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Events for September 27, 2017
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A Book Talk about A MIND AT PLAY: HOW CLAUDE SHANNON INVENTED THE INFORMATION AGE
Wed, Sep 27, 2017 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jimmy Soni, Author
Talk Title: A Book Talk about A MIND AT PLAY: HOW CLAUDE SHANNON INVENTED THE INFORMATION AGE
Abstract: Claude Shannon was a groundbreaking polymath, a brilliant tinkerer, and a digital pioneer. He constructed a fleet of customized unicycles and a flamethrowing trumpet, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots. He also wrote the seminal text of the digital revolution, which has been called "the Magna Carta of the Information Age." His discoveries would lead contemporaries to compare him to Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. His work anticipated by decades the world we'd be living in today - and gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.
In this elegantly written, exhaustively researched biography, Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman reveal Claude Shannon's full story for the first time. It's the story of a small-town Michigan boy whose career stretched from the era of room-sized computers powered by gears and string to the age of Apple. It's the story of the origins of our digital world in the tunnels of MIT and the "idea factory" of Bell Labs, in the "scientists' war" with Nazi Germany, and in the work of Shannon's collaborators and rivals, thinkers like Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Vannevar Bush, and Norbert Wiener.
And it's the story of Shannon's life as an often reclusive, always playful genius. With access to Shannon's family and friends, A Mind at Play brings this singular innovator and creative genius to life.
Biography: Jimmy Soni was managing editor at The Huffington Post from January 2012-2014. Previously he had worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey and Company, as well as a speech writer at the office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. Soni has co-authored several pieces with fellow Duke graduate Rob Goodman; their work has been featured in Politico, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, AdWeek, and The Atlantic, among others.
In 2012, Jimmy, published his first book a biography of Cato the Younger, titled Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.
Host: Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things
More Information: CCI_Shannon_BookTalk_September27_2017.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things and Ming Hsieh Institute for Electrical Engineering Joint Seminar Series on Cyber-Physical Systems
Wed, Sep 27, 2017 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Eric Feron , Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Talk Title: 20 Years of Aerobatic Flight with Autonomous Air Vehicles
Abstract: The past 20 years have seen a remarkable evolution of the drone technology. Back in 1997, academia had to deal with heavy, bulky and expensive machines powered by cranky internal combustion engines. Unmanned vehicles today are a lot cheaper, lighter, and reliable, making them a lot more approachable by students and faculty alike. After tracing our research back to the late 1990s, this talk will introduce an aerobatic drone capable of producing reduced- or zero-gravity conditions at an affordable cost. The platform is still a prototype, but it captures most of the difficulties faced by the larger platform of our dreams. The controller design will be discussed, and a full non-linear maneuver stability analysis will be presented that mixes the concept of transverse dynamics with well-known concepts from robust control. This is joint work with John Hauser (U. Colorado, Boulder) and Pablo Afman (Georgia Tech).
Biography: Eric Feron is a professor at Georgia Tech, where he directs the Decision and Control Laboratory. His basic training is in applied mathematics, computer science, and operations research. His interests include aerospace systems and robotics. Noteworthy achievements include an airport congestion control algorithm now used at many major airports (1999), the first aerobatic autonomous air vehicle (2001), the english translation of Ãtienne Bézout's General Theory of Algebraic Equations (2006), and a course on cyber-physical systems offered by Georgia Tech as part of its Online Master of Science in Computer Science (2017).
Host: Paul Bogdan
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
