[BNC-all] Reminder: Seminar: Dr. Wojciech Szpankowski, CS, Purdue (LWSN 3102A/B, 9/18/06 1-2 PM)"What is Information?" sent per Sabre Kais request

[Annie Cheever]

>>From: "Sabre Kais" <kais at purdue.edu>
>>To: "Annie Cheever" <acheever at ecn.purdue.edu>
>>Cc: "'Wojciech Szpankowski'" <spa at cs.purdue.edu>
>>Subject:  talk "What is Information?'
>>Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 21:16:16 -0400
>>
>>Sabre Kais
>>Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science
>>The Birck Nanotechnology Center
>>Purdue University
>>West Lafayette, IN 47907
>>(765)494-5965 (Office)
>>(765)494-0239 (Fax)
>>http://www.chem.purdue.edu/kais/
>>
>>>>>>>
>>>Department of Computer Science
>>>Science Lecture Series on Information
>>>Fall 2006
>>>
>>>"What is Information?"
>>>
>>>Prof. Wojciech Szpankowski
>>>Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
>>>
>>>Monday, September 18, 2006
>>>1:00-2:00 pm
>>>LWSN 3102A/B
>>>
>>>Abstract:
>>>Information permeates every corner of our lives and shapes our universe.
>>>Understanding and harnessing information holds the potential for significant
>>>advances. The breadth and depth of underlying concepts of the science of
>>>information transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries of scientific and
>>>commercial endeavors. Information can be manifested in various forms:
>>>business information is measured in dollars; chemical information is
>>>contained in shapes of molecules; biological information stored 
>>>and processed
>>>in our cells prolongs life. So what is information?
>>>In this talk we first attempt to identify the most
>>>important features of information and define it in the broadest possible
>>>sense. We subsequently turn to the notion and theory of information
>>>introduced by Claude Shannon in 1948 that served as the backbone for digital
>>>communication. We go on to bridge Shannon information with Boltzmann's
>>>entropy, Maxwell's demon, Landauer's principle and Bennett's irreversible
>>>computations. We point out, however, that while Shannon created a successful
>>>and beautiful theory of information for communication, a wide spread
>>>application of information theory to economics, biology, life science and
>>>complex networks seems to be still awaiting us. We shall discuss some
>>>examples that recently crop up in biology, chemistry, computer science, and
>>>quantum physics. We conclude with a list of challenges for future research.
>>>We hope to put forward some educated questions, rather than answers, to the
>>>issues and tools that lay before researchers interested in information.
>>>
>>>Bio:
>>>Wojciech Szpankowski received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical
>>>and Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Gdansk in
>>>1976 and 1980, respectively.  Currently, he is Professor of Computer
>>>Science (and by courtesy Electrical and Computer Engineering) at Purdue
>>>University.  In 1992 he was Professeur Invite at INRIA-Rocquencourt,
>>>France, in 1999 he was Visiting Professor at Stanford University, and
>>>in 2006 the Erskine Fellow at University of Canterbury, Christchurch,
>>>New Zealand.  Szpankowski's research interests cover mainly analysis of
>>>algorithms and information theory, and also bioinformatics, analytic
>>>combinatorics, and stability problems of distributed systems. He
>>>published the book "Average Case Analysis of Algorithms on Sequences",
>>>John Wiley & Sons, 2001.
>>>Dr. Szpankowski has been a guest editor and an editor of technical
>>>journals, including the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,
>>>Foundation and Trends in Communications and Information Theory,
>>>Theoretical Computer Science, Combinatorics, Probability & Computing.
>>>the ACM Transaction on Algorithms, and Int. J. Bioinformatics Research
>>>and Applications. He co-chaired the Information Theory and Networking
>>>Workshop, Metsovo, Greece, the "NSF Workshop on Information Theory
>>>and Computer Science Interface", Chicago, and the workshop
>>>"Information Beyond Shannon", Orlando.  In June 2004 he directed
>>>the MSRI Graduate Program on the "Analysis of Algorithms and
>>>Information Theory".  He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
>>>
>>>-Refreshments will be served before the talk in LWSN3102A/B.

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Annie Cheever, Area Secretary                      
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering 
	                                                                 
 
acheever at purdue.edu
			  
Purdue University
Birck Nanotechnology Center, Room 2027
1205 West State Street
West Lafayette, IN  47907-1205

Phone: 765-496-8327     Fax: 765-496-6443
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