Technology for Emerging Economies: CITRIS Newss

Eric Brewer, a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley, has spent the last five years seeking ways to use WiFi to improve life in rural communities in the developing world. He shared his views and experiences in a keynote to a group of fellow academics and engineers at recent workshop

Ming Wu has been appointed the new Chief Scientist for CITRIS at Berkeley. He is currently Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at Berkeley, and Co-Director of Berkeley Sensors and Actuators Center (BSAC).

The June 2008 newsletter is now online, with two stories on key energy projects in both engine development and predicting solar availability for utilities.

Currently, CITRIS has awarded approximately $2 million in seed grants on all four campuses. These projects will help fulfill the CITRIS mission of creating societal-based research through collaborations across the CITRIS campuses.

Six projects were awarded a total of $30K at this year's CITRIS Big Ideas contest, with the top two prizes going to healthcare-related issues.

Ethan Miller's group has come up with a new approach, called Pergamum, which uses hard disk drives to provide energy-efficient, cost-effective storage.

The April newsletter features stories about technology for social impact: CellScope (cell phone + microscope) and enabling eye care in India using cheap, reliable Wi-Fi.

Read about innovative work at CITRIS in the latest newsletter, now on-line.

All Research Exchange talks take place at noon on Wednesdays in 290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building on the UC Berkeley campus, As always, these talks are free, open to the public and broadcast live on-line.

Read more about sustainable building and trusting Wikipedia in the latest CITRIS newsletter.

Videos from CITRIS talks and events are now online at http://youtube.com/citris.