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December 21, 2004: Robotic squirrel part of trend to improve undergrad research. By Ryan Meehan. Associated Press / available from USA Today. "In 1998, a panel put together to examine the undergraduate experience called for significant change at America's research universities. Get more undergraduates involved in research, the Boyer Commission said. The reason: Students learn more from doing than they do from listening. Soon after, USF created an Office of Undergraduate Research. ... Last year, the two professors responded to USF's new interest in undergraduate research by proposing two research-based classes that focused on animal behavior, robotics, anatomy and graphic design. The classes are being financed by a $10,000 grant from the USF Center For Teaching Enhancement. ... 'Robots are sexy, [Deby] Cassill said. 'We are in a century where there will be a real serious interface between organic and inorganic technology.'" December 16, 2004: Why science needs a Great Communicator. By Jenny Rees. Western Mail / available from ic Wales. "Steve Grand, inventor of Lucy the robotic orangutan, has criticised academics in the field of artificial intelligence, likening them to people wanting to get to the Moon by learning how to jump really well rather than by researching rocket science. Current attempts to entice students into science degrees, by radically changing the curriculum, or offering financial incentives, may be just as misguided, when the real problem appears to be a deep-rooted misunderstanding of science caused by scientists' failure to communicate its cultural significance in society. Scientists feel that only their own should communicate science, but any that do are treated like the proverbial leper, cast out and forced to appear on bizarre TV shows.... Dissemination of good science is necessary - ignorance can prevent swaying of political support for or against a potentially hazardous application of technology; funding bodies need to be seen to be addressing issues of public concern and the social or cultural consequences of a scientific concept can only be realised by discussion in the community. Pseudo science may be informing the public at least as much, and possibly more than, any real science communication efforts of those interested in science." December 14, 2004: Robotic maze mission. Herald & Review. "A robot rumbles through a darkened labyrinth as 'Mission Impossible' theme music rises from the cavernous maze. No, this isn't a scene from a far-fetched futuristic action movie. It's part of a semester-end project in James Rauff's artificial intelligence class at Millikin University. ... The project is a small-scale simulation of the search-and-rescue machines used to find people buried in earthquakes or rubble from a collapsed building, Rauff said. Students learn engineering, design, programming and teamwork with the project." December 13, 2004: M.I.T. Technology Review Adopts More Serious Tone. By Victoria Shannon. The New York Times (reg. req'd.). "Technology Review at M.I.T., like many similar magazines, was born during a technology boom. In The Review's case, that boom took place in the late 1800's, which may help explain why it has outlived so many of its recent imitators, like Red Herring and The Industry Standard. Now Technology Review, which was introduced in 1899 with such titillating headlines as 'The Function of the Laboratory' and 'Applied Science and the University,' is getting a makeover with help from a refugee of the latest tech bubble. Jason Pontin, the former editor of Red Herring before that magazine's collapse in 2002, has remade The Review for more sober times. 'We want to levelly and intelligently analyze today's and tomorrow's technology,' Mr. Pontin said. ... Like Scientific American and Popular Science, Technology Review is trying to take advantage of a new interest in the discovery of technology, some media experts believe. 'We believe it's a very strong sector,' said Eric McClure, media director of DCA Advertising in New York. 'We look at the readers of a Technology Review or a Scientific American as intelligent, well-educated, generally influential people.'" December 7, 2004: College meeting needs of Berkshires. By Nicole Sequino. Berkshire Eagle Online. "Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has been shaping its degree and internship offerings over the past few years to boost Berkshire County's economy and address the region's employment needs, said college President Mary K. Grant. ... Meanwhile, other academic departments also are expanding their programs, she said. For starters, the physics department received $20,000 in private donations toward developing a robotics program with local artist Eric Rudd, said professor William Seeley, department chairman. Physics and computer science students are using technical designs to build 20-foot robots, while drama students are preparing a theatrical production with the robots, he said. 'It's proof that science, together with technology and art, can produce some interesting things,' Seeley said. 'Interest in robots also has blossomed since we started working on this last year. Students are always asking if they can participate.' As a result, he said he has expanded the program into a summer camp for middle school students to encourage them to consider careers in physics. Grant said that the program could bring about a new generation of workers, skilled in technology, science and critical thinking. 'It's an exciting way to learn science, to bring it to life for students,' she said." December 6, 2004: Engineering intelligence. The Times of India. "Is robotics' engineering all about designing robots, maintaining them, developing new applications and conducting research? If that's the case, then you need a re-thinking on the whole concept behind developing robots. ... In the Indian system, 'robotics' is quite often considered as the synonym for 'unemployment'. This is supposedly because of the fear that robots will replace human workers. However, surveys conducted by the government and private agencies reveal that the fear is unreal. ... A specialisation in robotics' engineering will lead to potential career opportunities in manufacturing, research and engineering, agriculture, mining, nuclear power-plant maintenance and a variety of other areas. 'If you consider a robot as a machine, which can perform numerous tasks, it could act as a catalyst for a change in our everyday life,' [associate professor Subir Kumar] Saha said. One of the great ways to learn about robotics is to take part in robotics' competitions. ... Institutes running programme in robotics' engineering: ...." November 24, 2004: Toward a More Human Robot - Carnegie Mellon's Takeo Kanade explains why making smarter systems requires better understanding about how people really act. Interview by Cliff Edwards. BusinessWeek Online. "Q: What's ripe for innovation? A: Certainly, I'd like to comment on my own area, that is robotics, artificial intelligence [AI], and the like. My own thinking today is that I think we should understand how humans act and use that [insight] to develop a better system that serves for human. You can call it AI. I'm more interested in, and I believe it's useful and enormously valuable to understand, how humans function, not necessarily how humans are made. ... Q: What are the hurdles that robotics and AI need to overcome? A: The hurdle is we do not know ourselves, how we are doing. In general, I call it an invisible robotics -- environmental robotics. The environment as a whole is a robot, not the human individual humanoid or arm or mobile robot. ... Q: Is there a problem in the U.S. of underfunding areas of research? A: I'm less familiar about that area. I'm mostly dealing with places like DARPA [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]. My concern is that we may be reducing what I call playfulness. In research, a large part of it is based on results. We're too result-oriented. The hallmark of the U.S., and I came from Japan and was very impressed with the difference I found, was what I call this playfulness -- people willing to pay money for those things which appeared to be somewhat ridiculous ideas. ..." November 22, 2004: Driven by logic. By Jessie Hui. Sourth China Morning Post (subscription req'd.) "Driven by the desire to use technology to help the needy, a group of secondary school students won a competition with their communication system that makes life a little easier for blind people. The Intelligence @ Society Contest, organised by Hong Kong Baptist University's (HKBU) Computer Science Department earlier this month, was divided into secondary school and university categories. It aimed to arouse students' interest in artificial intelligence and how the 'fuzzy logic' can be applied in our daily lives." November 22, 2004: Study Tracks African Americans in I.T. Programs. By Mike Martin. NewsFactor Network. "Tracking the educational enrollment of an ethnic group traditionally under-represented in information technology -- African Americans -- is the goal of a new National Science Foundation-sponsored study. ... 'In the 1990s, the number of African-Americans enrolling in and graduating from graduate and undergraduate I.T. programs rose significantly,' said Virginia Tech (VT) spokesperson Sookhan Ho. 'However, general enrollments in computer science have declined by almost 30 percent in the 2001-2004 period.' ... Guiding the researchers is a model they developed that describes how students select, persist in, and graduate from I.T. programs and make the transition to the I.T. workplace, including faculty jobs at colleges and universities." November 22, 2004: Artificial intelligence in focus at Hobart conference. ABC News Online. "Ways of better predicting the future through the use of artificial intelligence are being discussed at a three-day conference in Hobart. One of the speakers, Cam Potter, says artificial intelligence is everywhere, with dish washers and washing machines some everyday examples. Mr Potter says the conference is examining some of the bigger projects that are being worked on. 'Biomedical-type areas, so trying to have artificial intelligence in very small chips which can be put throughout people's bodies,' he said. 'There are large systems used for military purposes, there are systems used for basically being able to better interact with the Internet.'" November 21, 2004: More robots mean more tech jobs - Rather than supplant workers, robots create a support need By Victor Godinez. Dallas Morning News / available from The Beacon Journal & Ohio.com. "Robby the Robot and C-3PO may still be years away from reality, but robot vacuum cleaners, medical robots, surveillance robots, underwater robots and demolition robots are here now. And rather than replacing the human work force, robots are creating a booming job market for engineers, software developers and other technical professionals, experts say. American Honda Motor Co. is touring the country with the company's Asimo robot (http://asimo.honda.com), visiting schools to show off the two-legged 'bot to students and spread awareness of careers in the robotics industry. Asimo project leader Stephen Keeney said he hopes to make young students aware of how many different paths there are in the robotics profession. 'Our message that we're trying to get across to students is that to build something like a robot like Asimo, it takes many, many different sciences,' he said. 'It takes people who understand mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer scientists such as hardware and software developers, it includes people who understand mathematics,' said Keeney. 'And it includes professions that might not come immediately to mind, people like chemists and physiologists.'" November 20, 2004: Record Research Grant for USC. By Stuart Silverstein. Los Angeles Times (no fee reg. req'd.). "USC has received a five-year research grant for $100 million -- its biggest research deal ever -- from the Army to continue developing high-tech training technologies for U.S. troops. University officials, in announcing the grant Friday, said that it will expand upon a previous five-year, $45-million deal between the Army and USC's Institute for Creative Technologies. ... The institute's researchers are developing 'virtual reality' simulated environments and sophisticated games to mimic the kinds of complicated situations soldiers face in battle zones. ... The institute has a permanent staff of more than 80, but also draws on researchers from around the USC campus to work on such areas as artificial intelligence, computer graphics and sound." November 19, 2004: Cybernetics combines many disciplines - Obscure major brings together math, engineering and biology. By Jeyling Chou. Daily Bruin. "When fourth-year student John Vaszari tells people what his major is, questions about robots and artificial intelligence frequently follow. At interviews for medical school this fall, Vaszari has given the same well-rehearsed explanation to doctors and admissions boards when they ask the inevitable question about 'cybernetics.' An undergraduate interdepartmental program at UCLA since 1972, cybernetics is the study of control and communication processes in biological systems -- cell movement translated into the language of engineering, protein interactions described with math equations. And, yes, sometimes that means robots. More than ever, current scientific research is undertaken in an environment of interdisciplinary collaboration. Biochemists and geneticists have paired with engineers to compile the massive data from the Human Genome Project, for example." November 19, 2004: Robo Grand Prix attracts more than 100 robotic racing teams. By Dominique Loh. Channel NewsAsia. "More than 100 teams have gathered for the Robo Grand Prix at the Singapore Motorshow. ... A critical component for each team will be the software, the set of instructions that will tell the racer exactly what to do. And the instructions are downloaded into the racer just seconds before the race. A group of boys from the Marsiling Ring Secondary have a lot to live up to. ... The competition brings together many elements from the different scientific disciplines. Knowledge in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer engineering and programming may decide if you win or lose. Yong Fook Seng, teacher in charge of special projects at Temasek Polytechnic, said: 'We are getting lower and lower enrolment in engineering. Everyone is going for soft options. One of the things we decided to do was to bring technology down to the secondary schools so they get a feel of technology, see how it works and get an interest in engineering.'" November 18, 2004: Sex, lies and AI - A Hong Kong-based company's creation of a virtual girlfriend raises philosophical questions about the curious evolution of artificial intelligence. By Alex Lo. South China Morning Post (subscription req'd.). "The German-born polymath-philosopher, mathematician, computer scientist, author and businessman brooks no criticism of his cyber-girlfriend, who will be officially launched at the 3G World Congress and Exhibition at the Convention Centre today. By now, you have probably heard all about Vivienne, with whom you can have a cyber-affair, sans sex, in a hyper-real graphic environment on your 3G phone. 