CITRIS was proud to meet with House Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee of Texas on Friday March 17. Representative Lee sits on the House Committees for Homeland Defense and Science. She stopped by CITRIS headquarters after giving a lecture on immigration at UC Berkeley’s law school Boalt Hall.
In the 45 minute meeting Executive Director of CITRIS Gary Baldwin introduced CITRIS and the Center’s vision for technology as means to assist and aid society. He fielded the Congresswoman’s questions about CITRIS including international collaborations (ie CITRIS in Asia and Europe), work with developing countries and health related research.
Professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl of Civil Engineering spoke next regarding CCRM, Center for Catastrophic Risk Management. He emphasized the work this newly created Center is doing in regards to catastrophes, both man made and by nature. Abolhassan mentioned work being done by CCRM professors in evaluations of levees, post-Katrina analysis, creating sturdy ready-to-use shelters to replace tents, structural engineering of buildings and bridges to withstand disasters and the development of catastrophe guidelines for government officials.
Vijay Raghavan, director of TRUST – Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology – was the last speaker. He emphasized their research in cyberspace security, not only in securing current systems, but anticipating the future direction of network systems and how to protect them.
Congresswoman Lee was impressed with the CITRIS model and the projects that CITRIS faculty are currently working on. She was impressed by CITRIS’ goal of serving society and hoped that the work created by CITRIS will serve as a model for other universities to follow.