Information Processing: Caltech Institute for Quantum Information and Matter

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Caltech Institute for Quantum Information and Matter

IQIM is the home of John Preskill, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech. John was celebrated on the occasion of his 60th birthday here.

Dinner meeting with the group.

Working in the Pasadena sunshine.

Inside the Annenberg Center.

On the first floor there are some old plaques, including this one honoring Chris Chang :-)

Some random Caltech photos I took. Go Beavers!

3 comments:

Brett Olsen said...: I love the Beckman Institute and Olive Walk photos. Thanks!; 5:15 PM
oregonlocal said...: Haha! We all know which Beavers you really mean...; 8:47 PM
B Yen said...: You were at Caltech recently (as per photos), for some Inter University "exploratory" Collaborative/Cooperative infrastructure?

I was told that Caltech is Agile/Mobile/Hostile (football term for pro-active linebacker), in terms of setting up "Inter Disciplinary" initiatives, like that CNS (Computational Neuro Sciences Inst)..which came about from Undergrads pressuring Caltech faculty -- "Do it!". Which linked Physics (R. Feynman inspiration), Computer Science (Carver Mead's "Physics of Computation"..Neuromorphic Engineering, simulation of analog neurons with non-linear response of silicon electronics), Biology ("The Brain", neurons, etc)

I was just at ACM SIGGRAPH conference 2 weeks ago. LOTS of "Birds of Feather" brainstorming on how to do Inter/Trans Disciplinary Cooperation/Collaboration between Artists & Computer ENgineers (tool creators for Artists). As well as other disciplines: Computer Vision, 3D Printing (CAD/CAM innovation making a major "disruption"), Robotics, Artificial Intellligence, Science (Scientific Visualization). Computer Graphics has REALLY gotten Inter-Disciplinary. Robots & 3D printers complement the existing sector of Computer Gaming, TV/Film SPecial Effects.

What SHOULD happen at the intra-Disciplinary "layer"..call it Trans-Disciplinary linking over Universities. (In networking lingo, "network of networks [ each Univ has its own Inter-disciplinary groups ]".

"The AMAZING thing about the Biological/Ecosystem world, is the INTER-CONNECTEDNESS of everything"
-- Dr David Suzuki, "Carl Sagan" of Biology

In Biology world, these "Interconnections" happen AUTOMATICALLY. Just like the brain's neurons are INTER-CONNECTED..there should be a similar "wiring" between Universities. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen -- one has to "setup the wiring", which is pretty PRIMITIVE (0th order). You can see what I'm getting at -- a neuronal model for University networks. Each Univ is represented by a neuron, so this "Active Wired" network functions like a Brain. I think this should be your (& other) portfolio of Grand Challenge for 21st Century Academia.

Mission Impossible -- "Your mission Jim, if you choose to accept it, is to BREAK DOWN the barriers to Biological/Ecosystem model for University Trans-Disciplinary Wiring, start a multi-University consortium to PROTOTYPE this "automatic self-assembling" wiring between Univs, towards a brain-like neuronal wiring of Univs. Good luck, Jim"

My former office-mate in grad school Dr Steve Cross (we got our PhDs at same time, May '84, former Vice- PResident of Georgia-Tech & President of GTRI/GaTech Research Inst) is now EVPR/Executive Vice President of Research at Georgia-Tech)..the LARGEST Engineering Univ in America. My former U of Illinois undergrad classmate (Electrical Engineering) Dr Richard Fujimoto (computer performance modeling) leads the
School of Computational Science and Engineering School of Computational Science and Engineering
I think a nice combo (Multi University consortium) would be Caltech, Georgia-Tech, Michigan State.

Former Caltech Physics research-associate Dr Chris Adami (Nuclear Physics background, Digital Life expert in collaboration with Dr Murray Gell-Mann) has moved to Michigan State as well, in Microbiology.

Dr Danny Hillis (famous MIT PhD Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence, founder of Thinking Machines that employed R. Feynman) just started a Multi-Disciplinary effort at USC (Viterbi School of Engieering) to Cure Cancer (Computer Science, Biology, Physics) at USC, with partner Caltech Physics. I think you should follow suit in a Grand Challenge ("solve .... XXX"), with above Brain-Trust: your old school (Caltech), current school (Michigan State), with Georgia-Tech (via my contacts).

We should continue this discussion privately..; 5:33 AM

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