nanoHUB.org: online simulations and more

This talk will report results and conclusions from my personal investigations into several different disciplines, carried out with the unifying intent of uncovering some of the fundamental principles that govern representation, processing, and the communication of information. The specific problems will be drawn from three major areas: (i) Quantum Information Processing (ii) Nano-electronic architectures, and (iii) Information processing in biological and physical systems. Topics will include why I believe quantum computing is a worthwhile subject of investigation, why I am not excited about the so-called "moletronics" area (aimed at replacing conventional digital computing), how principles of statistical mechanics can lead to the engineering of distributed systems, and why I am so enthusiastic about working with biologists and neuroscientists. Overall, I will argue that, in order to impact and improve short-term engineering systems, as well as to lay the foundations of future ones, an integrated approach (involving physical, life, engineering, and social/economics sciences) to the study of information sciences is necessary.

Vwani Roychowdhury has been a Professor of Electrical Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles since 1996. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1989, and was a faculty member in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University for five years (1991-1995). He works in the general area of information sciences, and his research spans a wide spectrum covering physical representation and structure of information, robust channels and modes for communication of information, and information processing and computation. In terms of conventional topics, his interests include information theory, combinatorics and algorithms, complex systems, non-linear dynamics and networking, information dynamics in society and complex systems, nanoelectronics, quantum information processing, statistical modeling and data processing, and information processing in cellular systems.

• The Birk Nanotechnology Center
• The NASA Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing
• The Network for Computational Nanotechnology
• School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Dept. of Physics
• Dept. of Chemistry
• School of Chemical Engineering
• School of Mechanical Engineering

If you reference this work in a publication, please cite as follows:

• Roychowdhury, Vwani P. (2004), "A Personal Quest for Information," http://www.nanohub.org/resources/155/.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. cyberinfrastructure
2. molecular electronics
3. nano-transistors
4. nanoelectronics
5. research seminar