'I don't like it when people say, 'Oh it's just a dumb chatter bot. It doesn't really understand anything and will never pass the Turing test',' Mr [Eberhard] Schoneburg says. (The Turing test decrees a computer program must be considered intelligent if, after interacting with it over a period of time, you cannot tell if you are dealing with a computer or a human.) 'Artificial Intelligence has been criticised since day one,' Mr Schoneburg continues, "mostly because of incompetent public writers who have collected their AI knowledge from reading three books ... who have no clue what they are writing about, and from tonnes of bad science fiction, where AI-driven robots kill and eat people... it's just horrifying how dumb people can be. 'Why is it that reporters always have to find a negative edge? The V-Girl is 'not just a chat bot with high resolution graphics'. We have tried - within the boundaries of the current technical AI possibilities - to simulate life-like behaviour as much as possible. That's the edge - the chatting is just one small component of it.' ... Eliza, Parry and Racter are the precursors of so-called chat bots. ... There are also expert systems, some of which have chat-bot features, which can answer most questions you want to know in a specific field." November 18, 2004: Making space for big ideas. By Thornton McCamish. The Age. "When Space Shuttle Discovery blasted into space in August 1997, it carried on board the most advanced artificial intelligence system ever built. It was probably the closest thing we have yet come to HAL, the neurotic supercomputer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it was built by a Melbourne man called Michael Georgeff. Anyone fretting about Australia's brain drain can take comfort from Georgeff's example. A world leader in artificial intelligence, Georgeff has, by necessity, spent much of his working life overseas. But last year he came back to Melbourne to take up a job as a research professor at Monash University, despite his belief that Australia 'isn't even on the map in terms of information technology'. He's back because he loves living here. And also because he has a big idea: he wants to use artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise Australia's health industry. ... The computer he built was a prototype of what are now known as adaptive agents: computers that have set goals and a flexible approach to achieving them. 'The leap forward with agents,' Georgeff explains, 'is that once given a goal, an agent works out how to achieve those objectives without being told. Giving machines their head turns them from drones into managers.' ... Today's adaptive agents - even ones devoted to ordering tractor parts - behave in startlingly human ways. ... An adaptive agent has to be socialised so that it will only jump a queue, or break a promise, when it's absolutely necessary. And when it does, Georgeff says, it will need to feel guilty. 'And once machines start behaving in ways we can only describe as guilty, sad or happy, we're going to have to reconsider what we call self-consciousness.' ... Now, Georgeff wants to bring high-tech IT to Australia's health industry. ... Georgeff plans to build a kind of 'Health Web', an online resource to bring healthcare providers, agencies and patients into one giant online research clinic. ... 'An online system like this could help manage patients' care in an intelligent way,' Georgeff explains." November 17, 2004: FedEx Institute turns one. By John Scruggs. The Daily Helmsman Online. "Major new developments marked the beginning of the first anniversary celebration of the FedEx Institute of Technology Tuesday. ... [Andy] Meyers also announced the affiliation of Michael Hawley, from the Media Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as director of special projects at F.I.T. ... U of M's state of the art building is home to researchers developing technologies that are cutting edge in the fields of artificial intelligence, intelligent systems and robotics. 'We build the best conversational systems in the world,' said Art Graesser, co-director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems. 'We're combining computer science with other mechanisms and using computers to model the mind.' ... 'There's going to be a land grab for markets in artificial intelligence,' [David] Hanson said as he stood beside Eva, the robotic face he developed. ... Hanson demonstrated Eva's ability to teach using AutoTutor programs." November 10, 2004: A New Way Out of the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Cheat. Software agents use a strategy of covert collusion to win game theory championship; auctioneers beware. By Camberley Crick. IEEE Spectrum Online. "Within a certain obsessive breed of computer scientists, the geek equivalent of the World Series is a little known tournament called the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Competition. Academics from around the globe struggle to devise the best strategy for tackling one of the fundamental problems in game theory, Prisoner’s Dilemma, and then build artificially intelligent software 'robots' to play their strategies in a competitive round-robin tournament. As it turns out, real-world situations from live auctions to nuclear standoffs can bear striking resemblance to this very simple game, and so it was no small matter when this year the longstanding champion of Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma had to settle for silver. A team of robots submitted by computer scientists from Southampton University, in England, used conspiracy and collusion to sweep this year’s competition stealing the crown from the 20-year reigning incumbent, a simple strategy called Tit for Tat." November 10, 2004: Students use Legos to study, understand disabilities. By Jennie Runevitch. WNDU-TV. "For most people, living life with a disability is hard to imagine, but a group of Berrien County youngsters is learning about the challenges firsthand. They’re also developing ways to help the disabled, with toys and technology, through a group called Gears in Motion. The children are nine through 13-year-olds, gearing up for a national Lego robotics competition, whose theme is helping the disabled through robotic technology." November 10, 2004: IT unravels tangled legal webs. The Australian; page B08 (subscription req'd.). "Remote dispute resolution is a fast-growing field that could provide a new direction for tech-savvy students. ... Melissa Conley Tyler, program manager at the International Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne, says online dispute resolution is booming. There are now 115 online dispute resolution services worldwide that have resolved more than 1.5million disputes. Conley Tyler, who convened the third UN annual forum on online dispute resolution (ODR) at Melbourne University earlier this year, believes it is a field that could provide many job opportunities for a generation of technologically literate law students. ODR uses online and video conferencing and even artificial intelligence to facilitate negotiations. ... While Australian universities do not offer degrees in ODR, several universities have short courses. Bond University runs a semester-long course in online dispute resolution as part of its master of dispute resolution and master of laws." November 9, 2004: Dancing to That Robotic Engineering Beat. By Chris Hedges. The New York Times (no fee reg. req'd.). "[Prof. Naomi Ehrich Leonard] has been able to transcend the boundaries of her physical surroundings, as well as the traditional boundaries of her discipline, as a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. She has interwoven control theory, fluid mechanics, robotics, computer science, oceanography and biology. Her work has shattered barriers and helped her design new sensing systems that replicate the coordinated behavior of flocks of birds and schools of fish. The advances she has made, which recently led to her being awarded a MacArthur fellowship worth $500,000, have been found to apply far beyond robotics, extending control theory to all mechanical systems. 'It comes from having many interests,' she said modestly. ... Professor Leonard's field is not one that has traditionally attracted women, something she is trying to change by helping Princeton recruit prospective engineers. 'People hear the term mechanical engineering and they think we wear jumpsuits, carry wrenches and fix cars,' she said. 'It is hard to enter a field where they are few other women, but once we get people to think beyond these old-fashioned labels, once we show people how engineering is interdisciplinary, how it can be a bridge even into the humanities, we will attract diverse students. We need people who think broadly and deeply.'" November 7, 2004: Computer science students to explore robotics. By Chris Valdez. The Pine Log Online. "Beginning in Spring 2005, the computer science department [at Stephen f. Austin State University] will offer a course in robotics. 'Robotics are what’s coming down the pipe,' Dr. Robert Strader, computer science professor in charge of the robotics program, said. 'New revolutions are going to be bio- and nano-robotics.' ... 'I had a pre-existing interest in the area, because I taught the artificial intelligence course in the past,' Strader said. 'Some people speculate that these areas are going to be the next revolutions in society.'" November 4, 2004: Humanoid domestic robots on sale next year - As technology improves, the devices will evolve into chatty companions for sick or elderly people living on their own, says maker of the R30000 Nuvo. By the Information Technology Editor. Business Day. "Next year, ZMP will release the first commercially available humanoid robot designed for home use. Nuvo will cost about R30000, and will contain enough artificial intelligence to hold short conversations using voice recognition technologies. It will also serve as a watchdog, transmitting images of what it sees around the house to the owner's cellphone. This week ZMP is demonstrating Pino, a more basic robot, at the International Science Innovation & Technology Exhibition (Insite) in Midrand. ... As technology improves, the robots will evolve into chatty companions for sick or elderly people living on their own, [Hiroshi] Kaminaga says. 'That could be the killer application for the next generation of robots." When he talks of "killer applications', he is using technology jargon for an idea so compelling that everyone has to have it. Yet anyone spooked by I, Robot may fear that the machines will take the idea of a killer application too literally. The variety of technologies on show at the inaugural Insite exhibition should kindle the interest of young black people in scientific careers, hopes Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena. Insite will also promote science and technology collaboration and let experts network within a showcase for their developments, he says." November 4, 2004: Duke Robot Climbs to Victory in Madrid. Duke University / available from PhysOrg.com. "A wall-climbing, book-sized autonomous vehicle made by a Duke University team drove up a challenging vertical course to win first prize in an international competition Sept. 22-24 in Madrid. The student competition was part of the seventh annual International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots. ... 'Robots that climb walls and cross ceilings can go where humans can’t," [Jason] Janet said. "They can do security and safety jobs like looking for bombs or finding cracks in a support beam or the wing of a jumbo jet.' ... Janet said Duke’s future robotics efforts include teaming with a group from Carnegie Mellon University for the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge to design a full-sized autonomous land vehicle and continuing the development of autonomous underwater vehicles." November 1, 2004: JHU Course Catalog - The Natural and the Artificial ("part of an occasional series in which reporters drop in on interesting classes"). By Lisa De Nike. Johns Hopkins Gazette. "THE COURSE: The Natural and the Artificial: The Concept of the Man-Made Man. The course attempts to illustrate society's changing understanding of science by examining the concept of the artificial human being. It begins with the Renaissance's 'golem' legend and proceeds through the Scientific Revolution/Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and the 20th century. ... REQUIRED READING: R.U.R., by Karel Capek; The Fourth Discontinuity, by Bruce Mazlish; He, She and It, by Marge Piercy; Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley; Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells. Students also read selections from Science and Change, by Hugh Kearney; The Golem, by Chaim Bloch; Man a Machine, by J.O. de la Mettrie; and The Sandman, by E.T.A. Hoffmann. FILMS VIEWED IN CLASS: The Golem; Frankenstein; Island of Lost Souls; Colossus: The Forbin Project; The Stepford Wives (the original version); Bladerunner; A.I. ..." October 28, 2004: Tech
major loses its luster. By Jonathan B. Cox. The (Raleigh)
News & Observer. "The number of new undergraduate
majors in U.S. computer science programs has fallen 28 percent
since 2000, reports the Computing Research Association, a
group of more than 200 North American computer science, computer
engineering and related academic departments. ... One reason,
say those in the field, is that technology jobs appear less
lucrative than they did during the dot-com boom. Then, students
thought a computer science degree would lead to riches and
a quick retirement. Many took on the major. Even those with
minimal skills made it into the industry because demand was
so high that companies had to hire almost anyone available.
