SRI International Digest #10, Winter 2004

Creating compelling value for clients: In recent months, SRI International, an independent R&D organization, has advanced its client programs in military communications, artificial intelligence, and education research -- to name just a few areas. Keep reading to learn more about our major initiatives with major impact.

IN THIS ISSUE:

SEEING IN THE DARK:

• Team Creates Night-Vision and Other Sensor Solutions for Army

FROM THE FRONTIERS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE:

• "Digital Aristotle" Pushes Boundaries of Artificial Intelligence

...TO THE EDGES OF THE ATMOSPHERE

• GeoSpace Team Receives High Honor

IN THE CLASSROOM...

• Social Studies Meets Math in New Initiative to Boost Student "Data Literacy"
• Evaluating the Gates Foundation's Initiative for Smaller High Schools

SRI WINS ACADEMY AWARD

• Learn about the Institute from Birth to Today

READ ALL ABOUT IT

• SRI in the News: Nanotech, Twin Studies, and More

OUR MAN IN DETROIT

• Meet Kurt Fulkerson, Business Development Manager for Transportation Markets

SEEING IN THE DARK

Team Creates Night-Vision and Other Sensor Solutions for Army:
The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) has selected SRI as part of a team led by Alion Science and Technology to provide R&D support for night vision and other electronic sensor technologies. Army CECOM's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) Hi Technology Research, Development and Engineering Services Omnibus contract has a total estimated value of more than $120 million. For its part, SRI is performing work in mine detection and neutralization, electro-optic measurement and signature intelligence, unmanned air and ground sensors, combat ID radio frequency sensing and imaging, and perception (biometrics and video processing). Read the SRI press release. More information about NVESD: http://www.nvl.army.mil/

FROM THE FRONTIERS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

"Digital Aristotle" Pushes Boundaries of Artificial Intelligence:
Vulcan, Inc. has selected SRI to participate in the second phase of Project Halo, an ambitious, long-term R&D initiative that aims to develop a “Digital Aristotle” -- software capable of answering novel questions and solving advanced problems in a wide range of scientific disciplines. The Digital Aristotle focuses on two primary functions: as a tutor capable of instructing and assessing students in the sciences, and as a research assistant with broad, interdisciplinary skills to help scientists in their work. SRI's Artificial Intelligence Center, which successfully participated in the project's first phase, leads a team that includes the University of Texas at Austin, Boeing Phantom Works, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Kraka. Read the Vulcan, Inc. press release.

TO THE EDGES OF THE ATMOSPHERE

GeoSpace Team Receives High Honor:
CEO and President Curt Carlson recently presented SRI's Center for GeoSpace Studies with the SRI Presidential Achievement Award. Over two decades, the Center has created a world-leading research activity in atmospheric space weather using radar diagnostics, made fundamental discoveries in an area of environmental research that is of primary importance to humanity, and conceived the creation of the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) -- the world’s first relocatable, real-time tracking atmospheric radar measurement system. Learn more about AMISR at http://isr.sri.com/iono/amisr/. More about the GeoSpace team's award: http://www.sri.com/about/awards/president.html

IN THE CLASSROOM

Social Studies Meets Math in New Initiative to Boost Student "Data Literacy":
Understanding important social issues like the federal budget, the spread of disease, and the risks associated with personal choices often involve understanding numerical data and statistics that rely on mathematical assumptions. SRI is leading the "Thinking with Data" initiative to help students make sense of societal issues that rely on quantitative data and to help them learn the mathematics of data analysis (their "data literacy"). The approach combines the cultures of social studies and mathematics to create an understanding of the math used in investigating real-world problems. SRI is collaborating with Kent State University and Green Middle School in Ohio on the effort, which is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Read the SRI press release.

Evaluating the Gates Foundation's Initiative for Smaller High Schools:
SRI's Center for Technology in Learning, under subcontract to the American Institutes for Research, is conducting a multiyear evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s initiative to create more than 150 small, effective high schools across the U.S. Looking for ways to provide all students, especially the underserved, with an effective secondary education, the foundation is supporting networks of schools engaged in converting large high schools into smaller learning communities and in developing and replicating exemplary small-school models. The foundation recently awarded additional funding to the evaluation effort. More information and reports to date: http://ctl.sri.com/projects/displayProject.jsp?Nick=gates

SRI WINS ACADEMY AWARD

Learn about SRI from Birth to Today:
What was the 31st U.S. president's connection to SRI? What was our first client project in 1946? Why did we win an Academy Award? (Okay, it was in 1959, but we did win one!) Learn the answers and much more on the new SRI history timeline.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

SRI in the news:

Bay Area's Big Bet on Nanotech:
The San Francisco Chronicle looked at the growing nanotechnology trend in the region. SRI is mentioned for its work in combining nanocrystals with polymers to produce new composite nanoscale materials with unique properties that can be processed like plastics. Read the article:

Real Genius:
Federal Computer Week's article on government-funded innovation included two groundbreaking SRI technologies, the Centibots (coordinated mobile robot teams) and the Phraselator (a handheld translation device marketed by VoxTec).

Telling the Twins Apart:
A4Vision tested its facial recognition system on identical twins from SRI's Northern California Twin Registry. Read the Wired News article. Learn more about SRI's Twin Studies: http://www.sri.com.policy/healthsci/twin/

More SRI news can be found at http://www.sri.com/

OUR MAN IN DETROIT

Meet Kurt Fulkerson:
He connects innovative SRI technology solutions with clients in the transportation industry. He also has twin boys and likes Motown music: http://www.sri.com/about/people/fulkerson.html

ABOUT SRI INTERNATIONAL
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 and independent since 1970, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for more than 55 years. The nonprofit research institute performs contract research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and nonprofit foundations. Visit our website at http://www.sri.com.

CONTACT US
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