Dear Members and Friends of CITRIS,
Making
sure California has sufficient power and protecting its water supply
are among two of the greatest challenges which we as a society will
face in the coming years. This is why we are especially pleased to
highlight in this resources- and environment-themed newsletter how
CITRIS researchers are rising to the occasion.
The
first article highlights how the CITRIS project on Demand-Response
Enabling Technology is addressing California's need to manage a growing
demand for electrical power. Not only does the Demand-Response project
aim to monitor and thereby enable power consumers to minimize their
electricity consumption during shortages, but it is also an exemplar of
the type of collaborative research that is central to CITRIS's vision.
Researchers from mechanical engineering, the Berkeley Sensor and
Actuator Center, Berkeley Wireless Research Center, Intel Research
Berkeley laboratory, and UC Berkeley's Center for the Built Environment
are among the many working together to make this new technology a
reality.
Protecting California's precious water supply
is emphasized in a second article, which focuses on how two
CITRIS-affiliated researchers, professors Thomas Harmon of UC Merced
and Geoff Schladow from UC Davis, are using integrated real-time sensor
networks and other computational tools to monitor and ultimately
reverse damage to California's watersheds, while providing hands-on
learning opportunities for students at their respective campuses.
These
projects and new strategic directions in the area of
cyber-infrastructure, the delivery of healthcare using new information
and communication technologies, and other environmental monitoring
projects were presented at the CITRIS Corporate Sponsor Day, hosted by
UC Santa Cruz on April 18 at NASA Ames Conference Center. This was an
exciting opportunity to share with our corporate sponsors new strategic
directions for the CITRIS's next phase of evolution, which we are
calling our boost phase after the initial four year "launch phase." We
combined this with our regular research update and opportunities to
interact with our CITRIS student researchers. Videos and PDFs from all the presentations are now available on our Web site.
Finally,
I hope many of you will join me in recognizing the many achievements of
our outgoing director, Ruzena Bajcsy, at a celebratory event to be held
on the UC Berkeley campus Wednesday, June 29, from 2 to 4 PM. Read more.
On
a personal note, I am always very glad to hear your feedback
suggestions of how and what we can be doing better. I am very grateful
for your interest and support, and I look forward to an exciting new
phase of CITRIS.
Professor Shankar Sastry
Director
Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society
- The Berkeley Engineering Alumni Society of Southern California will present, "Cybersecurity & Privacy: Face to Face" at their annual dinner meeting in Pasadena.
- Robert C. Dynes, Robert J. Birgeneau, and A. Richard Newton will host a reception
honoring our new CITRIS director Shankar Sastry, and recognizing the
achievements of our outgoing director, Ruzena Bajcsy. This event will be held at the UC Berkeley campus on Wednesday, June 29, from 2-4 pm.