When the tech bubble burst, the promise of fast money evaporated.
... Some temper the doomsday prediction. Undergraduate students
now are likely of higher quality and thus more attractive
to employers, because they have pursued computer science
degrees despite the industry downturn. ... Colleges have
also begun to integrate computer instruction into other majors
such as e-commerce programs in business schools. A computer
science degree, therefore, can be unnecessary. One thing's
almost certain, though: Those with the necessary skills could
relive a bit of the dot-com fever as tech spending rebounds." October 27, 2004: Pensacola research institute to work with Florida Atlantic.
Associated Press / available from NBC 15 News. "The Florida
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, one of three statewide
research institutes, signed an affiliation agreement Wednesday
with Florida Atlantic University. The deal paves the way for
joint research and faculty appointments and other mutual activities
involving computer and cognitive science, robotics, ocean engineering,
transportation security and other fields, institute and university
officials said. Gov. Jeb Bush praised the new partnership as
'forward thinking' in a news release. ... The institute in
Pensacola is a national leader in artificial intelligence and
human-centered computing." October 13, 2004: Fewer women in computer jobs these days. By Ed Frauenheim. CNET News. "Women have lost ground when it comes to some geeky professions. A study released Wednesday by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology found a decline in the share of computer science jobs held by women in a recent 20-year period. In 1983, women held 30.5 percent of the jobs in the category of computer systems analysts and scientists, programmers and postsecondary computer science teachers, according to the commission. That figure declined to 27.2 percent in 2002. On the other hand, women have increased their share of jobs in the natural sciences and in engineering, according to the commission." October 13 - 19, 2004: Checking
in with Ben Bederson. Ubiquity (Volume 5, Issue 32). "Benjamin
B. Bederson is an Associate Professor of Computer Science
and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the
Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University
of Maryland, College Park. His work is on information visualization,
interaction strategies, and digital libraries. UBIQUITY:
Why don't we start by talking a little about the Human-Computer
Interaction Lab. Tell us something about its history. BEDERSON:
I believe we're the oldest center in the country focusing
on research in Human Computer Interaction. We were started
just over 21 years ago by Ben Shneiderman. He's still happily
continuing to work here, but about four years ago, he asked
me to take over as Director. We've chosen to remain a relatively
small group, with a half-dozen faculty, about ten full-time
researchers, and about thirty students, mostly working towards
their PhDs. Our focus is thinking about the user experience:
how can we improve people's lives using computers. I see
our lab goals being to design, implement and evaluate novel
interaction technologies that are universally usable, useful,
efficient and appealing." October 12, 2004: Bellingham
residents display working robots. By Kara Lundberg. The
Western Front Online. "Bellingham community members
with curious minds gathered Saturday morning for the Bellingham
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Society meeting, where
they came to build and learn about robots. Nearly 60 people,
including Western students, came to the Communications Facility
to get hands-on experience in building smart robots, applying
the seriousness of computer science and engineering, and
turning it into fun. ... 'It is a great initiative to connect
the community to the department and the university,' computer
science department chairman David Bover said. Bover and[Jianna]
Zhang said involving women is especially beneficial because
women sometimes encounter cultural barriers in math and science,
which has given them the impression they cannot do either.
'By encouraging females to attend, we hope to help them understand
what computer science is all about and teach them about robotics
as an interesting and practical application to machine learning,'
Bover said. ... Energetic children who attended Saturday's
meeting were eager to start building. Kelsey Willson, a 13-year-old
Sehome High School freshman, said she was completely surprised
about who attended. 'I was expecting a lot of computer people,'
Willson said. 'But I came because I think that girls need
to be more involved in science, and this is actually pretty
cool.'" October 9, 2004: Carnegie Mellon institute celebrates 25 years of robot research.
Associated Press / available from The Herald Standard. "The
researchers who developed robotics systems that play soccer,
explored Antarctica and gave football fans a 360-degree view
of Super Bowl XXXV are pausing to celebrate their 25th anniversary
- and contemplate where robotics will take the world in the
next 25 years. The four-day celebration at Carnegie Mellon
University's Robotics Institute begins Monday with the second
annual inductions into the school's Robot Hall of Fame. C-3PO,
the droll droid of 'Star Wars' fame, and Robby the Robot from
the 1956 cult flick 'Forbidden Planet' are among the honorees.
... The anniversary's theme is 'Robots and Thought' - and the
founders' expectations about advances in artificial intelligence
are tame compared to those of some experts who will address
the grand challenges facing robotics in a series of lectures
on Wednesday. ... The next great frontier for robotics, [Raj]
Reddy says, is a conundrum: teaching computers to learn. 'The
biggest barrier is (developing) computers that learn with experience
and exhibit goal-directed behavior. If you can't build a system
that can learn with experience, you might as well forget everything
else,' Reddy said." October 8, 2004: X Prize group plans new series of contests. By Alorie Gilbert. CNET News. "The group that awarded $10 million this week to the winner of an outer-space travel contest is gearing up to offer cash prizes for technology breakthroughs in medicine, computer science, transportation and a number of other arenas. ... The competitions will be aimed at people 'seeking to meet the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century,' according to the WTN X Prize Web site. Those challenges could include finding a cure for cancer, AIDS or other major diseases; alleviating famine and environmental degradation; or making advances in artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, according to the Web site. The groups are soliciting suggestions for determining the rules and goals of the next contests from potential competitors and sponsors...." October 8, 2004: State-of-the-art
robotics on display. By Will Knight. New Scientist News. "Many
of the world's leading robotics experts gathered in the picturesque
city of Sendai, Japan, this week to discuss their latest
research efforts at the 2004 Intelligent Robotics and Systems
(IROS) conference. As well as hundreds of scientific papers
and workshops, attendees enjoyed demonstrations from some
of the latest entertainment bots Japan has to offer. These
include Sony's miniature humanoid, QRIO ... Fujitsu's HOAP-2
... [Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology's] PARO. ... Max Lungarella, of the University
of Tokyo, believes one of the more noticeable themes at this
year's conference is the way robotics is feeding into areas
of research relating to intelligence. As roboticists succeed
in making ever-more intelligent machines, neuroscientists,
cognitive scientists and even behavioural psychologists are
becoming interested in studying their creations, he says." October 6 - 12, 2004: Frans
Johansson on the Medici Effect - By exploring the intersections
between different disciplines and cultures, one may discover
the next groundbreaking ideas. Ubiquity (Volume 5, Issue
31). "UBIQUITY: Let's start at the beginning: what is
this 'Medici Effect' you write about? JOHANSSON: The book
talks about the fact that we have the greatest chance of
coming up with groundbreaking insights at the intersection
of different disciplines or cultures. The Medici Effect refers
to the exponential increase in ideas that you can generate
when you combine two different fields. UBIQUITY: Give us
an example or two. JOHANSSON: Let's take an example I'm particularly
fond of -- the example of ants and truck drivers, which I
talk about in one of the chapters. So there is this telecommunications
engineer that has been is trying to figure out how to efficiently
route telecom messages through a haphazard routing system.
And one day the communications engineer met an ecologist,
who studies social insects, like wasps and ants. And they
started talking, and the ecologist described how ants search
for food. As it turned out, the ant's search strategy turned
out to be very applicable to the routing of telecom message
packets. Once the engineer realized this, he decided to explore
this particular intersection between ant ecology and computer
search algorithms, so he spent three years looking at the
connection between the way social insects behave and the
way you can use computers to optimize particular types of
search algorithms. And that has now lead to an entirely new
field called swarm intelligence, which essentially came out
of the intersection of the study of social insects and computer
search algorithms. This methodology has been used in everything
from helping truck drivers find their way around the Swiss
Alps to helping unmanned aerial vehicles search for terrorists
in Afghanistan." October 5, 2004: Q&A
- Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. By Gopakumar
Karakonam. The Hindu. Q: am 12th standard
student. I would like to know about IITs and other institutions
that offer courses in robotics and cybertronics. - Anup Mohan,
Thrissur. A. Artificial Intelligence is
defined as the ability of an Artificial Mechanism to exhibit
intelligent behaviour. It is closely associated with Robotics.
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics courses are available
in very few institutes/colleges/university at the degree/post-graduate-level.
The Shanmugam College of Engineering Thanjavur, affiliated
to the Bharatidasan University, offers Artificial Intelligence
at BE degree-level. The Department of Electronics under Cochin
University of Science and Technology offers M.Sc. Electronic
Science with specialisation in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics,
Microwave Electronics and Computer Technology. ... Other
institutions are...." October 5, 2004: Around
the County - Engineering workshops for girls offered.
