Frontiers in IT
Avil Silberschatz, vice president of the Information Sciences Research Center for Bell Laboratories is going to speak on the “Next generation information systems.” The seminar is part of the Frontiers in Information Technology series. The next generation of information systems will incorporate the best features of today’s voice and data networks. The talk will present a grand tour of the wide variety of issues facing next generation information systems, highlight their characteristics, and introduce a few research projects carried out at Bell Labs that address these challenges. Silberschatz will also present seven predictions for the new millennium.
The seminar will be given on February 15 at 3:30 pm in CII 4050.
The seminar is co-hosted by the Computer Science and Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering departments.
Brain Mapping
Researchers at Rensselaer’s National Science Foundation Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems announced that they have developed a fast automated technique to map neurons in the brain. This will facilitate neuroscience research and help researchers to gain a solid base for understanding a variety of brain functions, while saving technicians hours of tedious work required to manually trace neurons. This technique will accelerate specimens’ analyses.
CenSSIS Director Badri Roysam is working with MicroBrightField Inc., a small biotechnology company in Vermont that makes hardware and software for neuroscientists, to incorporate the technique in other established products. As part of MicroBrightField’s products, this new technology is expected to be available next year.
Roysam and one of his former students, Khalid Al-Kofahi, developed the technique through previous work on Roysam’s retina projects, which use advanced algorithms to calculate data on the retinal vasculature and create wide-angle mosaics of the retina.
Young Robotics
A new pilot program has been launched to teach robotics to local seventh graders. The initiative by the Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education is targeted towards at-risk students who might be interested in the principles of engineering and science.
One of the schools, Oneida Middle School in Schenectady, will design and build robotic devices using special Lego products, and a computerized unit that controls the motors and sensors. The programs for the robots will be written using ROBOLAB software developed in a joint program by lego Dacta and Tufts University.
Community Service
A variety of community service projects will be held on Saturday, February 16, 10 am-3 pm. The event is part of an annual series of community service events and is sponsored by the Office of the First Year Experience.
Some of these projects include the SEED project, where volunteers break down fruit and vegetable seeds into small bags that will later be distributed to the public, and the Gateway Project, where volunteers help at the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway by checking out and installing 20 Pentium III computers.
If you are interested in registering go to www.rpi.edu/dept/fye/ commservice/service.html
