This episode was not taped, so there will not be an audio transcript available. Initially, my background was given. After which, a brief discussion of TechTalk was given. The chief points are summarized on the home page for this site. Finally, the question of innovation in Maine was discussed.

This last discussion was stimulated by a column (pdf format) published on July 1, 2001 by Doug Vanderweide in the Kennebec Journal. This column was critical of Maine's innovativeness and the state of computer science education in Maine, but was highly flawed in my opinion. I sent the letter to the Kennebec Journal in response to this column:

To the Editor of the Kennebec Journal: 

In his July 1, 2001 column, Doug Vanderweide makes many inaccurate and unfair statements about computer science in Maine and about the people of Maine. In particular, we at the University of Maine strongly disagree with his statements that there are no "outstanding computer science programs" in Maine. Our department has gone through accreditation reviews and gotten high marks for its programs. Our graduates work for just about every top company in the United States and some are now professors at other universities. Consequently, it is hard to understand what he means by "without some real instruction for real programmers, we're never going to make a go of the new economy here in Maine." In fact, the new economy in Maine has been growing rapidly and making an ever increasing contribution to the state economy. For more details check out www.mesda.com. 

Another inaccurate statement is that no program in the state "involves much research and development." Our faculty are very active in research and bring in millions of dollars worth of grants yearly. Topics of research range through such topics as controlling groups of autonomous underwater vehicles, through automatic decision making with constraints, research on Internet 2, new protocols for parallel computing, digital libraries, the uses of technology in education, agent-based systems and advanced modeling of glacial systems. In addition, our colleagues in the Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Spatial Engineering departments also conduct research in computer science. Despite Mr. Vanderweide's opinion, there is very much a "serious R&D" program in computer science at the University of Maine. For more details, check www.umcs.maine.edu, www.eece.maine.edu, and www.spatial.maine.edu. 

Approximately 2 years ago our department received $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to set up the Agent Institute. This past academic year the Agent Institute conducted workshops in Portland, Orono, Augusta, Farmington and Presque Isle in an effort to educate people about agent technology and to set up research groups in this very exciting area. Our colleagues in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department have a center for Intelligent Systems which was established using a Department of Energy grant, along with money from the Maine Science and Technology Foundation. Our colleagues in the Spatial Engineering department are an integral part of the National Center for Geographic Information Analysis, a three-university consortium (SUNY Buffalo, University of California at Santa Barbara, and University of Maine) that was set up by National Science Foundation money. Because of its success in computer science related research the University of Maine has received $1.5 million to build a super-computer cluster and to pursue research in advanced modeling. 

A statement that I strongly disagree with is that "Maine isn't innovating anything, except in those instances where one of its small software developers come up with a product that resolves what is almost always a small specific need." Does this statement cover DeLorme's mapping products that compete successfully nationally? Does it cover IDEXX (listed on the NASDAQ) that makes heavy use of computing in its products and just reported net income of $10 million this past quarter? Mainers have produced many innovations in computer science and continue to do so. My own company, Trefoil, put together the O*NET database for the U.S. Department of Labor that is now being used nationally. It is interesting to note that the world's longest continuously operating semiconductor fabrication facility is in South Portland Maine. 

Maine was one of the first, if not the first state to connect all its schools and libraries to the Internet, a project envisioned and spearheaded by University of Maine faculty. Maine is the home state of such outstanding individuals as Seymour Papert, an internationally known pioneer in the field of technology and education, who is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor in our Department. Prof. Papert continues to pioneer new approaches to education and lectures internationally at the very highest levels. Just recently he addressed an international group of ministers of education at the invitation of UNESCO. Maine is also the home of Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet and a widely quoted writer about computer science. 

I could write much more to point out the inaccuracies in Mr. Vanderweide's column, but the above make clear that computer science is thriving in the state of Maine. 

The materials on this website are copyrighted by George Markowsky, unless otherwise noted.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact [George Markowsky].
Last updated: August 23, 2001.