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The 21st Century is about Engineering, Systems and Society

A. Richard Richard Newton: October 14, 2005; Running Time: 1:08:14

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

What’s “big, complex and hairy,” and requires the efforts of an impassioned, interdisciplinary team to tackle? The answer, says A. Richard Newton, is the “one-off problem” – the kind of sprawling social, scientific and engineering puzzle that increasingly challenges contemporary society. Think about the conundrum of affordable healthcare, or emergency preparedness. How do you address such enormous issues? Newton’s answer is CITRIS, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society. This partnership among academia, government and industry specializes in attacking problems critical to the quality of life, and whose solutions require “societal-scale information systems.” Current CITRIS research includes designing information technology for the energy-deprived developing world. This demands, says Newton, a “complete rethinking of the architecture of information and communication systems.” Work so far points toward wireless technologies in remote villages, with communication antennas flying atop balloons anchored by cables. And on the home front: Newton points out that one-third of the total national outlay on healthcare derives from lab tests -- about 500 billion dollars a year. Could we reduce the tab by coming up with new kinds of testing that don’t require a visit to the office, and whose results could be more efficiently communicated to healthcare providers, Newton wonders. Cracking any of these problems requires an understanding of information systems, and benefits enormously from “passionate individuals” pulling together around a shared vision – “like the moon shot.”

Lecture Details

Location: 34-401

About the Speaker

A. Richard Richard Newton

Dean of the College of Engineering, and Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Over the past 25 years, Newton has received numerous awards for his research and teaching. Most recently, he received the 2003 Phil Kaufman Award for his research and entrepreneurial contributions to the electronic design automation industry.

In addition to his academic work, Newton has helped to found a number of design technology companies. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. He is a Member of the ACM, Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Newton received the B. Eng. and M.Eng.Sci degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 1973 and 1975 respectively, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. He joined the faculty at Berkeley in 1979.
He died in January 2007.