Leveraging technology to solve problems
In the modern world, technology has woven itself into the fabric of society, binding people and information closer together than ever before. While this new digital era brings with it exciting innovations, it also brings a host of new, unexplored problems. In the Information Sciences and Technologies Department, our focus is on utilizing technology to solve real world, human-centered problems. With a combination of diverse courses, state-of-the-art equipment, and a team of knowledgeable and imaginative faculty, iSchool gives students the tools they need to ensure a lifetime of success.
The student was able to quickly come up to speed on the technologies that we use in our product platform... He has been given the same level of responsibility as the full time employees and has handled it without problem.
-- Employer about a newly hired Co-op --
News
IST's Future Everyday Technology Lab: New location, same vision
2016-12-08 05:00:00
Upon first stepping foot inside the new Future Everyday Technology Research Lab (FETLab), one is first struck with the realization that it?s unlike any other computer lab within the Information Sciences and Technologies department. There are a few computers scattered about, but between them are all sorts of seemingly out of place items: screwdrivers, cables, miles of wires, power drills, vises, a 3D printer, hot glue guns, piece of fabric with electronics sewn into them, a laser cutter? in fact, traditional computers are definitely the minority pieces of equipment. In the midst of the jumble is its orchestrator, Professor Dan Ashbrook. Ashbrook joined RIT in 2014 and with him he brought a passion for making digital fabrication tools?like the aforementioned laser cutter and 3D printer?accessible to non-experts. His research also explores ?mobile microinteractions,? or finding ways to make interactions with our mobile devices less intrusive in everyday life.The new FETLab is the physical manifestation of those research goals. The space is twice the size of its former location in Orange Hall, and feels cluttered but comfortable. During class time, one can glance through the lab?s floor to ceiling glass wall and witness students scattered around tables, couches, and workstations, tinkering on personal projects or class work. Most of the equipment migrated over from the old lab, but with the additional square footage, Ashbrook is able afford his students more space during class. ?My last class in the old lab space had 14 students and exactly 14 chairs, so there was a lot of standing on my part,? jokes Ashbrook.Collaboration and hands-on work is the main focus of Ashbrook?s classes, and he teaches a handful of Human Computer Interaction courses at the graduate level each semester. For example, this fall he taught a prototyping class, in which masters students learn to build their own devices that communicate with the Internet. ?The students start off by getting a data source from the Internet, then visualizing it with JavaScript, and then move on to visualizing it with actual electronics,? says Ashbrook. The students? final assignment is to produce a non-intrusive ambient display, one that reflects information but does it in a way that leaves a fictional user uninterrupted from their work.Besides classes, Professor Ashbrook is currently collaborating with a faculty from RIT?s Industrial Design program to develop a way to 3D print onto fabric. That project is still its early stages, but Ashbrook plans to expand the scope with the help student research assistants.
Web and Mobile Computing degree expands into wearables, Internet of Things
2016-10-26 04:00:00
IST?s Web and Mobile Computing (WMC) program is offering new courses in wearables, Internet of Things, and ubiquitous computing as part of the expanding scope of the degree program. Led by Professor Bryan French, ?Foundations of Wearable and Ubiquitous Computing? and ?Advanced Topics in Wearable and Ubiquitous Computing? will be offered to upper level undergraduate students as part of the Wearable Development concentration in the WMC program.The impetus for developing the courses was to better prepare WMC students for the evolving landscape of mobile technology. ?The range of smart devices is expanding rapidly,? says French, who will be teaching both courses. ?Future devices will be able to know where you are and the context of what you?re doing, simply by connecting to sensors placed in the environment around you. It?s exciting stuff.?The courses are designed to be taken over two sequential semesters, and cover topics in the Internet of Things, sensors, controlling devices over the Internet, and wearable devices. Students will be assigned several individual and group projects, with some of those projects being entirely self-directed. A unique aspect of both courses is that they don?t require a textbook. Instead, students will use a LightBlue Bean+, an Arduino controller that is able to be programmed wirelessly using Bluetooth.While designed primarily for WMC students, the courses will also be open to any interested Human-Centered Computing students. Students were able to enroll in the first course, ?Foundations of Wearable and Ubiquitous Computing,? for the fall 2016 semester.
Yahoo data center receives training from IST faculty, donates equipment to IST
2016-09-14 04:00:00
IST Faculty Garret Arcoraci and Dan Kennedy spent the week of July 25, 2016 training members of a local Yahoo data center in python programming. Located in Lockport, NY, the Yahoo data center employees repaid IST with a generous donation of networking equipment. The equipment included 40 HP servers, two Cisco enterprise switches, a server rack, and the necessary cabling to connect everything together. The servers will be used to improve IST networking courses, specifically Systems Administration II and Virtualization. The switches will enable remote management, adding another boon for Computing and Information Technologies students. Due to the success of this summer?s training, there are plans to expand the scope of IST?s relationship with Yahoo. The department is in the early stages of arranging guest speakers for IST classes, tours of the Yahoo facility, and even co-op opportunities at Yahoo?s Lockport site.
IST Faculty Spotlight for Spring 2016
2016-06-03 04:00:00
The spring 2016 semester saw several advancements and accolades among our faculty.Most recently, Distinguished Professor Vicki Hanson was elected President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ACM is the world?s largest computing society, boasting more than 100,000 global members. Hanson?s 2 year term begins July 1, 2016. Brian Tomaszewski, Ph.D., was awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, permanently adding his expertise in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the IST faculty roster. Tomaszewski also won the RIT Provost?s Innovative Teaching with Technology Award, becoming the first GCCIS faculty to receive the honor. And to keep his streak going, Tomaszewski recently received a research grant from the National Science Foundation. The $250,000 grant is to fund his research, ?Quantifying Disaster Risk Reduction Information Capacity,? which will include 5 RIT graduate students traveling to Bonn, Germany for a 10 week study/research experience. This semester also saw Tomaszewski sharing his GIS knowledge around the world, traveling to Rwanda and Jordan to aid in humanitarian efforts.In other news, Associate Professor Tae (Tom) Oh was appointed to the executive committee of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA) as Executive Director for the 2015-2016 term. Oh describes his role as ?like the U.S. Secretary of State,? handling overseas operations and relationships for KSEA.Oh was also featured in April in a WHEC TV news story about the national ?Do Not Call List? and robocalls. Filmed in IST?s Projects lab, Oh expertly explained how telemarketers are becoming more sophisticated in an effort to circumvent calling restrictions. Finally, IST faculty member Bruce Hartpence was promoted to Professor, effective July 1, 2016. This promotion caps a long teaching career with IST, spanning wireless communication, routing, switching, and voice over IP. Hartpence is also continuing to produce instructional networking videos with O?Reilly Media, using the Networking lab as a backdrop for the educational video series. He also runs an extensive YouTube channel dedicated to networking, and we recommend it to anyone looking to start learning about the field.
