Zhong designs phone of the future
Computer Science Professor Lin Zhong is one of several Rice faculty to receive a $450,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award this year. All answers are paraphrased unless otherwise indicated.
Rice Thresher: What do you plan on doing with it?
Lin Zhong: The money will go toward research, supporting students and buying equipment.
RT: What did you submit to NSF for the CAREER Award?
LZ: The title of my proposal is "Reinventing Smartphones for Sensing," and I talked about my research on smartphones and mobile devices.
RT: Can you talk more about the research? What is your goal?
LZ: We are working on mobile computing, such as smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices. In terms of looking ahead into the future, mobile devices change a lot over short periods of time. We carry our cell phones with us all the time these days, and they can do a lot more for us than just making calls and checking emails.
In the future, cellphones should be able to access your mood, your lifestyle and offer assistance. My phone should know me better than my wife. For example, my phone will know who I talk to, how many email and appointments I have and where I've been, and it should be able to utilize this information to assist me more personally. I envision my phone becoming my best friend or pet dog after using it for a year, reminding me to remember my keys, marking down my calendar and taking notes for me as it listens to my conversation with other people.
In order to achieve this, we will need to develop some sort of artificial intelligence, and the hardware of the phones will need to be changed too. We are currently collaborating with Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Samsung and Motorola to make this happen.
RT: Do you think that people who change their phones frequently will be a problem to your research?
LZ: No, this will actually be beneficial to us. When somebody throws away his phone, he is only throwing away the hardware, and the software can still be kept. Updating one's phone allows us to advance with the hardware while retaining the information of the phone. This is the beauty of technology: When your dog dies, you'd have to train a new dog; if your cellphone dies, you will be able to transfer the personality of the phone into a new one.
RT: What do you think about the CAREER Award?
LZ: I think it sheds light on the new generation of faculty and how they envision the future. Our faculty winning CAREER awards will engender a lot of pride in the students. This could also be an opportunity for students to learn about the interesting research our faculty is doing and possibly get involved. I currently have a lot of undergraduate students in my lab, and I welcome interested students from all majors.
More from The Rice Thresher
Rice to support Harvard in lawsuit against research funding freeze
Rice, alongside 17 other research universities, requested a federal judge for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in support of Harvard University’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over more than $2 billion in frozen research grants.
Mayor Whitmire discusses ‘the state of Houston’ between audience protests at Baker Institute
John Whitmire’s remarks on the city’s budget, transportation and infrastructure were interrupted twice by shouts from audience members at a Baker Institute event May 29. At the event, which was open to the public, Whitmire spoke about the current state of Houston alongside former county judge Ed Emmett.
Rice reaffirms support for international students after Trump administration targets Harvard
Rice and the Office of International Students and Scholars said in a May 23 email that they are monitoring the Trump administration’s actions towards Harvard to bar the school from enrolling international students. A federal judge temporarily halted the move less than 24 hours later.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.