School  of  Compu,ng  Science  

Why I do CS Research�25 April 2014 �

Wim Vanderbauwhede�

I want to talk �about �

fiction�

(and CS).�

Iain Banks,�Scottish writer,�died last year.�

He created �“the Culture”.�

In the Culture, �

sentient machines �run everything, �

everyone has everything �and everything is free.�

Banks envisaged that �the society of the Culture�

came about through�

the sheer availability �of information and �computing power.�

In other words,�

in Banks’s �vision,�

CS �created�

Utopia.�

Back in the �present … �

CS luckily still has�some unsolved �

questions ...�

of some problems for �your specialism�

•  In my area, e.g. exploiting parallelism and heterogeneous systems for energy-efficient computing.�•  So we need new languages, compilers, architectures, etc.�

Back in the �real world … �

there are many �problems:�

•  climate change�•  aging population�•  energy security�•  the internet is broken�

•  climate change�•  aging population�•  energy security�•  the internet is broken�

I want to think of ways �of using my research �to help address some �of those problems.�

•  e.g. helping weather scientists to improve prediction of severe weather events.�•  or linking rainfall predictions to flooding simulations�

That way, I feel �I’m part of the�

solution. �

Thank you!