- Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 4:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts
Speaker:
Dr. Alan Kay, Viewpoints Research Institute
Title: STEPS Toward The Reinvention Of Programming
Abstract:
Higher level languages have generally been invented to gain more
expressive, human-centered, problem-oriented, and machine-independent
means to create programs. With a few interesting and obscure exceptions,
the advances in level, style and architectural design seen in the
50s-70s have tapered off considerably over the last 25 years during the
commercialization of the personal computer and Internet. The great
Moore's Law exponential advances in hardware have been almost canceled
out by an "inverse Moore's Law" for software: millions to hundreds of
millions of lines of code seem to be required to do most things, and the
general lack of architectural integrity has made most of these piles of
code almost impossible to reformulate (or even understand), so most
changes are essentially patches of large size pasted on the outside of
systems. An important question for computing, and especially for
attempts at making real "computer science" and "software engineering"
disciplines, is whether our current software situation is intrinsic to
"natural limits" of software (like natural limits of what can be built
from steel, etc.) or whether much more could be accomplished, and the
actual limits are emergent artifacts of weak perspectives by the human
beings involved. One of our current major projects at Viewpoints
Research Institute is "STEPS Toward The Reinvention Of Programming". (We
pose it this way because we don't know how to reinvent programming, but
would like to get up the mountain to a qualitatively higher base camp
that would provide better views of routes to the summit than we have
today.) We decided to take a body of behavior that most people have some
sense of -- the general experience of personal computing from end-user
down to the metal -- and try to make a very compact working model that
can run fast enough to be useful. How compact? 200 million lines of
code? 20 million? 2 million? 200,000? 20,000? 2000? The last one
probably exceeds some intrinsic mathematical limit, but e.g. if such a
complete system of facilities could be expressed in 20,000
understandable lines of code, this would constitute a positive "Moore'
Law" advance for software (of 3 or 4 orders of magnitude), and could
very possibly lead to new insights for a more total reinvention. We
picked such a "preposterous" goal (as one NSF reviewer termed it) to
force real inventions to happen (and perhaps a few miracles as well).
The inventions are of a mathematical kind and because they have to also
run on a computer, constitute a kind of "active mathematics".
Biography:
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
--Alan Kay
Alan Kay is one of the pioneers of object-oriented programming, personal computing,
and graphical user interfaces.
In the late 60s, he invented dynamic object-oriented programming;
participated in the design of the ARPAnet; and, inspired by children, conceived the
Dynabook, a laptop personal computer for children of all ages.
At Xerox PARC, he invented Smalltalk (which included the now ubiquitous overlapping window interface),
and participated in the development of the Alto, the computer that inspired the Macintosh.
His contributions have been recognized with the Charles Stark Draper Prize
of the National Academy of Engineering, the Alan. M. Turing Award from the
Association of Computing Machinery, and the Kyoto Prize from the Inamori Foundation.
He has a BA in Mathematics and Biology with minor concentrations in English and Anthropology
from the University of Colorado, MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Utah,
and Honorary Doctorates from the Kungl Tekniska Hoegskolan in Stockholm,
Columbia College in Chicago, and Georgia Tech.
He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at UCLA and the
President of Viewpoints Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to children and learning.
- Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 4:45 p.m.; Place: DC1351
Speaker: Eric Brewer,
Professor of Computer Science, UC Berkeley
Title: Technology Research for Developing Regions
Abstract:
The historic focus of development has rightfully been on macroeconomics and good governance,
but technology has an increasingly large role to play.
In this talk, we review several novel technologies that we have deployed in India and Africa,
and discuss the challenges and opportunities of this new subfield of EECS research.
Our flagship Project has been the development of long-distance WiFi for rural connectivity
and its use for telemedicine in rural India.
Working with the Aravind Eye Hospital, we currently support doctor/patient videoconferencing
in 25 rural villages at the rate of roughly 3600 patient exams per month and over 50,000 to date.
More than 3000 people have had their blindness cured due to these exams.
Biography:
Dr. Brewer focuses on all aspects of Internet-based systems,
including technology, strategy, and government.
As a researcher, he has led projects on scalable servers, search engines, network infrastructure,
sensor networks, and security. His current focus is (high) technology for developing regions,
with projects in India, Ghana, and Uganda (so far), and including communications, health, education, and e-government.
In 1996, he co-founded Inktomi Corporation with a Berkeley grad student based on their research prototype,
and helped lead it onto the Nasdaq 100 before it was bought by Yahoo! in March 2003.
In 2000, he founded the Federal Search Foundation, a 501-3(c) organization focused on
improving consumer access to government information. Working with President Clinton,
Dr. Brewer helped to create USA.gov, the official portal of the Federal government,
which launched in September 2000.
He received an MS and Ph.D. in EECS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and a BS in EECS from UC Berkeley. He was named a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum,
by the Industry Standard as the "most influential person on the architecture of the Internet",
by InfoWorld as one of their top ten innovators, by Technology Review as one of the top 100 most
influential people for the 21st century (the "TR100"), and by Forbes as one of their 12 "e-mavericks",
for which he appeared on the cover. He was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering,
for leading the development of scalable servers, and named an ACM Fellow.
-
Date: Wednesday, 19 November 2008 (Note change in Date); 4:30 p.m. in DC1302
Speaker: Anne Condon, University of British Columbia
Title: Computational challenges and opportunities in RNA secondary
structure prediction
Abstract: DNA and RNA molecules have proven to be very versatile materials.
