AUT - Andy Connor

Dr Andy Connor

Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of SERL

Phone: 09 921 9999 extn 5211

Email: andrew.connor@aut.ac.nz

Qualifications:

B.Eng., Mechanical Engineering, University of Manchester, 1993
M.Sc., Computer Aided Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, 1994
Ph.D., Liverpool John Moores University, 1997

Memberships and Affiliations:

Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET)

Biography:

Andy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Mathematical  Sciences and also acts as the Associate Director of SERL. As such, he is  responsible for the day to day management of SERL activities, the supervision of  research students, pursuing funding opportunities and the mentoring of  associated staff.

Prior to joining AUT, he worked as a Senior Consultant for the INBIS Group on a wide range of systems engineering projects. He has also worked for a leading CAD/CAM systems provider and held postdoctoral research positions at the prestigous Engineering Design Centres at the University of Cambridge and the University of Bath.

Andy has a passion for the outdoors and is often found tramping, mountain  biking, surfing, rock climbing, kayaking or scuba diving. He is qualified scuba diving instructor, holding the IDC Staff Instructor rating from PADI, and one of the leading technical diving instructors in the country. Andy teaches diving through Tech Dive NZ.

Teaching Areas:

Andy teaches across both the BCIS and MCIS degress. He is paper coordinater for the first year BCIS paper Computing Technology in Society and also teaches Data and Process Modelling. On the MCIS degree he teaches the popular paper Software Requirements Engineering and has recently introduced a new paper called Search Based Software Engineering. 

Research areas:

Andy Connor is the Associate Director of the Software Engineering Research Lab at AUT. His primary research interest is in the application of metaheuristic search techniques in solving software engineering problems. This emerging field is now known as Search Based Software Engineering.

He has more general interests in the management of software projects, particularly the area of dealing with uncertainty in project estimation, and requirements engineering.

Publications:

