Palo Alto High School students learn 'you can do anything' at IBM Research - Almaden

Karen Camacho, a junior at Palo Alto's Gunn High School, may not have known that during her trip to IBM Research - Almaden she would learn how the next generation of batteries is going to be made, discover the secrets behind Watson, and take a trip into Second Life with a Portuguese-speaking researcher. But she, along with 26 of her classmates, were lucky enough to do just that during a visit supported by Gunn's College Pathways Program.

Monica Espinoza, Guidance Counselor and Program Coordinator at Gunn High School was instrumental in developing the College Pathways Program stemming from the district's goal to implement a district-school-community partnership designed to help increase the number of underrepresented students who are college-ready upon high school graduation. The program, which focuses on the students as well as the parents, affords students the chance to understand opportunities and responsibilities inherent in a college education, learn the pathways to college, and prepare for the college admissions process.

One of Monica's students in the program, Abel Abraha, wanted to see what it was like at companies also. Seeing colleges was interesting, but it still represented to the students the next phase of education; what would happen next? What would they do with their college degrees? What is the real working world like?

So Monica, with invaluable strategic and operational support from outstanding community volunteers from Gunn High School and Palo Alto, implemented the Silicon Valley Company Field Trip into the College Pathways Program to encourage students to develop a vision of themselves beyond the immediate future. In participating in these field trips, the students would experience first-class professional environments and gain awareness of education and professional paths leading to diverse careers in various industries. During the Silicon Valley Company Field Trip's inaugural year, the students visited a Bay Area biotechnology company and IBM Research - Almaden.

"Making a difference that matters in students' lives is a community responsibility," said Michelle Sung, IBM business operations manager and main organizer for the Gunn High School visit. "We hope that we're able to open these students' minds and help expand their visions beyond the classrooms, by showcasing a word-class research lab, and cool technologies with societal impact. If we can make a positive impact on one student's life, we can say that we've succeeded."

During the visit to Almaden, the students visited with and heard from a dedicated group of IBMers from all different backgrounds - from researchers and public relations professionals to scientists, chemists and lawyers - all of whom effectively conveyed to the students that there is something for everyone in technical companies such as IBM. Several of them advised the students to try different things and find what clicks, reminding them that though they might not know what the future holds yet, "just be the best you can - now, and in college - keep your grades up, be passionate, and you'll figure it out."

One presentation showed the students how the Deep QA System Watson works and how a machine was designed to beat the world's best Jeopardy! champions. When the students had a chance to play a mock game of Jeopardy! against Watson, they got a kick out of the category "Who's Your Daddy?" - but more importantly, learned that technologies such as this will have a huge impact on their lives in the future.

Throughout the additional presentations and lab tours, the students had a chance to see all types of people of different backgrounds and ages, which enabled the students to establish connections, and help them to realize they could be in these positions someday. Following a roundtable discussion at lunch with various IBMers, the students walked away motivated by what they heard. "We could connect very well with the speakers. It really inspired me to know that you could come out from any background and actually achieve something great," Karen said. "I really liked the advice that the speakers gave."

Lizbeth Aldaco echoed Karen's sentiments. "I liked that we could connect, and that they had struggles in their life and they still made it through," Lizbeth said. "Everybody has struggles, but they still made it here and they're making a difference."

"I think this opened my eyes up to different opportunities. It opened up more doors. I want to do something different now," said Wil Loveless. His classmate Soulemayne Sarr enjoyed hearing about each of the panelists' backgrounds and education. "They weren't just talking about jobs," he said. "It might sound corny, but they said 'you can do anything.' And that's what really stuck with me."

IBM Emeritus Jean Paul Jacob, a volunteer for the event with a great track record of participating in student events said, "Diversity, like interdisciplinarity, feeds innovation. What we saw with this group of high schoolers was a process which is working well and I felt that all of us at Almaden were catalystic agents, accelerating, motivating and facilitating the development of these students." He continued, "That is why I welcomed the invitation to keynote and, at the same time, from the students questions and remarks, learn that next generations have lots to offer, faster than previous ones."

