Sitting in his office in Cummings Hall, surrounded by no fewer than three computers, Engineering Sciences Professor George Cybenko is perfectly at ease prophesying the future for students and even the U.S. Military.
Cybenko and a group of graduate students at the Thayer School of Engineering were recently awarded a $5 million grant by the Department of Defense to develop more reliable wireless communication systems.
And his Engineering Sciences 4: Technology of Cyberspace, with an enrollment of almost 200 students, has rapidly become one of the most popular classes offered at Dartmouth.
Robust and efficient
Imagine a tank in the middle of the desert missing the order to attack because of a faulty modem connection. That is exactly the kind of problem the Department of Defense wants Cybenko to solve.
Cybenko said this latest endeavor is "a five year project to take our basic technology and evolve it so wireless computing can become more reliable and efficient."
For instance, if a laptop computer is working on some calculations and the wireless network connection breaks down, programs will need to be moved to a more stable part of the network, he said.
"The end goal is to make wireless systems more robust and efficient than they are now," he said.
The Department of Defense is funding the project because military ships, planes and tanks must be kept in constant and reliable communication with one another, Cybenko said.
Cybenko predicted that about five years from now, large international companies will have a vested interest in this type of technology.
Merrill Lynch, for instance, has employees that are "extremely mobile" all over the world and "need to carry on with their business uninterrupted," he said.
The long range implications of the research are aimed at consumer products like wireless modems, he said.
Engines 4 Everyone
Five million is not the only big number in Cybenko's mind lately. His Engineering 4 class, with 190 students, was one of Dartmouth's largest.
"I was really surprised when 190 students" signed up for the Technology of Cyberspace class, Cybenko said. There was quite a bit of last minute reassigning of rooms as well as additional textbook orders to accommodate the unexpected number of students.
Students say the class was excellent, although the large enrollment presented some difficulties.
Elisabeth Barbiero '97 said the class "was really cool," though Cybenko sometimes incorrectly assumed students had an extensive background in math.
Amiri Barksdale '96 agreed that the size of the class presented some problems, including making Cybenko difficult to contact. But Barksdale said he liked the course a lot and that he "learned a lot of interesting things about the way networks function -- things that are really applicable to real life."
Cybenko said he thinks the course is popular because students "feel a certain vulnerability" about both the Internet and a recent "huge explosion of technology."
He said students may not feel confident with the "whole bunch of technology connected to traditional computer literacy that is playing a large role in current computer use."
Barbiero said Dartmouth students have to have some knowledge of computers, but that she "didn't really know anything about the internet other than point-and-click."
Cybenko said he thinks "spending too much time talking about current technology is a mistake" because "more and more of what we talk about [in class] become general information" and the technology itself is so transitory.
'A good Canadian'
Bob Gray, a graduate engineering student, said Cybenko "has ideas and knowledge about most anything you can imagine," and has done a good job in bringing some "big projects" to the Thayer school.
Cybenko grew up in Toronto, Canada and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at the University of Toronto. He then moved onto Princeton University to earn his Masters degree in mathematics.
At Princeton, Cybenko earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science. "Most of what I know is mathematically oriented," he said. "It reflects my training, I guess."
After 10 years at Tufts University as a computer science professor specializing in parallel computing, Cybenko moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1988.
In 1992, Cybenko said he and his family "got homesick for New England and the East Coast -- that's how I ended up at Dartmouth."
Cybenko said it is now hard for his "family to contemplate being anywhere else but here."
Living with his wife, daughter and son in Hanover, Cybenko said he likes to take advantage of Hanover's prime location, which is close to Boston, but lacks the traffic and congestion of a larger city.
Dartmouth is very "conducive to working, there are very few obstacles," he said. "There is a lot of intellectual capital here that is very useful. One of the key things to successful research is a stimulating intellectual environment."
Cybenko said he enjoys sports in his spare time.
"I like to play squash and ice hockey -- I wouldn't be a good Canadian if I didn't play hockey," he said.
