Information Sciences Institute

The Information Sciences Institute (ISI) of the University of Southern California (USC) is a prominent research organization in the field of information science; it is part of the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC. It is involved in a broad spectrum of information processing research, and in the development of advanced computer and communication technologies.

The Institute was founded in 1972 by Keith Uncapher. ISI is currently headed by Herbert Schorr who came to ISI in 1988 after a career as both executive and scientist at IBM.

ISI is not located on the main USC campus near downtown Los Angeles, but at a separate facility in Marina del Rey, California; it also has a branch facility in Arlington, Virginia. Part of one floor at the Marina del Rey facility is occupied by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Divisions

ISI is divided into ten "divisions", each of which contains research groups focused on a particular aspect of information science:

Division 1: Computational Sciences

Conducts research in the areas of applied mathematics, compilers, clusters, and other large-scale applications with emphasis of maximizing throughput.

Division 2: Distributed Scalable Systems

Conducts research in areas that deal with groups of computers, particularly those that are involved in mobile or distributed applications. Topics include information space analysis and e-commerce.

Division 3: Intelligent Systems

Conducts research in the area of artificial intelligence and related fields such as data mining, robotics, machine learning, and natural language processing.

Division 4: Silicon Systems / MOSIS

Conducts research in low-cost low-volume semiconductor and MEMS manufacturing.

Division 5: Business Office

Contracts and Grants administration. Human Resources functions.

Division 6: Action

Hardware and Software Support.

Division 7: Computer Networks

Conducts research into all forms of computer networking including networking protocols, distributed networking, embedded networking, sensor networks, and middleware. The division has built or collaborated on building several key elements of modern networks that are in wide use throughout today's Internet, including: TCP/IP, DNS, SMTP, and IPv6.

Division 7 was directed by Jon Postel until his passing.

Division 8: Advanced Systems

Conducts research into unconventional and cutting-edge systems in a range of areas such as compilers, VLSI, grid computing, wireless systems, and computer-aided design.

Division 9: Integration Sciences

Conducts research into distributed databases, pattern recognition and their applications.

Division 10: Dynamic Systems

Conducts research into standard and embedded systems that adapt to changes in power, configuration, or environment.

External links

* [http://www.isi.edu ISI homepage]