National
Science Foundation Workshop
--
for High School Teachers of Mathematics & Science
| LECTURERS / SPEAKERS | |
| 8:45 - 9:00 | K. BAHETI, National Science Foundation |
| BIOGRAPHY: Kishan Baheti received B.E. and M.E. in Electrical Engineering in India from VRCE Nagpur, and from BITS Pilani, respectively. In 1970, he came to USA and received M.S. in Information and Computer Science from University of Oklahoma and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Oregon State University. In 1976, Dr. Baheti joined the Control Engineering Laboratory of GE Corporate Research and Development Center in Schenectady, NY. His work focused on advanced multivariable control for jet engines, , computer- aided control system design, vision based robots for precision welding, model-based fault identification and parallel implementation of Kalman filters. Dr. Baheti and his colleagues received IR-100 award for robotic welding vision system. In 1989, Dr. Baheti joined NSF as a Program Director in the Division of Electrical and Communications Systems. He has been instrumental in the development of NSF initiatives on "Combined Research and Curriculum Development," "Semiconductor Manufacturing,", and NSF/EPRI Initiative on "Intelligent Control." His contributions include the development of NSF Initiative on "Learning and Intelligent Systems" to help harness information technologies and enable active partnerships between several disciplines such as engineering, neuroscience, control theory, cognitive science, computer science and education. He has served as associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, member of the Control Systems Board of Governors, and chair for Public Information Committee. In 1994, he received "Distinguished Member Award" from the IEEE Control Systems Society and in 1997, he was elected a Fellow of IEEE. | |
| 9:00 - 9:45 | D. BERNSTEIN, Professor Aerospace Engineering Department
University of Michigan- "HOW FEEDBACK CHANGED THE WORLD" |
| ABSTRACT: It's fun to debate the most important inventions of all time. Defensible choices include: the alphabet, Hindu-Arabic numerals, eyeglasses, moveable type, the transistor, the PC, the pil and so on. In this talk I will discuss four inventions that are perhaps less known but which have had an enormous impact on society. These are: the escapement, the governor, the aileron, and the amplifier. Why are these important? Because they made possible, respectively, accurate timekeeping and the scientific revolution, the steam engine and the industrial revolution, controlled flight and the space age, and useful electronics and the radio/TV/ computer age. In this talk I will discuss how these relatively invisible inventions have one thing in common, namely, they are all based on feedback control principles. I will relate the interesting and very human history of each invention and explain how each one works Biography : see his web page or list his web page http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/aero/people/faculty/dsbaero.html | |
| BIOGRAPHY: Dennis Bernstein was born and raised in western Massachusetts. He was an undergraduate at Brown University, and he got his PhD in engineering at the University of Michigan. He has been employed by a government laboratory, private industry, and academia. He currently teaches aerospace engineering courses at the University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan he founded a control systems laboratory where students can implement and test new methods for feedback control. Outside of teaching and doing research, his interests include 1) his family (he has one son in 7th grade and one who is a sophomore in high school), 2) Celtic music, and 3) the history of technology. | |
| 9:45 - 10:30 | CHRISTOS G. CASSANDRAS, Professor of Manufacturing
Engineering, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.
