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Senior Lecturer

Responsibilities

• Leader eAgriculture Research Group
• SCSS India Overseas Area Coordinator
• ECU University Contact Officer.
• SCSS Post Grad Pastoral Care Coordinator
• Leader of ECU Student Ambassador Program to India.
• CHS Faculty International Committee
• ECU South Asia Focus Group Committee

Current Teaching

• CSP3242/CSP5242 Internet and Java Programming
• CSI3304 Software Development Frameworks
• 3rd Year and Masters IT project groups

Background / Employment History

I have been working as a computer science lecturer in the School of Computer and Security Science since 2002. Previously, I worked as an agricultural research scientist in Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia State government for 9 years on a number of Grains industry funded projects. My agricultural research cereal agronomy and physiology and the effects of environmental stress on crop production. I also have a PhD in Weed Science from the Faculty of Agricultural Science from University of Queensland awarded in 1994 and worked as a research assistant at the University of Queensland.

I also have worked at a number of universities in Western Australia and Queensland as a lecturer and tutor in both computing, agricultural and biological sciences.

I have also worked as an analyst programmer on a number of projects for WA state government before joining Edith Cowan University in 2002. I also have previous owned a computer software consultancy company before joining Edith Cowan University.

Staff Qualifications

• PhD (Agricultural Science) University of Queensland completed 1994;
• Bachelor of Science (Hons) University of Queensland completed in 1987;
• Graduate Diploma in Science (Computer Studies) Edith Cowan University Awarded in 2000;
• Master of Science (Software Engineering), Edith Cowan University completed 2002; and
• Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching, Edith Cowan University completed in 2008.

Professional Memberships

• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE),
• Australian Computer Society
• Australia India Business Council (WA).  
• Associate member of AFITA
• Executive Committee member of Academic Staff Association of Edith Cowan University
• Executive committee member of the National Tertiary Education Union Edith Cowan University Branch.

Awards and Recognition

• 2011 Perth Convention Bureau Development Professional Development Awardee
• Khon Kaen University Visiting Fellowship 2011 Awardee
• IIIT Hyderabad Visiting Fellowship Awardee for 2012
• CRA Travel Scholarship to attend the CRA Peer Mentoring workshop in Sante Fe, USA in November 2008.

Research Interests

My research activities are focused in the areas of data mining in agricultural and biological systems, agricultural informatics, tools and decision systems, environmental sensor networks, mobile technologies, web and software systems.

Current Research Areas

eAgriculture

This area of research is focused on the use of information and communication technologies in agricultural and related industries and is an emerging discipline. My research focus has been on the application of data mining techniques to improve the selection of crop varieties and to find ways to respond to environment changes predicted by climate change.

I am involved on the following projects.

Data mining projects

• eAgriculture methodologies for crop variety decision support and climate change predictions (iVec Industry Project); (Armstrong, Diepeveen)
• Development and application of data mining techniques and frameworks for interrogation of agriculture land use data; (Armstrong, Diepeveen, Vagh)
• Application of data mining techniques for interrogation of landuse and GIS data sets for water catchments; and (Armstrong, Diepeveen, Dunstan, Sehovic)
• Decision support for catchment management web-based expert systems anomaly detection in multidimensional data sets (Dunstan, Armstrong, Diepeveen )
• Application of data mining clustering techniques for soil profile mapping. (Armstrong, Diepeveen, Leng)

Agricultural informatics projects

• Development of ICT Frameworks for Agricultural Information Dessemination (Armstrong, Diepeveen)
• Multilanguage delivery of agricultural information through the use of Industry Portals (Thailand Project) (Armstrong, Clayden, Tantisantisom)
• The use of ICT to improve the delivery of Agricultural information to Thailand Farmers (Armstrong, Clayden, Tantisantisom)
• Agricultural Library data repository project (Armstrong, Clayden)

Agricultural software tools projects

• Online tools for the crop variety selection using real time data mining techniques. (iVec project) (Armstrong, Diepeveen, Sehovic)
• Data mining tools for visualization of water catchments (Dunstan, Armstrong, Diepeveen, Sehovic)
• ePortals for agriculture information dessemination (project with KKU) (Armstrong, Clayden, Martwanna)
• Mobile delivery of agricultural information (Thailand)(Armstrong, Clayden, Tantisantisom)
• Various software tools projects with DAFWA (Diepeveen, Armstrong)

Wireless Sensor Networks /Mobile Applications

• Wireless mesh network project for Grain Quality laboratories (Armstrong, Diepeveen. Nortel Industry Project)
• Environmental sensor network project ( Armstrong, Adinarayana, Osseiran)
• eBib track LBS project (Armstrong, Holme, Kasinath, Sehovic)

eTourism and Mobile Technologies

Research has been conducted in the number of areas related to mobile technologies including remote sensor technology and the development of mobile applications for the delivery of location aware information using GPS technology. A project funded by the CRC for Sustainable Tourism investigated the feasibility of delivering wireless location based information (LBS) services in a regional Australian adventure tourism context. These services could be delivered through the use of global positioning system (GPS) satellite technologies.

