Top experts in the field of human language technology will take part in a scientific symposium on the campus of The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). The event, to be held March 10-11, will mark the one-year anniversary of the founding of the Human Language Technology Research Institute (HLTRI) in UTD's Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.

Human language technology incorporates a broad spectrum of disciplines working towards two closely related goals: to enable computers to interact with humans using natural language capabilities, and to serve as useful assistants to humans by providing services such as automatic text understanding and retrieval, information extraction and question answering, automatic translation and speech recognition.

The technology has many potential applications - ranging from helping government security personnel simultaneously screen and analyze millions of voice and text communications in an attempt to uncover terrorist or other criminal activities to customer support applications in many lines of business.

A host of other speakers from academia, the government and industry will address the symposium, including representatives of Dallas-based Intervoice, which recently announced the establishment of a research center at UTD aimed at furthering the ease-of-use of voice technology and the humanization of automated conversation systems.

The symposium is open to the public. A registration fee of $100 per person provides admittance to the two-day seminar and includes lunch on both days. For an additional $50 per person, a dinner on March 10 at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson is included. For additional information about the symposium, please visit the HLTRI web site at http://www.hlt.utdallas.edu/news.html. To register for the event, please call Julie Weekly of UTD's Department of Computer Science at 972-883-4228.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Consultants' Network (CN) will host Elaine Sicilian Weeman of Sea Change Partners LLC as she presents a workshop on emotional intelligence for leaders. The presentation will be at 6 p.m. on March 10 at Nedley's Restaurant & Club located at 1801 N. Plano Road in Richardson. There is no cost to attend and dinner may be ordered.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Communications and Vehicular Technology (CVT) Society is hosting a conference by Bill Hunt, the chairman of Internet America and Hunt Investments at 11 a.m. on March 11 at the Holiday Inn Select located at 1655 N. Central Expressway in Richardson. This event is free and open to the public - there is a charge for lunch - five dollars for IEEE members of $10 for non-IEEE members.

The SMU Southwest Venture Forum is having a meeting at 7 a.m. on March 13 at eh Park Cities Hilton, located at 5954 Luther Lane in Highland Park. Registration at the door is available on a first-come, first-serve basis for $50.00, and is subject to space availability or registration is available online at www.swvf.org.

A panel will be discussing the new terms of seed investing and how they decide to invest in early stage companies. Panel members include John Jaggers of SevinRosen, offering the venture capital perspective; Roland Bandy and Dick Agnich of the Dallas Angels, offering the angel perspective; and David Gerhardt of the Capital Network in Austin, offering a regional perspective on seed-stage investing.

James Sauer, the director of product management of the optical networking group for Cisco Systems will be discussing how advances in optical, silicon and networking technologies can influence the nature of deployed networks - decreasing time to deploy while increasing the and bandwidth of service offered at a luncheon at 11:45 a.m. on March 14 at the Radisson Hotel in Richardson, located at 1981 N. Central Expressway. There is a a $30 for Metroplex Technology Business Council and a $45 for nonmembers. For more information, email rsvp@telecomcorridor.com.

As part of The Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) lecture series Dr. Victoria Rodriguez, vice provost at The University of Texas at Austin, where she also serves as a professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, will talk about the role of women in contemporary Mexican politics. The lecture will be at 2 p.m on March 18 in Room 4.614 of the Jonsson Building.

Rodriguez, who in 2002 was named as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States by Hispanic Business magazine, received the Ohtli Medal, the highest honor granted by the Mexican government outside Mexico. Her career has focused on governance, democratization and political change in Mexico. In addition to numerous articles, she has written two books about women in Mexican politics: "Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life" (1998) and "Women in Contemporary Mexican Politics" (2002).
Rodriguez's lecture is being co-sponsored by the center and UTD's School of Social Sciences.

For more information about Rodriguez's talk or the lecture series, please contact Gabriela Carrera at (972) 883-6401.

