Industry leaders and faculty in the Baskin School of Engineering will discuss the latest developments in key areas of technological innovation at the school's annual Research Review Day at UC Santa Cruz on Thursday, October 18. Focus areas for this year's presentations are big data, biomedical metrology, and human-centered robotics and computing. The event is free, but advance registration at rr.soe.ucsc.edu is required.
"This event showcases the groundbreaking research our faculty and graduate students are doing in a broad range of subjects. The focus areas this year are some of the hottest topics in technology today," said Art Ramirez, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering.
Eric Brill, vice president of eBay Research Labs, and Steve Cousins, president and CEO of robotics company Willow Garage, are among the invited speakers. In his plenary talk on big data, "The Magic is in the Data," Brill will address some of the interesting challenges, opportunities, and emerging magic that come from having vast amounts of data. In "Personal Robots on the Horizon," Cousins will discuss how the field of robotics is on a path that parallels the development of personal computers.
David Deamer, research professor of biomolecular engineering at UCSC, will give the plenary talk on biomedical metrology. Deamer will discuss his lab's work on nanopore analysis of nucleic acids and how this technology progressed from an idea to a working instrument developed through ongoing collaboration with Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
Faculty presentations will take place throughout the day. Speakers include Scott Brandt, professor of computer science, on "Efficient Processing of Big Structured Data;" Yi Zhang, associate professor of technology and information management, on "Proactive Information Retrieval;" Holger Schmidt, professor of electrical engineering, on "Optofluidic Integration of Biomedical Analysis;" Jacob Rosen, professor of computer engineering, on "When a Human Meets a Robot - Three Close Encounters;" and Roberto Manduchi, professor of computer engineering, on "Computer Vision without Sight," describing his work on assistive technology for the blind.
All presentations will be held in the Engineering 2 building on the UCSC campus. Faculty presentations will be followed by a graduate student poster session. Additional information about Research Review Day, including a detailed program with a complete list of presenters and topics, is available online at rr.soe.ucsc.edu.
