Professor to show in Slovenia as Fulbright U.S. Scholar

Whereas the remainder of us had been participating within the common summertime actions over the previous few months, Professor Yu “David” Liu developed a extra singular interest: Studying Slovenian.

Liu — a Division of Pc Science college member at Binghamton College’s Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Utilized Science — will spend the autumn semester doing analysis and instructing on the University of Maribor in Slovenia as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar.

Annually, the U.S. State Division program gives tons of of awards in additional than 135 international locations for U.S. residents to show, conduct analysis and perform skilled initiatives all over the world. Alumni embody 61 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 76 MacArthur Fellows, and hundreds of leaders and world-renowned specialists in academia and lots of different fields throughout the non-public, public and nonprofit sectors.

“It’s open to all disciplines, together with the humanities, social sciences, different sciences and engineering,” Liu stated. “It’s additionally very aggressive, so this actually shocked me. I’m so completely satisfied that Fulbright determined to present this award to laptop science — and to me, I assume!”

Liu’s analysis consists of software program engineering, programming languages and autonomous programs, with sustainable computing as a key theme throughout all subjects. In 2011, he earned a $479,391 Nationwide Science Basis CAREER Award for his work on energy-aware and energy-efficient software program.

To call simply two examples the place efficiencies might assist decrease our carbon footprint, he factors to information facilities that use 1 to 2% of electrical energy era within the U.S., in addition to the ability wanted to cost tens of millions of cell telephones and different cellular gadgets.

Liu additionally hopes to study from the Slovenians. In 2018, Nationwide Geographic journal named Slovenia essentially the most sustainable nation on this planet; the European Union rated its capital metropolis, Ljubljana, because the union’s most sustainable capital. Among the many nation’s insurance policies are sustainable tourism, transportation and structure insurance policies that function sturdy recycling and energy-saving efforts.

“Sustainable computing is one thing I’m captivated with, and to do extra analysis on this and unfold the phrase amongst college students in a brand new nation is thrilling to me,” Liu stated. “Fulbright is about tutorial alternate, but in addition cultural alternate, and for subjects resembling learn how to construct a sustainable society, there’s a lot to study from them and to go on what I do know.”

Based on the Fulbright program, alternate experiences like Liu’s result in larger worldwide co-publication, continued worldwide alternate and stronger cross-cultural communication expertise. Liu hopes that he finds collaborators, future Binghamton College college students and perhaps even analysis funding throughout his four-month stint in Slovenia, however he additionally is worked up concerning the much less tangible advantages of immersing himself in one other tradition.

“Utilizing at the moment’s know-how, you may meet anybody on Zoom,” he stated. “Even in the event you’re not going to conferences, you may talk and collaborate, or you may ship distant programs, however there’s a distinction once you stay there and talk with the native researchers and college students for a protracted period. It’s solely then which you can really perceive what the mindset is, the distinctive issues you may study and how one can assist out.”