Gregory Chaitin,
IBM Research
http://www.cs.umaine.edu/~chaitin/kirchberg.html
Abstract:
The information-theoretic
point of view proposed by Leibniz in 1686 and
developed by algorithmic information theory (AIT) suggests that mathematics and
physics are not that different. This will be a first-person account of some
doubts and speculations about the nature of mathematics that I have entertained
for the past three decades, and which have now been incorporated in a digital
philosophy paradigm shift that is sweeping across the sciences.
Biography of Speaker:
Gregory Chaitin is at the
Tony Gauvin
Assistant Professor of eCommerce
http://www.umfk.maine.edu/directory/bios/tgauvin.htm
Dr. Ray Albert
Associate Professor of
http://www.umfk.maine.edu/directory/bios/ralbert.htm
Information Assurance is quickly coming of age as an academic discipline.
As results of recent events, many government, military and commercial agencies
have a great need for college graduates with knowledge and skills in computer
and network security, cryptography and security violation detection and
response. Several national efforts are underway to increase the number of
Information Assurance educators and graduates. Key funding agencies for these
efforts include the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland
Security, The National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.
Profs Albert and Gauvin, recent graduates of the
Information Assurance Education Graduate Certificate Program at the Center for
Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security at
Dr. Paul Wlodkowski
ABSTRACT
Maritime security programs
are in need of reliable technology to safeguard against threats to our harbors
and ships. The development of a high-sensitivity, low-noise acoustic
particle velocity sensor in a small package remained a formidable technical
challenge for many years. With the advent of single crystal
piezoelectric material, however, that goal has
been achieved. Given the exceptional performance of these
Vector transducers, the feasibility of this
technology to harbor defense is investigated.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Wlodkowski is currently an Assistant
Professor of Engineering at
years of industrial, manufacturing and academic experience that encompass the
fields of applied physics, reliability engineering, acoustics, materials
science, shock and vibration, sensor design, and radiation effects. As the
Principal Staff Engineer and Program Manager at Wilcoxon
Research, Inc., he led several of the Company's high technology programs in
the research, development, and commercialization of directional, acoustic particle
velocity transducers (Vector) utilizing single crystal piezoelectric
materials. In addition to these responsibilities, P.A. Wlodkowski managed the Company's intellectual property
portfolio and advised the Chief Executive Officer on matters of corporate
strategy and
direction. He has been successful in securing greater than $3 million in government
research and development contracts for the Company. His sponsors included
the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST), and several major corporations. Moreover, he has transitioned one
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract into a
Phase III program. Prior to this assignment, P.A. Wlodkowski
managed the Mechanical Engineering Department, which designs
piezoelectric-based sensors and actuators. At EG&G, Inc., he
co-founded AcousTech, a provider of technical
solutions to complex shock, vibration, and noise problems in military and
industrial applications. P.A. Wlodkowski is a
co-inventor on one patent and the author of numerous papers and technical
reports.
Defining Yourself -- Living Your Life & Preventing Some Bad Things
Richard A. MacKinnon
Former Head of IBM Cambridge Scientific Center
Abstract:
When perpetrators of bad deeds in corporate and institutional
One's reaction to facing such situations is directly related to what one brings
both to the situation, what you bring to the table, so to speak. This
discussion focuses on preparing to run the race, thinking about your fork in
the road, and generating your set of personal value anti-bodies. This has
relevance to situations spanning the range of [1] The Mylai
Massacre [2] two shuttle disasters [3] the General Electric price fixing
scandal of the 1950-60s and my father's role in it, and [4] my delaying the
announcement of the IBM Personal Computer in August 1981 and its impact on Bill
Gates and Microsoft-DOS {MS-DOS}.
Biography of Speaker:
Dick MacKinnon pursued three distinct careers
over a forty year period. Some of these endeavors were in parallel. First, MacKinnon worked for IBM for thirty years and had the good
fortune to spend his last 18 years in
Dick MacKinnon is a graduate of
Dr. Rocco Casagrande
Director of the Homeland Security Program
Abt Associates
Abstract
Here's your chance to find out more about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
from someone involved in searching for them before the Iraq conflict started.
Dr. Casagrande will discuss the following topics:
* Why Inspections?
* A typical day in Iraq before the conflict
* The Types of activities undertaken by UNMOVIC inspectors
* The role biological sampling and analysis
* Types of sites visited by UNMOVIC inspectors
* The justification for a conflict
Biography of Speaker
Dr. Rocco Casagrande is the Director of the Homeland
Security Program at Abt Associates. His projects at Abt Associates focus on the bringing rigorous scientific
analysis to problems of homeland defense. For example, Dr. Casagrande
provides biological threat analysis to improve the design and testing of
biological agent detectors for MIT Lincoln Laboratories. For the FBI, Dr. Casagrande leads a team of scientists to evaluate simple,
broad-spectrum, protein detection devices for use by law enforcement officials
while responding to potential biological attacks.
From December 2002 to March 2003, Dr. Casagrande
served as an UNMOVIC biological weapons inspector in
Prior to working for UNMOVIC, Dr. Casagrande
led a team of biologists and engineers to test and develop real-time detectors
for biological agents while working as a scientist at Surface Logix, a Boston-based biotechnology firm. Dr. Casagrande has written several articles on the topic of
biological defense and has consulted on chemical and biological warfare and
defense for several congressional staffers and government agencies. Because of
his background, Dr. Casagrande was invited to write a
pair of articles on the detection of biological attacks for Scientific
American. In these articles, Dr. Casagrande
discusses high-tech gadgetry in a manner that is accessible to non-scientists.
Dr. Casagrande has also presented on the impact of genomics and proteomics in
biological defense and biological nonproliferation at two NATO meetings.
For the past five years, Dr. Casagrande has been
studying the problem of agricultural bioterrorism.
Dr. Casagrande was one of the first to realize that
the same factors that make many terrorist groups unwilling to execute a
biological attack on people would actually motivate these groups to execute a biological
attack on agriculture. This theory was included in his first article on
agricultural biological warfare (published in the Nonproliferation Review in
2000), which was one of the first articles which seriously considered
agricultural bioterrorism. Dr. Casagrande
has been consulted as an expert on agricultural biological warfare by the
department of defense, congressional staffers and in NATO advanced research
workshops. For a project for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Advanced
Systems and Concepts Office, Dr. Casagrande reviewed
an emerging veterinary pathogen for its implications on agriculture, public
health and the environment and then suggested research pathways that may reduce
the impact of the disease.
Dr. Casagrande holds a B.A. in chemistry and a
B.A. in biology from