David Banks, Duke University

Deborah Estrin, Cornell Tech

Lou Gross, University of Tennessee

Grzegorz Rempala, Ohio State University

Vivek Shenoy, University of Pennsylvania

Jeannette Wing, Columbia University

Rebecca Wright, Barnard College

Abstract

This panel will engage experienced leaders of scientific centers in exploring the role of centers in the future. The panelists will address questions such as:

• How has the role of a center changed over the last 30 years and how do you see it changing in the future?
• How do centers add value to the scientific enterprise?
• Does the wide availability of virtual meeting capabilities change the role of today’s centers (or tomorrow’s)?
• How does the increasing need for multi-disciplinary teams to address complex problems affect the role of centers?
• How does the increasing emphasis on international collaborations suggest that centers should change?
• What makes a center sustainable?

Moderator: Rebecca Wright is emerita director of DIMACS and the Druckenmiller Professor of Computer Science and the Diana T. and P. Roy Vagelos Computational Science Center Director at Barnard College.

Panelists:

David Banks is director of the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) and Professor of the Practice in Statistical Science at Duke University.

Deborah Estrin is the Robert V. Tishman '37 Professor at Cornell Tech and in the Computer Science Department at Cornell University, and she currently serves as Associate Dean for Impact at Cornell Tech. Previously, she was the founding director of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) at UCLA.

Lou Gross is director of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) and the Alvin and Sally Beaman Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Grzegorz Rempala is Professor of Mathematics at The Ohio State University. He served as interim director of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute from September 2016 to December 2017.

Vivek Shenoy is director of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology (CEMB) and the Eduardo D. Glandt President's Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeannette Wing is Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. From 2007-2010, she served as Assistant Director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate at NSF.

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