News Update from Campus Technology for Tuesday, October 12, 2004
News Update:
An Online Newsletter from Campus Technology
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Meeting the Wireless Challenge
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=10186
Komatsu TriLink Ltd.
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=10185
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News for Tuesday, October 12, 2004
* AAAS Urges Steps to Enhance Diversity in Science, Engineering
* Stanford, Northwestern, Michigan Take College Inventors Prizes
* Profs Create Manufacturing Program Suited to New Economy
* Firm Eyes Secure Transcript Market as College Apps Heat Up
* CT Business: Noteworthy Deals, Contracts in Campus Technology
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Meeting the Wireless Challenge
How are campus IT professionals keeping up with changing
technologies, the demand for Wi-Fi and the funding challenges
that go along with that? Read what some colleges and universities
are doing to meet the wireless challenge on a special Syllabus
microsite sponsored by SBC. This special section on the
connected campus looks at networked technologies through
articles, case studies, white papers and more.
Go to http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=9064
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AAAS Urges Steps to Enhance Diversity in Science, Engineering
The world’s largest general science society last week recommended
strategies for colleges and universities to take to maintain racial
diversity in science and engineering education. The recommendations
by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
(NACME) respond to what the two groups say is a lack of support
for protecting campus diversity in science education following the
U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision to strike down target-based
affirmative action programs.
"In the particular context of science and engineering, this country's
under-utilization of its human resources is a problem of critical
proportion that will, if ignored, seriously impinge on the national
and economic security interests of this country," the according to
a report from the groups, titled, “Standing Our Ground: A Guidebook
for STEM Educators in the Post-Michigan Era.”
"Without specific intent and legal guidance, minority recruitment,
enrollment, and support is inhibited," added AAAS President Shirley
Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a
report contributor. The paper proposes eight "design principles"
as well as a “legal primer” for increasing the participation of
minorities in science and engineering and urges campus leaders to
specify diversity goals within their institutional missions.
The report is available online at http://www.aaas.org/standingourground
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Komatsu TriLink Ltd.
AirProjector KJ-200 delivers an affordable wireless presentation
solution and an interactive learning environment for many of the
applications used by the educational institutions.
Please visit http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=10185
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Stanford, Northwestern, Michigan Take College Inventors Prizes
The non-profit Inventors Hall of Fame announced the winners of its
annual Collegiate Inventors Competition, naming three top winners
for projects that included a nanoscale microscope; a bio-based
bar-coding system; and a computerized system for regulating
cellular biology.
The 2004 winners, chosen from among 14 finalist teams, were:
The Grand Prize of $50,000 went to Ozgur Sahin from Stanford University
for Harmonic cantilevers for a nanoscale sensing microscope. His
Atomic Force Microscope is capable of taking pictures of individual
atoms and would be used for computer chip design or biological
research.
A graduate student prize of $25,000 was awarded to Jwa-Min Nam &
Shad Thaxton from Northwestern University for bio-bar-code
amplified detection systems. The two grad students create what
they call "bio barcode amplified detection systems,” designed to
find miniscule amounts of microscopic biological materials. It
could be used to detect chemical signs of Alzheimer's disease, Mad
Cow Disease, or types of cancer far earlier than conventional tests.
The undergraduate winner of a $15,000 prize was Wei Gu of the
University of Michigan for computerized micro-fluidic control for
cell biology using Braille display. Gu, 21, found a way to
microscopically control small amounts of liquid for purposes
ranging from medical to chemical analysis. He created a simple but
robust machine that acts as a miniature plumbing system, complete
with microscopic pumps, valves, pipes, and mixing chambers.
For more information, visit http://www.invent.org/collegiate
Profs Create Manufacturing Program Suited to New Economy
Three Drexel University professors said they will use a $155,000
grant from the National Science Foundation to start an Internet-based
manufacturing curriculum to train students to use state-of-the-art
manufacturing technology and to take leadership roles in the U.S.
economy.
Richard Chiou, associate professor of applied engineering technology,
Yongjin Kwon, assistant professor of applied engineering technology,
and Horatio Sosa, acting dean of the Drexel’s Goodwin College of
Professional Studies, said the new curriculum adapts to an economy
that's relying more on technology and less on traditional manufacturing
jobs. The program will feature Internet-based remote labs. Students
will be able to interact with professors and view actual systems,
such as assembly lines or work stations being designed.
The professors said Drexel's curriculum will better prepare students
for a corporate world where the need for manufacturing engineers
in the service and information technology industries is increasing
while the role of more traditional manufacturing jobs diminishes.
Firm Eyes Secure Transcript Market as College Apps Heat Up
Over 2.4 million students are expected to apply to an average of
5.6 colleges this year, generating a pool of 18 million transcripts,
with the majority changing hands in the peak months between
Thanksgiving and early 2005, according to John Reese. Reese runs
Docufide, a company that hopes to capitalize on the costs of
shipping transcripts during this period.
Reese estimates about 13.7 million transcripts will pass from high
schools to colleges during the upcoming applications season. It
costs high schools about $8 to send a transcript themselves and a
college over $12 to receive and process it. Docufide uses the
Internet and a data capture system to handle ordering, processing
and delivery of official high school transcripts either electronically
or through the mail on security paper.
George Hudachek, senior associate director of admissions for the
University of Minnesota, said he expects the service will “save a
significant amount of time for our office. We use an imaging
system for application processing, and the electronic transcripts
should not only save time on document preparation and scanning but
should also be much more legible than scanned images of paper
transcripts."
CT Business: Noteworthy Deals, Contracts in Campus Technology
San Diego State signed a multi-year agreement with One Voice to
offer the company’s MobileVoice service, which includes voice
dialing, group conference calling, reading and sending e-mail and
voice-to-text SMS messaging.
The University of Bologna is expanding a deployment of the MicroStrategy
database platform university-wide for data analysis and reporting
and as a cost-control tool. The Italian university first adopted
MicroStrategy in 2003, and will extend its use to all university
departments by year's end. The MicroStrategy software platform is
designed to analyze data from different sources and integrate
databases created in different periods and with very different
technologies.
Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab and the Electronic Industries
Alliance's (EIA) Internet Security Alliance (ISAlliance) will
announce today a suite of joint Internet security services and
products. The suite includes a program to demonstrate the return
on investment on Internet security and to expand the use of risk
management systems; a program to develop an incentive based model
as opposed to a regulatory approach to improve Internet security;
and an information-sharing program to help forecast security trends.
Sun Microsystems will join the 2004 MTV ROAD TRIP and campus VJ
search to promote Java powered technology to college students. The
company said targeting college students builds demand for Java
products and services, particularly for mobile and desktop Java
applications such as Java games, office tools and productivity
applications. One promotion, called “Impromptu U,” will allow
college students to record an impromptu pre-VJ audition, and then
send the digital video clip to friends and family via e-mail from
java.com.
