Computer Performance vs. Security & Privacy Is Feb. 5 Lecture Topic

WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 5, 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: 114 Ferguson Hall, UNL City Campus

Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 26, 2004 -- Despite the increasing focus on security, privacy and reliability in computer systems, Microsoft's Ben Zorn says researchers should not lose sight of the continued importance of performance in those systems.

Zorn, assistant director in the Programmer Productivity Research Center of Microsoft Research, will discuss that topic in a Feb. 5 lecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln titled "Performance in the Age of Trustworty Computing." The lecture begins at 3:30 p.m. in Room 114 of Ferguson Hall (the second building directly south of Memorial Stadium) on the UNL City Campus. The lecture is free and open to the public, as is a 3:15 p.m. reception, also in Ferguson Hall.

Zorn will discuss why he thinks the challenges and opportunities in performance research are just as important as ever. Specifically, he will discuss how hardware and software trends present challenges to system implementers and why aggressive research will be required to keep Moore's Law alive. He will discuss ongoing work at Microsoft Research that attempts to overcome performance challenges.

After receiving a doctorate in computer science from the University of California in Berkeley in 1989, Zorn served eight years on the computer science faculty at the University of Colorado in Boulder, receiving tenure and being promoted to associate professor in 1996. He left CU in 1998 to become a researcher at Microsoft Research, where his areas of research interest range from programming language design and implementation to performance measurement and analysis. For more information, visit his Web page.

His lecture is presented by the UNL Department of Computer Science and EngineeringCONTACT: LaRita Lang, Computer Science & Engineering, (402) 472-3826