News 12-06-2002
Sponsor: Syllabus
Syllabus2003 Call for Papers Extended to December 15
Plan to present at the Tenth Annual Summer Conference on Education Technology
held in the San Francisco Bay Area July 28-31, 2003. Proposals for breakout
sessions, panels, and workshops are due December 15. For details and further
information, go to www.syllabus.com/summer2003/papers.asp.
Intuit Founder Endows Product Management MBA
The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business said it will open what
it calls the first MBA program focused on product management. The Center for
Product Management, established by a gift of $6.4 million from Intuit financial
software company co-founder Scott Cook, will train MBA students for product
management jobs. While some universities offer a class or two in product management,
no other university has a dedicated center focused specifically on the subject,
the university said. The first students will be enrolled in the program in fall
2003 and the gift will cover full tuition and a stipend for many of the incoming
students. Cook, who will be a lecturer at the Center, started his career by
working in product management at Procter & Gamble.
For more information, visit: www.bus.wisc.edu/centerforproductmanagement
SU Site Hub of K-12 Info-Gathering Network
Louisiana State University's CADGIS Research Laboratory, in collaboration with
the Louisiana Center for Technology, has developed an interactive Web site that
will allow the state's K-12 students to help state officials prepare for public
safety emergencies. The site, developed using GeoMedia WebMap technology, allows
students to submit information about school facilities related to sheltering
evacuated families in emergencies such as hurricanes, tornad'es, oil spills,
and homeland-security incidents. Students can view an aerial infrared image
of their school's neighborhood and determine the exact latitude and longitude
of the building's main entrance. By enabling schoolchildren to collect the data
rather than sending state employees to the school buildings to capture the data,
the state said it can save thousands of dollars.
For more information, visit: www.questwithgis.com
DVD Giant Challenges Student Film Directors
Consumer electronics giant Pioneer is sponsoring a competition among college
students from leading film schools to create a short movie using the latest
digital technology in less than 48 hours. Project Pioneer - 2880 invites student
directors from 10 film schools to take a scenario and produce a DVD short, including
finalizing the script, recruiting talent, identifying locations, shooting scenes,
and editing the DVD all in a 48-hour window. The winning school will receive
a $10,000 grant. Editing and post-production of the movies will be done on Pioneer
recordable drives, which will be donated to the universities. The competition
and preliminary judging will take place this month; final judging will take
place at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 9, 2003. For more
information, contact: Aaron Levine at [email protected].
Arkansas College Makes Microsurgery Breakthrough
Using a second-hand electric pump and food coloring from a grocery store, neurosurgeons
in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
have created a breakthrough teaching technique for microsurgery. Emad Aboud,
Ossama Al-Mefty, and M. Gazi Yasargil use the $1 pump to push colored water
through the vessels and arteries of an anatomical specimen—the head of a
cadaver—so neurosurgeons in training can experience life-like blood flow
as they learn. While the technique was developed for brain surgery, physicians
can use it to instruct students in many surgical procedures, including angioplasty
and abdominal procedures that involve the use of an endoscope. "Many sources
are available for training in neurosurgery, but none of them reliably mimic
the anatomy …," said Al-Mefty.
RISD, Harvard Design Try New Modeling Tool
A modeling software developer has awarded the Rhode Island School of Design
and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design licenses for ArchiCAD,
a virtual building application that renders architectural designs in three dimensions.
Each school was given a 50-seat academic laboratory license from Graphicsoft
Inc. At RISD, students are using ArchiCAD as part of an advanced-level design
studio in which students are exposed to a wide array of technology for architecture
and building trades. Peter Tagiuri, head of the architecture department at RISD,
said the software helps "raise the level of computer literacy among students
by insisting that they not be limited to a single program like AutoCAD."
Awards, Deals, Contracts in Higher Education
POWER TECHNOLOGY—The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School
of Business has picked a rechargeable battery system from Valence Technology
Inc. to supply students and faculty a power source for mobile computing. The
company's Lithiom-ion polymer rechargeable technology, the N-Charge Power System,
will help address "continuous connectivity and availability of power, [the]
key issues with our students, most of whom rely on their notebook computers,"
said Larry Leibrock, chief technology officer of the school.
NETWORK SECURITY—The St. Louis College of Pharmacy has purchased
network monitoring appliances from NetBotz Inc. to help manage the physical
security of its IT infrastructure. The NetBotz system, which integrates built-in
environmental sensors and camera technology that can capture and store "motion
events," will be used to ward off threats such as inadequate airflow, extreme
temperatures, high humidity, water damage, and amperage fluctuations. "Monitoring
environmentals is critical to high availability," said Chad Shepherd, chief
information officer of the college. "And so is securing assets. Our computer
rooms are stocked with laptops. Those tend to sprout legs. We have a NetBotz
pointed at the door to prevent those laptops from walking out."