Tulane Magazine March 2017

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TUlane C O N T E N T S Innovation Within A robot programmed at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Florida, processes bytes of data faster and faster. (See page 20.)

2 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Tradition of innovation

PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO

6 NEWS Immigration issues • DesignIntelligence ranks Architecture No. 14 • In That Number • Who Dat? Sandra Karp • Engineers in Ecuador • UNICEF Report • The Blue Dog • Resiliency along the Gulf • In Your Own Words: Madina Papadopoulos

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Raising Consciousness Some scientists reject consciousness study outright, arguing that there is no mystery to consciousness—the brain creates the mind, end of story. To explore consciousness is to invite scientifically unprovable concepts such as higher powers, miracles and intelligent design. But philosophers say, wait a minute, there is much more to discover about how we understand and experience the world. By Faith Dawson

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Amped Up Computer scientists are in the thick of the hot field of artificial intelligence. They touch

13 SPORTS Baseball coach Travis Jewett • Rugby 30 TULANIANS Jonathan LaMare • Clubs worldwide • Keith Dorman • Howard F. Marx • Alumni Awards 31 WHERE Y'AT! Class notes

lives in all kinds of ways from programming ethics into self-driving cars to interpreting

37 FAREWELL Tribute: Irwin Isaacson Jr.

how the brain reads sounds. By Leslie Cardé

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Tech-Savvy Hero Forever famous in New Orleans Saints’ lore, Steve Gleason (B ’11) never backs down from a challenge, not even a diagnosis of ALS. He now strives to find and develop new technologies to live life fully. By Carolyn Scofield

38 WAVEMAKERS Presidential chairs • Tulane Fund for Undergraduate Education 40 NEW ORLEANS Artillery on display

T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E M A R C H 2 0 17

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