Telecommunications and Informatics at Texas A&M

• Texas A&M University Available University Fund (AUF) Commitments in Telecommunications and Informatics - Fiscal Year 2001

Texas A&M University Available University Fund (AUF)

Commitments in Telecommunications and Informatics

Fiscal Year 2001

 1.       Plant/Animal Genomics and Bioinformatics

• 3 faculty positions

• 7 graduate assistantships

Aimed at enhancing a rapidly growing, nationally recognized, plan and animal genomics program at Texas A&M University. The teams of faculty joined through this action will create a unique institutional strength spanning plant and animal genomics, informatics, and the spatial sciences.  The tam of new faculty, plus graduate students will help nucleate and link up a much larger integrated effort to understand the biological basis of plant and animal adaptation to the environment (biotic, abiotic, nutrient factors).  The integrated capacity to obtain and analyze spatially organized images of living organisms in situ and to probe the genetic basis of plant and animal responses to the environment using microarray technology could emerge as a unique institutional strength at Texas A&M. Moreover, the functional genomics/transgenic portion will help establish a transgenic core facility for the entire campus.

 Participating Colleges/Units: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Dwight Look College Engineering, College of Geosciences, College of Science, College of Veterinary Medicine

 2.       Texas A&M University Telecommunications Leadership for the New Century

• 2 faculty positions (4 more planned in the future)

• 6 graduate assistantships

The telecommunications technologies of the 21^st century will profoundly change human society and will be dramatically different from those of the 20^th century. Already, wireless communications, optical fibers, and the Internet have had huge impacts on our business and daily lives.  In this century, these technologies will be extended, but new ones, such as quantum optical communication, will revolutionize the field and essentially create a new industry.  Therefore, it is jointly proposed by the Colleges of Science (Physics) and Engineering (Electrical Engineering) that a serious, rapidly moving cooperative effort be furthered to place Texas A&M in the very forefront of this vital area.  We propose to be the institution that creates much of the science and technology for this new industry for our state and for society.

 Participating Colleges/Units:  Dwight Look College of Engineering, College of Science

3.      Informatics Technology Initiative for Texas A&M University in the New Century

• 3 faculty positions

Information technology is one of the most far-reaching and influential endeavors of mankind in human history. In the past century, computers and telecommunications combined into the information sciences and technologies which have impacted us all, changing almost every sector of our society and economy. To put Texas A&M at the cutting edge of the “3^rd Wave”, we propose an Information Technology Initiative for Texas A&M in the New Century. This is a joint effort, primarily based in Computer Science, but extending into Science (Math), Architecture (Visualization Laboratory), Business (Information and Operations Management) and Industrial Engineering. The successful implementation of the extension of information technology its study into all these areas will place Texas A&M in the race with peers such as MIT, Michigan and Illinois, allowing us to finish “first” in many areas. This interdisciplinary effort will have focal points in software, computer networks, information management, the human/computer interface and high performance computing. This thrust is in keeping with the global emphasis of Vision 2020 on telecommunications and information technology.

Participating Colleges/Units:  College of Architecture, Mays College of Business, Dwight Look College of Engineering, College of Science