A Home for Information Theory

More than 450 academic and industry experts converged on the campus for the Information Theory and Applications Center’s inaugural workshop Feb. 6-10. (Pictured l-r) On hand to announce the new center were Andrew Viterbi (Viterbi, LLC), Irwin Jacobs (QUALCOMM), and Jacobs School professors Alon Orlitsky, Ramesh Rao and Larry Smarr.

Information theory underpins the digital revolution, and the Jacobs School already boasts one of the largest groups of faculty experts in the field. Now there is a new organization on campus to galvanize research and applications of information theory in areas ranging from communications and computer science to bioinformatics, statistics, and finance.

Inaugurated in February, the Information Theory and Applications (ITA) Center in Calit2 is directed by professor Alon Orlitsky, who holds joint appointments in the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering departments.

Says Orlitsky: "We hope to leverage synergies among UCSD researchers to attract federal as well as corporate support for an ambitious research agenda that will range from theoretical work to applications with near-term commercialization potential."