MIT
Computer Scientist Presents "Universities, the Internet,
and the Intellectual Commons"
Lecture is Part of Phi Beta Kappa's Visiting Scholar Program
Contact:
Heidi Weber(518) 437-4980
ALBANY,
N.Y. (October 31, 2003) -- Hal Abelson, a professor of electrical
engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), will present "Universities, the
Internet, and the Intellectual Commons," on Nov. 6, 4
p.m. in Lecture Center 19 on the University at Albany's uptown
campus. The lecture is part of Phi Beta Kappa's annual Visiting
Scholar Program in which twelve or more distinguished scholars
visit 100 colleges and universities with chapters of Phi Beta
Kappa, a national honor society. The event, hosted by the
Department of Computer Science and the UAlbany Chapter of
Phi Beta Kappa, is free and open to the public.
According
to Abelson, co-director of the MIT-Microsoft Research Alliance,
universities have a mission to create, preserve and disseminate
knowledge. In addressing that mission, universities should
take care to preserve and strengthen the intellectual commons
- that shared wellspring of ideas and innovation from which
all may freely draw. His talk describes initiatives aimed
at bolstering the intellectual commons, both at MIT and elsewhere.
Abelson
is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) and is the recipient of several teaching
awards, including the IEEE's Booth Education Award for his
contributions to the teaching of undergraduate computer science.
His
research at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory focuses
on "amorphous computing," an effort to create programming
technologies that can harness the power of the new computing
substrates emerging from advances in microfabrication and
molecular biology. He is also engaged in the interaction of
law, policy and technology as they relate to societal tensions
sparked by the growth of the Internet, and is active in projects
at MIT and elsewhere to help bolster intellectual commons.
As
part of the Visiting Scholar Program, Abelson will spend two
days at UAlbany, meeting informally with students and faculty
and taking part in classroom discussions. The purpose of the
program is to contribute to the intellectual life of the institution
by making possible an exchange of ideas between Visiting Scholars
and the resident faculty and students.
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