of Manufacturing Engineering,Boston University "WHEN COMPUTERS CONTROL -- JOYS AND PERILS OF AUTOMATION " |
| ABSTRACT: One of the definitions of the word "control" is "to govern or direct according to rule" (Merriam-Webster dictionary). In science and engineering, these "rules" have traditionally been dictated by the laws of nature -- such as gravity or conservation of mass. Computer technology, however, has enabled us to build complex systems that have become essential to our daily life, from automated factories to computer networks -- with intelligent highways and pilotless planes not too far in the horizon. The "rules" that these systems must obey are as arbitrary as human imagination can make them (as in designing a video game where one may create a virtual world where anything goes). While this is exciting, it is also dangerous -- it takes but one minor "bug" or "virus" to bring a multimillion factory to a standstill, theInternet to crash, or the Mars exploration vehicle to erroneously "think" that its landing legs were deployed, effectively forcing it to commit electronic suicide. Many of the dangers of automation stem from the lack of designers and engineers with appropriate skills that are cultivated through an understanding of what a "system" is and how to evaluate the effectiveness of a controller before deployment. This new breed of sophisticated engineers will combine the knowledge of basic mathematics, system science, economics, and computers to produce the educated technological leaders of a society demanding multidisciplinary skills. This presentation will employ simple computer simulation examples to illustrate the difference between physical processes subject to the laws of nature and human-made processes that must satisfy human-made rules. We will then show how "automatic control" can be used and demonstrate both its benefits and risks. An interesting easy-to-build experimental environment for an automated human-made system is a LEGO computer-controlled car factory that students can both build and design simple control mechanisms for. The presentation will include a tour of the factory (see also http://vita.bu.edu/cgc/newlego/) and explain how simple principles of automation can be illustrated in this environment. | |
| BIOGRAPHY: Christos G. Cassandras is Professor of Manufacturing Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University. He received degrees from Yale University (B.S., 1977), Stanford University (M.S.E.E., 1978), and Harvard University (S.M., 1979; Ph.D., 1982). In 1982-84 he was with ITP Boston, Inc. where he worked on the design of automated manufacturing systems. In 1984-1996 he was a faculty member at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts/Amherst. He specializes in the areas of discrete event systems, stochastic optimization, and computer simulation, with applications to computer networks, manufacturing systems, and transportation systems. He has published over 150 papers in these areas, and two textbooks. He has guest-edited several technical journal issues and serves on several editorial boards. Dr. Cassandras is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Transactions on Automatic Control and has served as Editor for Technical Notes and Correspondence and Associate Editor. He is a member of the CSS Board of Governors, chaired the CSS Technical Committee on Control Theory, and served as Program Chair of various conferences. He is the recipient of the 1999 Harold Chestnut Prize (IFAC Best Control Engineering Textbook) for "Discrete Event Systems: Modeling and Performance Analysis", a 1991 Lilly Fellowship, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, and a Fellow of the IEEE. | |
| 10:45 - 11:45 | BRIAN ROSEN, Senior technical director
at Pixar Animation Studios "CONTROLLING THE FICTIONAL WORLD: MAKING A DIGITAL FEATURE FILM" |
| BIOGRAPHY: Brian Rosen is a senior technical director at Pixar Animation Studios. He started at Pixar in 1993 helping to create the first computer animated feature film, Toy Story. Since then he has continued to develop imaging technology in films such as A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2 and Pixar's latest short film For The Birds. Brian has also contributed technology to Pixar's RenderMan software. Brian received his bachelors degree in computer science from Princeton University in 1993. Prior to that, he studied music composition at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He continues to be active in music as a baritone in the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and performs in theater around the bay area. Some day he hopes to find the time to write more music. | |
| 11:45 - 12:30 | KATSUHISA FURUTA, Professor, Department of Computers
and Systems Engineering Tokyo Denki University " UNDERSTANDING PHENOMENA THROUGH REAL PHYSICAL OBJECTS -UNDERSTANDING CONTROLLING PENDULUM" |
| ABSTRACT: Pendulum has been a good example of physical objects which has observed behaviors for a long time. Galileo Galilei found that the pendulum swung around the pendant position with same period. The pendulum since then used for the mechanism for the clock. The pendulum then is found to keep upright when vibration is given to the hinge. Also by controlling the position of the hinge the pendulum can be swung up from the pendant to upright position. The control law for such | |
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| 1:45 - 2:30 | THEODORE E. DJAFERIS, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst "AUTOMATIC CONTROL: A FASCINATING FIELD OF STUDY" |
