A Swedish information technology expert with strong ties to the European Community will speak on "E-Learning for Large Numbers of Users" at 1 p.m. Tuesday (May 1). The lecture by Dr. Richard Hsieh, a professor at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology, will be in Tully Auditorium of Thompson Hall.

At the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden's equivalent of MIT, Hsieh is responsible for projects in education and telematics that form the foundation of a new information technology-related university being built in Stockholm.

The new IT Institute is a joint government and industry effort aimed at promoting information technology development throughout the European Union.

Telematics is the integration of information technology and telecommunication technology with an application area such as automotive navigation systems, online health systems, or online education systems.

Hsieh also is extensively involved in business development in the information technology industry within the European Community and throughout the world. He works part time with the European Commission Directorate-General on industry legislation and standardization for telematics networks and systems.

Hsieh (pronounced "She") is an IT consultant to the government of Belgium, working to promote Swedish business interests there. He is coordinator for Northern Europe of an information technology-related project involving about 200 small and medium-sized independent enterprises.

Hsieh has published about 90 papers and edited 10 books concerning telematics in education, materials physics, and science-industry partnerships. He is on the editorial board of Technical Management and other journals. He is editor-in-chief of two scientific series on applied mechanics and applied electromagnetics in materials.

He has been a guest professor at the University of Paris and Tokyo University, among others, and has lectured at about 40 universities, including MIT, Stanford and Princeton.

Government partnership with the IT industry has helped Swedish companies become leaders in Europe and the world in telecommunications and related industries. Ericsson Telephone Co., a manufacturer of wired and mobile communications systems for networks, is among the best known in the United States.

Hsieh is a technical consultant to several large corporations, including ABB, a diversified international firm based in Zurich, and SKF of Sweden, a manufacturing and engineering firm.

From 1990 to 1995, he was director of the science sector for UNESCO in Paris and initiated the Science-Industry Partnership program. He was responsible for UNESCO relations with the United States, Mexico, and the former Soviet Union, and was the main negotiator with Fiat, BP, Dupont, and Toyota.

Hsieh, a Swedish citizen, was born in Shanghai and grew up in France and Belgium. He holds doctoral degrees in physics and mechanics.