Volunteer Alvaro Padilla also emphasized the importance of motivation as a factor in impacting these students' lives. "I think that motivation is a challenge for any student, but especially for those who lack the support or resources that are deemed as necessary to pursue - and eventually attain - a college degree," he said.

"I agreed to participate in this event because I think that it is important to inform all students, including those who have been historically under-represented in our undergraduate institutions, about the importance of an education, and how it leads to an enriched life - I know this from personal experience."

By engaging the students in these learning experiences, Gunn High School's leadership - and Monica - hope to inspire and prepare students, reminding them that high school is the beginning of an exciting journey; there are endless possibilities; and there are opportunities to impact the world in transformative ways. It turned out that visiting IBM Research - Almaden helped the students see a true representation of that.

"I hope that the messages they heard from each of the speakers resonated loud and clear -- college opens doors, education is invaluable, stay in school, study hard, then you can be anything you want to be," Michelle said.

More photos can be viewed here.

SJSU Outstanding Thesis Award Winner: "I knew in my heart that education was going to change my life"

When Hector Nuno moved from Mexico to the United States in 1991, he was 15 years old and didn't speak a word of English. He grew up in a home where work was the priority and education wasn't part of the equation.

And now, 20 years later, through commitment, perseverance and the dedicated mentorship of researchers from IBM, Hector Nuno is graduating with a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering as one of the top four students in the whole university. During the San Jose State commencement ceremony later this month, President David Kassing will honor him for earning the 2011 Outstanding Thesis Award in recognition of the exceptional quality of his research.

As a sophomore at Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose, having just arrived to a new country, Hector was unsure of what he wanted to be when he grew up. "Unfortunately, education was not a priority in my house," Hector said. "Even in high school, the teachers had low expectations for Latino students and didn't motivate me to go to college." His decision to attend Evergreen Valley Community College came from encouragement from his friends. "I played soccer and my friends thought I might be able to play in college. I enrolled, and did well, got good grades," he says."The teachers there motivated me."

Hector then transferred to San Jose State University and majored in biochemistry. Realizing that the mathematical concepts were easy, he became interested in engineering. "I was doing better in my math and physics classes than in my science courses," he said. "So I decided to get my Master's degree in chemical engineering."

San Jose State runs a university relations program with IBM Research - Almaden, in which San Jose State advisors and faculty seek out students that would be well suited for research programs. Dr. Melanie McNeil of San Jose State's Engineering Department reached out to Hector and informed him of the opportunity to learn more about the industry and to apply his skills in real-world projects. After meeting with IBM researcher Joseph Sly, and learning of all the different projects he was running at Almaden, Hector agreed to join IBM Research - Almaden through the university program and start working on one of the projects.

"We go through a competitive process of interviewing and reviewing resumes," Joseph said. "We are really looking for passion. This was the case with Hector. He was passionate, but, as in many cases, he didn't yet have the scientific direction."

And during the time that Hector worked at IBM Research, he figured it out. Many times, working seven days a week, and long hours, Hector sacrificed much of his personal life to focus on his research projects and develop his thesis. "Hector showed up on some days with reports, and a lot of times, I was like 'how did you do this'?" Joseph recalls. "Hector would reply, 'I skipped game night, or I took part of my family Sunday out.' He was just that kind of guy."

But the experience wasn't always just about the work. "I have a lot of great memories," Hector said. "I remember all the good times I had with the other SJSU students in the lab, and all the jokes and the laughs." Hector goes on, "I remember Victor Lee (IBM Research mentor) in the lab; it was amazing how he could transform the lab hood into a colorful assembly of chemical reactions. He would use fire, ice and colorful solutions to synthesize star polymers."

"Some of the best memories were working with Joseph. We would go over our weekly results and he would modify the presentations in a way that seemed to be a combination of work and art."

Hector also got a kick out of interactions with the team's manager, Bob Miller. "During weekly group meetings, Bob would catch the smallest mistakes in graphs and images, and nobody could see them but him," he said. "It was funny and most important it was very insightful."

