CT Briefs

• 11/01/08

:: NEWS

HELLO STANFORD? A suite of five software applications developed to run on Apple's iPhone is now being tested at Stanford University (CA). Two of the apps enable students to manage course registration and bills. The other three will allow users to access Stanford's searchable campus map, get team scores and schedules, and check listings in StanfordWho, the university's online directory. The university contracted with Terriblyclever Design, a startup company in San Francisco co-founded by Stanford student Kayvon Beykpour, to develop the suite of applications under the university's iApps Project. Read more here.

UW STREAMLINES DATA ACCESS. The University of Washington will use Microsoft's Amalga, a unified intelligence system, to offer researchers simplified access to data that may currently be scattered-- and possibly very difficult to unearth-- throughout the university's vast information systems. The Amalga platform will focus on helping healthcare and clinical professionals at UW reach critical data quickly, avoiding common delays.

UCSD PLANTS SOLAR TREES. The University of California-San Diego is taking a novel approach to generating sustainable energy on its campus, by transforming its parking garages into solar power plants. With the help of Envision Solar, the university is "planting" solar trees on the roofs of two of its parking structures to generate electricity for the campus and provide infrastructure for supporting electric vehicles. According to Envision, each of the solar trees, which use Kyocera photovoltaic modules, will generate "17,000 hours of clean energy per year, which is enough to power more than four single-family homes." The company also says that each tree saves about 13.2 metric tons of carbon emissions. Read more here.

DRIVING GOOGLE APPS FOR EDUCATION. At the beginning of the school year, Google made a 5,000- mile road trip across the US to visit 10 college campuses, beginning with Southern California's USC and ending with Northwestern University (IL). To make the journey in style, the company converted a 30-year-old bus to biodiesel, updated it with solar panels and other green features, stocked it with tons of technology and wireless internet, and gave it a "Google" paint job. Of course, the bus was chock-full of Google Apps for Education demos and tech experts (riding along or flying to meet the bus) with new ideas to discuss with students and faculty. Read more here.

UMICH AND DTE: CLEAN ENERGY PRIZE. This school year, a new competition is challenging teams from Michigan colleges and universities to develop the best business plans for bringing new clean-energy technologies to market. Organized by DTE Energy and the University of Michigan, the Clean Energy Prize challenge will award $100,000 in prize money during spring 2009 in an effort to help draw emerging technologies out of university labs in Michigan and into the commercial space. Read more here.

NATIONAL CRM. The National University System has elected to replace the constituent relationship management module of its ERP system with Talisma's CRM system. Administrators will deploy and configure Talisma's solution across all of National's affiliate institutions, including National University (CA), National Polytechnic College of Science (CA), Spectrum Pacific Learning Company, and others.

RECRUITING METRICS. At Seton Hall University (NJ), marketers are using a web-based service from Coremetrics to gather and manage data on long-term recruitment campaigns that may include communications or transactions through numerous channels. "Our recruitment cycle is a long one, often taking as much as 18 to 36 months from the initial inquiry to enrollment in classes," says Robert Brosnan, director of web and digital communications. "Coremetrics gives us one place to go to get all the data we need."