Bell Labs Scientist to Share Fruits of Wireless Research

Just as the space program spawned new materials and inventions, research into the basic process required for wireless communication — transmission of a phone signal without cables — is producing its share of innovations.

Margaret H. Wright of the Computing Science Research Center of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, in Murray Hill, N.J., will use the wireless research to explain how math and computer science are applied to everyday problems in a program Monday, Feb. 23, at Wake Forest University.

The 4 p.m. lecture, “Better and Faster: Interdisciplinary Research for Fun and Profit,” is part of The Gentry Lectures of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The program is in Room 17 of Calloway Hall and is free and open to the public.

Wright will also present a program for technicians, “The Interior-Point Revolution in Constrained Optimization,” on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. in the same room.

“To formulate and solve many real-world problems, we need mathematics and computer science,” Wright said. “But our models are never good enough the first time. So we speed up complicated calculations, try to understand and optimize the model, and then make it better.

“I’ll illustrate the process with a problem from Bell Labs, where an interdisciplinary group has worked for several years on a system for designing wireless communication systems.”

For more information, contact David John, associate professor of mathematics and computer science by e-mail or at (336) 758-5535.

Categories: Research, Speakers