Welcome to Dr Simon J E
Taylor’s Home Page
Senior Lecturer,
School of
Uxbridge,
e: simon.taylor{atthefollowingplace}brunel.ac.uk, p: +44 (0) 1895 265994, f:
+44 (0) 1895 251686
· Research
Since 2000 I am currently a
Senior Lecturer in the
For interest, in the dim and distant past I studied BSc. (HONS) Industrial Studies degree at Sheffield City Polytechnic after narrowly avoiding going into astronomy. I then pursued MSc. Computer Studies at the same place. Following a mildly mad plan I then had the choice of two research posts at Leeds Met. I picked the one on speeding up the simulation of manufacturing systems. That led to a PhD in the area which I studied at Leeds Met.
My main research aim is to use
novel computing technologies and techniques to benefit operational
research. Operational researchers work
across many different application areas and use many different modelling
techniques to support decision making.
Novel technologies include a variety of distributed
computing/Internet/World Wide Web technologies that have made a great impact in
other fields. What I have been
trying to do is to bring the benefits of novel technologies to operational
research. Within this I have mainly
focussed on simulation modelling (or modeling & simulation if you are from
the
Following on from some ideas I had
during my PhD, and after some interesting diversions in software engineering
for parallel processing and bioinformatics, in 2000, to investigate the
opportunities of new technologies for simulation modelling I led the
development of the EPSRC Network GROUPSIM Developing
Strategies and Infrastructure for Collaborative Simulation Modelling (as if
simulation could be anything else!).
This generated some quite interesting concepts. However, the major output of this
network was that for companies in different places to collaborate together on
the basis of two or more simulation models we needed distributed simulation
techniques that addressed the needs of users of simulation modelling
software. I coined the term Commercial-off-the-shelf Simulation Package (CSP)
to identify the set of software packages practitioners used for simulation
modelling (such as Arena, Flexsim, Simul8, Witness, etc.) I also realised that the IEEE 1516 High
Level Architecture standard that exists to support distributed simulation was
far too general to address the needs of distributed simulation with CSPs. I therefore started the movement towards
standardisation in this area. In
2002 I created the international consortium COTS
Simulation Package Interoperability Forum (CSPIF) which I convinced the
Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) to host as a Virtual
Study Group. After much lobbying,
in 2005 I managed to get the group formal international recognition by SISO and
the CSPIF became a standards development group (the COTS Simulation Package
Interoperability Product Development Group – CSPI PDG) (www.sisostds.org). I continue to lead the CSPI PDG in the
development of standards for CSP-based distributed simulation. Example projects include semiconductor
manufacturing (as a formal collaborator with Professor Stephen Turner in the
IMSS project at NTU in
I frequently consult with industry including such companies as Ford Motor Company, FI Group, AXA, Qinetiq and a large European bank. More recently I have advised residents’ groups concerning traffic analyses. For example, I was called as an expert witness in a planning inquiry on the development of a new large supermarket in Uxbridge in 2006/7 concerned the validity of supermarket’s traffic analysis.
I have published over 100 articles. More on my publications can be found here.
Details of my grant awards are here.
I have also supervised some great PhD students - Dr Delaitre (1996), Dr Vassiliou (1999), Dr Sudra (2001), Dr Ryde (2005) and Dr Nnatuanya (2005). Some notable second supervisions include Dr Fatin, Dr Yu and Dr Eldabi!
I am currently supervising Navonil Mustafee, Jon Saville, Rabi Sultan and Elizabeth Deadman. They are all excellent.
I have been the external examiner
for 12 PhDs and 3 MPhils (
Here are a few things that I’ve done/am doing in no particular order.
I teach both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and have taught courses to industry. I enjoy teaching courses on:
In additional to the “normal things” we all do, here are a few highlights of other contributions I’ve made to where I’ve worked.
2005- External Examiner, Undergraduate
Programme,
2003-2006 External
Examiner, Undergraduate/MEng Programme, Department of Computer Science,
2003- External
Examiner, BSc/HND Computer Simulation and Virtual Technologies,
2003- External Validation Panel, BSc/HND Computer Simulation and Virtual
Technologies,
2002-2005 External
Examiner, BSc Statistics and Operational Research, School of Mathematics
and
(Recent) Internal
Validation Panel Experience
2007 Academic Program Review,
2006 MEng Design Engineering,
2006 MSc Distributed Systems Engineering,
Course Development
M.Sc. Enterprise Systems Development
M.Sc. Management
Professional Course: Networked Organisations. Delivered to Axa.
Professional Course: Object Orientation: A Java Primer. Delivered to FI Group Consulting.
M.Sc. Distributed
M.Sc. Parallel and Distributed Computing (co-developer at
DISC Staff Development Seminar, Lecturing Skills.
Committee for Quality Standards in Teaching and Learning Seminar, Pastoral Care for Students.
Internal Staff Development Seminar, Personal Tutoring.
Internal Staff Development Seminar, Stagecraft for Lecturers.
Committee for Quality Standards in Teaching and Learning Seminar, Personal Tutoring.
Major Administrative Experience
2007- UG Level 3 Course Team
2004-5 Course
Director, MSc Enterprise Systems Development,
1999-2001 Final
Year Project Team,
1999-2002 Course
Director, MSc Distributed
1998-2002 Chair
of the Senior Tutors Committee,
1997-2000 International
Recruitment Representative, Department of
1997-2000 Senior
Tutor, Department of
1996-2001 Chair
of the Library Services User Group,
1996-1998
Library Representative (book budget £10000).
Department of
I also (although I’ve lapsed a little) am a member of the Reading-based Samba Band Beatroots Batteria. With them I’ve played very, very, very loudly at the rather large Thames Festival and WOMAD, amongst others. I play a Mid Surdu.
Since 1994, I’ve also ran something called
TubeQuest. It’s a treasure
hunt set in
Simon J E Taylor, 2007