IST student club NextHop holds inaugural networking competition
2016-04-22 04:00:00
IST student club NextHop held their first ever Networking and Systems Infrastructure Competition (NSIC) on April 16 and 17, 2016. The event was held in the Student Innovation Hall, featuring students that competing in teams to build a corporate network topology from the ground up. Teams were awarded prizes based on who completed tasks and points gained the most points, with Team Aviato ultimately emerging victorious at the end of the 24 hour event.Organized by NextHop in conjunction with sponsors M&T Bank, Cisco Meraki, Slack, and the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing, the competition was the creation of Jeffrey Kaiser and Bruce DeWald, both fourth-year applied networking and systems administration students with IST. DeWald says they were inspired by similar events in RIT's Computing Security department. ?We saw how enriching security competitions were and wanted to give students in our program a chance to show off their skills, learn something new, and just have a fun weekend with their peers.'The goal of NSIC was to combine hands-on work with a real world scenario, asking teams to pull from networking, systems administration, and creative thinking disciplines to achieve success. The event attracted students from RIT and surrounding area universities, totaling nearly 50 competitors. 'It was a great learning experience that pulled together everything we've been learning in class,' says Tyler Romero, a second-year networking and systems administration student. 'I am definitely planning on honing my skills and competing again next year.'NextHop is a student run club at RIT that focuses on networking and systems administration. More information about the club can be found on their website.
Dr. Deborah Gears retires after 15 years with IST
2016-01-01 05:00:00
IST Associate Professor Dr. Deborah Gears announced last month that she would be retiring from her position within the IST Department. Joining IST in 2001, Gears brought 25 years of industry experience to her classrooms, as well as robust research interests that furthered RIT's research mission.Prior to her tenure with IST, Gears held a variety of information systems and technology roles in corporations and non-profit organizations. She built an impressive resume developing software, programming systems, and building complex architectures to house and process data. She holds a bachelor's in Computer Science, a master's in Software Development and Management, and a doctorate in Information Sciences.Gears' diverse educational and professional background eventually attracted the attention of RIT, and she was recruited as an adjunct faculty before she accepted a full-time position with the university one year later.As an Associate Professor with IST, Gears taught 16 unique classes at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level, participated on 35 capstone committees, and delivered 43 academic publications and presentations. (Including a TEDxFlourCity talk that can be viewed on Youtube). As tenured faculty, Gears also developed course curricula, participated in multiple service projects, and performed countless hours of research, the latest being her 'George?' project.Gears says she thoroughly enjoyed the teaching experience, citing the greater personal meaning that teaching offered her. Celebrating the educational, professional or personal achievements of her students was often the highlight of her work. That, and the fact that she could keep up with (and usually beat) her fellow male faculty on the racquetball court.Gears' post-RIT plans involve incorporating more fitness and family into her daily life, working on her memoir, dabbling in entrepreneurship, and further exploring her research curiosities. And of course, getting some much needed sleep.When asked to impart some wisdom to IST students, Gears said:'I remember my mother's advice growing up during those awkward years, 'just be yourself' she would say. I confess that I didn't really know what that meant. I now understand that I needed to explore, try new things, fall down, get up, feel good, and feel bad, to really know 'me.' ? I am closer to knowing my distinct value and what makes me most happy. My advice: be courageous, try new things, embrace failure, know your distinct value, and respect the distinct value of others. It is our differences coming together that make us a better whole.'
RIT alumni and current IST student collaborate on new event discovery application
2015-12-08 05:00:00
Two RIT alumni and a current IST student recently launched a new event discovery application, Cabin Fever. In development for over a year, Cabin Fever aims to compile local events into one easy to use and searchable online database. The app is the creation of RIT alumni Randy Havens, Brendan Parker, and current IST student Emanuel Aliprantis.Cabin Fever's basic premise is to act as an aggregate for local events, pulling data from calendars on Facebook, iCloud and Google into one cohesive place. Users can then manipulate specific search functions to narrow down events that would appeal to them, i.e. 18+ club nights, a good first date spot, and more.Currently the app only lists RIT and local Rochester events, however the creators have plans to expand the scope out to surrounding Western New York cities and universities.CEO Randy Havens initially came up with the idea after his brother approached him to build an event app for a brewery he owned. 'He presented me an idea for an app that would help people find things to do around town, allowing users to search events based on categories,' says Havens.Realizing the potential of the application, Havens contacted his old friend Brendan Parker to handle the interaction design portion of the app. Parker, a graduate of IST's Information Technology M.S. program, is an adjunct faculty for the IST department and was excited to reconnect with Havens over their shared love of technology.Parker believes the strength of the app is that it gives users more control over their preferences. 'We aimed to offer an intuitive and effective way to discover new events. Cabin Fever suggests events based on a user's needs and interests, thereby telling users what they do not know based on what they do know,' says Parker.As the project began to take shape, Havens and Parker realized they needed expertise in data management. Parker turned to his students and pulled in Emanuel Aliprantis to oversee the backend code work needed to build and maintain the event database. With the addition of Aliprantis, Cabin Fever has grown rapidly over the last 12 months to include many user-friendly functionalities, all geared toward making local events easy to discover.The team has plans to add several new features in the coming months, like social media integration, custom user profiles, standalone mobile apps, embedded maps, and more. The team hopes to present their work at Imagine RIT in 2016.To check out the app for yourself, visit http://www.cabinfeverevents.com.
Information Sciences and Technologies Department unveils unique undergrad degree program
2015-11-20 15:53:23
The Information Sciences and Technologies department at the Rochester Institute of Technology announced this semester their newest undergraduate degree: Human-Centered Computing. The degree combines principles from computing, design, and psychology to advance the ways people and communities interact with modern technology. The program is set to begin accepting students in fall 2016. Steve Zilora, department chair, says the degree was formed to address the growing dependency on computing technology in our daily lives. 'New technology is great, except when we can't use it. The Human-Centered Computing degree is about access-seamless interaction-so that all of us, regardless of abilities, can realize the benefits of computing technology.' The debut of Human-Centered Computing is part of Information Sciences and Technologies' larger undergraduate program overhaul. The department's two other undergraduate degrees, Information Technology (IT) and Networking and Systems Administration (NSA), received name changes to coincide with their updated curriculums. IT was renamed to Web and Mobile Computing, while NSA was renamed to Computing and Information Technologies. The Information Sciences and Technologies department is very excited to offer these new programs, and we look forward to meeting the pioneering freshman class in fall 2016!
