Profile: Pablo G. Molina

Computerworld -

30-second biography: A native of Madrid and an American by choice, Molina has been the CIO at the Georgetown University Law Center campus since October 2000. Prior to that, he worked as director of IT at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, lecturer and director of information systems at the Washington University in Saint Louis School of Law, and a senior lecturer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis' business school. Before his career in academia, he was MIS manager at the Saint Louis Zoo. Prior to that, he created and managed a technology company in Madrid, where he also served as editor in chief of computer magazines, wrote several books on technology and taught IT at the Escuela de Hacienda Publica. He regularly speaks at conferences on the topic of technology in law and higher education.

Current project: "The Georgetown University Law Center has recorded class lectures for the last 20 years using cassette deck tapes. Using audio and video encoding, podcasting and streaming technologies, paired with advanced dynamic Web applications and information security devices, we have pioneered a system to automate the simultaneous recording of 40 classrooms in high-quality digital format. Classroom microphones, fiber-optic wiring, high-speed switches and high-capacity storage systems complete a world-class system for digital recording of classes and events."

Who in the technology industry most influenced your career? "Steve Jobs, whose spirit of innovation, risk taking and forward thinking continues to amaze millions of people every year. His contributions to PCs, graphical user interfaces, humanized mobile devices and other technology developments remind us that it is our duty to help the communities we serve and the world derive the most benefits from technology."

The technology you can't live without: "Mobile device e-mail, blogs, podcasts, webcasts, and my daily dose of humor and sanity from Internet videos."

The best thing about today's technology: "Finally, most new technologies work, and work well, most of the time."

The worst thing about today's technology: "Technology must become more intuitive, more functional, easier to use, less burdensome to maintain and more reliable."

Technology can …"Educate the world."

Book most recently on your nightstand: Globalization, Poverty and Inequality, by Raphael Kaplinsky

What sets you apart? "Innovation is not a simple process, but a spirit or frame of mind for finding new technologies and using them in new ways. True innovators attract new ideas and creative thinkers and shake them until novel approaches and solutions to problems flourish. Inmy short tenure at Georgetown, I have had the pleasure of leading the community in pioneering electronic commerce, wireless networks, voice-over-IP communications, webcasts, podcasts and social networks in higher education."

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