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The "Scientific American 50" -- the magazine's annual
list recognizing outstanding acts of leadership in technology—will
appear in the magazine's December issue, arriving on newsstands
November 25 and available now at www.sciam.com.
Selected by the magazine's editorial board and distinguished advisors,
the Scientific American 50 spotlights research, business and policy
leaders in many technological categories including agriculture,
chemicals and materials, communications, computing, energy, environment,
medical treatment and more.
"Scientific American encourages the progressive use of technology,"
said editor in chief John Rennie. "The Scientific American
50 is our chance to honor leaders in research, industry and policy."
Privacy: A Growing Concern
Agrawal's work focuses on preserving the privacy and security of
information in large databases—a growing public concern spurred
by the ever-increasing volume and availability of digital data.
At IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, he pioneered
key data mining concepts and technologies and authored more than
100 research papers. An IBM Fellow—the company's highest technical
honor—Agrawal holds 47 patents and has received numerous awards
including the ACM-SIGKDD First Innovation Award, the ACM-SIGMOD
2000 Innovations Award, and the ACM-SIGMOD 2003 Test of Time Award.
"Solving the privacy dilemma demands innovative technology,"
said Agrawal. "We're creating a system that aligns business
needs with the privacy rights of consumers—a system that enables
companies to mine pertinent business information without learning
specific things about individuals. In essence, we're making it possible
for people to share—or not to share—personal information,
on their own terms."
The Incredible Shrinking Chip
At IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York,
Batson demonstrated technology to view atoms interacting in different
environments at a resolution never before possible. With computer-chip
features shrinking to atomic scales, this addresses scientists'
urgent need to see more clearly the details of materials used in
manufacturing semiconductors and significantly extends the capabilities
of the electron microscope. "As the dimensions of computer
chips shrink, scientists need new ways to view and study the atomic
structure and properties of incredibly minuscule materials,"
said Batson. "This technology is like laser corrective surgery
for microscopes—it's a dramatic improvement in terms of how
well we can see."
About Rakesh Agrawal
Agrawal received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983. He also holds
a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering
from the University of Roorkee and a two-year post-graduate diploma
in industrial engineering from the National Institute of Industrial
Engineering (NITIE), Bombay. Prior to joining IBM Almaden in 1990,
he was with Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill from 1983 to 1989.
He is an IEEE Fellow.
About Philip Batson
Batson received his Ph.D. in applied and engineering physics at
Cornell University in 1976. He then spent two years at the Cavendish
Laboratory at Cambridge University in England as a post-doctoral
Fellow through Glasgow University. In 1978, he joined IBM to work
in development of advanced electron microscopy techniques and has
authored about 150 research papers in this area. Recently, he has
studied aberration correction in the STEM, helping to demonstrate
a sub-Angstrom beam size for the first time. He is a Fellow of the
American Physical Society.
About Scientific American
Founded in 1845, editorial contributors to Scientific American
have included over 100 Nobel laureates including Albert Einstein,
Neils Bohr, Francis Crick, Stanley Prusiner and Harold Varmus. Scientific
American Inc. is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, a U.S. subsidiary
of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, a privately held international
media corporation operating in more than 40 countries. In addition
to Scientific American, Holtzbrinck Publishers includes book publishing
houses Farrar, Straus & Giroux; W.H. Freeman; Henry Holt and
Company; St. Martin's Press and Tor; the academic scholarly publishing
company Palgrave U.S.; the College Publishing Group of Bedford Freeman
Worth; and the distribution company VHPS.
About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology (IT) company
and provider of IT services. IBM and its partners provide their
clients with a complete range of products in advanced information
technology, from hardware and software to services and complex application
solutions to outsourcing projects and training facilities. IBM Research
has produced more breakthroughs than any other company in the IT
industry and has more than 3,000 scientists and engineers at eight
labs in six countries. Additional information about IBM can be found
at www.ibm.com.
Contact:
Jenny Hunter
IBM
408-927-1261
jennyh@us.ibm.com
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