NSF leader Tekinay to examine computing’s impact on science

NSF leader Tekinay to examine computing’s impact on science

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Sirin Tekinay, program director for theoretical foundations in communications research at the National Science Foundation (NSF), will explore the role of communications and computing in all other sciences and engineering as part of a new NSF initative.Tekinay’s lecture, “The Science of Interaction,” will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 24 in 1070 Anne and Charles Duncan Hall.

The lecture will examine science as a basic transdisciplinary field comprised of elements of mathematical, physical, social, biological, earth and computing sciences, with applications in every engineering discipline.

The Science of Interaction aims to unlock and utilize nature’s means — from subparticle to galactic scales — in storing, using and conveying information, and controlling systems. Tekinay will explore ways to harness nature’s signals, codes and communications, and feedback and control systems to advance manmade systems for intelligence, health, education, prosperity and security of individuals and societies.

Tekinay joined the NSF in 2005 and since 1997 has been on the faculty at the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, where she is currently an associate professor.