Computing Everywhere: What's Next?
Dr. David R. McGee
Computers are getting smaller, more mobile and more prevalent. They are all around us. We see computing devices embedded in everything from automobiles to refrigerators, from BBQ forks to undershirts, from unmanned airplanes to cockroaches. Almost like clockwork, hardware engineers are finding ways to rapidly diminish the size of computing processors, while continuing to double their speed about every 18 months. Given today's advancements, even more amazing progress is soon to come. However, despite these advances, our ability to control computers, communicate with them and access information locked behind each display, is limited almost exclusively to inventions from almost fifty years ago.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are working with their clients to break down these barriers, investigating how to develop Rich Interaction Environments that are capable of more naturally understanding us, adapting to individuals and groups of users and communicating with us. At the Community Science and Technology Seminar Series on Wednesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. in the Columbia Basin College Theatre, Dr. David McGee, a computer scientist at PNNL, discussed trends in computing technology, the shift toward more pervasive information and the impact that its increasingly pervasive nature has on the way that we live, work, and play.
Dr. David R. McGee grew up in the Tri-Cities and has been a PNNL staff member for 20 years. He is currently the acting chief scientist and leader of the Rich Interaction Environments thrust area. His research interests include multimodal human-computer interaction, information and battlefield visualization, and multi-agent systems communication. Dr. McGee received his Bachelor's degree from Washington State University Tri-Cities and a doctrate degree from the OGI School of Science and Engineering at the Oregon Health & Science University.
The Community Science and Technology Seminar Series is supported by the Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science and Technology and by the local chapter of Sigma Xi, the international honor society of scientific and engineering research.
