By and large, both models assume a fixed set of computing elements and a static access pattern. Prompted by recent advances in wireless communication technology, the emerging field of mobile computing is challenging these assumptions by providing mobile hosts with connectivity that is transient, anonymous, and context sensitive. Our research methodology is formal in character and pragmatic in its objectives. Ultimately, we hope to achieve a fundamental understanding of how mobility relates to exiting models of concurrency, to provide a semantic model for language constructs supporting transient interactions among mobile components, to facilitate the verification of critical aspects of mobile applications and protocols, and to discover novel communication primitives likely to simplify the programming task. He has been on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at Washington University in Saint Louis since 1976.
Roman is a professor and chairman of the department.
His current research involves the study of formal models and design methods for mobile computing and the development of techniques for the visualization of distributed computations. His previous research has been concerned with models of concurrency, declarative visualization methods, design methodologies, systems requirements, interactive computer vision algorithms, formal languages, biomedical simulation, computer graphics, and distributed databases. Roman is also a software engineering consultant. His list of past clients includes the government and firms in U.S.A. and Japan. His consulting work involves development of custom software engineering methodologies and training programs.