Author to discuss national security, world affairs

Posted November 6, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events

James Kitfield, winner of the 2009 Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense, will be at the Ford Presidential Library for a talk on “A World of Woes: America at a Crossroads.”

His free lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10. Kitfield will speak about the country’s national security challenges and examine the shifting condition of world affairs. He is the national security and foreign affairs correspondent for the National Journal newsweekly. He has written on defense, national security, and foreign policy issues from Washington, D.C., for more than two decades.

He is the author of War and Destiny: How the Bush Revolution in Foreign and Military Affairs Redefined American Power, and Prodigal Soldiers: How the Generation of Officers Born of Vietnam Revolutionized the American Style of War.

For information about the program, call (734) 205-0555.

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STIET Seminar: Bargaining in stationary networks

Posted November 6, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events, Faculty, Research
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Mihai Manea, an assistant professor of economics at MIT, will speak on “Bargaining in Stationary Networks” at the Thursday, Nov. 12 STIET-ICD Seminar. The talk will be fro 4-5:30 p.m. in the Ehrlicher Room, 411 West Hall, and be videocast to 313 State Hall at Wayne State University.

Manea’s research focuses on surplus division in networks, allocation and matching problems, and mechanism design with independent discrete types. His earlier work explored issues in decision theory and game theory. More details about the seminar are available.

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U-M No. 1 in media/Internet/social media interest

Posted November 6, 2009 by Glenda Bullock
Categories: Faculty, Research, Staff
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The University of Michigan has topped Harvard University and all other universities in the United States for the amount of public interest measured by media coverage, Internet traffic, and social media mentions, according to an independent national analysis released this week.

Michigan (previously ranked fourth) was followed by MIT, Harvard (previously No. 1), Columbia University, the University of Chicago, the University of California-Berkley, the University of Wisconsin, Stanford University, the University of North Carolina, and Cornell University.

The survey was part of Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor’s newest Predictive Qualities Indicator survey using word analysis to measure media trends and “buzz.” Global Language Monitor President Paul Payack attributed the shift in public sentiment to the 2008 financial markets meltdown that cost Harvard’s endowment $11 billion, forcing Harvard and other elite privates that relied on endowments to make major cuts in 2009.

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Learn how/why U-M is going smoke-free

Posted November 5, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events, Faculty, Staff, Students

The University has announced two sessions for members of the campus community to learn about the plan for a smoke-free campus. The meetings are from 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12 in the Forum Hall of Palmer Commons and from 5-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19 in the Stamps Auditorium at the Walgreen Center.

In April, President Mary Sue Coleman announced the plan for U-M to be an entirely smoke-free university July 1, 2011. The two sessions represent the first in a comprehensive plan to share information and gather feedback from students, faculty, staff, and the local community.

Implementation of the Smoke-Free University Initiative includes helping smokers who wish to stop through free behavioral counseling and free or reduced-cost over-the-counter anti-smoking products, as well as co-pay reductions for employees who use prescription tobacco-cessation medicines. Similar behavioral counseling and discounts on cessation aids will be available to students through the University Health Service.

Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP. Attendees are encouraged to pose questions ahead of time by E-mailing smokefreeuniversity@umich.edu.

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How to go from MSI to Ph.D.

Posted November 5, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events, Students

All MSI students who want to know more about continuing their education as a doctoral student at SI are invited to an information session with Stephanie Teasley, director of the program, and Sue Schuon, assistant director.

Some current Ph.D. students will be on hand, too, to answer your questions. The session will run from noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19 in the Ehrlicher Room, 411 West Hall. Feel free to bring your lunch; soft drinks will be provided.

Please RSVP to Sue. If you can’t attend, Sue will be available by appointment to talk to you. Just send her a message.

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A look at socially intelligent computing

Posted November 5, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events, Faculty

Haym Hirsh of the National Science Foundation and Rutgers University will explore “Socially Intelligent Computing” during a talk sponsored by the School of Information and the Division of Computer Science and Engineering of the College of Engineering.

Hirsh’s talk will be from 3-4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13 in the Atkins Room, 1202 SI North. All are welcome. A cookie reception will be held beforehand at 2:30.

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Lecturer to speak on BDI models

Posted November 5, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events, Research
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Guest lecturer David Israel, program director in the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International, will be at the School of Information for a talk on “BDI (Belief-Desire-Intention) Models and the Background — and Reception — of the BIP (Bratman-Israel-Pollack) Model.”

The talk will be from noon-1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9 in the Ehrlicher Room, 411 West Hall.

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CIC presents: (When) is information power?

Posted November 4, 2009 by Emily Puckett
Categories: Events, Guest speakers, Students
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Kerry McNamara, scholar-in-residence in the School of Communication at American University, will speak at the Community Information Corps fall 2009 seminar series (SI 575) on Friday, Nov. 13 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in 311 West Hall. This event is free and open to the public. The topic is “(When) is Information Power? Lessons from the ICT-for-Development Field.”

For more than a decade, there has been widespread enthusiasm about, and experimentation in, using information and communication technologies (ICT) to combat poverty and promote economic and social empowerment in developing countries.

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STIET-ICD Seminar: Internet ad exchanges

Posted October 30, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Faculty, Guest speakers, Research

S. (Muthu) Muthukrishnan of Google Research will bring his expertise to the next STIET-ICD Seminar for a discussion of “Research Issues in Internet Ad Exchanges.”

Muthukrishnan notes that while there is considerable attention on sponsored search and the underlying auctions that power ads on the Internet, there is much less attention on how display ads are placed on Web sites. Display ads are transacted via two-sided markets (a.k.a., exchanges) that bring online publishers and online advertisers together in real time. In this talk, he will present an overview of some of the issues involved in designing such exchanges. The issues lead to open problems in auction theory, optimization, and cryptography.

Muthukrishnan is a research scientist at Google and a professor of computer science at Rutgers University. His research interest is in Internet auctions and game theory. In the past, he worked on data stream algorithms and their connections to compressed sensing, databases, and networking.

The seminar, open to everyone, will be from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 in the Ehrlicher Room, 411 West Hall. For those at Wayne State University, the program will be videocast to 313 State Hall.

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SOCHI says learn about IA from Enlighten

Posted October 30, 2009 by Jay Jackson
Categories: Events, Students
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Members of the Student Organization for Computer-Human Interaction at SI invite everyone to hear alumnus Josh Morse talk about information architecture at Enlighten, one of the premier interactive agencies in Michigan.

Josh, a 2008 graduate, will speak from noon-1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9 in 412 West Hall about his experiences as an information architect. Kathryn McCurdy of SOCHI notes that a number of SI HCI graduates are taking information architecture jobs after graduating, and it will be interesting to learn in a bit more detail what this job entails on a day-to-day basis.

Bring your lunch and lots of questions for Josh. Please RSVP for this event.

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