IST Websites Redesign to Launch September 15
2015-09-08 16:33:58
The IST Department is undergoing some big changes this fall, and one of the most exciting is a redesign of our web presence. Rebuilt from the ground up by Undergrad Coordinator Dan Bogaard and graduate student Ira Praharaj, the new website will have a much more modern look and feel. It is being designed and built using the same tools our students use in classes every day, and offers a glimpse into the kinds of outputs our students can produce. Separate websites are also being built to support our 5 degree programs, and will feature similar design motifs to the main IST site.Building a new website also means upgrading the back-end databases to support it, and as a result, users may notice errors here and there on the current IST website. We appreciate your patience with any issues you encounter as we upgrade our websites, and be sure to check out the redesign when it launches on September 15!
Professor Bruce Hartpence and IST labs featured in networking education video production
2015-09-01 17:25:34
This past July, IST Professor Bruce Hartpence partnered with O'Reilly Media to produce the first in a series of educational videos about networking fundamentals. Over the 2-day shoot, Hartpence taught 'Building Networks: A Guide to The Core Principles,' in IST's networking lab, using the same equipment students use every day. The video outlined the basics of networking, often touching on subjects taught in IST's introductory courses.A member of the faculty since 1998, Hartpence has a history of teaching networking basics via video and working in the labs with students. He runs a successful YouTube channel featuring over 100 self-produced videos, ranging from networking tutorials to interviews with leading researchers in the field. He began his relationship with O'Reilly in 2010, and has since authored several books under the company's publishing arm. Hartpence says the plan is to produce a series of videos with O'Reilly, eventually creating an online library of professional tutorials that will be available via subscription.To view more of Bruce's videos, check out his YouTube channel.
3 IST Faculty Elected to Leadership Positions Within ACM
2015-06-11 04:00:00
We're extremely proud to announce that 3 of our faculty members have been elected to leadership positions within the Association of Computing Machinery's various Special Interest Groups, or SIGs. IST Department Chair Steve Zilora was elected as Chair for the Information Technology Education group (SIGITE), Associate Professor Matt Huenerfauth was elected as Vice-Chair for the Accessible Computing group (SIGACCESS), and Distinguished Professor Vicki Hanson was elected Vice-President at Large for the Computer-Human Interaction group (SIGCHI). Congratulations to all three of our faculty!The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, delivering resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing field's premier digital library and serves its members and the computing profession with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources.
Deborah Labelle and Jeanne Casares Speak at Women in Computing Networking Event
2015-04-22 04:00:00
IST lecturer Deborah Labelle, Ph.D., and RIT CIO Jeanne Casares both spoke at Women in Computing?s first annual networking event, WiC Connects, on the evening of April 20th, 2015. Casares began the evening with a keynote speech highlighting her career and giving advice to women entering the tech industry, with Labelle following with a tech talk about the closing the gender gap in computing fields. Jeanne Casares, Associate VP and CIO of RIT, used her own career to illustrate to the audience that following your passion is more important than trying to find a career that ?fits? your college degree. The most fascinating part of Casares? talk however was the end, when she asked the audience to text her their personal answers to the question: ?What would you do if you could not fail?? She then anonymously read out the texts, with the audience providing a diverse set of interesting responses. Deborah Labelle?s tech talk was an examination of the gender gap in professional computing fields, and highlighted her own efforts to inspire young girls to pursue STEM careers, ?one app at a time.? In her image-rich presentation, Labelle broke down a popular Android app creation tool, App Inventor 2, explaining how the tool?s simple and accessible design made it easy for anyone to use. She proved this by sharing her experience at a summer camp where she taught young girls, ages 11-14, programming fundamentals using App Inventor 2. Despite their age, the girls? final products were inventive, fun, and well-designed apps that were primarily designed to help others. In addition to the speakers, attendees enjoyed a catered dinner from Brick City Catering and a series of networking sessions. Based on the success of the evening, Women in Computing says that they plan to make WiC Connects an annual event for Golisano College students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Matt Huenerfauth Presents Research into Digital Evolution of American Sign Language
2015-04-20 04:00:00
IST faculty member Matt Huenerfauth, Ph.D., gave an overview of his research into how to integrate American Sign Language (ASL) into the modern Internet using motion capture technology and innovative software on Thursday, April 16th 2015. At the invitation of the NTID?s Associate Dean for Research, Huenerfauth?s talk, ?Learning to Generate Understandable Animations of American Sign Language,? was delivered to a packed audience of both hearing and deaf members of the RIT community. Huenerfauth and his team have developed software that can adapt to the real time needs of deaf Internet users. Using motion capture technology, the conversations and gestures of native signers are recorded and stored as digital data. This data, when run through the mathematical functions powering the software, can then be converted into a computer generated human figure?complete with facial expressions?that signs in a way that looks and feels natural to deaf users. An estimated 500,000 people around the world use ASL as their preferred means of communication, and coupled with relative low English literacy rates in the deaf population, this creates a need for effectively translating ASL into an online format. Huenerfauth explained that traditional solutions, like putting pre-recorded videos of native signers on a website, are insufficient for web use, due to their high production costs and difficulty in staying up to date with frequently changing online information. Huenerfauth?s software solves this problem by being easily updateable: The author would prepare a script for the ASL sentences that should appear on a website, and the software can generate animations of the sign language, as needed. The software also understands context, meaning that things like spatial placement and subject-object pairings are easily recreated. The goal is to make putting ASL content on websites (and keeping it up to date) as easy as doing so for a written language. In the same way that a website may have both an English and a Spanish language version, the software would make it easier for websites to include an ASL version.While Huenerfauth?s research is still ongoing, his team has already gathered many hours of recordings and addressed several ASL linguistic issues. Further research will go to expanding the number of signs, as well as improving the speed, timing and complexity of the computer-generated movements. ****Matt Huenerfauth is an associate professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Department of Information Sciences and Technologies, and is the Director of RIT?s Linguistic and Assistive Technologies Laboratory (LATLab). One of the newest members of IST faculty, he joined RIT in August 2014 after eight years as a faculty member at the City University of New York, where he was a tenured associate professor of computer science and linguistics. He holds a Ph.D. in Computing and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Daniel Ashbrook Awarded NSF Grant
2015-03-26 04:00:00
IST faculty member Daniel Ashbrook has been awarded his first National Science Foundation grant, titled 'Augmented Fabrication for Non-Expert Users of Digital Fabrication Systems.' The $175,000 grant will help fund Dr. Ashbrook's research on finding ways to assist non-expert, everyday users of digital fabrication equipment, such as 3D printers and laser cutters. Dr. Ashbrook?s interest in this area stems from the recent increased accessibility to digital fabrication equipment. With the cost of the equipment falling in the last few years, many households and individuals can now afford them for their private use. Unfortunately, the learning curve with such machines can be high, a source of frustration for new and less tech savvy users. Dr. Ashbrook and his team will be investigating ways to lower that barrier to entry. Specifically, he will research iterative design processes for not only creating new objects, but modifying existing ones as well. Daniel Ashbrook, a first year faculty member with the IST Department, holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to his time at RIT he worked in industrial research for Samsung and Nokia.
