Watch the 2009 Visions Lecture!
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The UT Department of Computer Sciences held the annual Visions Lecture, a series of lectures by CS faculty who have been recognized by their community for notable achievements in research, teaching or service. This year's lecture will took place on Monday, November 9, 2009 from 4:15 - 5:30 p.m. in the Avaya Auditorium, ACES 2.302.
Talk Abstract:
This talk will consider possible futures for computer science based on examining the fifty years I have been a participant the use of computers and their role in science, engineering, industry and social and cultural life. The perspective will be Computer Science at UT-Austin. The questions to be considered include: How will the discipline of computer science evolve, particularly at UT-Austin? How will computer science interact with the scientific, business and cultural worlds? The answers to be suggested include unresolved issues which the audience will be asked to consider.
Talk Abstract:
The Socratic Method, the R. L. Moore Method, and Discovery Learning are three forms of instruction that endeavor to produce deep understanding through a maximum of student participation. The Moore method in which students develop theory based on a small set of axioms and carefully constructed problems has gained world-wide acceptance from its practice on our campus. My own exposure to the method was a functional analysis course taught by Paul Halmos. Halmos later said “The Moore method is, I am convinced the right way to teach anything and everything.”
I will begin by describing how – in both positive and negative respects –Halmos’s course was life-changing for me. Then I’All present my thoughts on the Halmos claim: in particular is the Moore method the appropriate approach for computer science instruction.
Talk Abstract:
I have devoted most of my career to research on applications of formal methods in Computer Science. Yet, it is not clear to me how much (or, even, whether) to teach formal methods, particularly to undergraduates. How much of their routine activities, including programming, depends on formal methods? Would it be simpler to replace formal reasoning by appeal to intuition and well-chosen examples, a path almost universally taken at other schools? UT has a proud tradition of research in formal methods. Can we leverage that in teaching? Then would we blaze a new path, or just have disgruntled students?
I will draw upon my experience with undergraduates, formal methods and "computational thinking" to illustrate the problems, pit falls and the opportunities.
James C. Browne is Emeritus Professor of Computer Science. Browne earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at The University of Texas in 1960. He taught in the Physics Department at The University of Texas from 1960 through 1964. He was, from 1965 through 1968, Professor of Computer Science at Queens University in Belfast and directed the Computer Laboratory. He joined the University of Texas in 1968 as Professor of Physics and Computer Science. He served as Department Chair for Computer Science in 1968-69, 1971-75 and 1984-87.
Browne's current research interests span parallel programming and computation with a focus on applications in science and engineering, distributed and grid computing methods, performance measurement and analysis, software engineering and formal methods. Past research interests included operating systems and data base systems. Browne received the 2005 University of Texas at Austin Career Research Excellence Award. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, of the British Computer Society, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Institute for Constructive Capitalism. Browne has published approximately 400 papers and supervised the Ph.D. dissertation research of 69 students.
Alan Cline holds the David Bruton, Jr. Professorship in Computer Sciences and is also Professor of Mathematics. He constructed FITPACK, a large package of curve and surface fitting subprograms that employed tension splines. His interests in fitting extend to the related areas of approximation theory, grid construction, and computational geometry. He has done research in numerical linear algebra—especially condition number estimation and the theory and use of the singular value decomposition. More recently he has considered the automatic detection of instability in scientific software.
Since 1991, Professor Cline has been the director of the honors program for the College of Natural Sciences' the Dean's Scholars. In 2005 he was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and in 2009 was selected as the recipient of the Jean Holloway Teaching Award.
Jayadev Misra holds the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computer Sciences and is also Professor of Computer Sciences. His interest is in applying formal methods in practice, particularly in the specifications and designs of synchronous and asynchronous systems. Misra’s research focuses on distributed Computing with emphasis on programming languages, semantics and application design. He is currently spearheading, jointly with Sir Tony Hoare, an international Grand Challenge Project on Automated Verification.
From 1994-1997, Professor Misra was the Chair of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin. In 1989 he was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2009 was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at the University of Texas at Austin. Misra is a fellow of IEEE and ACM.
