Noor Delivers Lecture on High-Performance Computing at International Conferences in Italy

Ahmed Noor, William E. Lobeck Professor of Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Engineering in Old Dominion's Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, recently delivered the opening lecture at two worldwide engineering conferences, held simultaneously in Sardinia, Italy, earlier this month.

Noor was invited to open the 14th International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing and the Third International Conference on Soft Computing Technology in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Sept. 3-6.

The conferences, concerned with the application of computers to civil, structural and environmental engineering, attracted presenters from all over Europe, as well as Brazil, Jordan, Morocco, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Noor's talk, "Envisioning Engineering Computational Technology in the Coming Intelligence/Convergence Era," reviewed the status of high-performance computing and identified some of the emerging computing paradigms in an attempt to predict the future of computing technology in the so-called "post-information" age.

Noor said in his lecture that this new era is characterized by the prevalence of adaptive, or "smart," devices or environments, filled with sensors that respond to everything from movement to brain waves. He posits that these systems will result in a fundamental shift in the way humans interact with the environments, and the development of a symbiotic relationship between humans and machines.

This vision of the future requires the development of a new multidisciplinary framework of emergent engineering, as well as new systemic approaches and tools for simulating the behavior of future complex systems. Noor said the increasing complexity of future systems mandates that the preparation of the future workforce keep pace. This can be accomplished by incorporating this new technology into adaptive training tools, transforming engineering education and creating new innovations, he said.

Noor, whose work in advanced engineering environments has garnered worldwide acclaim, is a frequent author and lecturer on the characteristics of the world's forthcoming "intelligence and convergence" era, where future complex adaptive systems will have implications for virtual product creation in myriad ways.

At ODU's Center for Advanced Engineering Environments in Newport News, Noor and his colleagues demonstrate through immersive, interactive simulations how creativity and innovation will be stimulated, accelerating the development of the skilled workforce needed for this new era.