| Abstract: We are literally surrounded by natural and man-made systems that are automatically controlled. The human body includes a multitude of systems that operate without our conscious intervention, keeping us alive and well. On a daily basis we encounter man-made systems that operate automatically and may have electrical, mechanical, chemical, hydraulic, financial or ecological characteristics. In most instances, we are not even aware of their automatic operation until there is some malfunction. A quick reflection will certainly convince anyone of the importance of automatic control in nature. It is also true that automation played a major role in the development of our highly complex technological society in the past and will surely continue to do so in the future. Automatic control is a fascinating field of study! The theory and practices developed over the years can be applied to a wide range of automation problems, giving the field its universal character. Automatic control is truly multidisciplinary as problems frequently involve a number of disciplines. One cannot help but wonder about how automatic control is achieved and the objective of this talk is to answer this question. We will do so by considering a specific example. This will give us a better understanding of the pieces involved in the automatic control puzzle and the process leading up to successful solutions. Basic principles and practices will be introduced and the design process will be explored in some detail. The example chosen is the design of an automatic control system for vehicle collision avoidance. The design process begins with the development of a conceptual block diagram for the solution that is inspired by manual control. It will be evident that feedback plays a crucial role in the design and that a number of other components are also required (i.e., sensor, actuator and controller). The design process continues with the development of a model for the system to be controlled. Frequently, such models are expressed in terms of differential equations for which a rich controller design theory exists. Computer simulations allow us to test proposed designs and develop further insight into the problem. The process concludes with the validation of the design by experiments on the actual system. Implementation issues may necessitate further adjustments and redesign. The design process is thus a blend of theory, computer simulations and physical experiments. We will demonstrate the entire process by developing a collision avoidance automatic control system for a Computer Intelligent Model Car (CIMCAR). | |
| BIOGRAPHY:Theodore E. Djaferis received the B.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1974, and the M.S., E.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977, 1978 and 1979 respectively. In 1979 he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he is currently an associate professor. During the Fall of 1985 he held a visiting appointment at the Division of Engineering Brown University. He is the author of more than eighty technical publications in the area of systems and control. He is the author of the research monograph, Robust Control Design:A Polynomial Approach, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995. He is a co-editor of the research volume, System Theory: Modeling Analysis and Control, also published by Kluwer in 1999. He is the author of a textbook for first-year engineering students with the title, Automatic Control: The Power of Feedback, published by PWS in 1998. A revised printing of this book was published by Brooks/Cole in 1999. His research interests are in the areas of stability theory and robust control of dynamical systems. He has held several editorial positions for the IEEE Control Systems Society and continues to be very active in conference organization for the Society. He is the general chair of the 2001 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. He served on the Board of Governors of the IEEE Control Systems Society from 1996 to 1999. He is a three-time recipient of the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Professor Teaching Award in his Department, the recipient of a College of Engineering Outstanding Advisor Service Award in 1991 and has been nominated five times for a University/College Outstanding Teaching Award. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi and a Senior Member of the IEEE. | |
| 2:30 - 3:15 | RAFFAELLO D'ANDREA, Assistant Professor Sibley School
of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. Cornell University "THE ROBO FILES: BUILDING THE BEST ROBOT SOCCER TEAM IN THE WORLD." |
| Abstract: As engineering systems become more and more complex, there is an increasing need from industry for engineers who not only have expertise in a particular engineering discipline, but who also possess diverse interdisciplinary skills, can integrate system components, can ensure total system operability, and can understand the various economic forces in the marketplace. This skill set and process is often referred to as Systems Engineering (SE). In order to effectively teach SE principles to students, we have developed a project course which embodies many of the key elements of SE. The project entails the construction of fully autonomous, fast moving robots which work together as a team to compete against similar teams of robots in a robot soccer match. This yearly competition, known as the Robot World Cup Initiative (or simply RoboCup), is described in www.robocup.org. In this talk, we discuss how students from Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Operations Research at Cornell University crossed disciplinary boundaries and worked together as a team to build the winning squad at the 1999 RoboCup championships in Stockholm, Sweden. The talk includes video footage from the competition. | |
| BIOGRAPHY: Raffaello D'Andrea received the B.A.Sc. degree in engineering physics from the University of Toronto, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to graduate school, he was employed as an electrical engineer at Bell Northern Research where he designed packet switching hardware. He has been with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University since 1997, where he is an Assistant Professor. He is also a member of the Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, and Theoretical and Applied Mechanics fields at Cornell University. His research interests include the development of computational tools for the robust control of complex interconnected systems. Dr. D'Andrea has been the recipient of a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Centennial Graduate Fellowship (1991-1996), the American Control Council O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper award (paper co-authored with Fernando Paganini and John C. Doyle in 1994), the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control Best Student Paper award (1996), the Sibley School Teaching Award at Cornell University in 1999, and an NSF CAREER award. | |
| 3:30 - 4:15 | IVAN OSORIO, M.D Director Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
University of Kansas Medical Center MARK G. FREI, Ph.D. Operating Manager / Technical Director Flint Hills Scientific, L.L.C. "USING MATHEMATICS FOR EPILEPTIC SEIZURE WARNING" |
