Distinguished Lecture Series

Future Directions in Computer Science

John Hopcroft

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

September 30, 2011
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
WPI Campus Center, Odeum A

Abstract:

The last forty years have seen computer science evolve as a major academic discipline. Today the field is undergoing a fundamental change. Some of the drivers of this change are the internet, the World Wide Web, large quantities of information in digital form and wide spread use of computers for accessing information. The change is requiring universities to revise the content of computer science programs. This talk will cover the changes in the theoretical foundations of computer science needed to support the future.

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John E. Hopcroft is the IBM Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics in Computer Science at Cornell University. He received his BS (1961) from Seattle University and his M.S. (1962) and Ph.D. (1964) in electrical engineering from Stanford University. His research centers on theoretical aspects of computer science. He served as dean of Cornell University’s College of Engineering from

1994 until 2001. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Association of Computing Machinery, and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. In 1986 he was awarded the A. M. Turing Award for his research contributions. In 1992, he was appointed by President George Bush to the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation, and served through May 1998. He received the IEEE Harry Goode Memorial Award in 2005, the Computing Research Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2007, the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award in 2009, and the IEEE von Neumann Medal in 2010. He has honorary degrees from Seattle University, the National College of Ireland, the University of Sydney, St Petersburg State University and is an honorary professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology and at Yunnan University. He serves on the Packard Foundation’s Science Advisory Board, Microsoft Technical Advisory Board for Research Asia and the advisory boards of IIIT Delhi and Seattle University’s College of Engineering. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has designated him as an Einstein professor of the Academy.

Host: Prof. Craig Wills

Refreshments will be served.

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