Dr. Deborah Gears Introduces 'George?' at Celebration of Research
2014-12-04 05:00:00
Faculty researchers Risa Robinson, left, from the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, and Gabrielle Gaustad, from the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, were among those who were introduced to ?George?? at the Celebration of Research event on Nov. 20. ?George?,? the brainchild of Deborah Gears, associate professor of information sciences and technologies, is a digital database and gamified experience that uses scholar trading cards. Using the database, RIT faculty researchers can create their own scholar trading card to be viewed and printed, and view and collect trading cards of their colleagues. The cards feature information that?s useful in building collaborative relationships across campus. Anyone with an RIT user ID and password will be able to view the entire collection and search for keywords of interest. The primary goal is to foster new connections and promote further interdisciplinary research. Visit george.rit.edu to learn more.Photo credit: A. Sue Weisler
RIT SIGCHI Kickoff Meeting
2014-09-30 04:00:00
Wednesday, October 1stGOL-2455 @ 5 pmExcited about human-computer interaction?Attend the RIT SIGCHI Student Chapter Kickoff Meeting! Join in planning events and brainstorming ideas for this academic year.
RIT Fall 2014 Career Fair
2014-09-27 04:00:00
Wednesday, October 1, 2014Gordon Field House11:00 am - 4:00 pmInterview Day: Thursday, October 2Tips for Success:Be sure to check out the company websites in advance. Go to JOB ZONE to see if openings are posted and if so, apply! Do your research.Bring Plenty of ResumesDress for SuccessKnow What to ExpectPractice Your Introduction Recruiter TipsBring your RIT ID for entrance to the fair. This event is for RIT students and alumni only!
Dr. Tomaszewski and Dr. Haake Awarded Grant from Grand Challenges Canada
2014-09-26 04:00:00
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski (PI) and Dr. Anne Haake (co-PI) have been awarded a $30,000 sub-award from a $100,000 overall grant from the Stars in Global Health | Grand Challenges Canada and University of Rwanda to develop mobile medical education technology in Rwanda. This exciting international project at the intersections of health IT and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) will lead to Rwanda's first mobile medical education platform. Specifically, the RIT team will provide stakeholder needs assessment related to development of the mobile medical education platform such as conducting field work in Rwanda to interview doctors on their medical educational needs and conducting virtual meetings with relevant stakeholders in Rwanda. RIT will also work with the University of Rwanda to develop a prototype mobile medical education tool based on inputs from the stakeholder need assessment tasks.For more information, see: http://www.grandchallenges.ca/grantee-stars/0549-01-10/.
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski Named Co-PI on a National Science Foundation CNIC Grant
2014-09-26 04:00:00
This planning visit will scope the technical, information sharing, and organizational requirements for an integrated security information system for use in refugee camps. The collaboration includes researchers from Pennsylvania State University (lead), University of California, and the Rochester Institute of Technology working with researchers at Al-Balqa' Applied University in Jordan. This planning effort will begin with the Za'atari Camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan. This research project will address important technical design constraints that can be applied to a variety of systems, working first with the particularly challenging constraints of a refugee camp with limited infrastructure, complex organizational networks, and a population of shell shocked residents who are unfamiliar with their physical environment, services providers, and one another. The research resulting from this visit will generate design recommendations for rapidly deployable integrated information systems which will: develop the parameters to use wireless mesh networks to establish new approaches to location identification, prepare geographic information system (GIS) data analyses and visualizations that can meet the needs of a variety of organizations and user skill levels, and evaluate mechanisms for sharing security-related information between groups with different concerns such as police, UN personnel, NGOs and residents themselves. The planning visit includes important meetings with camp governance, humanitarian and aid organizations, and with refugee community organizers.The full award description abstract can be found here.
Professor Nirmala Shenoy Awarded National Science Foundation CISE Grant
2014-09-26 04:00:00
The Information Sciences and Technologies Department congratulates Professor Nirmala Shenoy, Ph.D. on her new $300,000 award from NSF to support her project titled 'Creation Of Situational Awareness For Emergency Response And Management Using Next Generation Gigabit Communication Systems.'This project, which involves Jenn Schneider from CAST and Kaiqi from Computing Security, seeks to address the following challenge: 'A major stumbling block for successful response and recovery in the event of an emergency is the lack of actionable, timely and reliable information flows between regional emergency management office (EMO) to the incident command (IC) and also incident responders in the field and from the IC to the EMO. Currently, emergency management operates with dismal informational support, especially considering the evolving and exponentially growing available information and individual technological capabilities. Effective emergency response and management requires full situational awareness and should leverage all of the available sources create optimal informational sharing to guide the response. Inputs to this portal include high fidelity (LIDAR type) mapping, 911 requests and deployment, responder post/field feedback, emerging incident information (time verses resources) foot-printing, and potentially social media communications. This project will leverage work done and techniques developed under prior NSF CISE proposals to enhance gigabit transaction over the Internet to enable a more reliable and timely information delivery.'
Associate Professor Matt Huenerfauth Awarded National Science Foundation Grant
2014-09-26 04:00:00
The Information Sciences and Technologies Department congratulates Associate Professor Matt Huenerfauth on his new NFS $538,000 award titled 'Immediate Feedback to Support Learning American Sign Language through Multisensory Recognition.' The project abstract reads: 'Prior research studies have indicated that deaf children of deaf parents read better than deaf children of hearing parents, mainly due to better communication when both children and parents use American Sign Language (ASL) at home. However, more than 80% of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are born to hearing parents. It is challenging for parents, caregivers, and other people in the life of a deaf child to learn ASL rapidly enough to support the visual language acquisition of the child. We propose that technology that can automatically recognize aspects of ASL signing can provide instant feedback to these students, giving them a time-flexible way to practice and improve their signing skills. In this joint research project between RIT and the City University of New York (CUNY), we will investigate automatic video-analysis technologies that can automatically determine if a performance is fluent or contains errors made by ASL students, leading to a new educational tool to assist ASL learners achieve fluency. We will (1) identify a set of observable attributes indicating fluency; (2) design software to detect these attributes using color and depth cameras; (3) collect and annotate a dataset of videos of ASL performed at varied levels of fluency by students and native ASL signers; (4) develop an interactive ASL learning tool that provides ASL students immediate feedback about whether their signing is fluent or not; and (5) to evaluate the robustness of the proposed algorithms and the effectiveness of the ASL learning tool, including its educational benefits in an ASL course.'
