photoWo-Shun Luk
Database Systems and Distributed Parallel Processing

email: woshun@cs.sfu.ca
Address: School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
Phone: +1-604-291-4619 // Fax: +1-604-291-3045

Professor of Computing Science
Director of the School of Computing Science
B.A. (Honors) Math., Univ. of London, 1970
M. Math., Univ. of Waterloo, 1972
Ph.D. Computing Science, Univ. of Alberta, 1976.

Laboratory Affiliations: Distributed Computing Laboratory, Database System Laboratory, and Natural Language Laboratory.

Graduate Students: 2 M.Sc. students

Current Research:
Research interests mostly are related to database systems, although they span from low-level algorithms on multiprocessor systems to graphical and natural language interfaces. For some research areas, such as query optimization, integrated graphical interface, and parallel database processing, the emphasis is on performance improvements of relational and object-oriented database systems. A major project is underway to design and implement a database system customized for spatial database applications on top of an object-oriented database system.

Recent Funding: Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Centre for Systems Science.

Selected Publications:

[1] A. Choi and W. S. Luk. Using an object-oriented database system to construct a spatial database kernel for GIS applications. Computer Systems: Science and Engineering, 1992. (to appear).

[2] J. Ens, Z. N. Li, F. Tong, D. Zhang, S. Atkins, and W. S. Luk. A hybrid pyramidal vision machine for real time object recognition. In A. M. Veronis and Y. Paker, editors, Proc. 5th Conference of North American Transputer Users Group [Transputer Research and Applications 5], pages 90-103. IOS press, April 1992.

[3] W. S. Luk and A. Y. L. Choi. Dynamic spatial query language: A customized query language for object-oriented database systems. In Proc. IEEE COMPSAC, September 1991.

[4] G. Wang and W. S. Luk. Data management issues for geographic information systems. In Proc. GIS'91, 1991.

[5] A. Y. L. Choi and W. S. Luk. A bi-level object-oriented data model for geographic information system. In Proc. IEEE COMPSAC, October 1990.

[6] W. S. Luk, W. Zhang, and J. Han. Path: An approach to incorporate list processing in a relational database. In Proc. Second International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, June 1990.

[7] W. S. Luk and F. Ling. An analytic/empirical study of distributed sorting. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering, 15(5):575, 1989.

[8] W. S. Luk. Building natural language interface to ER database. In Proc. 8th International Conf. on Entity-Relationship Approach, October 1989.

[9] M. S. Atkins, G. Haftevani, and W. S. Luk. An efficient kernel-level dependable multicast protocol. In Proc. 8th Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems, October 1989.

[10] W. S. Luk and S. Mok. A comparison of I/O performance of some linear recursive query processing methods. In Proc. International Symposium on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, April 1989.

[11] G. Hall, W. S. Luk, and N. Cercone. A solution to the MAP problem in natural language interface construction. In Proc. International Computer Science Conference Theory and Applications of AI, December 1988.

[12] X. Wang and W. S Luk. Parallel join algorithms on a network of workstations. In Proc. International Symposium on Databases in Parallel and Distributed Systems, December 1988.

[13] J. Han and W. S. Luk. What kind of recursion can be processed by transitive closure strategy? In Proc. 3rd International Symp. on Methodologies for Intelligent Systems, October 1988.

[14] M. Kao, N. Cercone, and W. S. Luk. Providing quality responses with natural language interfaces. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering, 14(7), July 1988.