The project determined the most appropriate technology for the delivery of such services based on network and device constraints. The project also resulted in the production of a proof of concept Location Based Services (LBS) system to deliver user customizable, language specific information services for the Bibbulmun Track and outlined strategies to overcome logistical and technology constraints for the delivery of such services.

This research has also led collaborations in Western Australia (DEC, WA, Sports and Recreation WA, Bibbulmun Track Foundation) and colleagues at the University of Queensland and Victoria University of Queensland and tourism industry partners. This research is ongoing with the aim to commercialize the mobile tourism guide.

Recent Research Grants

In the last 5 years I have gained almost $240,000 in external project funding, in terms of cash and in kind research support for my activities. This is highlighted by three recent grants which were awarded in July 2010, Edith Cowan University RIBG grant of $45,000 for the purchase of a multi terabyte array for the eAgriculture research group and a research grant , through iVEC, ECU and DAFWA worth $100,000 on an industry grant in the area of eAgriculture and a Nortel Research grant of $25,000 investigating wireless mesh networks in grain laboratories.

Other highlights include being the Chief Investigator (CI) on 2 CRC for Sustainable Tourism grants in 2006 and 2004 worth $67,000 in collaboration with ECU colleagues and a Sun Microsystems grant in 2007 worth $12,000.

Edith Cowan University Research Infrastructure Block Grant 2010 ($45,000) Funded: 2010 Multi terabyte computer array: Dr Leisa Armstrong

iVEC Industry Uptake Project ($31,467 + in kind support) Funded 2011 to 2012 "Evaluate methodologies for eAgriculture in Western Australia" Dr Leisa Armstrong, Moora Milling Pasture Improvement group and iVEC

Nortel Development Grant Scheme ($25,000) Funded 2009 continuing, "Wireless Mesh Networks for grain food laboratory" Dr Leisa Armstrong and Mr Dean Diepeveen (DAFWA collaborator)

Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism 2005/2006 ($35,000 + in kind contributions) An investigation into the incorporation of leading edge mobile technologies in the recreational and adventure tourism industries.

Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism 2004 ($17,000) Leading Edge Developments in Tourism ICT and Related Underlying Technologies.

Monographs

• Editors: L.J. Armstrong and J. Clayden "Proceedings of the Knowledge Discovery for Rural Systems Workshop 2010" at the 14th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining., IIIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad India, 21-24 June, 2010 - Hyderabad, India.

Book Chapters

• Adkins, S.W. and Armstrong, L. J. (2007) The Effect of Light Intensity on Seed Production and Quality in a Number of Australian Wild Oat (Avena fatua L.) Lines. p383-397. In Seeds: Biology, Development and Ecology Editors Steve W. Adkins, Sheldon C. Navie, Sarah E. Ashmore. Cab  CAB International 440 pages.
• Tantisureeporn S., and Armstrong L.J. (2009) Introducing a new technology to enhance community sustainability: An investigation of the possibilities of sun spots p27-36. In Sustainabilities at Universities-Opportunities, Challenges and Trends Editor, W. L Filho. Peter Lang Frankfurt, Germany.

Refereed Journal Articles

• L. J. Armstrong, D. A. Diepeveen and K. Tantisantisom (2010) An eAgriculture-based Decision Support Framework for Information Dissemination  International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP) Vol 1:p 1-13, IGI Global Publications, Madrid Spain.
• Diepeveen, D. and Armstrong L. (2007) Delivering crop variety information to Western Australian growers. Article submitted to eAgriculture.org Online Journal.