Associate Professor Charles Border Interviewed by USENIX
2014-09-26 04:00:00
Associate Professor Charles Border, Ph.D. and Kyrre Begnum (Associate Professor at Akershus University in Oslo, Norway) were interviewed by USENIX to publicize the Summit for Educators in System Administration (SESA) conference and the Journal of Education in System Administration (JESA).The full interview with the Chief Editors can be found here.
IST Department Welcomes Daniel Ashbrook, Ph.D.
2014-09-23 04:00:00
The Information Sciences and Technologies Department welcomes new Assistant Professor Daniel Ashbrook.Professor Ashbrook received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.He worked for Nokia for three years and Samsung for 1.5 years. His area of research is in human-computer interactionwith a focus on wearable and mobile computing plus devices for personal fabrication. He co-taught at Stanford University and will develop a course in wearable technology for the IST Department. When asked what he hopes to bring to the IST Department, Professor Ashbrook said, 'Money! I plan to apply for a NSF grant.'Before moving to Rochester, Professor Ashbrook lived in the Bay area for 3 years and Santa Monica for 2 years.He's moved approximately 25 times in his life!For more information about Professor Ashbrook, visit his webpage here.
IST Professor Vicki Hanson Recognized for 'Outstanding Contributions to Accessibility and Computing'
2014-09-10 04:00:00
By Scott BureauRochester Institute of Technology Distinguished Professor Vicki Hanson has been awarded the 2014 Association for Computing Machinery SIGACCESS Outstanding Contributions Award.Hanson was recognized for her career-long work on issues of inclusion for people with disabilities, including the development of award-winning applications and software that support older adults and individuals with hearing andvision impairments.As part of the award, Hanson will serve as keynote speaker at the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, held Oct. 20-22 in Rochester. She will also receive a $1,000 honorarium and a certificate of recognition.?Vicki Hanson has devoted her whole career to studying the needs and characteristics of diverse people with disabilities and creating methods that can help them,? said Julio Abascal, a professor at the University of the Basque Country, Spain, and chair of the award?s Selection Committee. ?Her innovations, research and publications are influencing developers and being used by consumers around the world every day.?Hanson, who joined the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences in 2013, has experience in both industry and academia. She joined IBM Research in 1986, where she founded and managedthe Accessibility Research group. She received an IBM Corporate Award for her many contributions, including her work with accessibilityWorks, a project that allows users to personalize Web pages using browser extensionsto make them more usable by older adults and people with visual, motor or cognitive disabilities.Before joining RIT, Hanson was a professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland where she led several research projects related to accessibility.In addition to conducting research and teaching at RIT, Hanson serves as vice president of ACM. She is also theprincipal investigator on a project that investigates issues of elderly home care design and technology, in support of improving resident mobility and wellness. The multidisciplinary BESiDE (Built Environment for Social inclusion through the Digital Economy) project is funded by the Research Councils UK.The Association of Computing Machinery is the world?s largest educational and scientific computing society.
IST Students Connect with Students in Croatia
2014-09-04 04:00:00
On Wednesday, August 27, 2014 the IST Department freshmen and transfer students connected with students at the RIT campuses in Croatia using a service called 'BlueJeans'. IST Department Chair Steve Zilora led discussions between the students in Zagreb and Dubrovnik and the students in Rochester. Ivana Silic is a Recruitment and Enrollment Manager at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Croatia. Present at the event she reported, 'The Orientation and Welcome session that Prof Zilora organized for the IT students was in my opinion a huge success. Walking into the lab, I could see on their faces they were not sure what to expect... They were too shy to ask the questions directly, which in no way means they were not interested! On the contrary, a lot of them approached me later on and asked about the study abroad opportunities and also had a lot of questions about the life at the main campus. What they told me after the session is that they were happy to be able to see students at the other campuses and thrilled about the opportunities that might come up in terms of them working on projects together. They also liked Professor Zilora's enthusiastic, friendly, and supportive approach and they felt like they belong to RIT family.' Students in Croatia also commented: 'This made me realize that this is going to be so much different than high school! Possibility to study abroad for a semester and use the resources that RIT has is amazing. Even though Rochester is so far away, it felt so close at that moment.? 'The idea of working on projects with students from another campus is really exciting! Can't wait for that to happen.''I knew that there were some differences between the American and Croatian, European educational system, and this confirmed that! I never imagined that our professors could be so approachable and friendly! I am definitely considering a semester abroad or enrolling to one of the MS programs at RIT once I graduate from RIT Croatia.?Ms. Silic summed up the experience with, 'Having the opportunity to interact with students from around the globe is something that all of the RIT freshmen will definitely benefit from as this is exactly what's waiting for them in their future jobs! This was a perfect showcase of us being a modern global university!'
IST Professor Jim Leone Recognized by ABET
2014-08-15 04:00:00
Congratulations to IST Professor Jim Leone who has been recognized by ABET for his extraordinary efforts during the past many years in regards to reviewing individual applied science programs. David Cordes, the current Computing Accreditation Commission Chairman (CAC), states, ?His efforts have been integral to the success of the commission.? The accreditation actions taken serve to improve applied sciences education across the United States.
Brian Tomaszewski and Jules Mupenzi attend Esri User Conference in San Diego
2014-08-05 04:00:00
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski and MS IST student Jules Maurice Mupenzi recently attended the Esri User Conference in San Diego. The Esri User Conference is the world's largest conference focused on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, drawing over 15,000 people from around the world. Jules received a prestigious student conference assistantship from Esri to attend the conference and Dr. Tomaszewski received a GCCIS Faculty Education and Development Program (FEAD) grant to attend the conference and gave a presentation on his spatial thinking educational research in Rwanda. For more information, see: here
IST Professor Oh Receives Award
2014-07-24 04:00:00
Congratulations to Professor Tom Oh for his award from ETRI in support of his project titled 'Developing Cloud-based Conceptual Solution for Detecting Android Malware.' Through this project, ETRI and RIT will research a security solution for mobile devices.
Graduate Students Present Research
2014-07-18 04:00:00
IST graduate Aishwarya Sawant and ATISH SHINDE presented their research on tracking, mapping and analyzing earthquakes via social media at Imagine RIT 2014. They had well over 100 people stop by and visit their display. Their project was advised by Dr. Brian Tomaszewski. For more information go here.