The Columbian. "Washington State University Vancouver
and the Girl Scouts, Columbia River Council, will offer
a series of engineering workshops for girls ages 12 to
17, starting Saturday. ... Taught by WSU Vancouver engineering
faculty and graduate students, the sessions will give hands-on
experience in materials engineering, computer-assisted
drawing, artificial intelligence, rapid prototyping, manufacturing,
nanotechnology and computer science." October 5, 2004: Bradford
seeks intelligent robots. The British Journal of Healthcare
Computing & Information Management News. "Bradford University
reckons we’re on the edge of a robot revolution.
It has launched a new degree course designed to research
ways of making robots more intelligent. The announcement
comes after a rash of Hollywood films dealing with artificial
intelligence in robots.... 'We are on the edge of a new
robot revolution, and while we might not have to worry
quite as much as Will Smith, robots are already helping
in many aspects of our lives', says Dr John Baruch, Head
of the Department of Cybernetics, Internet and Virtual
Systems at Bradford. 'Our new course, Robotics with Artificial
Intelligence, will enable students to build robots that
can use all the human senses and take a lead in this new
technological revolution.'" October 4, 2004: Tec
gets fuzzy feeling. By Tom Pullar-Strecker. The Dominion
Post & Stuff. "Wellington Institute of Technology
has reinforced its credentials as a centre for research
into fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence, thanks to
the efforts of Romanian-born Professor Mircea Negoita.
Professor Negoita, director of WelTec's Centre of Computational
Intelligence, arranged for Wellington to host this year's
International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent
Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2004. ... The
event attracted 480 academics from 50 countries, including
the 'father' of fuzzy logic, Berkeley University Professor
Lotfi Zadeh, who has been appointed honorary chairman of
the Centre for Computational Intelligence at WelTec." September 26, 2004: Have a hobby?
Try robotics. By Michael Sun. New
Straits Times / New Sunday Times (subscription req'd.). "Schools
should encourage students to design and operate simple robots
as a hobby, said [Dr Don Faust] a visiting professor from the
United States. Since application of sophisticated robotics
in industry represents the cutting edge in 21st century technology,
he suggested that young Malaysians should first acquire the
necessary background through an all- consuming recreational
pursuit. ... '[Artificial intelligence]is a multidisciplinary
science, synthesising the current results of many fields -
biotechnology, computer science, engineering, physics, biology,
mathematics, education and psychology,' said Faust, who is
a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
at Northern Michigan University in the US. As technology plays
an increasing part in 21st century professional life, he suggested
that a love and an appreciation for the subjects mentioned
earlier should be inculcated in young Malaysians." September 14, 2004: Vietnamese
students win first prize at Robocon 2004 in Seoul. Viet Nam
News. "Viet Nam's FXR boys won Saturday's final round at
the AsiaPacific Robot 2004 (Robocon), held in the Republic of
Korea. ... This year's competition used the tale The Reunion of
the Shepherd and the Weaver as its theme. The story goes that
the gods become upset with the laziness of a Shepherd and his
Weaver wife and separate them. Annually, the gods take pity on
the pair and erect a bridge so they may meet. Each round, teams
drove their robots (shepherds) across an area (the bridge) carrying
red boxes (gifts for the Weaver). The team that could carry the
most items within an allotted amount of time would win the round." September 13, 2004: Robots
to the fore. By Kamal A. Othman. New Straits Times Computimes.
"Over the years, interest in robot technology has grown with
the robotic field being taught in schools and universities worldwide.
The major focus of this robotic field has been the search for
autonomous robots which can think and this drives much development
in machine intelligence or artificial intelligence field. Robots
entered the mainstream culture with the introduction of Sony's
Aibo in 1999. Since then several Japanese corporations have succeeded
in developing humanoid robots. ... Robofest aims to create and
stimulate Malaysian interest in robotic and artificial intelligence
technology which is becoming even more crucial as the country
pushes forward to become a developed nation. Already in its fourth
series, the Robofest competition was organised by the Science,
Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti). ... [Datuk Kong Chong
Ha, the Ministry's Deputy Minister] hopes the competition will
become a platform that would spur creativity and innovation among
students and the public in the field of robotic and artificial
intelligence. ... Some 180 teams were assembled to compete in
six categories, namely Survival Robot, RoboClimb, RoboGrab, RoboDance,
Partner Robot, Robot Jr. Football League and Robot Drawing Contest." September 9, 2004: Gaming
conference targets women. By Erin Ochoa. News 8 Austin. "More
than a thousand video gamers from around the world attended the
Austin Game Conference Thursday. Austin is third in the nation
when it comes to game development. This year, it features the
first-ever Women's Game Conference aimed at changing assumptions
about the gender of people who make and play the games. 'I'm hoping
to apply artificial intelligence to games to make games more interesting,'
Astrid Glende, a recent graduate hoping to 'play the game', said.
But Glende is stepping into an industry traditionally dominated
by men. ... 'The game industry doesn't seem to be on the radar
for most women when they're considering careers. It's not that
women look at the game industry and discard it, it's actually
not even something that comes up to be considered,' [Sheri Graner]
Ray said." September 6, 2004: Let's
chat, shall we? Science news briefs. post-gazette.com. "Mix
scientific issues with a mug of beer -- or even a cup of joe --
and you've got something called Cafe Scientifique, a form of informal
science discussion that's become popular in Europe. ... Phil Campbell,
a senior research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University's Institute
for Complex Engineered Systems, will give a short talk on medical
robotics and tissue engineering, which will be followed by an
hour of discussion with the audience. It is free and open to the
public." September 2, 2004: Programmed
for stardom. By Sara Kincaid. Arizona Daily Sun. "This
Coconino High School senior writes computer programs that are
out of this world. Stars, planets and, recently, asteroids are
the topics of programs that Erik Kuefler creates for Lowell Observatory
and a science program this summer in Socorro, N.M. ... Kuefler
attended the Summer Science Program, Inc. at New Mexico Tech.
The Summer Science Program is a nonprofit corporation with several
higher education institutions involved with the program, such
as New Mexico Tech, Stanford University and the University of
California at Los Angeles. ... He plans to study computer science
in college, although he has yet to decide where he'll go to college.
Ideally, he'd like to specialize in artificial intelligence, he
said." September 2, 2004: There
and back again: a robot's tale. By Ben Oldfield. The Phoenix
Online. "Robots programmed by two Swarthmore students won
top honors in a national competition in San Jose, Calif., continuing
the college's five-year winning streak in the event. Frederick
Heckel '05, Nicolas Ward '05 and engineering professor Bruce Maxwell
competed in the American Association for Artificial Intelligence's
competition, which was held July 27-29. Along with them were two
robots, Frodo and Gollum, named after J.R.R. Tolkien's characters.
... Frodo and Gollum competed in the competition's urban search-and-rescue
category, run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology,
as they have each year. ... 'There's paper, rubble and chicken
wire all over the place,' said Heckel. 'Hidden throughout are
manikins that are either moving, yelling for help or staying still.'" September 1, 2004: Domestic
bliss through mechanical marvels? By Kevin Maney. USA Today.
"Never mind the humanoid Automated Domestic Assistants walking
rich people's pets in the movie I, Robot, or the accordion-armed
Robot B9 in TV classic Lost in Space warning of danger on lonely
planets. The real force driving the development of personal robots
-- and what will eventually create demand for them in the marketplace
-- is aging baby boomers. That's the secret among robotics researchers
and budding robot companies. As the horde of boomers become old,
they increasingly will be unable to care for themselves or their
homes. They'll face a social and medical system straining to help
them. But they'll be comfortable with technology. ... In a way,
robotics stands at a juncture similar to the earliest stabs at
personal computing in the 1970s, when mammoth computers were familiar
in business and government but unheard of in homes. Robots today
help build cars on assembly lines and explore caves for the military.
Eventually, they will scoot around our homes, as much a part of
life as e-mail and Google. At a recent conference here of the
American Association for Artificial Intelligence, robots competed
to rescue dummies in a disaster mock-up, while a robot named George
greeted attendees as they arrived. Dozens of teenagers -- a next
generation of roboticists -- showed off their robot creations
in a contest. Presentations by scientists ran from the esoteric...
to the practical topic du jour ("Intelligent Technology for Adaptive
Aging," by the University of Michigan's Martha Pollack). ... Robots
that are likely to serve the elderly seem to fall into three broad
categories. Though the categories don't officially have names,
you could call them homebots, carebots and joybots. A look at
those categories speaks volumes about what's going on in robotics
-- and what's still beyond technology's reach. ... 'Whether or
not you have to love your robot is another question,' Brooks says.
'I don't need my ATM to be cute.' Here is a great point of departure
between U.S. and Japanese robotics research. U.S. labs and companies
generally approach robots as tools. The Japanese approach them
as beings. That explains a lot about robot projects coming out
of Japan." August 30, 2004: Sony
Sends Its Robots to School - Humanoid devices will be used
to encourage interest in science and technology. By Paul Kallender.
IDG News Service & PC World. "Sony will lend one of its
five Qrio public relations robots to schools in Japan, India,
and Vietnam to stimulate children's curiosity in science and technology,
the company says. In cooperation with the National Federation
of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ), Sony will initially send
the 23-inch humanoid robot, accompanied by engineers, to a school
in Sendai, Japan, on September 23 and a school in Gumma prefecture,
Japan, in mid-December. Overseas, Qrio will go to a school in
New Delhi, India at the beginning of October and to Hanoi, Vietnam,
in January 2005. ... UNESCO and Sony have constructed two educational
programs, under the name Qrio Science Program, to these ends.
... Equipped with seven microphones and a speaker, Qrio is able
to identify voices, talk, sing, and understand about 20,000 words.
It can also exhibit some limited emotional responses, according
to Sony." August 26, 2004: Texas
School to Offer Women's Gaming Scholarship. Reuters. "As
part of a drive to attract more women into the male-dominated
video game industry, a program for aspiring game developers at
Southern Methodist University will offer a women-only scholarship,
organizers said on Thursday. The 'Game Development Scholarship
for Women' will help cover costs for women attending the Guildhall,
an 18-month certificate program at SMU designed by noted game
developers." August 25, 2004: University
of Maryland to Host Media Briefing on IT and Terrorism. TelecomWeb.
