UIUC Unveils World's Most Advanced Building

The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, with one of the top Computer Science programs in the world, has opened their new $80 million Siebel Center. The building is designed to be 'a single computing entity', meant to be programmed and to interact with those in the building via electronic tracking devices in their identification cards. "Professor Dan Roth, who focuses on teaching computers to comprehend human language, said the building is designed to learn from people who enter and from their habits, rather than simply being programmed to do things. For example, when a student enters the Siebel Center, the building could recognize him and what classes he is taking. If he is looking for study partners for a particular class, the building could detect other students interested in joining a study group. The building then could invite him -- via e-mail or voice -- to meet with his classmates."