Joseph Sly recalls Hector presenting his work at a national conference. "His whole family came in and sat in the back," he says. "They might not have known all of the scientific terms he was explaining, but he was speaking to a large room full of older men, mostly white, who were all taking notes on his work. It was really neat to see and you could tell they were proud."

When Hector is honored at San Jose State's commencement ceremony on May 28 in front of 25,000 people for his outstanding thesis, he hopes to make an impression on his family, especially the younger children, and for the entire Latino community, each of which inspired him to go to college. "I knew the numbers of Latino students reaching college was very low," he said. "I figured that if I could graduate from college, then Latino students could see in me a role model. That way they could follow my footsteps and believe it is possible to reach their goals."

Hector plans to work in the industry for a few years, and excel into a management level position. Eventually, he would like to teach at a high school and motivate students to pursue higher education. "The experience I had in high school made me think about all the students that are going through the same thing," says Hector. "I'm hoping that I can have the tools to motivate the students and find the means to persuade them to go to college." Hector is currently a mentor and volunteer for the California Community Partners for Youth organization.

"You know, coming to a foreign country as a kid and not speaking a word of English, I was totally lost," Hector said. "However, I knew in my heart that education was going to change my life."

In the video below, Joseph Sly shared some background on the program and some sentiments about Hector, including a message he recalls Hector telling the kids in his family: "You can do it because Hector did it."



Author's note:

The San Jose State University partnership with IBM Research - Almaden has been a very successful program, so far bringing on three students for full-time research positions. Jacquana Diep, Teddie Magbitang and Melia Tjio have all taken jobs with IBM Research - Almaden after completing their internship programs as San Jose State students.

Just last month, another San Jose State student intern at IBM Research - Almaden, Jay Yamanaga, won the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering Award for Outstanding Graduate Student. And on May 4th, he was awarded the Davidson College of Engineering Award for Graduate Student Performance. Each year, only one student is acknowledged by these awards. Jay Yamanaga’s outstanding achievement is an excellent example and successful demonstration of the joint program between San Jose State University and IBM.

For Hector's thesis, “Functionalized Silica Nanostructures for Biosensing Application,” he studied the physical and chemical processes of star polymers in order to create a silica shell encasing that makes further testing of biomedical applications possible.

IBM100: Communications Impressions from San Jose Research in 1983 to the Almaden Research Center in 1992

In the summer of 1983, I came to San Jose Research with a fresh Ph.D. and 7 years of experience on Corporate Communications staffs in Armonk, the most recent of which had been working with the press. I was excited by the prospect of being able to advance the interests of the lab and to let the world know of the lab's achievements. It was an exhilarating time, and we were thrilled to be supporting such outstanding scientific and technological work. The lab was most receptive to new communications projects and products, and lab directors Don Rosenheim, Frank Mayadas and Juri Matisoo each lent their full support.

We were off and running! In addition to the traditional employee communications products and services, such as bulletin board notices, the Speak Up! program, the Charitable Contributions Campaign materials, etc., we moved with the special support of Joe Galletto, then manager of Administration and Technical Services, to further expand communications offerings. A 26-page color brochure, a first for the San Jose Research Lab, was published, a predecessor to what would come later at Almaden. Jon Iwata, Judy Gan, and later, Mike Ross, joined the communications team, to be followed by a number of other communications professionals over time. We worked closely with graphic designer Jean Chen of Administrative Services to develop additional supporting materials for the opening of the Almaden Research Center in May 1986. Top flight science and technology innovations found voice in press releases, audio news releases, video news releases, press conferences, press inquiries, media visits, post cards, calendars, articles about Almaden in the Research Division magazine, and an all new 26-page full-color brochure celebrated the Almaden opening.

Following that opening, the award-winning employee quarterly Almaden Views, featuring stunning photography, content, and design, and edited by Jon Iwata, was introduced. It found an appreciative audience. Two years later, an all-new and expanded 32-page color brochure featuring the lab's science, technology and the work of its support staffs joined the family of Almaden publications. Our efforts drew recognition from numerous industry organizations external to IBM, and our communications products and publications were recognized by more than 30 awards. We were thrilled to fill the awards cabinet along Main Street at Almaden with recognition plaques, mementos, and prizes! All this while we were relishing the opportunity to bring the word about Almaden's stunning scientific and technical achievements to the outside world.

