Talk Rekindles Lessons Learned in Tea Fire

Kim Kihlstrom, professor of computer science, examines insights drawn from her experience in November’s Tea Fire and applied to the design of computer systems in a free lecture, “Fire! Applying Lessons Learned in the Tea Fire to Computer Systems,” Thursday, Oct. 8, at 5:30 p.m. at University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.

Kihlstrom, whose home was one of 15 faculty homes destroyed in the blaze, says the fire has changed the way she looks at computer science. “The fire has provided a new source of insight in my work, particularly leading me to look at systems in terms of prevention, detection and containment,” she says.

Fire protection has developed into a sophisticated discipline that includes information from physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering and many other fields. Kihlstrom says she’ll look for insights that flow in the other direction, coming from fire protection and informing computer science, with particular attention to the design and development of intrusion-tolerant systems.

Kihlstrom says the lecture is targeted at a general audience. “Anyone who wants to learn a little more about computer science in a broad and friendly way, and anyone who appreciates analogies, might be interested.”

The lecture is part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things that Matter, a lecture series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation, reaching out and engaging the larger Santa Barbara and Montecito communities.