UC Davis

Although the Smart Grid promises to help meet goals of energy efficiency and renewability, incorporating IT into the electric grid poses new and substantial risks to individual privacy. At the same time, Smart Grid deployment is proceeding along a path that could make it difficult for individuals to control the flow of information about their energy use while also raising barriers in the market for in-home smart devices.

The collection of new data in any discipline does not, in general, lead to the creation of new knowledge. As a stream of data transforms to a deluge, the human role in scientific discovery, traditionally so important, must be partially fulfilled by powerful algorithms.

This talk will describe long-term trends in the electrical efficiency of computation that enabled the development of laptops and other mobile computing devices. If these trends continue, they presage continued further improvements in battery powered computers, sensors, and controls.

These days, GPS is used by all of us, and our application space is partially spanned by the following far-flung examples. Several hundred million GPS chip sets were shipped as part of cell phones last year, where they added about $2 to the bill or materials. These will support consumer applications like location specific advertising.

While there has been significant press attention towards the “smart grid”, there has been little public discussion of what a smart grid is, and the follow on question of why is it necessary. To many, smart grid means smart meters; however, meters are the tip of iceberg. Unravel the mystery as SDG&E, one of the leading utilities in the smart grid arena nationwide, provides a definition of the smart grid and, more importantly why it is imperative, particularly in California.

Enabling computer-based education in the developing world requires addressing significant resource limitations. Students often sit with two or more peers at a computer, and learning in this environment can be a challenge. For this reason, the idea of multiple-mouse interfaces has gained traction, allowing each student to directly interact with educational applications. However, major roadblocks exist to adoption and use of these technologies.

This workshop aims at bringing together researcher and presentations related to diagnostic methods and sensors for enhancing the reliability and improving fault detection for the power distribution grid. Among other, our goal is to stimulate the discussion on how such sensors and diagnostics/fault information can be integrated into the upcoming “Smart Grid” infrastructure.

How can science support efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons and strengthen non-proliferation? Science and scientists have been engaged in support of many security building and arms control and disarmament efforts within different political and administrative frames.

Professor Greg Niemeyer creates games that can help engage people with serious issues, particularly that of climate change.

The Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod is a micro-robot made of paperboard and off-the-shelf electronics that could assist in recovery from natural disasters by crawling into spaces too dangerous for rescue workers to enter.

On December 7, 2009, representatives of the world’s governments convene
in Copenhagen, Denmark, seeking agreement between nations to regulate
and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after 2012, when the current
treaty, known as the Kyoto Protocol, expires.

Professor Jay Lund and colleagues at the UC Davis Center for Watershed
Sciences have developed software to model California's water storage
and distribution system.

UC Santa Cruz Professor Andrew Fisher leads the Recharge Initiative, which focuses
efforts to protect, enhance, and improve the availability and
reliability of ground water resource.