Speaker: Ming-Ming Ren 
Beijing Computational Science Research Center

Abstract: Computer science as an academic discipline began in the 60's. Emphasis was on programming languages, compilers, operating systems and the mathematical theory that supported these areas. Courses in theoretical computer science covered finite automata, regular expressions, context free languages, and computability. In the 70's, algorithms was added as an important component of theory. The emphasis was on making computers useful. Today, a fundamental change is taking place and the focus is more on applications. The reasons for this change are many. Some of the more important are the merging of computing and communications, the availability of data in digital form, the emergence of social and sensor networks.

Although programming languages and compilers are still important and highly skilled individuals are needed in these area, the vast majority of researchers will be involved with applications and what computers can be used for, not how to make computers useful. One of the major changes in computer science theory is the switch from discrete mathematics to more of an emphasis on probability and statistics. Some topics that have become important are high dimensional data, large random graphs, singular value decomposition. This talk will cover a brief introduction of them.

Date&Time: Mar 30, 2012  14:30 - 15:30 
Location: 606 Conference Room