Event Marks the Debut of the College’s New Educational and Research Paradigm in People-Centric Computing

ATLANTA, March 2, 2006 – The College of Computing at Georgia Tech, a national leader in the creation of real-world computing breakthroughs that drive social and scientific progress, today hosted the New Face of Computing Symposium, signaling the debut of the College’s new educational and research focus on people-centric computing. The nation’s preeminent computing scholars, researchers and corporate leaders from organizations such as Microsoft Corporation, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Turner Broadcasting Company, Google, KUKA Robotics, IBM Internet Security Systems, Kaneva, Inc., Bryn Mawr College and others, discussed and debated topics ranging from transformative educational models for the discipline, to information technology’s unending affect on the cultural landscape, and how socially-conscious research efforts are the key to sustainable innovation in computing.

“Looking at the future of computing and its impact on global societies and cultures, the College of Computing at Georgia Tech is creating a ‘new face’ and charting a new direction for the discipline – one that is focused on affecting change for people, with technology,” said Richard A. DeMillo, John P. Imlay Dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. “With the support of our colleagues throughout industry and academia, we are setting the course in people-centric computing that will drive the scientific and cultural breakthroughs of the future.”

More than 200 corporate executives, industry leaders and technologists from across the country attended the New Face of Computing Symposium. DeMillo joined featured speaker, Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer at Microsoft Corporation, for an onstage discussion focused on computing’s impact across industries, societies and cultures.

“We share Georgia Tech’s vision of evolving computer science in ways that will excite students today, and prepare them to tackle the challenges of tomorrow,” said Mundie. “Reinventing how computing is taught will inspire innovations across the information-technology landscape.”

Throughout the course of the day-long Symposium, industry and academic technologists participated in panel discussions to enlighten the audience on the future of computing as related to key research and educational areas. Panel topics included the following: Computing Education; Emerging Tools for Large-Scale Problem Solving; Social Computing; Robotics and Intelligent Machines; Providing Usable Security; and Next-Generation Computing. The panelists also discussed how the computing field has evolved to where it is today, identified current technological, social and culture challenges, and debated the research and educational approaches required to ensure the sustainability and growth of the discipline.

For more information about the New Face of Computing Symposium and the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, please visit the Symposium website.  To watch a pre-recorded Web cast of the event, please visit http://www.cc.gatech.edu/symposium/webcast .