Reminiscences from San Jose Research and Almaden in the 80s are rich indeed!

Kay Keeshen
Communications and Community Relations Manager, 1983-1992

IBM100: Memories of Benoit Mandelbrot, by Michael Frame

An early cosmology placed the earth on the backs of four elephants, 
all standing on a turtle. The question, "On what did the turtle
 stand?" always was answered, "It's turtles all the way down." Calculus 
and all of 19th century analysis worked because the functions studied
 are more closely approximated by their tangent lines the more closely we 
look. When we zoom in, the curves appear simpler. By the start of the 
20th century, mathematicians knew some examples where this was false,
 but these were regarded as monsters. Benoit Mandelbrot recognized the
 mathematics of these monsters described much of nature, and expanded 
this idea into fractal geometry. Very often, nature does not get simpler
 under magnification; Benoit gave us a way to quantify the fact that
 it's complicated all the way down.



Benoit's geometric intuition was remarkable. Although he never learned 
to program computers, he understood their workings well enough to keep
 busy several programmers at IBM and at Yale. Studying the graphical
 output led him to remarkable discoveries: the Mandelbrot set, of course,
 but also multifractals, dimension as a measure of roughness, distributions
 of signal errors, realistic models of financial data, and on and on. Much
 of this work was done at IBM, which provided Benoit with then uncommon 
computing resources, and the freedom to follow his imagination. Almost 
all areas of contemporary science and art bear the imprint of Benoit's vision.

 I worked with Benoit for 20 years. Although I'll never understand why 
he brought me into his world, being there did give me a close view of
 how he thought. Because he believed that history is more about stories 
than large themes, and also because others have written about these 
large themes, I'll tell a few stories about working with Benoit. Any
 conclusions are yours to draw.



The first collaboration Benoit suggested involved binary fractal trees: 
each branch splits into two, at a fixed angle from the previous branch, 
and scaled by a constant factor. Benoit was interested in trees for
 which the left and right branches just touched. He showed me some
 fairly complicated formulas relating the angle and scaling factor, and
 asked if I could find a derivation. Several days of messy algebra
 gave the result. Benoit understood my approach almost immediately, but
 when I asked how he got the formulas, he said he could "see the geometry. "
This was fascinating, and more than a little unsettling.



Our next project involved the distributions of gaps in fractals. This
 collaboration convinced each of us we wanted to continue working with the
 other. Benoit described the problem, and how he thought the answer would
 look. I went to work on the calculations, harder this time, but got 
the answer and found it was the opposite of what Benoit had expected. 
In all our interactions, Benoit had been very kind, gentle almost. Yet
 I'd heard stories of a terrible arrogance, so I was nervous showing him 
the results. Again Benoit got the point very quickly, grinned broadly,
 and said, "Marvelous! This problem is more interesting than I'd expected. "
I saw he was a scientist, interested in what's correct, not in validating
 any preconceptions. I could work with such a person. Years later Benoit 
told me (couched in a story about Diogenes and his lamp - Benoit's 
conversations were filled with footnotes to footnotes to footnotes, hmmm, 
a habit I seem to have picked up from him) that he decided he could work
 with me because I was willing to disagree with him and explain my
 reasoning. At this point, we were comfortable working together. This
 comfort persisted right up to the end.



We worked on many other projects together, though mostly related to 
teaching fractals. I am not a talented programmer, so most scientific
 investigations were carried out with others. I remember Henry Kaufman
 working with Benoit on statistics of very large DLA clusters, pushing
 the limits of the IBM computers he was using. Often by seeing something 
unexpected in the graphs, Benoit suggested parts of the algorithm he and
 Henry should revisit. Again, pretty scary, at least to me.

 Benoit supported all my teaching efforts at Yale. He and I got an NSF
 grant to run summer teacher training workshops. In this we were 
helped by Nial Neger, a retired high school math teacher recruited by
 Benoit for this purpose.

