Dean's Lecture Series at RIT Looks at Uses and Misuses of Probability, Oct. 7

An exploration of the uses and misuses of probability in topics ranging from gambling to medicine to the likelihood of intelligent life beyond Earth will be discussed at the first installment of the Dean’s Lecture Series, sponsored by Rochester Institute of Technology’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences.

Peter Winkler, professor of mathematics and computer science at Dartmouth College will be the featured guest. His presentation, “What is Probability?” takes place at 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, in the Golisano College auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. There will be a reception immediately following.

Winkler is the author of close to 125 research papers and holds a dozen patents in cryptology, holography, optical networking, distributed computing and marine navigation. He is a noted fan of puzzles, both mechanical and intellectual. In some circles Winkler is best known as the inventor of cryptologic techniques for the game of bridge, which have been declared illegal for tournament play in most of the western world.

NOTE: RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, the largest comprehensive computing college in the nation, was created with a $14 million gift from B. Thomas Golisano, founder and chairman of Paychex Inc.

The college offers undergraduate programs in computer science, information technology, applied network and system administration, new media, and software engineering, as well as graduate programs in computer science, information technology, software development and management, and computer security and information assurance.

The college is home to the Center for Advancing the Study of Cyberinfrastructure which partners with industry and other research organizations in the advancement of computing technology in support of scientific discovery and product development, and to foster technology commercialization.