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U New Brunswick Looks To Advance Learning Technologies Through Collaboration with Cisco
The University of New Brunswick is establishing a new Cisco Chair in Advanced Learning Technologies to promote, support, and lead innovation at the university through industry-linked projects. The position was made possible by a $2 million endowment from Cisco Canada. The Chair will guide the university's applied technology research and innovation as it relates to advanced learning, government cooperation, and community outreach. One of the first goals of the Chair is to find new ways to deliver education and training to remote communities through the use of high-definition video and cloud computing infrastructure.
UNB is also establishing a new project to help engineering students develop energy-efficient processes for the manufacturing industry. The Green Remote Automation and Monitoring for Manufacturing (GRAMM) project will develop technology infrastructure for process monitoring and information management, as well as analytical tools to optimize power management, so companies will be able to reduce power consumption while improving production rates, process performance, and quality. Cisco Canada provided approximately $350,000 worth of hardware and cash to the project, including two Cisco TelePresence 500 System solutions, so graduate students participating in the project will be able to take courses and interact with professors from anywhere, and also remotely observe and monitor experiments in real time. The GRAMM project will also use the CANARIE Network, which connects approximately 40,000 researchers at 200 Canadian universities and colleges for the purpose of sharing and analyzing data.
"Effective partnerships are critical to the production of research and to the support of development activities," said UNB President Eddy Campbell. "Collaborations, such as this with Cisco, enhance the reputation of UNB programs and drive the continued success of our students. With this collaboration, we are reinforcing our commitment to being one of the country's premier institutions for innovation in technology."
UNB serves more than 11,000 students from more than 100 countries and has main campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the largest research institution in New Brunswick and conducts approximately 80 percent of the province's university research. UNB was established in 1785 and is one of the oldest public universities in North America.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].