Conference Papers

• Vagh Y., Armstrong L.J. , Diepeveen D.A. (2010) Application of a data mining framework for the identification of agricultural production areas in WA in Editors: L.J. Armstrong and J. Clayden "Proceedings of the Knowledge Discovery for Rural Systems Workshop 2010" at the 14th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining., IIIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad India, 21-24 June, 2010 - Hyderabad, India.
• Sehovic, A. Armstrong L.J. , Diepeveen D.A. (2010) Interrogation of water catchment data sets using data mining techniques. in Editors: L.J. Armstrong and J. Clayden "Proceedings of the Knowledge Discovery for Rural Systems Workshop 2010" at the 14th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining., IIIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad India , 21-24 June, 2010 - Hyderabad, India.
• Dunstan N., Armstrong L. and Diepeveen D. (2009) Selecting Areas for Land Use Change in a Catchment. Proceedings of the 4th India International conference on Artificial Intelligence, 16-18 December 2009. Tumkur India.
• Armstrong L. J., and D. A. Diepeveen (2009) An information-based decision support framework for eAgriculture, IASK International Conference "E-Activity and Leading Technologies 2009" 22-24 June, 2009 Seville, Spain.
• Armstrong L. J., and (2009) An evaluation of methodologies for eAgriculture in an Australian context. IASK International Conference "E-Activity and Leading Technologies 2009" 22-24 June, 2009 Seville, Spain.
• Diepeveen D. A. and Armstrong L. J., (2009) Applying data mining techniques in the selection of plant traits. IASK International Conference "E-Activity and Leading Technologies 2009" 22-24 June, 2009 Seville, Spain.
• Armstrong L. and Diepeveen D. (2008) Developing an information-driven ICT framework for Agriculture. Paper accepted at World Conference on Agricultural Information and IT (IAALD AFITA WCCA 2008) in Tokyo, Japan.
• Diepeveen D. and Armstrong L. (2008) Identifying key crop performance traits using data mining Paper accepted at World Conference on Agricultural Information and IT (IAALD AFITA WCCA 2008) in Tokyo, Japan.
• Tantisureporn S. and Armstrong L. (2008) Introducing a New Technology to Enhance Community Sustainability: An Investigation of the Possibilities of Sun Spots Proceedings of the EDU-COM 2008 International Conference November 2008 Khon Kaen, Thailand pp488-495.
• Armstrong, L, Diepeveen, D and Vagh Y. (2007) Data mining can empower growers' crop decision making T2: Technology and Transformation. 3rd Transforming Information and Learning Conference. Perth, Edith Cowan University, 30 November - 1 December, 2007.
• Armstrong L, Diepeveen, D and Maddern, R. (2007) The application of data mining techniques to characterize agricultural soil profiles. AustDM 2007: Australasian Data Mining Conference. Gold Coast, Australia, 2-6 December 2007.
• Brogan, M. and Armstrong, A. (2007). Network Engineering for C-commerce Innovation: The Role of Trust. Proceedings of IADIS2007: International Conference on E-commerce Algarve, Portugal. 7-9 December, 2007.
• Diepeveen, D and Armstrong, L. (2007) Applying data mining tools to improve grain quality for growers 1st Latin American ICC Conference 2007, Rosario, Argentina, 23-26 September 2007.
• Kasinath, G and Armstrong, L. (2007). Importance of Verification and Validation of Data Sources in Attaining Information Superiority. Information Security Management Conference, Edith Cowan University, 4 December, 2007.
• Kasinath, G, and Armstrong, L. (2007). Analysis of PKI as a means of securing ODF documents. 5th Australian Information Security Management Conference, Edith Cowan University, 4 December, 2007.
• Kasinath, G, and Armstrong, L. (2007) Securing J2ME mobile application API using XACML. IASK International Conference. Eactivity and Leading Technologies. 3-6 December 2007, Porto, Portugal.
• Collins, M. Holme, C., Tan K and Armstrong, L. (2006) "An automated sampling soil reduction-oxygenation RF sensor network for cereal crop management," IEEE TENCON Conference, 2006, November, 2006, Page(s): 98-101.
• Singh S and Armstrong L (2006) The International Postgraduate Student Experience: How Can We Enhance Transition Management? EDU COM 2006 Conference, Thailand.
• Armstrong L. and Singh S. (2006) "Empowering international and culturally diverse honours and project students through mentoring activities" EDU COM 2006 Thailand.
• Mahncke R. and Armstrong L (2006) "Websites recommended by Australian Healthcare Practitioners' for use by overweight and obese adolescents” 2nd International Conference on Information Management and Business (IMB2006) Sydney, Australia

Research Student Supervision

Current

PhD. and professional doctoral students

• Yunous Vagh: Data mining in agriculture (Supervisor: Armstrong, Diepeveen & Dunstan)
• Khumphicha Tantisantisom (Information Dissemination in Multiple formats for farming communities in Thailand) (Armstrong, Clayden)
• Hasham Agricultural Information Disemmination : A Western Australian Context (Armstrong, Clayden)
• Aliza Abu Bakar Use of Mobile devices for delivery of agricultural information in Malaysia (Armstrong, Diepeveen)  deferred
• Aiden Sehovic (Honours) Data mining of water catchment data (Armstrong, Diepeveen)

Recent

• 2008, Gautham Kasinath (XML Digital Signatures) Research Masters
• 2008, Syed Monizzuroha (2nd Class honours)
• 2007, Mr Yatish Vadera (1st Class Honours awarded), Mr Rowan Maddern (1st Class Honours awarded), Mr Yunous Vagh (1st Class Honours awarded)
• 2006, Mr Chris Holme (1st Class Honours awarded) (joint supervisor Mr Michael Collins
• 2005, Ms Rachel Mahncke (1st Class Honours awarded)
• 2004, Mr Thanuja Nuwan Hettiarachchi (2A Honours awarded)