"Current and future information technology (IT) applications
for the prevention of terrorist attacks, as well as the exploitation
of the Internet and other IT by terrorists will be the subjects
of a University of Maryland media briefing at the National Press
Club on Sept. 1. Experts from the university will assess technological
developments and policy issues in many different areas, including
gait and facial recognition surveillance systems; computer translation
and artificial intelligence for sifting through batches of information;
and information architecture and information sharing in the intelligence
community." August 20, 2004: £3m
is chipped in for computer unit. By Gareth Edwards. Edinburgh
Evening News & scotsman. com. "The Wolfson Foundation,
a charitable foundation which advances the sciences and the arts,
has pledged £2m towards a Wolfson Centre for Informatics and the
Life Sciences. The centre would be part of the Informatics Forum,
a new £40m facility bringing together Edinburgh University's researchers
in computer science, artificial intelligence and cognitive science.
The foundation's award coincides with a separate pledge of £1m
over six years from the Edinburgh-based chip developer Wolfson
Microelectronics. ... Informatics school administrator Gordon
Duckett believes bringing the three sciences together under one
roof will prove highly beneficial. ... The School of Informatics,
including the world's first artificial intelligence research centre,
is currently one of the best in Europe and ranks with such world
leaders as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie
Mellon and Stanford University. It brings together cutting edge
research in computer science, cognitive science, computational
linguistics and artificial intelligence. ... The informatics school
lost a large proportion of its working space in the Cowgate fire
in 2002, although the building is not seen as a replacement." August 17, 2004: Can't
attend? Try distance learning - Taking classes online offers
new option for disciplined students. By Tara Ramroop. San Mateo
County Times. "Some of Bryce Martens' best students haven't
shown up in his Computer and Information Systems classes very
often at the College of San Mateo. One pupil was stationed aboard
an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. ... In fact, online classes
can be just as effective as traditional classes, or even more
so, said CSM professor Melissa Green. In Green's experience, people
taking these courses -- typically in business, accounting or computer
science -- need to do so for the changing nature of their careers.
Ron Bolts, a San Mateo resident, has been in the computer industry
for the past 20 years, but took Martens' summer CIS course as
a refresher on the latest in computer technology." August 16, 2004: National
Instruments hosts tech conference, robot challenge. Austin
Business Journal. "The RoboLab Challenge is scheduled for
Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and will have students, teachers
and engineers compete to design, build and program a LEGO robot
that can maneuver through an obstacle course. ... RoboLab is a
joint initiative of NI, Tufts University and LEGO Educational
Division, and is designed to help teachers demonstrate engineering
concepts to students." August 16, 2004: Declining
computer-science enrollments should worry anyone interested in
the future of the U.S. IT industry. By Eric Chabrow. Information
Week. "Computer science often loses out to other fields of
study, many of which depend on high-end computing. The type of
student who once expressed interest in computer science now is
lured by life sciences such as biology and chemistry, or even
criminal justice, attracted to those fields by the popularity
of criminal forensic shows such as CSI and Crossing Jordan. 'Things
on TV guide their interests,' says Charles McCamant, head of Angelo
State's computer-science department. Leaders of computer-science
programs, having ridden a rising tide of employment and prominence
for decades, concede they need to do a better job promoting their
discipline and highlighting the great challenges ahead. [Mark]
Stehlik notes that in real life, criminologists rely heavily on
computers to solve crimes, something represented on TV shows by
images of fingerprints quickly flashing by on a PC monitor. 'What's
really happening here is pattern matching. That's computer science,'
Stehlik says. 'On these shows, we see the test-tube side; there's
a computer-science side, too, that's not played up. ... As a field,
computer science has done a lot less PR than it needs to do.'
... There's growing pressure on schools to provide computer-science
majors with an understanding of how information systems have an
impact on an organization. It's not just business but how computers
help researchers find new drugs, designers make sleeker cars,
or police solve a crime. 'The one thing that's more important
now than before is having an understanding of the application's
domain,' says Gerald Engel, a University of Connecticut computer-science
professor and president-elect of the IEEE Computer Society, an
association of computer academics and professionals. ... This
interdisciplinary approach might be the salvation for computer
science and could eventually attract a different breed of student
than from an earlier generation. 'The students who come in want
to do more than just hack,' Stehlik says. 'Some students have
political designs; they're interested in greater issues that confront
society: security, privacy. We're seeing students who are extending
the notion of computer science.'" August 16, 2004: A
few good women - Tech firms want more female computer whizzes.
By Marci Mcdonald. U.S. News & World Report / USNews.com. "That
sense of isolation and inadequacy is one reason the number of
women earning computer science degrees in this country has plummeted
over the past two decades -- with women dropping from 37 percent
to 28 percent of graduates -- at the very moment their presence
in other scientific and engineering disciplines has soared. 'You
look at the national statistics,' says Rick Rashid, senior vice
president of research at Microsoft, 'and you just have to be appalled.'
Until recently, many in the high-tech industry shrugged off that
female brain drain. They could fill top information-technology
slots from abroad or American doctoral programs, where foreign
nationals still snag half the Ph.D.'s. But suddenly homeland security
issues and visa hurdles have clogged that foreign pipeline. And
countries like India are luring their U.S.-educated citizens back
home to their own burgeoning Silicon Valleys. ... Faced with forecasts
of a looming brainpower shortage -- and the retirement of those
baby boomers who are the industry's pioneers -- many leading U.S.
players fear the country could lose its competitive edge. 'Over
the next seven years, our hiring needs are going to be huge,'
says Wayne Johnson, executive director of HP's university relations
worldwide. 'If you don't have half the U.S. population participating,
you have a tremendous gap in filling these needs. What we're doing
here is creating a disadvantage for ourselves as a nation.' ...
Now many in the industry are focusing on an earlier generation
in grade school, where career dreams, and misperceptions, are
spawned. According to the book Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women
in Computing by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, girls -- unlike
boys -- want jobs they believe can make a difference in society.
But they don't view high tech as a key to that idealistic path.
'They think it's what you do if you want to develop games or become
a hacker,' says [Sarah Revi] Sterling. 'They just don't feel it's
relevant to helping solve the problems of the world.' To combat
that perception, IBM has launched annual summer camps for seventh-
and eighth-grade girls called EXITE (Exploring Interests in Technology
and Engineering). Instead of pounding in tent pegs and building
campfires, the girls learn to tear apart a PC and debunk the mysteries
of a circuit board at IBM Labs." August 11, 2004: Students
saying no to computer science. By Ed Frauenheim. CNET News.
"At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as in other
schools across the country, computer science enrollments are dropping,
raising questions about the country's future tech leadership.
... Saul Levy, chair of the [Rutgers University] undergraduate
computer science program, said the ongoing decline stems from
the way students perceive career prospects. 'They don't believe
in the job market in computers anymore,' Levy said. ... Carnegie
Mellon's [Peter] Lee said the recent decline in undergraduate
enrollment is part of a larger trend of declining student interest
in computer science over the past two decades -- a tendency temporarily
interrupted by the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. To him, a fundamental
cause is that computer science hasn't emphasized its grand challenges.
Rather than tout the excitement of trying to magnify human intelligence
through machines, the field has focused on more practical matters,
which tend to be less attractive than big questions in disciplines
like biology or chemistry, he said." August 6, 2004: Brain
drain in tech's future? By Ed Frauenheim, CNET News. "Discussion
about technology's future in the United States often centers on
problems that eighth graders have in algebra. But there also are
concerns that the country's universities are churning out fewer
tech-related doctorates, and that the numbers may decline further
thanks to fewer foreign doctoral degree candidates -- who earn
a large portion of science and engineering doctorates at U.S.
schools. ... The National Science Board, an independent body that
advises Congress and oversees the NSF, recently warned of a 'troubling
decline' in the number of U.S. citizens studying to become scientists
and engineers, even as the number of jobs requiring science and
engineering training grows. ... James Foley, chairman of the Computing
Research Association and a professor at the Georgia Institute
of Technology's College of Computing, sees the drop in doctorates
as one of several red flags in the U.S. research system. 'We have
potentially big problems ahead of us if we don't pay attention,'
he said. ... According to the National Science Board, other countries
are doing more to attract the best brains to their universities.
The board also said increased security restrictions are partly
behind a slower pace of visas given to students and science and
engineering workers since Sept. 11, 2001. ... Not everyone agrees
that Americans are turning away from science to snag more dough.
People 'don't go into science and engineering to make a lot of
money,' said Eleanor Babco, executive director of the Commission
on Professionals in Science and Technology. 'They go in because
they love science and engineering.' Another school of thought
holds that overall U.S. doctoratal production is related to swings
in the economy. ... There's also debate about how important those
credentials are to the country's future. Breakthroughs in computing
lead to economic growth, said Georgia Tech's Foley. He noted that
doctoratal students at Georgia Tech are working on problems in
information security and the interface between humans and computers.
'If we're not leading the charge or at least creating innovation
here, we're going to really be up the creek,' Foley said. Industry
leaders also proclaim the importance of the doctoratal degree.
Computer maker Hewlett-Packard, for example, runs a summer intern
program that includes about 50 doctorates and doctoral students.
The company continues to hire doctorates, especially in its HP
Labs research division, said Wayne Johnson, the company's executive
director of university relations. ... Not surprisingly, what to
do about the declining doctoratal numbers depends on who's talking.
..." August 5, 2004: Advancing
R&D work in tech areas. By Ferina Manecksha. The New Straits
Times Press (Malaysia). "A conducive environment is necessary
if research and development (R&D) work in information and communications
technology areas is to advance in Malaysia. The environment includes
good R&D facilities, well-planned projects, focus on niche areas
and good remuneration for researchers, according to industry observers.
Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar)'s dean of information technology
faculty, Professor Dr Khairuddin Abdullah, said the proposed ICT
R&D centre would be a good place for researchers and technology
developers to engage in collaborative work or for upgrading of
domain and research skills. 'We require synergistic research collaboration
and a conducive environment to do R&D. The brain gain is a good
effort to entice those in overseas to come back. However, what
most scientists and technologists need is the assurance that they
will be part of and be useful in well-planned projects,' he said.
According to Khairuddin, niche strategic areas that can be looked
into for ICT R&D in the very near future include ICT security,
intelligent agents, automated software engineering, photonics,
natural language processing, knowledge management and advanced
robotics." August 4, 2004: New
degree course combats fear of the 'I-Robots.' News Wales.
"On the verge of the UK release of summer sci-fi blockbuster
'I-Robot', the University of Glamorgan has unveiled plans for
an innovative robotics course, building on its expertise in communicating
science using science fiction. The BSc Science (Robotics) degree,
as it will be called, will start in October 2005 but, says course
developer Dr Mike Reddy, it is 'more about the 'science of appliance'
than the appliance of science'. ... 'Films like 'I Robot' and
'Artificial Intelligence' have raised the issues of how we treat
robots, but, more importantly, how they might treat us,' he added.