The Fort Worth Life Sciences Coalition is having a dessert, jazz and networking event at 8:30 p.m. on March 18 in the Arts 5th Avenue located in 1628 5th Avenue in West Allen, Fort Worth. Robert Gracy, associate vice president of research and biotechnology at The University of North Texas Health Sciences Center will discuss the Governor's Task Force on Biotechnology. There will be a $10 charge at the door. Please make a reservation by calling 817-921-0029.

UTA's College of Engineering will host 250 faculty and students from colleges and universities in Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas for presentations of innovations in engineering education. The conference will take place in the University Center, West 1st and S. West Streets. Registration is required. Contact Raynette Taylor, 817-272-2516 or rrtaylor@uta.edu.

The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council and Winstead Sechrest & Minick PC are hosting a summit on the commercialization of emerging applications of Nano and Bio Technologies in the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor at 7:30 a.m. on March 20 at the LBJ Student Center at Southwest Texas State University campus in San Marcos.

The Summit includes:
" Report of the Governor's Council on Sciences and Biotechnology
" Results of IC2 Institute's regional Nano-Bio Tech inventory
" Nano-Bio Technology Convergence in the Region
" Regional Economic Development and Collaboration
" Technology Commercialization and Technology Transfer
" Lunch Keynote by Dr. Randy Goldsmith (SATAI Network)

To register or for more information, please see www.CorridorNanoBioTech.org

Dr. William May, author of several books including Beleaguered Rulers: The Public Obligation of the Professional and The Physician's Covenant: Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics, will give a presentation entitled "Ethical Leadership in the Post-9/11 Era" at 7 p.m. on March 20 in the in the Cox Banquet Hall of the Dee J. Kelly Alumni and Visitors Center. on the Texas Christian University (TCU) campus

Dr. May founded the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility at Southern Methodist University and is now Maguire Emeritus Professor of Ethics.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 817-257-7104.

The Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington and the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers are co-sponsoring the first international conference in the emerging field of pervasive computing and communications. The conference, PerComm 2003, is scheduled for March 23 - 26 next year in Fort Worth, Texas.

Pervasive computing and communications involve automatic, real-time communications and collaborations among hardwired devices such as mainframe and personal computers and wireless devices such as laptops, PDAs and cell phones. CSE@UTA researchers recently received a $426,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop Pervasive Information Communities Organization (PICO), a software architecture that will create an enhanced Internet framework that is not only unique, simple and versatile, but can also work with current and future hardware/software tools.

Information on the conference is available at http://www.PerCom.org.

The 2003 Transportation Security Administration Conference: Innovative Technologies in Maritime Security will be held from March 24-27 at the Charleston Convention Center in North Charleston, South Carolina

Speakers represent a wide range of senior government officials directly involved with maritime security. Invitations have been extended to:

- Senator Ernest F. Hollings - (D - S. Carolina)
- Admiral James Loy - Under Secretary of Transportation for Security
- Capt. William Schubert - Maritime Administrator
- Director of the Office of Naval Research
- Rear-Admiral Richard Bennis - Associate Under Secretary for Maritime & Land

To register on-line, or access the agenda & other information, go to the NDIA web page at http://register.ndia.org/interview/register.ndia?~Brochure~3290

The West Texas Economic Development Summit will be held at 9 a.m. on March 25 is set for March 25 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, 1501 Sixth Street in Lubbock, Texas..

The day-long seminar features workshops and a chance to register with public sector supplier databases and make contacts to secure subcontracts and prime contracts. A variety of booths featuring regional contractors and agency buyers also will be set up.

Pre-registration deadline is March 7 for businesses or agencies wishing to set up an exhibition booth. The registration fee for state agency representatives is $200; it's $250 for non-state agencies. The fee covers two people. There is a $25 charge for each addition representative. There is a $50 fee for registration after March 7.

Registration for the luncheon only is $10. Admission to workshops and the exhibition is free. For more information, contact Sedeno or Dale Garcia as Texas Tech HUB Operations Office at 806-742-4440 or e-mail bubba.sedeno@ttu.edu.

