National Science Foundation cyberinfrastructure leader to kick off ‘Year of Exploration’ at SU on April 19

National Science Foundation cyberinfrastructure leader to kick off ‘Year of Exploration’ at SU on April 19April 06, 2006Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Some of the most challenging information technology problems that face today’s networked information society will be the focus of “The Year of Exploration,” a new series jointly sponsored by Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science and School of Information Studies. The series, which will include lectures and workshops, will kick off April 19 with a lecture by Daniel E. Atkins, director designate of the National Science Foundation’s newly created Office of Cyberinfrastructure and professor of information, electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Atkins’ lecture will begin at 9 a.m. in the Kilian Room, Room 500 of the Hall of Languages, and is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the University’s visitor pay lots.

The networked information society was chosen as the focus of “The Year of Exploration” in recognition of the intimate interconnections among information technology, society and globalization. Political, economic and cultural developments over recent decades have made the management, distribution, control and use of information critically important to the proper functioning of societies. The challenges of creating, deploying and protecting technology and the information it contains have grown beyond the capabilities of a single academic discipline.

The series will place emphasis on three areas chosen to represent the most challenging interdisciplinary problems facing the Networked Information Society: trust, security and transparency; pervasive networks; and collaboration. Researchers and practitioners from several fields are scheduled to engage participants in workshops and lectures that explore the Networked Information Society.

In his lecture, Atkins will talk about how the NSF and numerous other funding agencies around the world have begun initiatives to create, deploy and apply a new generation of advanced cyberinfrastructure that holds promise to revolutionize the conduct of scientific and engineering research and allied education.

The NSF is now developing an emerging Vision for 21st Century Discovery based on cyberinfrastructure. Atkins will share the vision as developed to date and describe the opportunities and challenges these developments offer to the future of research universities. Questions and discussion will be welcome.

Atkins has made major contributions to high-performance computer architecture and has led or participated in the design and construction of seven experimental machines, including some of the earliest parallel computers. He developed high-speed arithmetic algorithms now widely used in the computer industry; conducted pioneering work on special-purpose architecture, including collaboration with the Mayo Clinic on the development of computer-assisted tomography (CAT); and chaired the committee at Michigan that developed one of the earliest computer engineering undergraduate degree programs. His most recent research has focused on the social and technical architecture of distributed knowledge communities.

Atkins, the founding dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Information and a distinguished computer scientist, was named to lead the NSF’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) in June 2005. OCI makes competitive, merit-reviewed awards for leading edge, IT-based infrastructure that is essential to science and engineering leadership in the 21st century.