Engineering and Technology Studies at Illinois

Earlier in the spring semester, Georges Harik, employee number 7 of Google gave a terrific talk drawing on his experiences at Google.  We finally have permission to show the video from that talk, which is available here.

Joe Pitt’s talk on W(h)ither STS will be held today, April 21st, in 2405 Siebel from 4-5 pm.  From the announcement:

Just when Science and Technology Studies (STS) emerged as a distinct field of study is unclear. . . Pitt will review the early years, consider some of the factors that colored the development of STS, both from a disciplinary point of view and institutionally, and finally speculate on the future. Does STS have a future (whither?) or will it wither on the vine? Pitt believes STS will not wither, but it will also not continue to have the form (if it in fact does have one) it has today. The underlying theme here is, beware making a good thing into a discipline.

See the flyer here.

Joe Pitt will engage the students in ENG 491, Designing the Engineering Curriculum of the Future, in a conversation on the integration of humanities and engineering at 12 noon, Room 212 Engin Hall, Monday, 21 April.  ETSI friends and family interested in the discussion are welcome to attend.

Christian Sandvig has forwarded this announcement to ETSI.  A flyer on the event is available here.

If you are interested in WIRELESS technology, SERVICE LEARNING courses, COMMUNITY INFORMATICS, or COMMUNICATION POLICY to please join us for these very brief presentations with discussion and a reception to follow. Free pizza will be served!

Monday, April 21, 2008 from 3:30 - 4:50 p.m.
314 Altgeld Hall
Free and Open to the Public

SELECTED TOPICS:
- Can you build an AM radio receiver using only household objects?
- Why does the U.S. have a third world cellular infrastructure?
- What Countries Have the Coolest Cell Phones, and Why?
- If you had only $10,000 to build a municipal wireless broadband network, how should you spend it?
- Is unlicensed spectrum full? Where? When?
- How are wireless standards made?
- WiMax: Vaporware or the real deal?
- What is the government up to? A summary of government use of spectrum.
- A successful solar rural broadband system for remote Indian reservations.
- Does the availability of unlicensed frequencies promote economic development?
- What are the global wireless policy priorities for 2009?
- Could we “build” a large-scale wi-fi network just by encouraging cooperation with existing equipment?
- Is campus wireless emergency notification via SMS effective?
- What are the bottlenecks in bulk SMS delivery?
- How do universities use wireless systems for emergency messages?
- What’s the long-term future of broadcast television?
- The Spectrum Spectator

(*) “broadCAST” is the broad Collaboration for Advanced Spectrum Technology, and consists of the members of the seminar SPCM 496CS: “Making the World Wireless: Service in Technology and Policy.”

This event is also a class meeting of SPCM 496CS and the Coordinated Science Laboratory Communications Group Seminar. It is free and open to the public.

Joe Pitt from Virginia Tech will speak on Monday, April 21, 2008 from 4-5 pm in 2405 Siebel. The topic of his talk, W(h)ither STS?, considers the past, present, and future of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The talk flyer is available here.

Georges Harik, Google employee #7, talks about his experiences devising and developing some of Google’s most famous systems, including AdWords and Gmail, at his talk Managing Startups, 2405 Siebel Center, Wednesday, March 26, 4-5 pm.

here.

Jay Kesan of the UIUC Law School will present a lecture entitled Software as Governance in the LOT/ETSI series today at 4 pm in 2405 Siebel Center. The talk flyer may be downloaded here.

The Engineering, Technology, and Culture lecture series is set for Spring 2008. See here for the schedule or go here to download a lecture series poster.

DEEPAK DIVAN from Electrical & Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology will speak on “Smart Grid—Key to a Sustainable Energy Infrastructure” today in 160 English Building between 3:30-5:00 pm. This lecture is sponsored by ETSI and the Center for Global Studies as part of the LOT series (Limits and Opportunities of Technology). See the full flyer here.