'There is a great deal of interest and ignorance of what robotics
is and will become in the future.' The emphasis of the course
will be on problem solving and challenge-based learning, with
a collaborative, 'hands-on feel' to the robotics elements of the
course, which will make up between a third and half of each academic
year. However, the proposed degree is part of a range of courses
that attempt to bring to the fore the social and ethical concerns
of scientists and the need for effective communication of scientific
concepts with the public." August 2, 2004: Welsh
uni to turn science fiction into fact. By David Williamson.
The Western Mail / available from i c Wales. "Students at
a Welsh university are to begin preparing for a world shared with
intelligent robots. A new degree in robotics will teach students
how to apply science fiction in science. The release of the big-screen
adaptation of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot has fuelled speculation
about whether robots designed as servants could attempt to become
our masters. Dr Mike Reddy at the University of Glamorgan is determined
to take these questions from the realm of science fiction and
explore them in the new BSc Science (Robotics) degree. ... The
science fiction of the 20th century, he argues, not only created
the concept of the robot but demonstrated the complexity of the
threats, opportunities and moral dilemmas their arrival would
spark. ... The degree will be launched next year, but the areas
involving the social and ethical concerns of scientists and the
need for effective communication of scientific concepts with the
public, can currently be studied in BSc (Hons) Science and Science
Fiction. ... He believes the use of 'software robots' could revolutionise
our interaction with the web. These would study our surfing habits
and search the vast expanses of cyberspace for sites of interest.
'If you draw an analogy to books in libraries, there is an almost
infinite number I will never read unless someone says, 'Hey, Mike!
Here's a book you'll love', and I'll go, 'Wow!'" July / August 2004: AI
in Australia and New Zealand. By the Australian Computer Society
National Committee for AI. IEEE Intelligent Systems. "To
provide an overview of AI in Australia and New Zealand, we offer
snapshots of AI research throughout the region’s institutes
and universities and review its industry and conference activities." July 29, 2004: Tinkering
with their minds - Program aims to get students into scientific
research early. By Emily Anthes. The Boston Globe. "Kim Reinhold
gave up a summer of swimming and dancing in her home in Hawaii
to hole up in a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Over the past five weeks, Reinhold, 16, has pursued her interest
in artificial intelligence by spending some 40 hours of daylight
a week in front of a computer screen. ... 'I love it,' said Reinhold,
who developed a computer algorithm that scientists in her lab
hope will be useful in teaching machines common sense. ... Reinhold
is one of 53 rising high school seniors participating in a summer
program at MIT that allows them to work on research projects in
Boston labs. The Research Science Institute aims to sell some
of the nation's most talented science students on research careers
at a time when there is a shortage of US-trained scientists. ...
The number of US jobs requiring science and engineering skills
is increasing almost 5 percent a year as the number of Americans
in those fields is declining, according to a report released this
year by the National Science Foundation's National Science Board.
The United States has been able to sustain its science and engineering
workforce by relying on foreign-born scientists. In 1990, 24 percent
of scientists and engineers working in the United States with
doctorates were foreign-born. By 2000, that proportion had increased
to 38 percent, the report says. But as other countries develop
science programs that compete with the United States for students
and as tightened security makes it more difficult to get US visas,
the number of foreign scientists in the United States is expected
to drop. ''The nation's economic welfare and security are at stake,"
the report warns." July 21, 2004: Company
confident in growth of robots - Devices expected to take on
more complex jobs. By Julie Dunn. The Denver Post. "In last
weekend's $52 million box-office smash 'I, Robot,' robots are
employed to do all sorts of menial jobs, including walking dogs
and picking up garbage. Bernd Liepert, chief executive of Kuka
Roboter, Europe's largest manufacturer of industrial robots, envisions
a higher calling for robots - from protecting America's borders
to performing emergency surgery. ... This fall, DU will become
the first U.S. university to offer undergraduate and master's-level
degrees in mechatronics, which integrates mechanical, electric
and computer software engineering, according to dean Rahmat A.
Shoureshi." July 13, 2004 [issue date]: Pushing The Limits. By Carol Levin. PC Magazine (Volume 23, Number 12). "As PC Magazine editors and analysts, we spend our days staying ahead of the curve so our readers can be the first to learn about the latest technology products for their homes and offices. But once a year, we turn our attention not to products you can buy today but to those technologies that are gathering momentum, poised to make an impact on the future. The past twelve months have delivered an ample assortment of candidates. For our first story, 'Top Ten Tech Trends,' we take you on a tour of what we think are the most promising technologies. ... Technological advancement and cultural change go hand in hand, so this year we explore the intersection of technology and society in four essays. ... In 'The New Geek,' Steve Lohr, a technology writer at The New York Times, speaks with several of the new-generation high-tech workers about computer science as the new liberal-arts degree. Along the way, he shows how technology's impact on productivity is changing. In 'Nowhere to Hide,' business reporter Alan Cohen takes on the emerging collision between privacy and security."
>>> AI Overview, Computer Science, Assisitive Technologies, Machine Translation, Natural Language Understanding, Resources for Students, Ethical & Social Implications, Natural Language Processing July 6, 2004: Germans
win 2004 football title - for robots. Reuters. "German
soccer fans, smarting over the nation's failure at Euro 2004,
had a little to cheer this week after German teams scooped two
footballing titles at the world robot championships, organisers
have said. German teams won the soccer titles for four-legged
and small-sized robot teams at the 'RoboCup 2004' held in Lisbon,
where the Euro 2004 final was held on Sunday." July 4, 2004: Programming
doesn't begin to define computer science. By Jim Morris ["professor
of computer science and dean of Carnegie Mellon University's West
Coast campus']. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The tech meltdown
affecting computer jobs as well as stock prices, and the stories
about off-shoring of programming jobs, have caused a decline in
computer science enrollments at colleges and universities across
the country. This wouldn't happen if people understood the real
goals of computer science. ... The current approaches to computer
science education fail to teach the science of computing. As a result,
they fail to inspire the very best and brightest young minds to
enter the field. Computer science is faced with scientific challenges
that rival any in history, yet are relevant to practical problems
of today. Computer science involves questions that have the potential
to change how we view the world. For example: What is the nature
of intelligence, and can we reproduce it in a machine? ... Or, how
can one predict the performance of a complex system? ... Or, what
is the nature of human cognition.... Or, does the natural world
'compute'? ... Computer science education is not just training for
the computer industry. A computer science program is a great preparation
for many careers: business, law, medicine, biology -- any field
touched by computing. ... How does computing fit into the world?
The computer is becoming the interface between people and their
world. Computer scientists must know enough history and social science
to chart and predict the impact of computers on the intersecting
worlds of work, entertainment and society. To do this, they must
understand the modern world and its roots. To participate in today's
debates about privacy, one must understand both computers and society." June 30, 2004: The
Movie, I, Robot, Meets The Company, iRobot. By W. David Gardner.
TechWeb News. "When I, Robot, the movie, opens across the nation
in two weeks, moviegoers interested in robotics will be logging
onto the Internet to learn more about the robotics phenomenon. When
they go to the Web, they will also find, iRobot, the company. ...
iRobot has a co-marketing deal tied to the movie, which is scheduled
for release July 16. [Helen]Greiner, who is one of the founders
of the company and an alumna of MIT's famous Artificial Intelligence
Lab, is scheduled to talk on robots at the Smithsonian Institution
a few days before the movie opens. ... Greiner believes the movie
may influence a new generation to become interested in robotics
much like the Star Wars movies influenced her. She said the R2D2
robot's human-like characteristics in Star Wars had an impact on
her when she saw the movie as a schoolgirl on Long Island. She went
on to MIT where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in
mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science.
'It takes all three (disciplines) and they must all come together
in robotics,' she said...." June 29, 2004: Programme
information for Passions - Sue Nelson talks to scientists
whose hobbies have influenced their scientific work . BBC Radio
4 (09:30). "Kim [Dr Kim Binsted] had always had a love for
making people laugh and was part of the improvisational comedy team
at school. When her interest in physics and maths took her into
artificial intelligence she fell back on her comedy background to
help her work on a few problems in computers. Now, having created
a programme where computers can generate there own puns, she works
on a system that uses comedy to help children learn a new language,
whilst still trying to fit a little improv in, in her spare time." June 14, 2004 [issue date]: Innovators
/ Artificial Intelligence: Forging the Future - Rise
of the Machines - These visionaries are making robots that can
perform music, rescue disaster victims and even explore other planets
on their own. By Dan Cray, Carolina A. Miranda, Wilson Rothman,
Toko Sekiguchi. Time Magazine. "The Bionic Engineer - Driving
School On Mars. Television critics will tell you that The Bionic
Woman was just another cheesy '70s sci-fi series, but for Ayanna
Howard it was a springboard to a career. When she was 12 years old,
she became so captivated by the show's cyborg premise that she started
reading books that reaffirmed the concept of integrating machines
with humans. A thousand reruns and an electrical-engineering Ph.D.
later, she's creating robots that think like humans for NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. ... Three years ago, hoping to encourage
others to follow in her footsteps, Howard launched a math-and-science
mentoring program for at-risk junior high school girls. ... Howard
hopes the program will help steer more young women into robotics,
a field she says that within a decade will produce robots that mimic
human thought processes. ... The Swarm Keeper - Metal Insects
On Wheels. When James McLurkin was a high school junior on
Long Island, N.Y., he built his first robot: a toy car that he rigged
with a keypad, an LED display and a squirt gun. ... Now a graduate
student in computer science at M.I.T., the young scientist is on
the forefront of developing 'swarmbots'--packs of dozens of small
robots that communicate with one another and work in harmony to
complete an assignment. They have no centralized command system
and can cover vast terrain; if one is destroyed, others fill in.
... Rescuer By Remote - Need Help? Send In The Robot. Within
24 hours of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Robin Murphy
was on the scene with a team of robots to help sort through the
debris. It was the first real-world test of the Center for Robot-Assisted
Search and Rescue in Tampa, Fla., the only unit of its kind on the
planet. ... The Mimic Maker - The Android Who Learned To Dance.