Benoit and I coedited a book on fractals and 
education, wrote a paper on negative dimensions, started another paper
 on that topic, started a book, Fractal Gems, for the Mathematical
 Association of America, started a book on multifractals. Then Benoit
 got distracted by working on his memoirs, and then he died. This was
 completely numbing. I'm a cancer patient, too, and he was supposed to
 outlive me. Mandelbrot in a world without Frame makes much more sense 
than Frame in a world without Mandelbrot.



The projects we began won't be finished. I have no idea how to continue 
them without his guidance. I am helping Aliette Mandelbrot, Benoit's
 widow, and his assistant Merry Morse finish Benoit's memoirs, but beyond
 that, I don't know.



The most fun I had with Benoit happened when one of us, usually him,
 got an idea for a new direction to explore. Then I saw his mind working
 at full speed, at least as full speed as could be managed with the
 requirement of speech. We were playing. The same image keeps coming 
back to my mind. We were little kids, running through an open field 
under a blue sky, curious about every single thing we saw, anxious to 
share each surprise with the other. That never again will I answer the
 phone and hear, "Hello, Michael. This is Benoit. I was wondering ... "
is soul-crushingly sad. A treasured friend is gone. The architect of 
a scientific revolution has departed.



Still, sorrow is tempered by my memories of twenty years of these
 explorations together. Working at IBM nourished the imagination of 
this remarkable man. For that, I am profoundly grateful.

Michael Frame is a Yale University professor, who worked alongside Benoit Mandelbrot for over 20 years.

Almaden's 2011 Master Inventors

Each year, IBM selects a new field of Master Inventors as one way of recognizing IBMers who have mastered the patent process, provided broad mentoring, added value to IBM's portfolio, and demonstrated sustained innovation leadership and service. Once selected, a Master Inventor is expected to apply his or her mastery of patent knowledge by actively serving as a:

*leader in the invention community
*mentor to a broad community of inventors
*resource to Intellectual Property Legal office

This year, IBM Research has named forty-one Master Inventors from its global community of researchers, including five from IBM Research - Almaden. Bin He, Research Scientist in Computer Science, Guy Lohman, Mgr., Disruptive Information Management Architectures also in Almaden's Computer Science Department and Ho-Cheol Kim, Research Scientist, Materials Science, shared some thoughts about their motivations, their inspirations, and their hopes to encourage others to invent.

Why do you think other IBMers should pursue their inventions to fruition? How do you hope to inspire them?

GL: Having visited the Smithsonian Museum as a kid, I saw all these miniature prototypes submitted by inventors. I made it one of my personal goals to someday have a patent. Little did I realize then that working at IBM would make it relatively easy to have many of them! Getting patents seems to me like a natural extension of research, much as papers in the refereed literature and products. It's a way of letting the world know what you have done, part of your resume, and also benefits the company.

BH: I believe for every difficulty we encounter in the project and development, there is an opportunity for inventions. It is critical to observe those difficulties and think deeper.

HCK: As you never know which one turns out good (well....like a box of chocolates). Keep thinking.

What's been one of the most memorable moments of your IBM career?

GL: Probably being elected to the IBM Academy of Technology, a very great honor and opportunity to join the top 300 technologists in IBM. Also, receiving a Corporate Award for my invention and development of the SQL query optimizer for DB2 on Linux, UNIX, and Windows. Both earned me a trip to CTRE, which were great treats for my wife, as well as myself.

BH: I am very excited when my research effort and projects are eventually taken by IBM service and product divisions.

HCK: Being a master inventor!

What are some unexpected or interesting jobs you've had outside of IBM?

GL: Right out of high school, before my freshman year in college, I landed a job in the mailroom of Service Bureau Corp., then a subsidiary of IBM, in downtown San Jose. Shortly afterwards, they asked me if I'd like to operate computers on the graveyard shift (zzzzz!), and I said, "Of course!" I started feeding punched cards to an IBM 1620, but the next summer graduated to the new IBM 360s. We ran large batch jobs that were testing the S/360 operating system to support a "massive" workload of 40 (!!) concurrent terminals, using one 360/40 to simulate 40 users -- wow! We could tell when things got in an infinite loop by watching the pattern of blinking lights on the console, then would walk through the loop by pushing a "single-instruction step" button and writing down the instruction address shown in the lights. I learned a LOT!

