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Myles Brand, President of Indiana University
What's the primary job of a research university? To teach students? To perform cutting-edge research? In a larger sense, to make its home state a better, more prosperous place to live?
All three are major components of our mission. And all three will be advanced by the Lilly Endowment's $30 million grant to IU to fund the Indiana Pervasive Computing Research Initiative (IPCRES). This is the largest grant or gift that IU has ever received, and it represents a great opportunity for our university and our state.
IU has become a leader in information technology. The Microsoft agreement, Internet2, TransPAC, our consistent ranking as one of the "most-wired" universities, the new School of Informatics‹all those and more have enhanced our reputation as a place where the high-tech future is being shaped. Those accomplishments helped convince Lilly Endowment officials that IU was the right place for this generous, visionary investment.
What is pervasive computing? It's the combination of interconnected highspeed computers and "smart" devices that have become omnipresent in our lives. As microprocessors continue to grow cheaper and more powerful, the everyday impact of computing and information technologies will only increase.
Using this grant, IU will hire a number of distinguished scientists to lead work in six laboratories, three in Bloomington and three in Indianapolis. Working with IU faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students, these scientists will study the implications of emerging technologies and perform the basic research necessary to lay the foundation for the next round of advances.
When possible, researchers will spin off their work to help create new businesses and assist existing ones. Building partnerships with private firms will be a vital part of this initiative. IPCRES will add to the critical mass of high-tech companies in Indiana, and, in the long run, it should prove invaluable in the effort to create more good-paying jobs.
The School of Informatics will play an important role in the educational mission of IPCRES. Graduate students and undergraduate interns from the school likely will take assignments in the IPCRES research laboratories as part of their formal training.
IU's progress in information technology continues to build upon itself. Success breeds success; each advance provides the basis for the next. Receiving the Lilly Endowment grant is a notable achievement. But it's even more exciting to consider the new directions where IPCRES might lead.
What's on your mind? E-mail President Brand at pres@indiana.edu.
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