Information is a fundamental quantity that, like energy, can be converted from one form to another, transmitted from one place to another, or stored for later use. One form of information in physical systems is known as entropy, a quantity that obeys one of the most profound and mysterious of all physical laws, the Second Law of Thermodynamics. By treating entropy as a form of information, we can make the Second Law accessible to freshmen. They will see examples of reversible and irreversible processes in computation, communications, and thermodynamics. The first offering of the new course takes place in Spring 2000.
More information is available from the course home page .
He served as Associate Head of the Department from 1974 to 1978, and as Director of the Microsystems Research Center from 1985 to 1989. From 1989 to 1999 he served as Head of the Department. He is currently Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Electrical Engineering. He received from IEEE the Centennial Medal in 1984, the Circuits and Systems Society Darlington Prize Paper Award in 1985, and the Circuits and Systems Society Golden Jubilee Award in 1999. He is the author of five books and dozens of articles in his various fields of interest.