IU School of Informatics Upcoming Events

Colloquia: Fri, October 10: Aware Home Technology to Support Aging-in-Place

by Wendy Rogers
Professor of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Place: Informatics East (919 E. 10th St.), Rm. 130

Abstract: Imagine if your home were “aware” of your activities so that it might help you remember what it was you went into the kitchen for or whether the visitor at the front door is someone you know or even what the proper procedure is for performing a recently learned home medical procedure. An aware home is not from the world of science fiction—it is within the realm of science. Such technological developments have the potential to enable older adults to maintain their functional independence and to “age-in-place.” They also have the potential to support families caring for children with developmental disabilities or individuals recovering from illness or injury. An innovative research program at Georgia Institute of Technology is focused on developing psychological and computer science to support home activities. Dr. Rogers will provide a general overview of the Aware Home concept and capabilities. She will then discuss in depth her research on aging-in-place. She is a Principal Investigator in the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) which focuses on design and training needs for older adults’ interactions with technology. Maintaining functional independence is a high priority for many older adults. Often, staying in their homes is key to such independence. Computer technology has the potential to assist in this goal by supporting the everyday tasks of older individuals, as well as by aiding caregivers and family members. An “aware” home can provide support in numerous ways including: alerting the person to an emergency or hazardous situation (e.g., the stove left on); providing information about daily activities and long-term trends, and changes therein (e.g., reduced movements); providing support for daily activities such as medication monitoring or use of medical technologies; and also supporting social communication with family and friends. For these efforts to be successful, psychology must be involved and the research efforts of CREATE provide valuable direction. The presentation will include examples of health care technology, communication technology, and memory supports. These examples demonstrate the complexity of the issues involved in designing the computationally capable home of the future and provide direction for future research and development efforts.

Biography: Wendy A. Rogers is Professor of Psychology at Georgia Institute of Technology. She received her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth, and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to returning to Georgia Tech for her current position, she was on the faculty at the University of Memphis and the University of Georgia. She is Co-Director of the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory and her research interests include skill acquisition, human factors, training, and cognitive aging. She is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and the American Psychological Association (APA). She is a recipient of the Franklin V. Taylor Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology and the Mentor Award from APA’s Division 20 and the Retirement Research Foundation. She is a past-president of Division 21 of APA and of HFES. She is currently the Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

Thu, October 16: IU Bay Area IT Professional Networking Series

Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Place: Google Inc.

You are invited to the inaugural Indiana University Bay Area Information Technology Professional Networking program. This event will combine a panel discussion with distinguished IT entrepreneurs, business people, and investors as well as a reception and networking with fellow IU alumni.

The event, hosted by Google, will be held at 1098 Alta Ave., Building #1098, Eagle Passage Tech Talk Room, Mountain View, California.

Please RSVP no later than October 10 to Felisa Javier at (812) 856-0743 with your name and the names of your guests. Your response is strongly encouraged in order to grant admittance to Google after hours.

Learn more »

Colloquia: Fri, October 17: Customizing Instruction Processors

by Wayne Luk
Professor of Computer Engineering, Department of Computing, Imperial College London

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Place: Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Abstract: This talk describes recent research on techniques and tools for customizing instruction processors, principally targeting implementation in field-programmable gate array technology. Two research themes will be presented. The first theme involves a multi-processor architecture, customised for parallel execution of inductive logic programming. The second theme concerns techniques for producing multi-threaded processors with custom instructions. Several examples in multimedia and bioinformatics will be used to illustrate these research themes.

Biography: Wayne Luk is Professor of Computer Engineering in Department of Computing at Imperial College London, where he founded and leads the Computer Systems Section. He is also Visiting Professor at Stanford University. His research interests include computer architecture, reconfigurable computing, and design automation.

Sat, October 18: Jill Behrman Run for the End Zone

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.

Place: Memorial Stadium

The School of Informatics has registered a team for the Jill Behrman Run for the End Zone 5K. You are invited to support a community cause for the Jill Behrman Emerging Leader Scholarships and represent the School of Informatics team of students, staff, and faculty (family and friends are also welcome). Please join us by registering today! Be sure to select "Informatics" as your team when you register: http://www.iurecsports.org/jbrez.

