University students are all too familiar with endless hours of note-taking, studying, and memorization.  Even with the use of computers to take notes and share information in team projects, there’s still something missing. For Computing Science students, learning is about to reach a whole new level.

Hewlett Packard recently awarded Professor Jian Pei with a 2006 HP Technology for Teaching Higher Education Grant on behalf of SFU. Awarded to only four universities, this is HP Technology’s first year implementing this program in Canada.

As part of this initiative, HP will donate their latest Tablet PCs to SFU Computing Science, which will enable students to undertake projects with multi-players. By simulating the dynamics of a “real” competitive work environment, students are able to learn the consequences of their actions. This mobile technology prepares students for the work force, relating their academic and practical experiences.   

Integrating technology into higher learning provides students with readily available information throughout the campus, as well as, connects students on multi-party tasks and projects.  For instance, during a project on management, students are able to work together through this mobile technology to simulate “real” roles, such as buying, selling, trading, coordinating etc., and witness the immediate consequences of their planned action in relation to other students’ activities on the same task.   

Professor Jian Pei observes that it is often difficult for many undergraduate students, who may not have much experience working in their field, to grasp the abstract concepts in Computer Science.  By using technology to facilitate and connect the academic and practical learning processes, students are provided with more resources to relate to their education and find meaning.   

The project has started and as of next year 2007, it will be implemented in classrooms for third and fourth year Computing Science students.  Professor Jian Pei has hopes that it will not be limited to the Computing Science faculty for long so students throughout the university will benefit. It’s great to realize the potential of technology to work for people, and not the other way around. 

For his efforts and accomplished work in data mining, Professor Jian Pei has also been awarded the 2006 IBM Eclipse Innovation Award for Collaborative Data Mining and Effective Knowledge Sharing.

Often, data mining methods yield an overwhelming amount of information the user cannot interpret. To improve this, Jian Pei’s collaborative research achieves more efficient and effective ways to find patterns by setting preferences.  As a result, faster algorithms and preference-based frequent pattern mining enables the user to push assigned preferences deeper into the mining process to find patterns quickly and efficiently.  This saves time for users and companies in organizing and re-organizing data so the process of evaluating crucial data can be addressed and implemented sooner. 

In our rapid world of information, Jian Pei helps to truly make every second count.      

To read about Dr. Pei’s 2005 BC Innovation Council Young Innovator Award, please visit: http://www.cs.sfu.ca/news/index.cgi/articles/2005-12-21-1.html  

To learn more about Dr. Pei, please visit: http://www.cs.sfu.ca/people/Faculty/Profile/jpei.html