Category: Interviews
Is Artificial Intelligence A Blessing Or A Curse For The Environment?
“In the past few years, as AI usage has grown, its energy consumption and carbon emissions have become an environmental concern,” writes Ben Dickson, a software engineer, tech blogger, in PC Magazine.
Yannis Paschalidis, Director of Boston University’s Center for Information and Systems Engineering, is featured in the story, discussing ways to create energy-efficient AI hardware.
Prof. Paschalidis proposes a better integration of data centers and energy grids, which he describes as “demand-response” models. ‘The idea is to coordinate with the grid to reduce or increase consumption on-demand, depending on electricity supply and demand. This helps utilities better manage the grid and integrate more renewables into the production mix… The smart integration of power grids and AI data centers, Paschalidis says, will help manage the intermittency of renewable energy sources while also reducing the need to have too much stand-by capacity in dormant electricity plants.”
Read the full PC Magazine story here.
IEEE Control Systems Magazine Profile
Yannis Paschalidis was profiled in the June 2014 issue of the IEEE Control Systems Magazine. Read the full story.
Interview in Kathimerini (Greek newspaper)
An interview given to Kathimerini (10/20/2013). (Online, As it appeared in print: Interview in Kathimerini.)
Interview with I. Paschalidis- IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems
Interview taken from IEEE Control Systems Magazine, Oct. 2013
In this column, we speak with Ioannis (Yannis) Paschalidis, who is the editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems. Yannis is a professor and Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the College of Engineering at Boston University with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Division of Systems Engineering, and he is a codirector of the Center for Information and Systems Engineering. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993 and 1996, respectively, before joining Boston University.
Q. Congratulations on your new role as the inaugural editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems (TCNS). What will be the scope of this transactions and its distinct role in both the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS) and in other communities?
Yannis: Thank you! I am honored to be named the editor-in-chief of TCNS. I am also excited to have Magnus Egerstedt as the deputy editor-inchief. TCNS is sponsored by the CSS, and technical cosponsors include the IEEE Circuits and Systems, Communication, Computer, and Robotics and Automation Societies. This broad support reflects the desire for TCNS to be at the interface of several disciplines that contribute to network systems research and attract papers not only from CSS but also from a number of other communities. TCNS will publish high-quality papers on systems with interconnected components. The primary interest is in problems related to the control of network systems, but TCNS is also open to contributions concerning network systems design, study, engineering, optimization, and emerging behavior since these considerations can inform and guide design and control. Rigorous methodological/theory papers on network systems and application papers that have a significant degree of modeling or methodological novelty in some application area of network systems are of interest. Application areas are many, spanning engineered systems, social science, economics, and biological systems. Examples of potential application domains include network control systems, communication networks, sensor networks, cyberphysical systems, networks of autonomous agents, electric power networks, transportation networks, biological networks, and social and economic networks. The scope is broad with interest in papers that make novel contributions to network systems, irrespective of the target application area. TCNS has a distinct role within the portfolio of CSS-sponsored publications. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control serves as the premier repository of new results in control theory, while IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology covers technological advances in the design, realization, and operation of control systems. On the other hand, IEEE Control Systems Magazine is distinct in its publication of tutorials, essays, and reports on a variety of CSS and related activities. TCNS aims to provide a focused venue for rigorous work in network systems and to become the premier journal for this emerging and growing area that extends well beyond the “boundaries” of the CSS. Although other journals exist that cover specific application domains of networks (e.g., communication or sensor networks), there is no journal with TCNS’s emphasis on rigorous contributions targeting the control of network systems with potentially very broad coverage of application domains. It is commendable that CSS, through its Executive Committee, showed good judgment and vision in launching TCNS. Much credit is due to the immediate CSS past president, Christos Cassandras, and the immediate Past Vice President of Publications Frank Doyle, who spearheaded this effort and were instrumental in obtaining IEEE approval. A number of CSS technical committees (TCs), including the TC on Networks and Communications, have contributed in forming the vision that led to TCNS. The current Executive Committee, led by CSS President Yutaka Yamamoto and Vice President of Publications Francesco Bullo, have also been extremely helpful during this initial stage.
Q. What are your plans for the inaugural issue?
Yannis: We plan to publish the inaugural issue in March 2014. TCNS will be published quarterly. The submission site opened in July 2013, with a deadline of September 20, 2013 for papers to be considered for the inaugural issue. TCNS will publish one type of paper (no brief papers or technical notes for the time being). All papers submitted to the inaugural issue will undergo regular review. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to present their work at a Symposium on Control of Network Systems, which will take place in Boston in March 2014. This symposium will celebrate the launch of TCNS, and it will also help a community coalesce around the publication. We hope that this community will reflect the broad scope of the journal. Details are available at the journal Web site (http://sites.bu.edu/tcns). We are currently in the process of appointing an editorial board. I am elated to report that, as of this writing, we have commitments from an amazing editorial board that was unanimously endorsed by the CSS Executive Committee. CSS Board of Governors approval was granted in early June 2013, and then the board was announced on the TCNS Web site. The board reflects the broad scope of TCNS and consists of four senior editors and about 20 associate editors. We plan to be aggressive in enforcing review deadlines, and we are setting a target for decisions to be taken no later than three months from submission. Rapid publication of accepted papers is an important goal, and we will work tirelessly toward it.
Q. What kind of guidance can you provide to authors who may wish to contribute a paper?
Yannis: The paper should describe a new, previously unpublished, and interesting contribution to network systems. The editorial board will evaluate whether the contribution is interesting and potentially relevant to answering a fundamental question in network systems or relevant to some application domain. We subscribe to the view that being able to solve a problem with correct mathematics does not necessarily imply that the problem is worth solving. The work must be interesting, relevant, and have the potential to attract readers. We will also pay attention to the quality of the exposition. The paper should be readable, succinct, and accessible to non-experts in the very narrow technical subfield.
Q. This is an exciting beginning of a new CSS publication. I am looking forward to seeing how this publication develops.
Yannis: We are too. We aspire for TCNS to assume a central role within the burgeoning community of network systems. Thank you for this opportunity to reach out to IEEE Control Systems Magazine readers.
