Challenges of information technology topic of Rice talk

CONTACT: Lia Unrau
PHONE:
(713) 348-6778
EMAIL: unrau@rice.edu

CHALLENGES OF
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOPIC OF RICE TALK
Nov. 1 Lecture Will Also
Address Scientist Response to Events of Sept. 11

How information
technology is both changing and challenging society and universities is the
topic of a talk to be held at Rice by the president of the National Academy of
Engineeirng Nov. 1.

Bill Wulf will present
the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture at 4 p.m. in McMurtry Auditorium, Anne and
Charles Duncan Hall. His talk, titled “Information Technology Impacts: On
Society in General and On the University in Particular,” is sponsored by the
Office of the Dean of Engineering.

Due to the events that
transpired on Sept. 11, Wulf also plans to talk about what he sees as “the
technological opportunities to respond to these events,” and what the National
Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Science are doing on a broad
front in terms of coordinating the research and development community’s
response.

Information technology,
the convergence of computing and communications technologies, has had an
enormous impact on all aspects of life in the developed world, Wulf said. At
least for the foreseeable future, Wulf points out, the exponential pace of
technology improvement is likely to continue. How society handles these rapid
changes and deals with the challenges they present is of concern.

Wulf’s lecture will
explore some of the nontechnical, societal challenges and challenges to research
universities posed by information technology as we enter the 21st century.
Issues such as privacy and the structure of higher education are two
examples.