Mitsuo Kawato is fascinated with the brain -- so he helped build
one. The biophysics engineer and computer researcher led a team
at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International
in Kyoto, Japan, that spent five years constructing a humanoid equipped
with artificial intelligence. Completed in 2001, the 6-ft. 2-in.,
175-lb. robot was named Dynamic Brain, or DB for short. Says Kawato:
'We built an artificial brain hoping that it'll help us understand
the real one.' ... So far, the robot has acquired about 30 skills,
including juggling, air hockey, yo-yoing, folk dancing and playing
the drum." June 6, 2004: What's
Google's Secret Weapon? An Army of Ph.D.'s. By Randall Stross.
The New York Times (no fee reg. req'd.). "What trumps all else
is Google's willingness to organize the entire company around the
insight that top talent likes to work with other top talent, tackling
interesting problems of their own choice. It's the same reason that
some computer science students complete a master's degree and then
persevere for three to five more years for a doctorate. It entails
deep original research for a dissertation, while subsisting on a
meager fellowship that allows for a celebrity chef only like Colonel
Sanders. Rajeev Motwani, a computer science professor at Stanford,
says: 'Good Ph.D. students are extreme in their creativity and self-motivation.
Master's students are equally smart but do not have the same drive
to create something new.' The master's takes you where others have
been; the doctorate, where no one has gone before. Until recently,
when computer science students completed their long Ph.D. training
and stepped into daylight, they were treated warily by industry
employers. American business has had to overcome its longtime suspicion
of intellect. 'Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men,' an article published
in the 1920's in the American magazine, is a typical specimen of
an earlier era. In modern times, computer scientists are hired,
but a doctorate can still be viewed as the sign of a character defect,
its holder best isolated in an aerie." June
3, 2004: China's
first "man-against-machine" chess match scheduled for June 8.
Interfax-China. "Tsinghua UniSplendour Co. Ltd is to hold China's
first human versus computer chess game on June 8 and 12 according
to recent company statement. As the company stated, the game would
feature reigning women's chess world champion, China's Zhu Chen
and 'Star of UniSplendour', the latest portable computer unveiled
by Tsinghua UniSplendour on June 1." May 28, 2004: Hey,
this isn't rocket science ... or is it? Editorial by Gil Spencer.
The Daily Times / delcotimes.com. "His name is Sponge Bob but
there is nothing soft and squishy about him. He's all metal gears,
wheels, batteries and wooden prongs. He is the creation of Doug
Greaves, Andrew Delia and Sean Gipe, all Penncrest High School students.
And they, along with their science teacher/adviser Jim Shea, are
showing me how he works. ... This robot, which took about a year
to build, was created to perform a very specific task: to pick up
ping-pong balls, film canisters, cardboard cylinders and golf balls
and then to dump them into a container, all as quickly as possible.
This is the Robot Ramble. It's just one of 23 events at the International
Science Olympiad, which was held at Juniata College in Huntingdon
last week. Out of more than 2,300 original entries, Sponge Bob finished
second." May 27, 2004: Soccer
robots aim to win. Shanghai Daily / SINA.com. "A team of
six students from Jiao Tong University hopes to do something China's
national soccer team couldn't do two summers ago- kick some butt
on the soccer field. The team, named Jiao-Long, are preparing for
a trip to Lisbon, Portugal, in late June to take part in RoboCup
2004, an international soccer tournament starring robotic athletes.
... This year's event will include 265 teams from more than 30 countries.
The students aren't allowed to interfere in the games, except to
insert robots or remove them from the field." May 27, 2004: Gtech
gives girls blueprint for success. By Cynthia Lescalleet. Examiner
News.com. "The best way to increase girls' interest in engineering
professions is to expose them early to what the field is all about,
which is problem solving. Fortunately, schools at many levels are
doing just that through their curriculums, clubs and camps, plus
a huge commitment by teachers tuned into technical mentoring. ...
Attracting and retaining girls in technical fields is historically
a complex issue, says Michael Sirois, program manager at Rice's
Center for Excellence and Equity in Education. Rice's CEEE, sponsors
a computer science camp for girls and their teachers from nine area
schools, including Bellaire High School. The two-summer program
is funded by the National Science Foundation. In it, 50 students
spend two weeks embroiled in computer concepts and applications,
such as programming, but also robotics and artificial intelligence.
... For more information on the camps, visit http://ceee.rice.edu/cs-camp
or www.egr.uh.edu/ECE/camps/grade." May 26, 2004: Postgraduate
life awaits UMBC's cap and gowners. By Michele D. Manigault.
Arbutus Times. "Woodlawn High School, in partnership with Johns
Hopkins University, is offering a middle school robotics camp for
current seventh and eighth-graders and a separate afternoon camp
for high school students. While middle school campers will plan
and build a working robot for entry in an engineering contest, high
school students will build and program robotic arms." May 26, 2004: By
Gollum, where IT is going now. IT Employment News. By Vikki
Bland. New Zealand Herald. "People who put their dreams, hopes
and aspirations (not to mention sizeable students loans) into training
for employment in the information technology industry will appreciate
a little direction on just where the industry is going. ... So are
there are more IT job opportunities with IT end-users than there
are with 'pure IT' manufacturers, developers and marketers? Probably.
According to education sources, increasing numbers of IT students
are training in non-traditional IT areas in a bid to appeal to specific
industries. Examples include artificial intelligence, IT user-friendliness,
human/computer interaction, and the business side of IT - e-commerce,
IT strategy, IT management, change management, and knowledge management.
Opportunities also exist in supplying IT skills to the digital media
market such as computer games, films - the Lord of the Rings trilogy
being a clear illustration of IT melding with creativity - plus
television and websites." May 25, 2004: Students
share electric optimism for contest. By Jeyling Chou and David
Lin. The Daily Bruin Online. "Teams of UCLA engineering students
have spent months and many sleepless nights of algorithm tweaking
for complex bundles of circuits and sensors on wheels. The fruits
of their labor are Natcars, miniature racecars powered by a single
battery and capable of running autonomously along a track. Tomorrow,
with five Natcars carefully packed away, 20 IEEE members will be
making the trip to Santa Clara for the National Semiconductor Competition.
... Another major project of UCLA IEEE is the micromouse competition,
involving the design of a small robot capable of autonomously navigating
a maze and sensing barriers. In order to efficiently make its way
through the maze, the robot also requires some degree of artificial
intelligence and memory." May 24, 2004: Talking
to Bill. Interview by Gary Stix. Scientific
American. ["On the occasion of the fourth TechFest at Microsoft
Research--an event at which researchers demonstrate their work to
the company’s product developers--Bill Gates talked with Scientific
American’s Gary Stix on topics ranging from artificial intelligence
to cosmology to the innate immune system. A slightly edited version
of the conversation follows. (An Innovations column on Microsoft
Research, accompanied by a
shorter version of this interview, appears in the June issue of
Scientific American on page 18.)"] "SA:
One of the things that some critics have said is that while
there is an unbelievable collection of talent here, there have not
been achievements on the order of things like the transistor or
some other major breakthrough. Do you do you see any validity in
that? ... SA: Do you see a continued relevance
to the idea of artificial intelligence [AI]? The term is not used
very much anymore. Some people say that's because it's ubiquitous,
it's incorporated in lots of products. There are plenty of neuroscientists
who say that computers are still clueless. BG:
And so are neuroscientists, too. No, seriously, we don't understand
the plasticity of the neurons. How does that work? There's even
this recent proposal that there is, you know, prion-type shaping
as part of that plasticity. We don't understand why a neuron behaves
differently a day later than before. What is it that the accumulation
of signals on it causes? So whenever somebody says to me, 'Oh, this
is like a neural network,' well, how can someone say that? We don't
really understand exactly what the state function is and even at
a given point in time what the input-to-output equation looks like.
So there is a part of AI that we're still in the early stages of,
which is true learning. Now, there's all these peripheral problems--vision,
speech, things like that--that we're making huge progress in. If
you just take Microsoft Research alone in those areas, those used
to be defined as part of AI. Playing games used to be defined as
part of AI. For particular games, it's going pretty well, but we
did it without a general theory of learning. And the reason we worked
on chess was really not because we needed somebody to play chess
with other than humans; it was because we thought it might tell
us about general learning.But instead we just did this minimax,
high-speed static evaluation, a minimax search on trees. Fine. I
am an AI optimist. We've got a lot of work in machine learning,
which is sort of the polite term for AI nowadays because it got
so broad that it's not that well defined. But the real core piece
is this machine-learning work. We have people who do Bayesian models,
Support Vector Machines, lots of things that we think will be the
foundation of true general-purpose AI. ... SA:
Why is it the most exciting time to be in computer science?
BG: ... it's not clear whether we're getting
the best and brightest in the U.S. to go into these programs and
contribute to solving these problems. SA: Why
is that? BG: Oh, it's partly that the bubble
burst. It's partly articulating the benefits of the field and the
variety of jobs. People have to know that these are social jobs,
not just sitting in cubicles programming at night. Our field is
still not doing a good job drawing in minorities or women, so you're
giving up over half the potential entrants just right there. Carnegie-Mellon
has done probably the most on some of these areas, where they do
outreach programs down to the high school where they show people
what the computer sciences do, they show women and it's actually
women who often go out and give these talks. ..." May 21, 2004: Culturing
a love of science - DEEP program gives gifted high school students
a chance to explore engineering. By Nicolle Wahl. news @ University
of Toronto. "The teens -- from across the GTA and beyond --
are gifted and highly motivated high school students who are participating
in DEEP: the da Vinci Engineering Enrichment Program at the Faculty
of Applied Science and Engineering. The students, most of whom were
recommended to the program by the science teachers or counsellors,
are taking advantage of a unique opportunity to use a state-of-the-art
teaching laboratory and learn more about engineering as a career
and academic choice. Courses cover fields such as aerospace engineering,
robotics and artificial intelligence and chemical engineering." May 20, 2004: Team
programs teens for future. By Peter Dean, Guest Columnist. Huntington
Herald. "Encouraging young people to better themselves is sometimes
an elusive goal for educators. It usually takes time, trial-and-error,
and money. That's why the Shelton High School Robotics Team is an
asset to students and educators alike. The Shelton High School's
Robotics Team, or Gaelhawks, comprises about 30 students. Each year,
they work with high school faculty and engineers from area companies
to compete in robotics competitions sponsored by For Inspiration
and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST. ... In the
process of brainstorming with faculty and the engineers, students
often discover career interests. ... Luckily, one thing the team
does not have to finance is expert scientific help. John Gomes,
a Pitney Bowes engineer, started advising the Gaelhawks in their
very first year, at the behest of his son Stephen, then a student
and Robotics Team member. Richard Vogl, of United Technologies Corp.,
also started helping the team six years ago when his son, Eric,
was a Shelton High School senior. Both continue to advise the team,
even though their children have long since graduated. ... It's not
just about building robots or winning awards. Rarely do you find
a school organization that combines a healthy competitive spirit
with the hunger to learn more about a potential career skill while
encouraging community spirit and altruism." May 18, 2004: Teen
Techies Engineer the Future. By John Gartner. Wired News. "The
world's brightest aspiring scientists gathered in Portland, Oregon,
last week to compete for a piece of $3 million and the recognition
that could help them to become the next Bill Gates or Jonas Salk.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair awards college
scholarships to encourage high-school students to work in a field
that experts say will soon face a critical shortage. Students designed
autonomous robots, studied the heavens and the seas, and harnessed
solar power for their projects, which were judged by an international
panel of scientists. More than 1,300 students from 40 countries
competed in the 55th annual ISEF . The top three prize winners receive
a $50,000 college scholarship and a free trip to Stockholm, Sweden,
to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony. The ISEF is the culmination
of 500 regional science fairs that involve more than 3 million students.
