About CITRIS

California's problems - and our drive for economic growth and leadership - depend on integrated, reliable, and secure information systems. Today, information technology poorly addresses tough problems for the public good - energy, transportation, seismic safety, and others. If we do not focus California's high-tech strength to meet these needs, we may be left with a fragile, disaster-prone information infrastructure - and be left behind as other states muster their resources to meet these needs more effectively. The CITRIS plan was spurred by Governor Davis's call for visionary new UC Centers for Science and Innovation and creative partnerships with industry. Corporate and private donors have pledged more than $170 million for CITRIS, almost all of it contingent on $100 million in matching state funds proposed over the next three years in the Governor's 2001-02 budget. More than 100 faculty members in engineering, science, social science, and other disciplines at four UC campuses are collaborating with researchers at more than 20 supporting companies. A blue-ribbon collection of founding corporate includes Agilent, BroadVision, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Marvell, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, STMicroelectronics, and Sun Microsystems. Industry scientists will collaborate closely on research, co-teach new courses, and sponsor internships for students. With this relationship, research findings and new creations will be put to work quickly in California industry and beyond. All of the fruits of the partnership will be widely disseminated, usually published on the Web, and free to all. New facilities for UC laboratories and collaborative research will be funded, along with an infrastructure of people to support the research effort. Other states are eager to take California's place as the leader in technology. If we don't back this powerful California partnership, the next Silicon Valley may well rise elsewhere. This is our time to advance boldly in information technology and reap its benefits.

Mission Statement

Silicon Valley has been the engine of a revolutionary new economy, delivering information technology that has driven California business growth to new levels. Now it's time to aim such an effort at California's biggest challengesóenergy efficiency, transportation, earthquake preparedness, health care, education, and others on the horizon.

With his vision for new centers of science and innovation, Governor Gray Davis galvanized a powerful California partnership of university, industry, and government to launch this effort with the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). This partnership can propel California as never before to new solutions and leadership in technology. The CITRIS partnership will be the first to create and harness information technology to tackle societyís most critical needs. For real progress, California needs pervasive, secure, energy-efficient, and disaster-proof information systems, delivering new kinds of vital data that people put to use quickly. With this information, Californians can save billions of dollars and improve, even save, lives.

More than 100 faculty members in engineering, science, social science, and other disciplines at four UC campuses will collaborate with researchers at more than 20 supporting companies on CITRIS research.

CITRIS will sponsor research on problems that have a major impact on the economy, quality of life, and future success of California: conserving energy; education; saving lives, property, and productivity in the wake of disasters; boosting transportation efficiency; advancing diagnosis and treatment of disease; and expanding business growth through much richer personalized information services.

Solutions to many of these problems have a common IT feature: at their core they depend on highly-distributed, reliable, and secure information systems that can evolve and adapt to radical changes in their environment, delivering information services that adapt to the people and organizations that need them. It is this feature that is at the heart of the initial research agenda for CITRIS.

We call such systems Societal-scale Information Systems (SISs). The web and telephone network are limited, albeit highly successful, SISs. An SIS must easily and naturally integrate devices, ranging from tiny sensors and actuators to hand-held information appliances, workstations, and room-sized cluster supercomputers. Such devices must be connected by short-range wireless networks as well as by very high-bandwidth, long-haul optical backbones. Data and services must be secure, reliable, and high-performance, even if part of the system is down, disconnected, under repair, or under attack. The SIS must configure, install, diagnose, maintain, and improve itself ó this applies especially to the vast numbers of sensors that will be cheap, widely dispersed, and difficult to access. Finally, the SIS must allow vast quantities of data to be easily and reliably accessed, manipulated, disseminated, and used in a customized fashion by users, from expert to novice, and from all walks of life. Issues at the heart of Californiaís economy, quality of life, and future success will drive the research of the CITRIS Partnership. Energy Efficiency A network of tiny, inexpensive sensors can make buildings vastly more energy efficient, saving as much as $55 billion in energy costs nationally and 35 million tons of carbon emissions each year. In California alone, this translates into a savings of $8 billion in energy costs and a reduction of 5 million metric tons of carbon emission annually.

Transportation

Linking sensors in Californiaís roadways to computers to analyze traffic flow could point commuters to efficient routes and help Caltrans and planners make solid transit decisions. Optimizing traffic could save Californians annually up to $15 billion in wages, $600 million in trucking costs, and 37.5 million gallons of fuel.

Seismic Safety

A major earthquake in the Bay Area could cost 10,000 lives, $200 billion in damage, and untold lost productivity. Real-time information on the conditions of buildings, bridges, and lifeline networks is key to reducing risk. A vast system to deliver reliable, personalized information in minutes to emergency teams would save lives.

Education

High-tech classrooms for distance learning can serve more students in Californiaís growing universities, schools, and businesses. First order of business: CITRIS technology will deliver the undergraduate program in information technology to UC Merced in the heart of California, a critical addition to state growth in education and industry.

Health Care

As many as 60,000 fatal heart attacks - 20% of cardiac deaths ó could be prevented each year if at-risk people wore sensors now being developed to detect trouble and alert medics. Other medical monitoring devices would follow, including help for military personnel and others in remote areas.

Environment

From Monterey Bay to urban Southern California, CITRIS projects will help guard Californiaís water, air, and environment. New information technologies may also be adapted later for more productive agriculture. We have identified many other high-impact SIS applications as well, such as smart farming, which we also propose to address in the future.

In organizing this ambitious research agenda, CITRIS will concentrate on producing useful technology: design principles, architectures, software tools, algorithms, and SIS prototypes. This research will be undertaken in collaboration with our Founding Corporate Members (BroadVision, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Marvell Semiconductor, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, STMicroelectronics, and Sun Microsystems) as well as many other affiliated companies, including Agilent, Texas Instruments, and Conexant, who have agreed to participate actively in our research. These partners and our private donors have already pledged more than $170M to support CITRIS and its research.