Ubiquitous computing and communication technologies can help in more effective sensing and control of distributed infrastructures from the electrical power grid, gas supply pipes, banking and finance, seismic sensor networks, and transportation. Employees trapped in buildings need to be found and transported to the best emergency unit in this crisis. The technology is here today for each of us to carry a smart card that identifies where we are in a building so that we can be found in a crisis. The management problem is that a crisis situation is chaotic, and so the communication and computing infrastructure has to organize itself and deal with massive failures. Caltech is studying ways in which ubiquitous computing and communication can be used in better management of crises.
Tuition costs at colleges continues to increase above the rate of inflation.
Productivity increases in teaching are hard to come by and are difficult to measure. On the whole, professors have not exploited communication and computing technologies to the fullest extent to make teaching more productive. Caltech is unique in having a small superb student body and faculty on a compact campus. The Center proposes to investigate using ubiquitous communication and computing to improve the quality of teaching. The small footprint of the campus, the small student body, and the technical competent community makes Caltech an ideal place for experimenting with and exploiting technology to teach technology better.