Colloquia: Fri, October 24: The Next Internet Revolution is Already Happening

by Genevieve Bell
Director, User Experience Group, Intel

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Place: Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Abstract: In less than forty years, the internet has moved from the margins of everyday life into a range of mainstreams: internet connectivity can be found on personal computers and laptops, in cell phones and other mobile devices, in satellite navigation systems, connected consumer electronics, gaming consoles and even personal health technologies. Similarly the internet touches and is touched by people all over the globe. It is an evolving sociotechnical system, rather than simply a technology. In this talk, Bell explores the many different pathways and trajectories along which the internet is evolving and transforming with a particular attention to cultural forces and global trends.

Biography: An internationally recognized cultural anthropologist, Genevieve Bell has been central to Intel’s move towards more consumer-centeric product and technology development. She is the Director of Intel’s first User Experience Group, which blends anthropological methods and human-factors engineering to help drive innovation within Intel’s Digital Home Group. Intel’s recently announced consumer electronics offerings were driven out of her team. Her work has been widely published and cited and she is active in the fields of anthropology, computer-human interaction and ubiquitous computing. She is credited with making non-US cultural practices a necessary part of discussions around technological futures and is a much sought after commentator and speaker in forums, conferences and the press worldwide. Raised in Australia, Bell received her B.A. and Master’s at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in anthropology at Stanford.

Colloquia: Fri, October 31: Computing and Information Science and Engineering: What’s All This?

by Mark Snir
Director, Illinois Informatics Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Place: Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Abstract: The Computer Science discipline continues to evolve rapidly. New schools are established that include CS but expand beyond the narrow confines of CS into Informatics and various application areas; the School of Informatics at IU being one notable example. This is a good time to revisit our understanding of the discipline or disciplines that are under the CISE umbrella. We shall argue that it is appropriate to think of Computing and Information (C&I) as one broad discipline, and that it is high time to stop arguing about the precise boundaries between the various sub-disciplines or have sterile discussions about science vs. engineering. Implications about C&I education and C&I organization will be discussed. Finally we shall briefly discuss the activities of the newly formed Illinois Informatics Institute.

Biography: Professor Marc Snir is director of the Illinois Informatics Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds the Michael Faiman and Saburo Muroga Professorship in the Department of Computer Science and has a courtesy appointment in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. He currently pursues research in parallel computing. He is PI for the software of the petascale Blue Waters system and co-director of the Intel and Microsoft funded Universal Parallel Computing Research Center (UPCRC). Marc Snir was head of the Computer Science Department from 2001 to 2007. Until August 2001 he was a senior manager at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center where he led the Scalable Parallel Systems research group that was responsible for major contributions to the IBM SP scalable parallel system and to the IBM Blue Gene system. Marc Snir received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1979, worked at NYU on the NYU Ultracomputer project in 1980-1982, and worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1982-1986, before joining IBM. Marc Snir was a major contributor to the design of the Message Passing Interface. He has published numerous papers and given many presentations on computational complexity, parallel algorithms, parallel architectures, interconnection networks, parallel languages and libraries and parallel programming environments. Marc is AAAS Fellow, ACM Fellow, and IEEE Fellow. He is on the Computer Research Association Board of Directors and is on the NSF CISE advisory committee. He has Erdos number 2 and is a mathematical descendent of Jacques Hadamard.

Tue, February 17, 2009: Spring 2009 IT Career Fair

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Place: Indiana Memorial Union, Alumni Hall

This fair is open to all current students and alumni interested in technology jobs. The primary attendees will be students majoring in Computer Science and Informatics. For more information log-in to: http://www.iuinformaticscareers.com

Wed, May 20, 2009: Gill Award Symposium and Ceremony

Place: Indiana Memorial Union, Whittenberger Auditorium

The Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at IU Bloomington is pleased to announce the 2009 Gill Award Symposium and Ceremony to be held Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union. The annual Gill Symposium is held to honor two scientists whose research has had profound impact on shaping the field and enhancing public understanding of neuroscience.

Attendees must register for the free symposium. One registration per person please.