Virtual Texans Celebrate Centenary of Birth of Alan Turing

Submitted by rita on 11 March 2012 - 10:37am

 

 

The Arts and Technology program will participate in a high-tech, 24-hour international multimedia show honoring the father of computer science, Alan Turing.

On March 23 and 24, UT Dallas Arts and Technology faculty members Dr. Marjorie Zielke and Dr. Roger Malina, professor Judy LeFlore of University of Texas at Arlington and ATEC students Sanger Doane and Steven “Slade” Jansa, will participate as virtual Texans in a worldwide streaming extravaganza celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing.

Alan Turing’s accomplishments made a fundamental impact on the development of the computer and to our contemporary networked digital culture.

Alan Turing is sometimes called the father of computer science. In 1935, at the age of 23 he invented the concept of abstract computing machines – now known simply as Turing machines – on which all subsequent stored-program digital computers are modeled.

Turing also pioneered the field of artificial intelligence, and he developed the idea what is now called the “Turing Test,” a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior.

The UT Dallas ATEC program has a number of award winning research and development initiatives which seek to create virtual environments with virtual humans for applications in health care and education.

With colleague Dr. Judy LeFlore, associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing, the ATEC team has developed a serious game to teach undergraduate nurses how to treat respiratory distress in infants, a health-care professional assessment program for a local hospital, and a full online nurse practitioner curriculum for neonates.

These projects have won a variety of awards, to include first place at the 11th International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) in the category of Emerging and Innovative Technologies and Methods in January 2011 and most recently in February 2012 a tie for first-place demonstration at the Eighth Annual Innovations in Health Science Education Conference, sponsored by the University of Texas Academy of Health Science Education. Nursingap.com.

These Virtual Texans from ATEC projects will be participating in the worldwide celebration Decode/Recode.