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Ruzena
Bajcsy
BART NAGEL PHOTO |
Popular scientific
press cites College faculty
At year-end 2002, three faculty in the College’s Department
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) hit the
top pick lists of three popular science magazines, all singled
out for a wide range of achievements in the field of information
science and computer technology.
Ruzena Bajcsy, director of the Center for Information
Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), was recognized
by Discover Magazine in November as one of the 50 "most
important women in science." John Kubiatowicz was
named by Scientific American in December to its list
of the "Scientific American 50," a select ranking of
both individuals and organizations who have made major contributions.
David Wagner, the youngest member of the College’s
faculty, was chosen by Popular Science in January for
its "2002’s Brilliant 10," an index of the 10
most promising researchers from all scientific disciplines.
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John Kubiatowicz
COURTESY OF JOHN KUBIATOWICZ |
Bajcsy came to Berkeley in 2001 as CITRIS director
and professor in EECS. Her 30-year career has combined the traditionally
discrete fields of cognitive science, applied mechanics and computer
science. A member of both the National Academy of Engineering
and the Institute of Medicine, Bajcsy was previously on the faculty
at the University of Pennsylvania and served as assistant director
of the National Science Foundation’s Computer Information
Science and Engineering Directorate.
The Discover list selected 50 women internationally known
for their "spectacular" successes in the "intensely
male world" of science. Bajcsy was recognized for her work
on robots that respond to their environment and for her direction
of the "innovative" CITRIS, which is currently researching
the development of smart low-power sensors capable of computing
and communicating.
Kubiatowicz, professor in EECS, is a specialist in computer architecture,
hardware, operating systems, and compiler issues for parallel
multiprocessing. His invention, OceanStore, is a massively
distributed hard drive that copies data fragments and saves them
in many locations around the world, making it difficult to destroy
or lose the information. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT and joined
the Berkeley faculty in 1998.
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David
Wagner |
Scientific American compiled its list of
50 top contributors for the first time this year, recognizing
accomplishments that demonstrate a "clear, progressive view
of the technological future." As chief architect of the OceanStore
system, Kubiatowicz was recognized for "work that could lead
to an Internet scale grid computing system linking processing
and storage capabilities of millions of computers."
Wagner joined the EECS faculty in 2000. His work focuses on computer
security in large-scale systems, cryptography, and operating systems.
He advises government agencies and industry on how to improve
security in everything from wireless networks to digital cell
phones. With an A.B. in mathematics from Princeton, he completed
his Ph.D. in EECS in 2000.
The Popular Science "Brilliant 10" list, also
new this year, celebrates scientists "who are shaking up
their fields and whose work will touch your life." In recognizing
Wagner, the magazine acknowledges his extraordinary skill as a
computer scientist as well as his investigations into security
holes in software, particularly software that safeguards large
amounts of money or information relevant to national security.
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FOREFRONT takes you into the labs, classrooms,
and lives of professors, students, and alumni for an intimate
look at the innovative research, teaching, and campus life that
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Berkeley.
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