Before coming to IBM, I worked for 5+ years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena during the years of the Voyager spacecraft's fly-bys of the outer planets, and shortly after the Viking spacecraft landed on Mars. I was working on lowering the costs of photovoltaics (without much success), but it was so exciting to witness first-hand the development of spacecraft and the amazing science that Voyager enabled. I still remember the electric atmosphere at JPL the day that an image analyst discovered volcanoes on Io, the innermost of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. One respected astrophysicist told me that that discovery would force science to "rewrite the textbooks about the solar system"!

BH: When I was in Peking University, I was a columnist for several famous computer magazines in China. In graduate school, I once took a detective role - I used my knowledge in computer science to help my friend to find a bad guy who tries to ruin my friend's fame with online identity fraud. Now, I am a volunteer for SOAR foundation, a nonprofit organization to provide scholarships to those impoverished children in rural areas across China.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? What or who drove you to where you are now?

GL: I knew I wanted to be a scientist, and dreamed of being an astronaut, so getting that job at JPL in a way fulfilled my childhood dream of working for NASA. My father was my inspiration, as he was an electrical engineer at a small start-up called "IBM." He constantly challenged me and encouraged my curiosity about how things ticked and my love for the structure and elegance of mathematics.

BH: When I was a kid, I was crazy about writing all kinds of strange but fun computer programs. After I joined graduate school, I realized that research is more interesting and influential, and that is why I joined IBM Research.

HCK: I wanted to be a scientist. Curiosity was the driving force.

What are some of your hobbies?

GL: I love photography, skiing, bicycling, home improvement, and gardening. I belong to a wine co-op that buys grapes on the open market and does all the rest to make red wine (white wine needs more specialized cooling equipment), which we store in the basement of our chief winemaker's business on The Alameda .

BH: I enjoy reading books and articles, writing blogs and poems.

HCK: Hiking, Reading, Bird Watching (with my daughter), Golf

Jeff Kreulen, Senior Manager, Services Science was also awarded a Corporate Technical Achievement Award for his work on the Business Insights Workbench (Outstanding). Renu Tewari, Manager, Distributed Storage Systems, received recognition for Scientific Advances in the Field of Content Distribution Networks. Corporate awards were presented during an all-hands meeting at IBM Research - Almaden on Tuesday, May 3.

Today, IBM also announced its eight new Fellows - the highest technical award given in the company for breakthrough technical achievements. Watson's chief scientist, Dave Ferrucci, was one of them.

Almaden researcher named United Way Star of the Day

IBM Research Distinguished Engineer and Senior Manager, Advanced Storage Subsystems, KK Rao was recently named "United Way Star of the Day" for his volunteer work with the Earn it! Keep it! Save it! program. The Star of the Day program recognizes the Silicon Valley's most dedicated volunteers.



North San Jose IBM Site Executive and Director, STG Services, Ed Ng, also earned the honor in April. Ed serves on United Way's Board as its Secretary and is an active member of its Campaign Cabinet.

Last year, the Earn it! Keep it! Save it! program also afforded IBM the United Way Corporate Volunteer Award for its efforts to promote a culture of volunteerism to its employees.

IBM is a major supporter of United Way Silicon Valley's "Earn it! Keep it! Save it!" program, which connects workers with low-incomes to free tax preparation services. The program helps these workers secure tax credits that significantly boost their incomes. This year, IBM made a $113,000 in-kind donation of PCs and laptops to support the more than 25 tax preparation locations.

Many IBM employees spend nearly three months volunteering for the program, helping local people with their tax returns. Preliminary results from the IRS show that $5.7 million was refunded to local families and individuals, thanks to services provided at these free tax preparation sites.

IBM's corporate responsibility strategy combines busniess and societal value for IBM and its key stakeholders: clients, shareholders, employees, and communities. The company has been a longtime supporter of United Way Silicon Valley.