Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

AN institute for advanced study in the Information Sciences named after the Turing Award winner from the United States, John E. Hopcroft, was officially inaugurated at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) yesterday.

By joining CUHK (SZ), the professor hopes that “the institute will help the university position itself to become China’s Stanford.”

The research center, named Hopcroft Institute for Advanced Study in Information Sciences, is going to be a base for studies of big data, statistics, computer science and other areas of the Information Sciences.

During a 10-minute speech given to the university leaders as well as officials from Longgang District Government, Hopcroft depicted the era in which people are living as taking on fundamental changes which will have profound impacts on people’s lives.

According to Hopcroft, the key drivers of the revolution are artificial intelligence, big data, and immense computing power as well as many areas that will require further research, such as privacy and security.

“One of the major goals of our institute is to understand the drivers of this revolution, its impact on society, and to provide the leaders to facilitate this change and help society adjust to it,” said Hopcroft. “We hope that our institute will educate not only the individuals necessary to drive this revolution but also to understand its consequences and to help restructure life.”

The winner of the Turing Award in 1986 also shared his thoughts on the social impacts of the change he mentioned.

“As if only 25 percent of the population is needed to produce all the goods and services we need, individuals may retire at age 45. If this is true, one does not want over half of the population sitting around doing nothing. It could lead to an unstable society. We will need to get them engaged in the arts, music, travel, or sports. Thus, it is important that a highly technical education also includes a humanities component. Education will be not only for a job but also skills to enjoy life,” said Hopcroft.

Hopcroft graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He has been teaching students from the Shenzhen university’s School of Science and Engineering since the second half of 2016.