Archive: October 12, 2007: Program

Keynote: 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.
Keynote Speaker: James N. Hollenhorst, Senior Director of IP Strategy, Agilent Laboratories
Jim Hollenhorst serves as Senior Director of Intellectual Property Strategy for Agilent Laboratories. Formerly, he was Vice President and Director of the Molecular Technology Lab and Director of R&D and Technology Management for Agilent’s Life Science and Chemical Analysis group.

Session 1: 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.

• Option 1: Bio-Info-Nano Technology
  Introduction: John Vesecky, Chair, Electrical Engineering

  New light pipes for single-particle detection on a chip
  Associate Professor Holger Schmidt, Electrical Engineering
  The ability to guide light through micron-scale hollow channels on a chip enables the combination of integrated optics with the world of liquids and gases. The technology of hollow-core optical waveguides can be applied to a diverse range of fields, from atomic clocks to single virus detectors.

  Thermoelectric energy conversion devices
  Professor Ali Shakouri, Electrical Engineering
  Fundamental and practical limits of thermoelectric power generation for wasteheat recovery through the research at the Thermionic Energy Conversion Center will be described. This UCSC center is a consortium of six universities working to optimize properties of metal/semiconductor nanocomposites to make high-power density, high-efficiency energy conversion devices.

• Option 2: Cyber Infrastructure
  Introduction: David Helmbold, Chair, Computer Science

  Computer Systems Research at UCSC: Quadrillions of Bytes and Microsecond Deadlines
  Associate Professor Scott Brandt, Computer Science
  Modern computers store and process more data than ever before and support many applications that were previously possible only on special-purpose devices, presenting new and interesting challenges to designers of operating systems. Two of those challenges—petascale data storage and system performance guarantees—will be discussed.

  Research Directions in Computer Networks
  Professor JJ Garcia Luna, Computer Engineering
  Despite intensive R&D, adequate principles, tools, and methodologies for designing ad hoc networks have been lacking. Our research directions include taking advantage of in-network storage and processing resources, developing a theory of dynamic wireless networks, and establishing design methodologies for communication protocols.

Session 2: 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

• Option 1: Bioengineering
  Introduction: Phil Berman, Chair, Biomolecular Engineering

  Biological discovery from genetic network perturbations
  Assistant Professor Josh Stuart, Biomolecular Engineering
  New technologies are available for measuring the genome-wide responses to cellular perturbations. The Stuart lab is developing algorithms that use this causal information to reverse-engineer genetic networks involved in cancer-cell invasiveness and Vibrio cholerae dynamics, to map signaling cross-talk in metazoans, and to predict targets of bioactive compounds.

  Using modelled protein structures instead of "the real thing"
  Assistant Professor Dietlind Gerloff, Biomolecular Engineering
  The concept of "structural genomics" rests on the premise that 3-D atomic structures of protein molecules can be approximated by models. Although the use of modelled structures has its shortcomings, recent research suggests meaningful biological questions that can to be asked, and ways of exploiting this modern resource in practice.

• Option 2: Systems Design
  Introduction: Richard Hughey, Chair, Computer Engineering Assistant

  GNC at UCSC
  Professor Gabriel Elkaim, Computer Engineering
  Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) positioning within the environment is one of the largest challenges to autonomous vehicles. We will discuss ongoing research into low-cost, high-performance solutions to GNC problems. Experimental results from both an autonomous ground vehicle and winged sailing catamaran will be presented. Associate Professor Roberto Manduchi, Computer Engineering R Enabling Technologies Technology that supports individuals with special needs has an important role in today’s society. We are developing systems that can assist visually impaired persons in a number of everyday tasks: mobility via wearable obstacle detection; location-aware information access via Bluetooth beaconing; and wayfinding in a marked environment using a cell phone as navigator.

Session 3: 2:00 to 2:45 p.m.

• Option 1: Mathematical and Statistical Modeling
  Introduction: Marc Mangel, Chair, Applied Mathematics and Statistics

  Highly Structured Bayesian Modeling Approaches in Health Sciences
  Associate Professor Raquel Prado, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
  The use of complex Bayesian models and methodology will be illustrated in two major applications. The first corresponds to the analysis of electroencephalographic signals (EEGs) recorded in subjects who performed a cognitive task for an extended period of time. The second deals with the analysis of sequences encoding malaria antigens in two species of the malaria parasite.

  Exploring protein motors—from what we can measure to what we want to know
  Associate Professor Hongyun Wang, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
  In many single-molecule experiments, time series of motor positions are recorded. However, many aspects of the motor mechanism are hidden in these time series. In the absence of simultaneous measurements of chemical states, we propose the concept of a motor-potential profile and discuss a robust mathematical formulation for extracting information from the measured time series.

• Option 2: Software and Service Engineering
  Introduction: Pat Mantey, Director, Technology and Information Management

  Proactive Personalized Information Integration and Retrieval
  Program Assistant Professor Yi Zhang, Information Systems and Technology Management
  While interacting with a user, a proactive personalized retrieval agent learns user-information needs and notifies the user of the latest relevant information without an explicit user query. This method complements traditional search engines and helps users to easily locate information distributed across heterogeneous and evolving information resources.

  Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Games
  Assistant Professor Michael Mateas, Computer Science
  While graphics drove the computer game industry for the last few decades, artificial intelligence will drive game innovation in the coming decades. Advanced AI will enable radical game innovations such as compelling and believable simulations of human behavior, automatically generated customized games, and interactive stories with dynamic storylines.

Reception: 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Reception and Graduate Student Research Poster Display