Two highly-respected UC Davis faculty members have been appointed Chairs of the Academic and Administrative Computing Coordinating Councils.

Richard Plant, a professor with a joint appointment in the departments of Agronomy and Range Science and Biological and Agricultural Engineering, is the new Academic Computing Coordinating Council (AC4) Chair. Professor Plant is no stranger to the world of technology. His research techniques include computer-based systems analysis, simulation, and geographic information systems. In addition, Professor Plant has been a member of AC4 since its creation two years ago. He replaces Professor Harry Matthews, director of the new Instructional Technology and Digital Media Center.

Robert Smiley, professor of Management and dean of the Graduate School of Management since 1989, was selected to head the Administrative Computing Coordinating Council (AdC3). Under Smiley's leadership, the Graduate School of Management (GSM) successfully launched the Working Professional MBA program which now boasts 275 students, and the Business Partners program in which more than eighty regional companies participate. This summer, the GSM was among the first business schools in the nation to go wireless. A proposal is now under consideration to introduce an undergraduate minor in technology management. If accepted, the minor would be implemented in the fall of 2002, at the earliest.

Five new Advanced Technology Project Teams have been formed to address critical computing and infrastructure issues facing the campus. The teams are expected to investigate and recommend a course of action for the following issues: the possible campuswide deployment of Windows 2000, the development of a comprehensive enterprise directory for UC Davis, the creation of network security incident response standards and processes, wireless networking, and authentication mechanisms for mobile computing users.

Given the scope and complexity of these projects, each team will seek input and guidance from the campus technical community, particularly in the identification of needs, concerns, and options. Made up of 2 to 3 members, each team is expected to collaborate closely with the Technology Infrastructure Forum (TIF) created a few months ago for the very purpose of engaging the campus technical community in IET's efforts to advance UC Davis's communication and middleware infrastructures.

"I see it as our responsibility to solicit and welcome the participation and expertise of our technical colleagues who represent various academic and administrative units," says Dr. John Bruno, Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology. "The TIF members' involvement with our Advanced Technology Projects will most certainly increase our effectiveness in implementing new technologies."

A Web page has been developed for these projects. See http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/advancedprojects/ for project descriptions, team members, status reports, and resources. Inquiries should be submitted to the Advanced Technology Coordinator at atp-coordinator@ucdavis.edu.

The TIF is charged with identifying, evaluating, and resolving critical information technology infrastructure issues for the campus and focuses primarily on "middleware" issues such as security, authentication, digital certificates, and directories. The site contains a meeting schedule and minutes and a growing list of middleware resources.

Richard E. Plant is a Professor with a joint appointment in the Departments of Agronomy and Range Science and Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University in 1975, and has been at U.C. Davis since that time.

Professor Plant's research and teaching are connected with the application of systems analysis to problems in agriculture and resource management. He has developed a number of expert systems and other computer programs for these applications, written numerous scientific papers, and is the co-author of the book Knowledge-Based Systems in Agriculture. In 1990 he and five colleagues we awarded the University of California Distinguished Service Award for Creative Teamwork for their work in the development of the CALEX/Cotton expert system. In 1994 he and his collaborators were awarded a certificate of excellence from the American Society of Agronomy for their development of the CALEX/Rice expert system.

Professor Plant's recent research has been associated with the effect of spatial variability on crop production and range management. This work links geographic information systems, statistical analysis, simulation models, and artificial intelligence techniques to study problems in agricultural and resource management, with particular focus on site-specific crop management.

Robert H. Smiley was appointed Dean of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management in 1989. Prior to joining UC Davis, Dean Smiley held the position of Professor of Economics and Policy at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. Dean Smiley's educational background includes two degrees from UCLA -- a B.S. in Engineering and an M.S. in Business Economics. In 1973, he received his Ph.D. in Economics from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

During his years at Cornell and UC Davis, Dean Smiley has done consulting work for a wide variety of public and private sector businesses. His clients included Unisys Corporation, IBM, General Motors, Shearson/Lehman American Express, U.S. Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, the U.S. Small Business Administration, Attorney General of the State of California and McCaw Cellular Communications. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Sacramento Commercial Bank, Placer Sierra Bank, Emerging Business Network, and Calpine Containers Corporation.

Dean Smiley has also served as a visiting professor of Economics at Bocconi University in Milan, and at the University of Pisa, and Johns Hopkins University in Bologna, Italy.

During his tenure at Dean, the School became ranked among the top twenty public MBA programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Under the Dean's leadership, the School successfully launched the Working Professional MBA program which now boasts 275 students, and the Business Partners program which has more than eighty regional companies participating.