OIL & GAS

SAN DIEGO, CA ­- The UCSD Division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)²] will hold an all-day conference, expo and open house to showcase many of the new technologies under development at the two-year-old institute. More than 20 researchers will demonstrate new software and hardware breakthroughs that are already ­ or soon will be ­ benefiting San Diegans. Those technologies include: • A voice-recognition service that allows San Diego motorists to get real-time traffic information for their morning or evening commute over the phone. • A portable, low-cost and wireless voice synthesizer to assist people with speech disabilities. • A “digital jukebox” on a bus that allows riders to access high-speed Internet content through their cell phones ­ even at 65 miles per hour on Interstate 5! • A “smart car” equipped with cameras and other sensors to detect and then warn the driver if he or she is drowsy or driving erratically. The expo portion of the event will take place in the Price Center Ballroom, featuring more than two dozen technology displays as well as booths by QUALCOMM, Ericsson and other Cal-(IT)² industry partners. Attendees will also be able to tour the institute’s wide-screen, 3D Visualization Center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, as well as the construction site of the 215,000-square-foot Cal-(IT)² building. Funded by the State of California for completion late next year, the structure features a design and materials that will make it one of the most wired on any U.S. campus, and one of the most permeable to wireless signals in the world. It will have other unique facilities, such as a clean room for development of nanotechnologies, and a New Media Arts wing with R&D, production, and interactive performance spaces that will benefit the campus as a whole. Topics to be discussed during the conference include: homeland security; sensors; new materials and devices; medical technologies and bioinformatics; automotive telematics; networking; wireless and optical communications; new media arts and visualization; culture, art and technology in education; and geosciences. Featured speakers include: • Larry Smarr, director of Cal-(IT)² • Ramesh Rao, UCSD division director of Cal-(IT)² • Bill Maheu, Assistant Chief of Police for San Diego • Marsha Chandler, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UCSD • Officials from SPAWAR, NSF and other public agencies • More than two dozen UCSD faculty participants in the institute’s research programs, and seven UCSD deans. Media are invited to cover Cal-(IT)²Day@UCSD, which is also open to the public. For more information and the day’s agenda, go to www.calit2.net/calit2day.