Deborah Cahn Memorial Scholarship Winner
2014-07-01 04:00:00
Congratulations to Aisharya Sawant for being chosen as the Deborah Cahn Scholarship recipient for 2014-15! Deborah Cahn was a MS/Information Technology graduate student who brought a spirit of generosity and collegiality to our community. She spent countless hours of her own time mentoring and helping other students in the department's labs before her untimely death. Her family and friends have endowed this scholarship to encourage and support other MS/IT graduate students who demonstrate this same spirit of caring - that we have come to call 'Debbie-ishness.'The monitary level of an award varies and is usually distributed over a Fall and Spring semester. Read here.
Professor Vicki Hanson elected as Vice President of ACM
2014-06-10 04:00:00
IST Distinguished Professor Vicki Hanson has been elected to a two-year term as Vice President of ACM. ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, serves computing practitioners and academics worldwide. It promotes the computing profession with publications, conferences, and leading edge instructional resources including webinars and a distinguished speakers series. Being the Vice President for ACM allows Dr. Hanson to serve the larger computing community and have a major voice in setting organizational directions. It is strictly a volunteer position but does involve quite a bit of work and travel including meetings around the world several times a year. The position of Vice President is particularly meaningful to Professor Hanson becauseit allows her to give back to her profession. 'How else would professionals grow if there wasn?t a network of mentors and other professionals for sharing ideas and best practices?' she says. It also allows her to stay involved with others at the very top of the computing profession in North America, Europe,Asia, and Latin America.Students can also be members of ACM. In particular, we have a student chapter at RIT for those interested in human-centered computing. This SIGCHI Student Chapter is chaired by Brian Coleman, a master?s degree student in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) within the IST Department. Please go herefor more information about ACM.
Prof. Edward Holden Honored with Excellence in Teaching Award
2014-06-01 04:00:00
Dr. Shawn Sturgeon (left) presented Professor Ed Holden (center) with the Excellence in Teaching award from RIT-Croatia at the May 31st commencement ceremonies held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dean Andrew Sears (right) was also on-hand for the award and graduation ceremonies.
IST Associate Professor Ronald Vullo interviewed on WROC regarding Net Neutrality
2014-05-16 04:00:00
Local Rochester news station WROC interviewed Associate Professor Ronald Vullo because the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to allow faster lanes for the internet.Watch the interview here, or read more here.
Joseph A. Konstan, Guest Lecture: Recommender Systems
2014-05-08 04:00:00
Dr. Konstan, a McKnight University Professor and a University Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota, will be giving a lecture on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 1:00pm, in the Golisano Auditorium, room 1400. The lecture will be focused on recommender systems which provide real-time personalization to help users identify products or information of interest. Some of Dr. Konstan's other work includes Human-Computer Interaction issues concerning social computing and applications of computing to public health.On Wednesday, May 14, meet Dr. Joseph Konstan and pick his brain about the field of HCI. As a distinguished university professor, Dr. Konstan will be sharing his deepest secrets about studying in the discipline. If you?re interested in learning more about HCI education.**Human-Computer Interaction Salon: A Potpourri of Topics with Joseph KonstanWednesday, May 14, 11:00 am - 1:30 pm (Innovation Hall / MAGIC / Building 87 Main Room)**This casual discussion is open to all students and faculty, or anyone with an interest in human-centered computing. Come and go for as long as you are available. *Pizza will be served at lunchtime.*Distinguished professor Dr. Joseph Konstan will be hosting an open forum to discuss topics of interest in the field of HCI. Attendees are open to address HCI any topic of interest.Potential topics include:*Making the case for HCI education*HCI vs. User Experience*Tips for journal publications*Dr. Konstan?s experiences with MOOCs*Social computing, and his experiences with GroupLens*The future of HCI education*Whatever you wish to discuss with this visiting researcher, scholar, and distinguished member of the ACM.Flyer
Congratulations to Adjunct Professor Jonathan Weissman!
2014-05-02 04:00:00
Congratulations are in order to Adjunct Professor Jonathan Weissman who was chosen for The Outstanding Teaching Award for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty! Professor Weissman teaches for both Information Sciences and Technology and Computing Security. When asked what the award meant to him, Professor Weissman answered that the award meant the world to him. It's the greatest recognition I've received and it's at the top of my accomplishments. When asked what he liked about teaching at RIT, Professor Weissman said,'It's his #1 passion. I love being up and in front of a classroom of students. I love the fact the words coming from me make a difference and that my classes are an experience for the students.'
Article by IST Professor Ronald P. Vullo is Featured in the Democrat & Chronicle
2014-04-29 04:00:00
An article provided by IST Professor Ron Vullo 'Make your business site more accessible by taking advantage of changes in web development' was featured in Rochester's local newspaper, Democrat & Chronicle. Please go here to read more about it.
Effective Access Technology Research at RIT
2014-04-21 04:00:00
The following article is from RIT University News: Published on Apr 11, 2014 Rochester Institute of Technology has long been noted for its work in effective technologies for people with disabilities. As home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, RIT is proud of its accomplishments in this area. Researchers university-wide are developing a significant number of new types of technologies to improve access for persons with disabilities. RIT will host the second annual Effective Access Technology conference in June 2014. Go to rit.edu/access or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-fUFwXe7wk to learn more.
Visit from Rochester STEM High School
2014-04-17 04:00:00
IST Professor Brian Tomaszewski recently visited the Rochester STEM school (Information Technology Academy) with a Rwandan graduate student. The students were interested in learning more about Professor Tomaszewski's area of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a computing discipline. So on April 9th, the students from the STEM school visited RIT. They were able to learn about GIS in the IST labs and were given tours of the Golisano 2nd floor.