Structures formed by RNA molecules play important regulatory and catalytic roles in the cell,
and show promise in therapeutics. Molecular engineers can now design and realize nano-scale structures and sensors,
and even simple machines with moving parts, built from DNA.
Function follows form in the molecular world, and so our ability to understand nucleic acid function in the cell,
as well as to design novel structures, is enhanced by reliable means for structure prediction.
Computational work on RNA structure prediction has focused on secondary structure - the set of base pairs
that form when the molecule folds on itself. Algorithms which predict RNA and DNA secondary structure
from the base sequence typically rely on models of the physical (thermodynamic) aspects of molecular folding.
In this talk, we will describe some algorithmic and inference problems that arise in DNA/RNA secondary
structure prediction from the base sequence, progress in solving these problems, and directions for future research.
No prior biological background will be assumed for the talk.
Biography:
Anne Condon is a Professor of Computer Science at U. British Columbia and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science.
Much of her current research focuses on computational prediction of nucleic acid structure, with applications
to design of novel structures and gene synthesis.
Her research contributions span computational complexity theory, hardware verification,
biomolecular computation, and combinatorial auctions. She has received an ACM Distinguished Dissertation Award,
NSF National Young Investigator Award, and University College Cork Distinguished Alumna Award for her work,
and currently holds the NSERC/GM Canada Chair.
Anne received her B.Sc. degree (1982) from University College Cork, Ireland and Ph.D. (1987) from U. Washington.
Prior to her position at UBC, she was a faculty member at U. Wisconsin from 1987-1999.
-
Date: Wednesday, 1 April 2009 4:30 p.m. in DC1351 (note new date)
Speaker: Nancy Leveson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Title: Computers and Trust
Abstract:
"We seem not to trust one another as much as would be desirable.
In lieu of trusting each other, are we putting too much trust
in our technology?" -- T.B. Sheridan.
Computers are being introduced into the control of virtually every
dangerous system, including nuclear weapons, transportation systems
(aircraft, automobiles, trains), medical devices, and chemical and
nuclear power plants. Few engineering techniques exist to provide
assurance that safety is not being degraded by the substitution of
digital systems for the electromechanical designs that have been
perfected through decades and sometimes centuries of experience. At
the same time, nothing is absolutely safe, and computers provide important
advantages over the human operators, social systems, and engineered
devices that they are replacing.
This talk will attempt to examine whether concern is justified.
Are we putting too much trust in computers? Will introducing
computers to assist or replace human operators eliminate or reduce
the problem of human error? Are there limits to the reasonable
uses of computer technology? If so, what do we need to do to
stretch those limits?
Biography: Nancy Leveson is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
and also Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT.
She is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
Prof. Leveson conducts research on the topics of system safety, software safety,
software and system engineering, and human-computer interaction.
In 1999, she received the ACM Allen Newell Award for outstanding computer science research
and in 1995 the AIAA Information Systems Award for
"developing the field of software safety and for promoting responsible software and
system engineering practices where life and property are at stake."
In 2005 she received the ACM Sigsoft Outstanding Research Award.
She has published over 200 research papers and is author of a book,
"Safeware: System Safety and Computers" published by Addison-Wesley.
She consults extensively in many industries on the ways to prevent accidents.
-
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2009, 4:30 p.m., DC1302
Speaker: Tom Furness, University of Washington
Title: Cobwebs in a Virtual Brain
Abstract:
Over a career of 42 years, Prof. Furness has been exploring and
developing technology for getting bandwidth to the brain and between
brains. His work has encompassed fighter cockpits, virtual reality,
retinal displays, educational tools, medical simulators, pain,
phobias, molecular modeling, scanning fiber endoscopes and
entertainment systems. This quest has been punctuated with side trips
and 'aha' experiences that have led to unanticipated destinations.
Dr. Furness plans to talk about lessons learned on his journey
including unexpected delights...with an aim to inspire, entertain and
challenge.
Biography:
Prof. Furness is a pioneer in human interface technology and virtual
reality. He received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering from
Duke University and the Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science from
the University of Southampton, England. Dr. Furness is currently a
professor of Industrial Engineering with adjunct professorships in
Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics and
Astronautics, and Technical Communication at the University of
Washington. He is the founder of the Human Interface Technology
Laboratory (HIT Lab) at UW and founder and international director of
the HIT Lab NZ at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ and
the HIT Lab Australia at the University of Tasmania, Launceston,
Tasmania. He is also an Erskine Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the
University of Canterbury and the University of Tasmania.
Prior to joining the faculty at the University, Prof. Furness served a
combined 23 years as an U.S. Air Force officer and civilian at the
Armstrong Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where
he developed advanced cockpits and virtual interfaces for the
Department of Defense. He is the author of the Super Cockpit program
and served as the Chief of Visual Display Systems and Super Cockpit
Director until he joined the University of Washington in 1989.
Dr. Furness lectures widely and has appeared in many national and
international network and syndicated television science and technology
documentaries and news programs. He is the inventor of the personal
eyewear display, the virtual retinal display, the HALO display and
holds 15 patents in advanced sensor, display and interface
technologies. With his colleagues Dr. Furness has started 24
companies, two of which are traded on NASDAQ at a market
capitalization of > $ 2 B. In 1998 he received the Discover Award
for his invention of the virtual retinal display.
Last modified: Friday, 19-Jun-2009 09:11:30 EDT
