Wisconsin Technology Council
media release: Charles Isbell Jr., who is the new provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the UW-Madison, as well as a nationally known computer scientist, will speak Tuesday, Nov. 21, at the Tech Council Innovation Network luncheon in Madison.
The luncheon will be held at the Sheraton Hotel on Madison’s John Nolen Drive. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon and the presentation at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $10 for students and returning veterans, $25 for individual members, $35 for non-members and included for Tech Council corporate members.
Isbell was a faculty member at Georgia Tech for 21 years, and dean of its College of Computing for four years. While at Georgia Tech, he led an effort to transform the curriculum and a major initiative to broaden participation in computer and data science. He received his bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Isbell’s research interests are varied but the unifying theme has been using machine learning to build autonomous agents that engage directly with humans. His work has been featured in news media, congressional testimony, and in technical collections. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Association for Computing Machinery, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “Dr. Isbell comes to UW-Madison at the right time with excellent credentials in sync with current trends,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. “Plus, he loves bacon, cheese and chocolate, which make him an honorary Wisconsin native.” This luncheon is sponsored by the Dane County Regional Airport. The Wisconsin Technology Council is the independent, non-profit science and technology adviser to the governor and Legislature, with events, publications and outreach that contribute to Wisconsin’s tech-based economy. To join, go to www.