20th Commemoration and Remembrance of Rwandan Genocide
2014-04-08 04:00:00
Rochester Institute of Technology hosted a public ceremony April 7 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, a state-backed campaign in which more than 800,000 people were killed.The three-month period of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide was a campaign perpetrated by the military, as well as organized civilian militias and everyday citizens, designed to exterminate the country's minority Tutsi population.RIT hosted the Rwanda Genocide Twenty Year Commemoration and Remembrance ceremony on April 7 in Xerox Auditorium, James E. Gleason Hall. Speakers at the event discussed an overview of Rwanda and the genocide, as well as the experiences of those affected. Speakers include Francis Rutagarama, who told the story of how he made it out of Rwanda to Syracuse, N.Y.Brian Tomaszewski, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technologies, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, organized the event. He regularly travels to Rwanda to aid education efforts in the region, as part of a Rwanda Innovation for Education grant and Department for International Development award.'It is important to remember and discuss this because events like the Rwandan Genocide must never happen again and people in the United States have little to no understanding of Rwanda in general or the genocide,' said Tomaszewski.The talk included perspectives on the genocide in terms of international law, human rights and reconciliation from Kristin Doughty, an assistant professor of anthropology at University of Rochester who has been conducting ethnographic research in Rwanda since 2002.Several RIT students from Rwanda will also discuss life in Rwanda today and where the country is heading.'We will talk deeply about what really happened during the genocide and share some of the lessons that Rwanda has learned,' said Patrick Muhire, a graduate student in computing security who is originally from Rwanda. 'You will also learn how people learned to live together despite what happened in Rwanda 20 years ago.'The evening ended with a genocide candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. and reception at 9 p.m.The event was co-sponsored by RIT's College of Liberal Arts, The Barber B. Conable Jr. Endowed Chair in International Studies and the Office of International Education and Global Programs. For more information about the event, contact Tomaszewski at bmtski@rit.edu.Original article by Scott BureauFollow Scott Bureau on TwitterFollow RITNEWS on Twitter
Learning in Networking I Lab
2014-04-02 04:00:00
The students in Garret Arcoraci's Networking I Lab are learning about VLAN. According to Wikipedia, VLAN is 'in computer networking, a single layer-2 network may be partitioned to create multiple distinct broadcast domains, which are mutually isolated so that packets can only pass between them via one or more routers; such a domain is referred to as a virtual local area network, virtual LAN or VLAN'.
2014 Leadership Awards Winners
2014-03-20 04:00:00
Congratulations to two IST students who are recipients of the 2014 Leadership Awards! Joe Makowski is currently a student in Networking and Security Administration. He is a recipient of the Alfred L. & Ruby C. Davis Leadership Award. Elliana Fournier is currently an Information Technology student and received the Walls Olson Memorial Scholarship.
IST's New Tenured Faculty
2014-03-18 04:00:00
Congratulations to IST faculty members Tom Oh and Qi Yu! With the end of this academic year they will both be tenured Associate Professors.Professor Yu joined the IST faculty in the fall of 2008. His research interests lie in the general field of data management with a focus on service computing, query optimization, data mining, and integration.Professor Oh's research interests are in MANET, Sensor Networks, Telemedicine, Network/Cyber Security, Green Communications, and Scalable Modeling and Simulation.
Student Spotlight: Emanuel Aliprantis
2014-03-02 05:00:00
Q. Where are you from?A. I am currently from the town of South Brunswick, NJ, and reside in the community of Dayton there.Q. What led you here?A. I chose to come to RIT because I love being able to work with technology and learning everything there is to know about it. My love for technology started when I was in private high school, where I worked in the IT departments there. I worked on Networking and developed a sense of technology that made me want pursue it further in college. One of the many things I love about RIT is that it offers its students a hands on learning experience.Q. What campus activities are you involved with?A. I belong to Alpha Phi Omega Xi Zeta which you can find at www.apoxz.org. It?s a co-ed service fraternity. In Alpha Phi Omega we are involved with many events such as broomball and Foodlink. At Foodlink we will spend our Saturday mornings going out to package food and help their organization.Q. What has been challenging?A. Going from private school to a private college there wasn?t much change, because I was taught how to manage my time quite effectively there. My question is if I?m struggling with something, who do I go to? I?ve learned that a lot of teachers are friendly and outgoing. For example, Professor Elissa Weeden stayed up until 2:00 am to teach me MySQL, and she helped me to make sure that I understood the course material well in order to be successful in her class. She is one of the best teachers to have, and is even willing to stay after an event. It shocked me because I never expected that out of a teacher.Q. Any plans to go for a master's degree?A. Currently I do not have any plans to obtain my master?s just yet, but after I obtain my bachelor?s degree I?d like to work for Cisco or Microsoft. I have been making strives to ensure that my GPA will be up to their standards to be accepted for a position there, and I have been building my resume as I go along to ensure that I have an adequate amount of work experience to be successful after graduation.Emanuel feels there is a future in Google Glass (which he is wearing in the picture). He sees many uses for it in the future especially for disabled people who don?t have the use of their arms/hands. He is interested in developing apps in the future for Google Glass.
Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars
2014-02-17 05:00:00
Congratulations to the 2013-2014 Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars in the Departments of Information, Sciences and Technologies and Computing Security! Pictured in front are Kayla Green, Mark Porzi, Stanley Chan. In the back row are Greg Daneault, Christopher Shingleton, Kyle Nicodemus and Tyler Fornes. Missing from the picture is David Wilson.
Brian Tomaszewski visits United Nations Cartographic Section
2014-01-30 05:00:00
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski recently visited the United Nations Cartographic Section in New York City. The United Nations Cartographic Section is responsible for developing map products for United Nations peacekeeping operations and other activities of the United Nations that require mapping services. The purpose of the visit was to conduct the research on the use of geographic information systems (GIS) during disaster management. In particular, he conducted interviews with UN mapping experts as inputs for his book project titled 'GIS for Disaster Management' slated for publication in Fall of 2014 by CRC press.
100 Best Jobs of 2014
2014-01-27 05:00:00
U.S. News and World Reports has listed the 100 Best Jobs of 2014. The list is based on employment opportunity, salary, work-life balance and job security. A strong percentage of jobs on the list are in Technology. Take a look here.
Academic Success Fair
2014-01-21 05:00:00
The Golisano College and the Academic Support Center are sponsoring an Academic Success Fair on Thursday, February 6th, at 11:30AM to 2:00PM in the Golisano Atrium (Gol 1400). The fair will offer students the opportunity to meet various resources at RIT as well as tutors, and will host mini-workshops to improve their chances of success. See more in the flyer below:
Patented algorithm allows for establishment and maintenance of connectivity in mobile ad-hoc networks
2013-12-14 05:00:00
After more than five years of research, experimentation, and evaluation, professor Nirmala Shenoy has received a patent for her work in establishing an algorithm to create and maintain robust connectivity among nodes in mobile ad-hoc networks. The solutions so developed can be used in a variety of applications such as airborne networks, rescue networks and large sensor networks. Shenoy's work, which was funded in part by Boeing and several Department of Defense grants, explored ways in which a network of moving nodes could continually change their connections and routes to the dynamics in the network topology. The solutions could scale to hundreds of airborne and moving terrestrial nodes.'We needed to establish a network for nodes that are moving around. These can be soldiers in the field or unmanned flying aircraft that are communicating with them,' Shenoy explains. 'Any node in this network can join and leave, so the connections and routes are making and breaking continually. We came up with a multi-meshed tree algorithm that can maintain connections and routes despite changes in network topology due to movement of nodes and the arrival of new nodes or the exit of existing nodes.'The technology involved in applying the complex algorithm to mobile ad-hoc networks was the specific area of the project for which Shenoy received a patent. Her work can help teams establish ad-hoc networks in a remote field, and guarantee connectivity to hundreds of moving nodes. Among the grants Shenoy received along the way was a $340,000 NYSTAR grant to research the applicability of the novel approach to firefighting situations. 'Firefighters are the type of group that need to quickly establish a network of communication that's constantly adjusting to a situation in flux,' says Shenoy. She began working on the project with area company Spectracomcorp, where she was first encouraged to pursue a patent. Shenoy was informed on November 13th that her patent had been accepted.Original article by Fran Broderick can be found here.
