Join the University of Utah School of Computing and The City Library for a lecture series about the impact of computer science on our society and culture.
Thu, Mar 21, 7pm
The POWDER Mobile and Wireless Living Laboratory, presented by Kobus Van der Merwe
With more mobile devices than people in the world, we certainly take mobile phones and the wireless services and applications they enable for granted. However, this increase in the number of mobile devices strains the capabilities of current mobile networks, e.g., insufficient capacity for users wanting to stream high definition video, dropped or failed calls at venues with many users etc. Further, emerging uses of wireless networks, like connected vehicles and the Internet of Things, require fundamentally different capabilities of these networks, like high reliability, low latency and the ability to scale to billions of devices.
Kobus Van der Merwe is the Jay Lepreau Professor in the School of Computing and Director of the Flux Research Group at the University of Utah. He joined the University of Utah in 2012 after fourteen years at AT&T Labs - Research. He does networking systems research in a broad range of areas including mobile and wireless networking, network evolution, network security and cloud computing. He is the Principal Investigator and Director of the POWDER project, one of the newly selected NSF wireless research platforms.
Thu, Apr 18, 7pm
Toward a Science of Game Design, presented by Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera
Game development is costly, technically challenging, and poorly understood. Increased demand for games as a form of entertainment has motivated research into technology to help ameliorate the burden involved in development. This technology unfortunately has the potential to create more problems than it solves. In this talk, I will argue that this increased demand should motivate more research into human-centered game design, involving both artifact and person. This research requires computationally modeling our human intelligence, as part of an agenda that seeks to codify the precise interplay between a person's cognition (an inner environment), the game's controls (an interface), and a fictional universe (an outer environment); the interplay is concerned with attaining design goals by adapting the inner environment to the outer environment. I will present examples of this agenda as embodied through my own work and identify key challenges that I think need to be addressed in service of establishing what I call a "science of game design.”
Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera is an Assistant Professor of the School of Computing and the Entertainment Arts and Engineering Program at the University of Utah, where he directs the Laboratory for Quantitative Experience Design. His research focuses on the design of games, systems where users direct an unfolding experience by taking on ludic/dramatic roles.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Local Issues | Conversations | Computers & Technology |
NOTE: The Main Library's Rooftop Terrace is closed for renovations.
Salt Lake City's Main Library, designed by internationally-acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie in conjunction with VCBO Architecture, opened in February 2003 and remains one of the most architecturally unique structures in Utah. This striking 240,000 square-foot structure houses more than 500,000 books and other materials, yet serves as more than just a repository of books and computers. It reflects and engages the city's imagination and aspirations. The structure embraces a public plaza, with shops and services at ground level, reading galleries above, and a 300-seat auditorium.
A multi-level reading area along the Glass Lens at the southern facade of the building looks out onto the plaza with stunning views of the city and Wasatch Mountains beyond. Spiraling fireplaces on four floors resemble a column of flame from the vantage of 200 East and 400 South. The Urban Room between the Library and the Crescent Wall is a space for all seasons, generously endowed with daylight and open to magnificent views.