Texas Tech University's Department of Psychology will host the inaugural Llano Estacado Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference March 28 and 29 in the Student Union Building. The event is open to students in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The deadline for students to turn in their submission forms is Feb. 15.

Nationally renowned scholars will speak on their research during the conference. Participants of the conference will have the opportunity to attend workshops on applying for graduate programs in psychology and learning about various areas within psychology.

Frank Durso, Ph.D., coordinator of the Llano Estacado Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference said students will present their research as well as view others' work. Monetary prizes and plaques will be awarded to students who present top papers in a paper competition. Durso, who also is a professor in the Department of Psychology, said the event will help students to see the contributions they can make to the field of psychology.

Early registration for the conference is $25 per a person and must be submitted by March 1. Late registration costs are $30 and must be submitted by March 25. Registration during the event is $40. Fees for the conference include lunch and dinner. For more information, visit www.psychology.ttu.edu/llano.

Leo Chavez, a leading scholar of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the United States, will give the 2003 George and Mary Foster Distinguished Lecture in Cultural Anthropology sponsored by Southern Methodist University (SMU)'s Department of Anthropology at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 7 room 131 of the Dedman Life Sciences Building, 6501 Airline Road on the SMU campus. This lecture is free and open to the public.

Chavez, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Irvine, will speak on "Cultural Beliefs and Cancer Risk Factors: The Perceptions of Hispanic and Anglo Women and Physicians." Chavez has published widely on various aspects of the immigrant experience, including problems of access to health services and the effects of immigration policy on immigrants. His first book, Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society, focuses on the lives of undocumented workers in southern California. His latest book, Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation, analyzes how popular magazine covers reflect changing attitudes toward immigration since 1965.

The Third Annual Global Wireless Internet Forum 2003 will be held at 7 a.m. on April 8 in the Omni Richardson Hotel. This Conference will cover such topics as the following: wireless data issues; licensing and standards; mobile devices and computer interfaces; integration of wireless technologies and the key issues and challenges; transition from voice to data; wireless software applications; Wi-Fi alternatives; and mobile applications and IP telephony trends.

The Conference will also feature keynote luncheon speaker Mr. Richard S. Siber, from Accenture. Siber has spent the last 17 years in the wireless industry.
For more information on this event, including registration and an agenda, go directly to conference website at http://www.ntgts.org/gwif2003/.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is presenting a nanotechnology presentation entitled "Cells Can Form the Basis for A Quantum Computer" by Konrad Walus from the University of Calgary in Canada at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 19 in Room 101 of the Junkins Engineering Building on the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact jepstein@mail.smu.edu

TechTrends 2003 - Global Gateway for Science and Technology, is the fourth annual regional economic development conference dealing with current and forecasted research and development initiatives and technology thrusts, sponsored by the Congressional delegations from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and will be held Tues-Thurs 22-24 April 2003 at the Wyndham Hotel in Wilmington, Delaware. Exhibitions will be at First USA Riverfront Center.

The international conference is expecting approximately 500 attendees from the technology communities in the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Academia, and Industry. Conference will be held at Wyndham Hotel in Wilmington, Delaware.

If you are interested in speaking at the Conference, create a one page abstract; include suggested topic and appropriate Technology Workshop. Topics include: Biotechnology; Information Technology and Communication; Defense; Manufacturing Technology; Energy and Environmental; Materials and Nanotechnology; Financial Technology; Transportation Submit via email to jstepan@icfconsulting.com

University and industry researchers will gather for a one-day meeting that encourages interaction and dialog among scientists and engineers who are working in the rapidly-developing field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The conference will take place in the University Center, West 1st and S. West Streets. Researchers are invited to submit abstracts for presentation of papers at the workshop. Please visit the TEXMEMS V web site - http://mems.uta.edu/texmemsV.html - for submission information. The deadline is April 8.

The Fourth Joint Meeting of Chinese Physicists Worldwide will be held at in Shanghai and hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tung University. The website is www.ocpa2003.net.