... Collin Arnold, a senior at John Marshall High School in San
Antonio, Texas, said participating in ISEF gave him the chance to
talk with like-minded individuals who understand his passion for
science. ... Arnold built an eight-legged robot that uses sonar
to map out the surrounding environment and can navigate obstacles."
May 14, 2004: Maths
and Computing at Station X. The Times Educational Supplement
- Maths Noticeboard (Subject Focus: Maths; No.4583; Pg.23). "During
World War II, 'Station X' (Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes) was
home to the mathematical brains who cracked the Nazis' secret codes.
Now, teachers and students can combine a visit to its historic buildings
and exhibitions with an NRICH maths, ICT and computing course. The
summer programme includes.... On June 29, a sixth form conference
on the future of computers will explore Cyborgs, Artificial Intelligence,
games technology and security and identity" May 12, 2004: Women
of Tech. A special Report from BusinessWeek Online. Articles
include Alex Salkever's Technology's
Too-Small Sisterhood: "After three decades during which
increasing numbers of women have moved into the tech sector, the
drive appears to have stalled at the corner office. A 2003 survey
of hundreds of the largest U.S. publicly traded corporations conducted
by Catalyst, a national women's business advocacy organization,
found that women occupied only 9.3% of board seats at technology
companies, vs 12.4% at other outfits. In the executive ranks, the
differential is worse. Women represent only 11% of corporate-officer
positions in tech companies. Outside tech, they hold 15.7%. ...
BusinessWeek Online's 2004 Women in Tech special report takes a
different approach than in past years. Rather than profile executives
who've already reached the top, this year we're spotlighting a wide
variety of influential women who may be the next generation of top
women in technology." May 11, 2004: Sneaking
education into entertainment - Group hopes to smarten up video
games. By Stanley A. Miller II. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online
(no fee reg. req'd.). "Major players in the electronic equipment
industry say their video games can offer more than just sports,
sex or violence. In the spirit of making kinder, gentler video games,
a group of designers, publishers and educators called the Education
Arcade announced Monday they are developing guidelines to help studios
create fun yet educational games. They also plan a rating system
for games with educational content. ... The goal of the new initiative
is to raise the profile, promotion and production values of educational
games to the level of today's modern bestsellers, which typically
feature state-of-the-art graphics, sophisticated artificial intelligence
and some way to play the game over the Internet. The Education Arcade
selected the week of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which opens
Wednesday in Los Angeles and is the largest electronic gaming trade
show in North America, to encourage game publishers that such titles
are worth the investment. Sneaking in the broccoli. [Alex]
Chisholm said the Education Arcade - which is run by the Comparative
Media Studies department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- spent nearly three years examining ways to make fun games that
also teach. ... Some mainstream games that have sold millions of
copies already have educational elements, including the 'Civilization'
series of nation-building games, which teach some history. ... 'Stealth
education' is the concept behind Hidden Agenda, a game design contest
sponsored by the non-profit Liemandt Foundation in Austin, Texas,
challenging college students to create games that entertain while
educating them as well." May 10, 2004: AU
computer program lures blacks, women - Foundation to study school's
success at enrolling minorities. By Thomas Spencer. The Birmingham
News / available from al.com. "Auburn University is the unlikely
home of the nation's highest concentration of black computer science
faculty and graduate students in the country. Additionally, it has
a greater concentration of women in its graduate computer science
program than just about anywhere else. ... According to the National
Science Foundation, between 1991 and 2000, the nation's universities
produced about 9,000 computer science graduates and only about 100
of them were black. Now, only about 150 blacks are enrolled in computer
science doctoral programs nationwide. Less than 1 percent of the
nation's computer science faculty is black, about 32 professors.
'And I think I know all of them,' [Juan] Gilbert said. Auburn now
has eight black computer science doctoral students. 'We have 5 percent
of the country's Ph.D. students in one place,' Gilbert said. Nationwide
over the past five years, 57 blacks got doctorates in computer science.
Five of them, almost 9 percent of the national total, graduated
from Auburn. Women are similarly underrepresented. Though they account
for more than 50 percent of the population, women make up less than
20 percent of computer science graduates and 14 percent of faculty.
At Auburn, 43 percent of the computer science Ph.D. candidates are
women." May 10, 2004: Tahoka
student takes byte out of competition. By P. Christine Smith.
The Lubbock Avalance-Journal /available from LubbockOnline.com.
"Brandon Jackson is the kind of student his science teacher
would like to clone. A bright, articulate student who ranks fifth
in his sophomore class, Brandon recently won a regional science
fair and now is in Portland, Ore., competing in the International
Science and Engineering Fair. He began his study on artificial intelligence
as an eighth-grader. Brandon uses two computers, which he built,
in his project 'Computers at War: How Far Can Artificial Intelligence
Go?' He programmed the two computers to spar against each other
in a chess-type game of his own design. Through the neuro-network,
the two computers can 'learn' from each other, he said last week.
... [H]e took the project a step further and added additional programming
using case-based reasoning. ... He is going up against 3,000 students
from around the world at the Intel-sponsored fair in Portland, which
began Sunday and runs to Friday." May 9, 2004: Thirst
for knowledge is growing by degrees. More students heed graduate
programs' call. By Bob Braun. Star-Ledger / available from NJ.com.
"[I]t's in the nature of higher education to change students'
minds, especially the most capable, like those from New Jersey who
are Star-Ledger Scholars. ... Roger Grosse, last year's Mort Pye
Scholar, arrived on the Stanford University campus last fall convinced
he would pursue a major -- and, perhaps, a career -- in math. ...
Grosse, who will stay in Palo Alto this summer to continue his research
and take advanced courses, now says he won't pursue math after all,
but rather studies in symbolic systems, an interdisciplinary major
at Stanford that combines psychology, philosophy, linguistics and
computer science. Among its aims are the development of artificial
intelligence, the attempt to improve the functions of computers
so they more closely emulate human consciousness. Grosse says he
believes in the potential of artificial intelligence. 'It took thousands
of years for man to develop his consciousness,' he said. 'We've
only been working on computers for about 50.'" May 6, 2004: Robots:
Today, Roomba. Tomorrow... iRobot CEO Colin Angle says the robotic
vacuum cleaner "is insanely cool because it retails for $200" --
and more products like it are on the way. Interview by Adam Aston.
BusinessWeek Online. "[F]or both iRobot and the broader robot
industry, the Roomba's success may mark the beginning something
much bigger: a new age of robots, in which smart, autonomous machines
will ceased to be such specialized, costly devices that only big-budget
customers can afford. It may even be a signal that the era of affordable,
consumer-grade, mass-produced, robot workers has begun. ... Angle
recently talked to Adam Aston, BusinessWeek's Industries editor,
about what iRobot has learned from the Roomba and what the future
holds for its descendants. Q: How did you find
your way into robotics? ... Q: How did that work
become a business? ... Q: But
isn't it difficult not to include the best and most advanced technology
for the sake of affordability? A: In building the
Roomba, we threw out tremendous amounts of technology because we
knew it would make the product more complex or more costly. We have
a lot of pride, so we did so without negatively impacting the system.
For example, we could have built a system that allows the Roomba
to 'see' obstacles. We have all that technology. But vision systems
actually hurt cleaning performance. Why? Because quite often you
want to clean under things with flaps, such as a sofa. It the vacuum
sees a pleat in its way, it won't go there. Because the Roomba is
guided by an obstacle sensor, it pushes through these fabric flaps
and is able to clean more. Vision systems make a robot behave more
intelligently, but work worse. ... Q: Where will
the innovations in elder-care robots come from? ..." May 4, 2004: Fun
and games. Opinion by Stan Beer. The Sydney Morning Herald.
May 3, 2004: U.S.
Is Losing Its Dominance in the Sciences. By William J. Broad.
The New York Times (no fee reg. req'd.). "The United States
has started to lose its worldwide dominance in critical areas of
science and innovation, according to federal and private experts
who point to strong evidence like prizes awarded to Americans and
the number of papers in major professional journals. Foreign advances
in basic science now often rival or even exceed America's, apparently
with little public awareness of the trend or its implications for
jobs, industry, national security or the vigor of the nation's intellectual
and cultural life. 'The rest of the world is catching up,' said
John E. Jankowski, a senior analyst at the National Science Foundation,
the federal agency that tracks science trends. 'Science excellence
is no longer the domain of just the U.S.' ... Europe and Asia are
ascendant, analysts say, even if their achievements go unnoticed
in the United States. In March, for example, European scientists
announced that one of their planetary probes had detected methane
in the atmosphere of Mars - a possible sign that alien microbes
live beneath the planet's surface. The finding made headlines from
Paris to Melbourne. But most Americans, bombarded with images from
America's own rovers successfully exploring the red planet, missed
the foreign news. ... For the United States, future trends look
challenging, many analysts say. In a report last month, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science said the Bush administration,
to live up to its pledge to halve the nation's budget deficit in
the next five years, would cut research financing at 21 of 24 federal
agencies -- all those that do or finance science except those involved
in space and national and domestic security. More troubling to some
experts is the likelihood of an accelerating loss of quality scientists.
Applications from foreign graduate students to research universities
are down by a quarter, experts say, partly because of the federal
government's tightening of visas after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Shirley Ann Jackson, president of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, told the recent forum audience that the
drop in foreign students, the apparently declining interest of young
Americans in science careers and the aging of the technical work
force were, taken together, a perilous combination of developments."
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