, Las Vegas
November 16-22 Comdex Fall, Las Vegas


4. Future Meetings with Dissertation Chairperson - The following meetings are proposed with Dr. Littman in Fort Lauderdale in 2002. They occur on the Monday following scheduled Cluster weekends:

March 4th – Monday, 2 pm
June 10th – Monday, 2 pm
September 16th – Monday, 2 pm
December 9th – Monday, 2 pm

5. Planned Dissertation Due Dates

December 21, 2001 Idea Paper Submitted
April 3, 2002 Preliminary Proposal Submitted
April 17, 2002 Committee Selected and Formed
April 17, 2002 IRB Approval
September 15, 2002 Formal Proposal Submitted
March 9, 2003 Final Dissertation Report Submitted

posted by Ron Wolak at 6:23 PM

The following are items I am working on to bring the Idea Paper closer to completion:
1. Research - Finding, reading, and classifying references - start of annotated bibliography
2. Beginning the intitial phases of the following Wireless projects at work:
a. Wireless LAN pilot (office and plant floor)
b. Wireless LAN pilot security solution
c. Remote user WLAN with associated Broadband VPN
posted by Ron Wolak at 7:02 PM