Archive for July, 2011

 

An Online AI Course

July 30th, 2011

Stanford's "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" course goes online this fall [image courtesy ai-class.com].This fall, our colleagues Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig are offering a free, online version of their popular Stanford University course, “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence”:

syllabus and more information about the Stanford course is here

 

The class runs from Sept 26 through Dec 16, 2011. While this class is being offered online, it is also taught at Stanford University, where it continues to be a popular intro-level class on AI. For the online version, the instructors aim to offer identical materials, assignments, and exams, and to use the same grading criteria. Both instructors will be available for online discussions.

 

A high speed internet connection is recommended as most of the course content will be video based. Access to a copy of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach is also suggested.

Check out the video announcing the class after the jump…

» Read more: An Online AI Course

Live Right Now: NSF Announcing New Innovation Corps

July 28th, 2011

(This post has been updated; please scroll down for the latest.)

NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) [image courtesy www.nsf.gov]In just a few minutes, Earlier today, during a special session of the National Science Board — and before a large gathering of senior leadership from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), members of the media, and other invited guests — NSF Director Subra Suresh and OSTP Director John Holdren will unveiled the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps), a brand new “public-private partnership aimed at developing a national innovation ecosystem that strategically leverages the output of NSF-funded scientific research to help develop new technologies, products, and processes that benefit society and the economy.”

The I-Corps

will enhance our nation’s economic competitiveness as enjoined by the NSF strategic plan by “reaching out to the range of communities that play complementary roles in the innovation process and are essential to ensuring the impact of NSF investments.”

» Read more: Live Right Now: NSF Announcing New Innovation Corps

The GigU Partnership

July 27th, 2011

(This post has been updated; please scroll down for the latest.)

Arizona State is among 28 American universities involved in the GigU project [image courtesy David Kadlubowski for The New York Times, from NYTimes.com].From today’s New York Times:

A coalition of 28 American universities is throwing its weight behind a plan to build ultra-high-speed computer networks — with Internet service several hundred times faster than what is now commercially available — in the communities surrounding the participating colleges.

 

The project, which is named GigU and will be announced on Wednesday, is meant to draw high-tech startups in fields like health care, energy and telecommunications to the areas near the universities, many of which are in the Midwest or outside of major cities. These zones would ideally function as hubs for building a new generation of faster computer networks, which could make the United States more competitive internationally.

 

For now the plan is a work in progress, with the universities reaching out to telecommunications companies for suggestions and to corporations and nonprofits for business ideas. The institutions involved include Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Howard University, Duke University, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington and the University of Chicago.

 

”We’re not asking for government money,” said Blair Levin, a fellow at the Aspen Institute who is heading the project. “We believe the right approach is to have the private sector fund the networks.”

» Read more: The GigU Partnership