News 09-18-2001
Berkeley Professor, Students, Create Web Site to Check Terror Victims
A University of California, Berkeley, professor and two of her computer science
students created a Web site last week to help the public check the safety of
loved ones following the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington,
D.C. The site, hosted from Berkeley's Millennium Cluster high-performance computing
center, pulls information from seven different databases on the status of people
reported as safe or missing in the attack. It allows the public to search those
databases from the site and to report if someone is safe. Links to over 30 survivor
registries, as well as company hotlines and emergency relief sites are also
provided. The site was created by graduate students Miriam Walker and Ka-Ping
Yee working with Jennifer Mankoff, an assistant professor in U.C. Berkeley's
electrical engineering and computer science department.
For more information, visit http://safe.millennium.berkeley.edu.
Wharton Establishes $10 Million Learning Lab
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania last week announced the
creation of the Alfred West Jr. Learning Lab, a development center and laboratory
to explore new approaches to learning. Funded with a $10-million gift from SEI
Investments Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Alfred P. West, Jr., the
lab will draw on faculty and private sector executives to produce technology-enhanced
course materials and research on learning for universities, as well as for commercial
and government training programs. Examples of tools under development at Wharton
include CyberExchange, a real-time, interactive case discussion application;
"Fare Game," a multiuser business case simulator; and the Virtual
Auction Simulation Engine (VASE) provides students with a firsthand experience
of what it's like to compete in an online auction.
For more information, visit http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/learning.
University of Alabama at Birmingham to Secure Online Processes
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is running a pilot program to test
the use of digital certificates to secure transactions involving its faculty,
staff, and students from its six academic and six health related schools. The
pilot, which will use TrustID digitial identity software from Digital Signature
Trust Corp., will test applications including human resources, grants administration,
and access control. The university was also picked to participate in a National
Institutes of Health program to enable electronic signing of NIH grant applications
using TrustID certificates. Clair Goldsmith, PhD, vice president for information
technology at UAB, said building a public key infrastructure using digital certificates
was a key strategy in the university's goal "to give everyone throughout
our diverse and demanding population an appropriate vehicle to access all the
information they need."
For more information, visit http://www.trustDST.com.
Bates College Relaunches Site with Collaborative Publishing System
Lewiston, Maine-based Bates College relaunched its web site www.bates.edu>
using a XML publishing system that lets diverse campus constituencies -- both
technical and non-technical -- publish content while maintaining a common site
look and feel. The software is Ingeniux Corp.'s XPower 2.0, a content management
and publishing system for which the Bates web site is a "prototypical"
higher education application, said the company. The software, which is available
on Unix and Windows, will help the college "keep our our complex Web site
both interesting and manageable, as well as potentially reduce costs,'' said
Gene Wiemers, associate vice president for academic affairs at Bates College.
George Mason University Completes Advanced Network Tests
The Advanced Internet Lab at George Mason University said last week it completed
a round of software testing that eventually make it easier for network carriers
to provision virtual private networks (VPN) more efficiently. VPNs are considered
key to carriers' providing advanced services over next-generation Internet networks.
The code tests were conducted for Multi-Protocal Label Switching (MPLS) and
focused on demonstrating vendor interoperability with several network protocols
associated with VPN services.
For more information visit http://www.ail.gmu.edu.
CSU Long Beach Puts Energy Management Online
Facility management officials at California State University, Long Beach, said
new Web-based energy management software is creating a competition between campus
departments vying for the lowest energy usage levels. The university is using
an enterprise energy management system from Silicon Energy Corp. which enables
it to curb energy use during peak demand, reduce billing errors and measure
the performance of equipment upgrades. Tim Ball, associate director of facility
management of CSULB, said Silcon Energy's EEM Suite provides both real-time
data and remote access to the data via the Web. The result, he said, "(allows)
us to mobilize within minutes from anywhere. In turn, we are able to share this
information with the campus community and allow departments to see how well
they are conserving energy. We have quite a competition brewing."
For more information, visit http://www.siliconenergy.com.
President's Information Technology Advisory Committee to Meet
The President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, formerly the Presidential
Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing and Communications, Information
Technology, and the Next Generation Internet, is scheduled to meet in Arlington,
Va., on Sept. 25. The meeting will take place between 8 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. at
the National Science Foundation, Room 555, 4121 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington,
Va. 22230. The agenda includes reports from the Committee's discovery/review
subcommittees on scalable information infrastructure, high-end computing, software,
and socio-economic and workforce issues.
For further information, visit the National Coordination Office for Computing,
Information, and Communications at http://www.itrd.gov.
Coastal Carolina University Hosts Conference on Quality
Coastal Carolina University will host a conference on the theme of "continuous
quality improvement" from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.. The
first annual Carolina Conference on Quality is designed to encourage colleges
and universities to adopt continuous quality improvement doctrines in all phases
of their operations. The conference keynote will be provided by Charles W. Sorensen,
chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stout, the first higher education
institution to receive a site visit for the National Baldridge Award in Education.
Conway, S.C.-based Coastal Carolina University is co-hosting the conference
with Datatel Inc., a provider of software solutions for the higher education
market.
For more information on the conference, contact Debbie Conner, Office of Community
Relations at Coastal Carolina University, at [email protected].
Sallie Mae Moves Loan Consolidation Online
Sallie Mae last week introduced a faster method for students to apply for loan
consolidation, a repayment alternative designed to provide lower monthly payments.
Borrowers now can submit an application online through Sallie Mae's Web site,
www.salliemae.com>.
Once the form has been electronically submitted, borrowers will be asked to
forward a signed, hard-copy form to Sallie Mae to complete the processing of
their application. The company said the system will shave a week or more off
the traditional paper application process.
Internet Enables Collaboration of Ohio Schools
The Internet will be one of the key tools enabling three Ohio colleges and
universities to form a partnership to broaden their educational offerings to
local students. The University of Akron, Cuyahoga Communication College District
and the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center last week unveiled a partnership to coordinate
courses at times and locations that are more convenient to eligible students,
as well as agreements on sharing facilities and transfering credits. "The
new partnership provides area students with accessible, affordable quality education
at their convenience, both in terms of time and location, including courses
via the Internet," said Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton, Cuyahoga Community College
president. "Today's lifestyles demand this flexibility."
For more information, visit http://www.uakron.edu.
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