Krishna Palem, the Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computer Science and Director of RUCCAM, said solving big problems remains high on his radar, but he has realized the need for a new approach to high-performance computing.
To explain, he uses the example of collecting virtual creatures in one of the hottest games of the summer, Pokémon GO. “A player might spend a lot of time calculating an exact, best possible route to amass the most Pokémon, but most people prefer playing the game to planning it. They choose a ‘good enough’ route that might be less effective, but provides immediate satisfaction.” This concept, also known as satisficing, was first introduced in 1956 by Nobel prize laureate Herbert A. Simon.
Read more in csprofiles.rice.edu.