CT Briefs
:: NEWS
HD COLLABORATION. A high-definition
video communications system
now connects researchers and
graduate students at Stanford University
(CA), Carnegie Mellon University
(PA), Georgia Tech, Harvard University
(MA), MIT, and the University of
Washington in graphics-intensive,
multipoint videoconferences. The
ResearcHDiscovery project was
launched this past spring with the
grant of a high-definition video communications
system from LifeSize and an HD display
from Kynamatrix, installed by GBH Communications.
A NEW TUNE. Penn State
announced it would not renew its contract
with the Napster music service and instead would
offer students access to Ruckus, a multimedia service
the school hopes will offer students
greater media flexibility. Under the new
contract, Ruckus will provide students
downloadable access to 2.75
million songs, full-length feature
films, short-form video, sports
clips, and music videos, as well
as access to a Ruckus-focused
social network site.
SEVERAL UNIVERSITY hospitals share knowledge at RealHealth.tv.
UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS SHARE EXPERTISE. Several
university hospitals and medical
centers are sharing their knowledge
through RealHealth.tv, an
internet TV channel dedicated
to consumer health education.
Doctors at the University of Colorado,
Duke University (NC), Vanderbilt
(TN), UCLA, Johns Hopkins (MD),
and University of Chicago medical
centers offer commentary on health topics
for the channel.
FIRST COURSE USING THE CELL BROADBAND ENGINE.
Students at MIT's Department of
Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science recently debuted a groundbreaking
course, jointly developed by
IBM, in which they
created applications to run on Cell/BE,
a technology developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. Cell/BE "supercharges"
compute-intensive applications, and
offers ultra-fast performance for
computer entertainment and handheld
applications, virtual reality, wireless
downloads, and other "image-hungry"
computing environments.
iWARP SPEED. The University of
New Hampshire chalked up another
first during a recent "plugfest," where
engineers at UNH's InterOperability
Laboratory successfully demonstrated
multi-vendor interoperability between
iWARP devices. The devices use
the latest in a series of extensions to
Ethernet that lower CPU overhead in
Ethernet networks.
FOSTERING INFORMATION LITERACY. Richard Stockton College
of New Jersey needed an information
literacy assessment that was
applicable for students in all areas of
study and could provide norm groups
for both underclassmen and upperclassmen.
The college is using ETS's iSkills assessment, which measures
a student's ability to use, manage,
evaluate, and convey information. The
norm group data will help the school
view its students' information and communication
technology literacy in a
broader context through comparisons
with data from other institutions.
STRATEGY TO RETAIN FEMALE CS STUDENTS.
Stanford is taking steps to stop attrition
of female students from its undergraduate
computer science program. The
school is offering a course aimed at
exposing students to role models in the
computing field and providing additional
research opportunities through
its Computer Science Undergraduate
Research Internship program. Read
more here.
:: PEOPLE
David Wise
ACM AWARDEE. The Association for Computing Machinery named David Wise, a professor of computer science at Indiana University's School of Informatics, the winner of its 2007 Outstanding Contribution Award. Wise led the creation of ACM's Federated Computing Research Conference to improve communication among researchers in different computer science and engineering fields.
For daily higher ed news, go to campus-technology.com/mcv/news/