| ABSTRACT: We present a method for mathematical analysis of brain wave signals that quantifies signal characteristics as they occur and allows short-term prediction of epileptic seizures. The method has been implemented into hardware and software to produce a prototype device capable of rapid and accurate detection of signal changes that occur before the patient is aware that a seizure is coming. We will outline the method and point out the many different ways in which mathematics was applied to obtain the solution. We will also discuss the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to research and describe the roles of mathematics, medicine, engineering, computer science, physics and other disciplines in contributing to the overall success of the system. | |
| BIOGRAPHY: IVAN OSORIO, is Presiding Manager and Medical Director of Flint Hills L.L.C (FHS). In addition, he is Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry and Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS. He is also a member of the Kansas Institute for Theoretical and Computational Science and co-founder of FHS. Osorio's medical studies include training at Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia; Instituto Neurologico de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia; the University of Miami, Miami, FL; and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. He is author or co-author of over 50 scientific publications. | |
| BIOGRAPHY: MARK FREI, is the Operating Manager and Technical Director of Flint Hills Scientific, L.L.C. (FHS) In collaboration with Ivan Osorio, M.D., he has developed the mathematical methods which are the basis for the FHS technology, and a co-founder of FHS. Prior to joining FHS, Frei was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Kansas, in the Kansas Institute for Theoretical and Computational Science, the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, and the Department of Mathematics. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. with research specialties in the fields of modeling, prediction, and adaptive control of random systems. He received his M.S. in applied mathematics/electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. | |
| 4:15 - 5:00 | ALAN KAY, Disney Fellow and Vice President of Research
and Development at The Walt Disney Company, "POWERFUL IDEAS IN THE WORLD OF THE CHILD" |
| ABSTRACT: Maria Montesorri realized that children were
set up by Nature to learn the world around them through play. She pointed
out that a better way to help children grow up in the 20th century -- as
opposed to the 10th century -- would be to give them 20th century toys and
playplaces rather than to try to give them watered down university classroom
schooling as is currently prevalent. Seymour Papert realized that interactive
computers could be a Montesorri playplace for mathematical toys that would
have a strong projection into the playworld of children. This talk will
show one of the current states of this art: how children can and do learn
powerful ideas in math and science within a special kind of interactive
computer and network environment, called Squeak. From Dr. Alan Kay : ,,, " This will be in the form of showing the Squeak screen with my face in a corner of it, delivering the talk. It will be done in fairly high res digital video, and we'll supply you with a player that will plug into the video projector that would be used for the talk. ... I'm pretty sure I can do this ( to answer questions from Paris via teleconferencing ) -- it has been a tentative part of this "remote talk" plan -- and I think it is a good idea. We'll set it up.... " |
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| BIOGRAPHY: DR. ALAN KAY, Disney Fellow and Vice President of Research and Development, The Walt Disney Company, is best known for the ideas of personal computing and the intimate laptop computer, the inventions of the now ubiquitous overlapping-window interface and modern object-oriented programming. His deep interests in children and education were the catalysts for these ideas, and they continue to be a source of inspiration to him. Kay, one of the founders of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, led one of the several groups that together developed modern workstations (and the forerunners of the Macintosh), Smalltalk, the overlapping window interface, Desktop Publishing, the Ethernet, Laser printing, and network "client-servers." Prior to his work at Xerox, Dr. Kay was a member of the University of Utah ARPA research team that developed 3-D graphics. There he earned a doctorate (with distinction) in 1969 for the development of the first graphical object-oriented personal computer. He holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and molecular biology from the University of Colorado. Kay also participated in the original design of the ARPANet, which later became the Internet. Dr. Kay has received numerous honors, including the ACM Software Systems Award and the J-D Warnier Prix D'Informatique. He has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Computer Museum History Center. A former professional jazz guitarist, composer, and theatrical designer, he is now an amateur classical pipe organist. | |
| 5:00 - 5:45 | COLIN ADAMS, Mark Hopkins Professor and Department
Head, Mathematics Department Williams College "MAKING CALCULUS FUN: HOW TO ENTERTAIN AT PARTIES" |
| ABSTRACT This talk is about how to make calculus fun: for your students, for your taxidriver, for the person sitting next to you on the plane. That's right, you will learn how to talk about calculus AND be popular at the same time. | |
| BIOGRAPHY: Colin Adams is Mark Hopkins Professor and Chair of the Mathematics Department at Williams College. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983. He is particularly interested in the mathematical theory of knots, their applications and their connections with hyperbolic geometry. He is the author of "The Knot Book", an elementary introduction to the mathematical theory of knots and co-author of "How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide", a humorous supplement to calculus which has been as high as #62 at amazon.com. Author of a variety of research articles on knot theory and hyperbolic 3-manifolds, he is also a recipient of the Northeastern and National Haimo Distinguished Teaching Awards from the Mathematical Association of America(MAA) in 1998, one of two Polya Lecturers for the MAA for 1998-2000 and a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer for 2000-2002. He is also the humor columnist for the Mathematical Intelligencer, an expository mathematics magazine. | |
Last updated June 7, 2000
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