Computation Institute welcomes new members to executive committee

The Computation Institute, a joint project of the University and Argonne National Laboratory, has appointed two new members to its executive committee and has moved to new campus offices.

Stuart Kurtz, Professor in Computer Science and the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division, and Jonathan Silverstein, Assistant Professor in Surgery and Director of the Center for Clinical Information, will join six other members of the executive committee.

Kurtz came to the University as an L.E. Dickson Instructor in Mathematics in 1981, and became a founding faculty member in Computer Science in 1983.

Kurtz’s research interests include computational complexity, biological models of computing and bioinformatics. He provides general expertise in theoretical computer science for many institute projects.

He is a co-founder of the Chicago Journal of Theoretical Computer Science.

Silverstein joined the Chicago faculty in 2001, and became an Institute Senior Fellow in 2003. From 1996 to 2001, he had been an assistant professor of surgery and health informatics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he co-directed the Virtual Reality in Medicine Laboratory.

Silverstein specializes in biomedical informatics and the design, implementation and evaluation of high-performance collaboration environments for surgeons. His administrative responsibilities include providing leadership in major information technology initiatives intended to transform clinical operations at the University Hospitals.

The Computation Institute, which was established in 1999, addresses the challenging problems arising in the use of strategic computation and communications across a broad spectrum of activities. Its members seek to lay the groundwork for significant advances in the biological, physical, social and financial sciences, medicine, law, the arts and the humanities.

Once located in Ryerson Physical Laboratory, the Computation Institute offices have moved to the fourth floor of the Research Institutes at 5640 S. Ellis Ave. The new telephone number is (773) 834-6812.

Among other activities, the Computation Institute operates the University’s three access grid nodes. One is located in the hospital and is used by doctors in emergency medicine. The second is on the fourth floor of the Research Institutes and is used by the Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes. The third is in Silverstein’s laboratory at 950 E. 61st St. The nodes contain high-end audio and visual technology that facilitates meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials and training between individuals at far-flung locations.

Researchers who wish to reserve the node to collaborate with their counterparts on other campuses may contact Stephanie Endy, Assistant Director of the Computation Institute, at 834-6813. A list of more than 200 locations nationwide that have grid nodes may be viewed at http://www.accessgrid.org.