1. Connor, A.M., Limbu, D.K., Pears, R. & MacDonell, S.G. (2010) "Improving web information retrieval using shared contexts", International Journal of Information Sciences and Computer Engineering (in press)
2. Connor, A.M., Buchan, J. & Petrova, K. (2009) "Bridging the research-practice gap in requirements engineering through effective teaching and peer learning", Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG 2009)
3. Limbu, D.K., Connor, A.M., Pears, R. & MacDonell, S.G. (2009) "Improving web search using contextual retrieval", Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG 2009)
4. Pais, S., Talbot, A. & Connor, A.M. (2009) "Bridging the research-practice gap in requirements engineering", Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology, 7(1)
5. Symonds, J. & Connor, A.M. (2008) "Usability evaluation meets design: The case of bisco Office™", Information Systems Research Methods, Epistemology and Applications (ISBN 978-1-60566-040-0), Chapter X, 183-196, IGI Publishing.
6. Siringoringo, W.S., Connor, A.M., Clements, N. & Alexander, N. (2008) "Minimum cost polygon overlay with rectangular shape stock panels", International Journal of Construction Education & Research, 4(3), 1-24
7. Connor, A.M., Siringoringo, W.S., Clements, N. & Alexander, N. (2007) "Building services integration: A technology transfer case study", Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology, 5(2)
8. Philpott, A., Buchan, J. & Connor, A.M. (2007) "An integrated tool set to support software engineering learning", Proceedings of the 2007 SIENZ Workshop
9. Connor, A.M. & Siringoringo, W.S. (2007) "Using genetic algorithms to solve layout optimisation problems in residential building construction", Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Computer Applications in Industry and Engineering, 84-89
10. Connor, A.M. (2007) "Probabilistic estimation of software project duration", New Zealand Journal of Applied Computing & Information Technology, 11(1), 11-22
11. Connor, A.M. (2006) "Memory models for improving tabu search with real continuous variables" Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Hybrid Intelligent Systems (HIS’06) and the 6th International Conference on Neurocomputing and Evolving Intelligence (NCEI’06)
12. Connor, A. & Symonds, J. (2006) "PhD research: Building research culture and careers" Invited Editorial for Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology, 4(2)
13. Limbu, D.K., Connor, A.M., Pears, R. & MacDonell, S.G. (2006) "Contextual relevance feedback in web information retrieval" Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Information Interaction in Context, 235-244
14. Limbu, D.K., Pears, R., Connor, A.M. & MacDonell, S.G. (2006) "Contextual and concept-based interactive query expansion" Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications, 151-156
15. Connor, A.M. & MacDonell, S.G. (2006) "Using historical data in stochastic estimation of software project duration" Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications, 53-60
16. Limbu, D.K., Connor, A.M. & MacDonell, S.G. (2006) "Contextual knowledge based relevance feedback", The First New Zealand Workshop on Ontologies and the Semantic Web (Published Abstract)
17. Limbu, D., Connor, A., & MacDonell, S. (2005) "A contextual information retrieval framework" Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology, 3(3)
18. Limbu, D.K., Connor, A.M. & MacDonell, S.G. (2005) "A framework for contextual information retrieval from the WWW" Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Adaptive Systems and Software Engineering (IASSE05), 185-189 
19. Connor, A.M. & MacDonell, S.G. (2005) "Stochastic cost estimation and risk analysis in managing software projects" Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Adaptive Systems and Software Engineering (IASSE05), 140-145
20. MacDonell, S.G., Min, K. & Connor, A.M. (2005) "Autonomous requirements specification processing using natural language processing" Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Adaptive Systems and Software Engineering (IASSE05), 266-270
21. Connor, A.M. & MacDonell, S.G. (2004) "A tabu search environment for engineering design" MOPTA’04: The MacMaster Optimisation Conference (Published Abstract)
22. Kidambi, S. A., Dobbs, B., Ghobakhlou, A. & Connor, A.M. (2003) "A voice recognition based application for business customer services" Proceedings of the Neurocomputing and Evolving Intelligence Conference (NCEI 2003), 120-121
23. Shanmuganathan, S., Sallis, P., Dobbs, B. & Connor, A.M. (2003) "Document clustering in text mining" Proceedings of the Neurocomputing and Evolving Intelligence Conference (NCEI 2003), 113-114
24. Connor, A.M. & Leonard, P.J. (2000) "Pole shape optimization using a tabu search scheme" IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 36(4), 1115-1118
25. Clarkson, P.J., Melo, A.F. & Connor, A.M. (2000) "Signposting for design process improvement, a dynamic approach to design process planning" Artificial Intelligence in Design (AID 2000), 333-353
26. Connor, A.M. & Shea, K. (2000) "A comparison of semi-deterministic and stochastic search techniques" Evolutionary Design and Manufacture, Selected Papers from ACDM '00, 287-298
27. Connor, A.M., Clarkson, P.J., Shahpar, S. & Leonard, P. (2000) "Engineering design optimisation using tabu search" Proceedings of Design for Excellence: Engineering Design Conference (EDC 2000), 371-378
28. Barr, G., Burgess, S.G., Connor, A.M. & Clarkson, P.J. (2000) "Tendering for engineering contracts" Proceedings of Design for Excellence: Engineering Design Conference (EDC 2000), 499-506
29. Connor, A.M. (1999) "A multi-thread tabu search algorithm" Design Optimization: International Journal of Product and Process Improvement, 1(3), 293-304
30. Connor, A.M. (1999) "Parameter sizing for fluid power circuits using taguchi methods" Journal of Engineering Design, 10(4), 377-390
31. Leonard, P.J. & Connor, A.M. (1999) "Application of tabu search to pole shape optimization", Proceedings of the 12th Conference on the Computation of Electromagnetic Fields (Compumag '99), 822-825
32. Clarkson, P.J., Melo, A.F. & Connor, A.M. (1999) "Signposting for design process improvement", Cambridge University Engineering Department, Technical Report CUED/C-EDC/TR84
33. Connor, A.M., Seffen, K.A., Clarkson, P.J. & Parks, G.T. (1999) "Efficient optimisation of structures using tabu search" Proceedings of the 1st ASMO/ISSMO Conference on Engineering Design Optimization, 127-134
34. Suppapitnarm, A., Seffen, K.A., Parks, G.T., Connor, A.M. & Clarkson, P.J. (1999) "Multiobjective optimisation of bicycle frames using simulated annealing" Proceedings of the 1st ASMO/ISSMO Conference on Engineering Design Optimization, 357-364
35. Clarkson, P.J., Connor, A.M. & Melo, A.F. (1999) "Signposting, a dynamic approach to design process management" Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI Workshop BUS-2: Intelligent Workflow and Process Management)
36. Connor, A.M. & Tilley, D.G. (1998) "A tabu search method for the optimisation of fluid power circuits" IMechE Journal of Systems and Control, 212(5), 373-381
37. Connor, A.M. (1998) "Design and control of cross coupled mechanisms driven by AC brushless servomotors" Proceedings of Power Transmissions and Motion Control '98, 165-176
38. Connor, A.M. & Tilley, D.G. (1998) "Optimisation of power transmission systems using a discrete tabu search" Proceedings of Power Transmissions and Motion Control '98, 153-164
39. Connor, A.M., Douglas, S.S. & Gilmartin, M.J. (1998) "The optimal synthesis of mechanisms using harmonic information" Journal of Engineering Design, 9(3), 239-249
40. Connor, A.M. & Tilley, D.G. (1997) "Optimisation of fluid power circuits using tabu search" Proceedings of the 10th Fluid Power Conference, 12-29
41. Connor, A.M. (1997) "The synthesis of hybrid mechanisms using genetic algorithms", PhD thesis, Liverpool John Moores University
42. Connor, A.M., Douglas, S.S. & Gilmartin, M.J. (1995) "The synthesis of five bar path generating mechanisms using genetic algorithms" Proceedings of the 1st IEE/IEEE Conference on Genetic Algorithms in Engineering Systems: Applications and Innovations, 313-318
43. Connor, A.M., Douglas, S.S. & Gilmartin, M.J. (1995) "Synthesis of four bar mechanisms using genetic algorithms" Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 237-244
44. Connor, A.M. (1994) "The use of genetic algorithms in optimisation", MSc thesis, Liverpool John Moores University