Being computer literate is a must, with computer technologies stretching from hurricane pattern prediction to rocket engine hearts, a visiting NASA administrator said in his presentation Monday.

John Ziebarth, deputy chief of NASA advanced super computing division, spoke on “NASA Technology and Education.”

He said his division at the NASA Ames Research Center in California, which supports computer science and computational technology, does research and development in the field of internal fluid dynamics, which is important in biotechnology as well as aeronautics.

A team from his division was responsible for the redesign of a temporary heart for patients in need of a heart transplant, Ziebarth said.

The temporary heart is basically a “rocket engine device,” he said, and it allows the heart patient to stay active while waiting for a donor heart.

He said the longest a patient has used the device was more than 120 days.

His division also has developed a new type of computer architecture that has been used to produce a high-resolution, moving picture that accurately predicted the movements of Hurricane Floyd, he said.

The division is continually looking for ways to improve technology, asking questions such as, “How do we network into deep space?” and “How do we make devices more compact?” Ziebarth said.

“We are still trying to find ways to compute faster,” he said.

Ziebarth also discussed technology’s relationship to education, noting that the undergraduate level is the most lacking in computer science education.

He said he has worked in successful programs such as the Aspire program, Adventures in Super computing and others implemented to get to computation into the science curriculum at high schools.

Kindergarten through 12th grade and graduate programs are more advanced with regards to computation education, but “undergraduates have always been a harder nut to crack,” he said.

He attributed the problem to money limitations, difficulties in finding qualified staff and already overly-extensive undergraduate requirements.

Experience with computer science has become a necessity in almost every field of study imaginable, Ziebarth said.

“Teachers go to school systems where everything’s wired and need training because they didn’t know how to use (the computer system),” he said. “We have to find a way to integrate that information into undergraduate programs.”