News 07-19-2002
Awards Honors Mix of Art and Technology
Computer publishing giant Adobe Systems, Inc. announced the winners of its
second annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards, honoring students from the Academy
of Art College, Art Center College of Design, California College of Arts and
Crafts, California College of Arts and Design, Parsons School of Design, Savannah
College of Art & Design, School of Visual Arts, and UCLA School of the Arts
and Architecture. The winners were announced at a ceremony last night at the
Guggenheim Museum in New York City. More than 800 submissions were received,
representing the work of student graphic designers, illustrators, digital filmmakers
and computer artists from leading U.S. design schools. Awards were handed out
for creativity and professionalism in six categories: video, print design, photography,
illustration, experimental design, and web design. The company said this year's
awards reflect technology's impact on nearly every aspect of the art world,
noting that design schools now receive more applications containing computer
animation, zipped sound files, and CD-ROMs than with traditional print materials,
albums, and portfolios.
A list of the winning entries can be viewed at http://www.adobe.com/education/winners
Sponsor: PeopleSoft Commits to Silver Sponsorship of Syllabus2002
PeopleSoft, a leading provider of internet applications for higher education,
joins other technology companies and hundreds of administrators, faculty and
IT professionals at Syllabus2002, the ninth annual conference on high technology
for higher education. Held July 27-31 in Santa Clara, Calif., Syllabus2002 features
keynote speakers Diana Laurillard, Lawrence Lessig and Jack Wilson, as well
as a full conference program with six tracks of breakout sessions, pre-conference
workshops, technology classrooms and an exhibit hall.
Firm Introduces SCORM Content Manager
E-learning firm Meridian Knowledge Solutions, Inc. released the SCORM Content
Manager, software that uses the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM),
a suite of technical standards that enable web-based learning systems to find,
import, share, reuse, and export learning content in a standardized way. The
tool is a Web-based utility that integrates SCORM compliant e-learning courseware
and creates a repository of reusable content resources from which custom courses
can be built. Users can include SCORM content from any commercial or custom
courseware library. The tool supports SCORM 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 conformant content.
The SCORM Content Manager is available as a module of Meridian's Knowledge Centre,
an enterprise learning and knowledge management system.
Big Science Project to Incorporate Business Tools
The Duke Bioinformatics Shared Resource (DBSR) at Duke University signed an
agreement to partner with SPSS Inc.'s to give DBSR user licenses, on-site training
and technical support for Clementine, the company's data mining workbench. In
return, DBSR will use Clementine to analyze scientific data and will share with
SPSS its methodology and experience in using the Clementine software.
The partnership
is being driven by research associated with the Human Genome Project, which
is generating voluminous amounts of bioinformatic data. "The large volumes of
data being generated by technologies such as High Throughput Screening, combinatorial
chemistry and microarrays provide a fertile ground for business tools to branch
out into the scientific realm," said Dr. Petra Scheffer, SPSS Science senior
marketing manager.
Princeton Review Names Technology Chief
Princeton Review Inc. named Curtis Brown its new chief technology officer.
The company, which helps students prepare for standardized tests required for
admission to college and graduate school, said Brown joins the company from
Oxygen Media, where he was technology chief. Before working at Oxygen, Brown
was chief technology officer of SkyMall.
Automated Essay Scoring Engine Smartens Up
The makers of an automated essay scoring system said recent improvements in
the software put it in the class of expert scorers in achieving scoring accuracy.
The system, IntelliMetric, Version 8, from Vantage Learning, blends artificial
intelligence technology and the digitization of human expertise to assess students
in a range of subjects. The company said the system can be trained using as
few as 200 sample papers, allowing easier use of the engine within instructional
settings. Vantage Chief Operating Officer Scott Elliot said the software "just
got a lot smarter," with more than 100 content and structural features, up from
72 features in the earlier version. The company said the new version has detailed
line-by-line student writing feedback and improves "legitimacy detection," providing
greater assurance to educators that scores are based on legitimate submissions
from students.
Boston U. Offers Complete Master Degree Online
Boston University's Metropolitan College said it is offering its first complete
Master's Degree in Criminal Justice program online. The school is working with
the Embanet Knowledge Group (EKG), a learning management solutions firm, to
develop the course. Designed by criminal justice education officials, the program
enables students to earn a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice within two years.
"The new program's curriculum enables working professionals to improve and expand
their knowledge and competencies in criminal justice and law enforcement research,
theory and practice," said Dr. Dan LeClair, chairman of the criminal justice
program. He said the program would deliver "a valuable education to a variety
of law enforcement and criminal justice professionals nationwide in high-level
positions -- secret service agents, senior investigators and detectives, and
police chiefs."
Welcome to the University of Math
The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) was awarded a grant of $5 million
by the National Science Foundation. The award is the result of a proposal submitted
by AIM as part of a national competition. The funds will be used to support
top mathematicians and scientists to attend focused workshops at a new conference
center. The AIM Research Conference Center (ARCC) will be one of only a handful
of its kind worldwide, and is expected to become a retreat for deep math thinkers
as they collaborate to solve important problems. The architectural style for
the new research center is modeled on the famous "Alhambra," the Moorish palace
in Granada, Spain, which is renowned for its fascinating geometric proportions
and mathematically intricate patterns.
For more information, visit http://www.aimath.org
