Dr. Peter Heath, Chancellor of American University of Sharjah opened at AUS today, the International Conference on Computer Systems and Industrial Informatics (ICCSII). The two-day conference focuses on latest development in computing, networking and software and their synergetic integration to solve practical industrial problems and explore theoretical engineering venues.

In his opening address, AUS Chancellor Dr. Heath welcomed the guests on behalf of AUS Founder and President, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qassimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. "During the past decade and a half, we have focused on providing leading-edge technology to support His Highness's vision for teaching, learning and research," said Dr. Heath.

In a statement after the conference, Dr. Heath also said, "AUS runs a robust wired and wireless network infrastructure that helps us connect with the region's economic, cultural and industrial sectors, while also supporting our community at home in the student dorms and faculty housing. Over the past few years, our IT Department has adopted power-efficient technology, such as blade servers, to reduce AUS's environmental footprint."

Also present at the opening were Salem Al Qaseer, AUS Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs; Dr. Yousuf Al-Assaf, Dean of the College of Engineering (CEN); and faculty members from the College of Engineering.

Organized by the CEN Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the opening ceremony included addresses by keynote speakers Professor Mounir Hamdi, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Dr. Sarma Vrudhula, Arizona State University, who highlighted the recent development and future trends in cloud computing and multicore computing emphasizing energy dimension and energy sustainability.

Over the next two days, the conference will see researchers from 23 countries converging to discuss recent research activities in computer systems and their industrial applications. Topics that will be discussed during the conference include information and communication technology; industrial informatics for renewable energy; industrial and computer networks; embedded systems; medical informatics; robotics and intelligent systems; software engineering for industrial applications; information, systems and networks security; smart sensors and structural monitoring; cloud and grid computing; and human machine interaction, to name a few.