Brian Tomaszewski participates in National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded workshop on Robust Socio-technical Architectures
2013-12-09 05:00:00
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski brought a Geographic Information Scientist?s perspective to a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded workshop on Robust Socio-technical Architectures in Support of Displaced Persons. Tomaszewski was selected as a workshop participant after a competitive, peer-review application process. The two day, intensive workshop focused on developing a fundamental science research agenda around supporting camp-based and urban refugees. The workshop was held in the beautiful Stellenbosch region of South Africa and had international participants from academia, NGOs, UN-OCHA, and the US State Department.
Keynote Address Delivered by Charles Border at the 2013 USENIX Summit for Educators in System Administration
2013-12-05 05:00:00
Charles Border delivered the keynote address at the 2013 USENIX Summit for Educators in System Administration at their first annual meeting in advance of the USENIX Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference in Washington, DC. Prof. Border's address 'How Big-Web and DevOps Changes Academic Programs in System Administration' discussed the changes that are being made to the Networking and System Administration program in the Information and Science and Technology department to better reflect the increased importance of web and cloud based application deployment.Read more about the conference here.
ACM SIGCHI @ RIT Chapter Officially Chartered
2013-11-24 05:00:00
Information Sciences & Technologies faculty, Deborah Gears, PhD, is the proud sponsor of RIT's first ACM SIGCHI Student Chapter, along with founding Chair, Brian Coleman (MS HCI student). Newly elected officers include Randy Duke, Vice Chair, Dhwanit Mehta, Treasurer, Amanda Yung, Communication Chair, and Elaine Montambeau, Events Chair.Anyone interested in Human-Computer Interaction is welcome to join in the fun - ACM membership not required. Chapter members collaborate with distinguished professionals, receive ACM publications, and contribute to a dynamic and growing HCI community.Joining is easy! Contact Brian Coleman at brc4783@rit.edu or Deborah Gears at Deborah.Gears@rit.edu.
Charles Border keynote speaker at grand opening of the College of Computing and Information Sciences in Saudi Arabia
2013-11-20 05:00:00
Charles Border was the keynote speaker at the kick-off ceremony for the Technology and E-Transactions week and grand opening of the College of Computing and Information Sciences at Al Majmaah University in Majmaah, Saudi Arabia. Prof. Border's talk highlighted the role of E-transaction in the RIT student experience. Prof. Border is a member of the advisory board for the College of Computing and Information Sciences at Al Majmaah University.More about the ceremony can be found here.
Brian Tomaszewski brings computers to school children in Africa
2013-11-17 05:00:00
A major milestone has been completed for Dr. Tomaszewski's spatial thinking research in Rwanda in terms of IT hardware support. Specifically, working with his project team, he helped deliver 60 android tablets, 10pcs, and 2 custom storage cabinets to two schools in Rwanda. The picture shows one of the tablet computer storage cabinets that was custom made-in-Rwanda and designed by Tomaszewski to securely hold 30 tablets along with holes in the back for running power cords to charge the tablets when not in use.
Kudos to Matt Lake!
2013-11-14 05:00:00
Matt Lake, Senior Academic Advisor, was asked to serve on a subcommittee of the university's Student Success Steering Committee, a group focused on improving student retention. The subcommittee is looking at the 'gender gap' in higher education; why the rate of graduation among males is declining while females are rising. Matt recently attended the ACPA's Conference on College Men at Miami University in Ohio along with Dan Hickey, assistant director of the Academic Support Center.You can read more about this this subcommittee's work in the current issue of The Reporter, where Matt was quoted. The article is here:reporter.rit.edu/generational-shift/
Brian Tomaszewski presents research at AfricaGIS Conference in Ethiopia
2013-11-13 05:00:00
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski presented preliminary results of his Rwanda spatial thinking research at the 2014 AfricaGIS Conference that was held at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Dr. Tomaszewski is shown in the picture with his Rwandan research colleagues Ernest Bucyayungura (left) and Marie Angelo Kwisanga Businge (right).
IST and CSEC Students Compete in Department Billiards Tournament
2013-11-12 05:00:00
There was a good turnout of 10 teams competing in the IST/CSEC Billiards Tournament on Friday, Nov. 8 at the Ritz Sports Zone. Congratulations to IST freshmen Andrew Cerkanowicz and Mitch Steenburgh for winning! Andrew and Mitch worked their way back from the losers bracket to take 1st place winning $25 gift certificates each to Lovin' Cup! Professors Jim Leone, Garett Arcoraci, Elissa Weeden, and Bo Yuan participated on teams with the students.
IST Halloween Contest
2013-11-04 05:00:00
Congratulations to Christopher Wong, Jason Pamona, and Kelly Fredette! Their team won the IST Post-It Pumpkin Contest on Thursday, October 31st!
Student Spotlight: Joe Lodin
2013-11-03 04:00:00
Welcome to our first article focusing on IST students! Featured is Joe Lodin, a 4th year IST student who comes from Yonkers, NY which is located just north of NYC. Joe did not receive the average or typical high school education as he was home schooled. Q. What led Joe to RIT?A. Around the age of 13, Joe got his 1st iPod which led to him listening to podcasts where he picked up a program between two RIT alumni talking about Information Technology, Computer Science, and different computing disciplines. The alumni were addressing High School students. Joe found the conversations interesting and did research on IT programs. That research also led to RIT and an early decision for Joe. He also built his first computer at age 14 which cemented his interest in IT.Q. What campus activities has Joe been involved in?A. Joe is the leader of the Student Computing Systems Alliance (SCSA), is a member of the Electronic Gaming Society, a student advisor serving on the Dean's Advisory Board, a Student Ambassador for IST, and provides organizational help with Imagine RIT (he's worked every Imagine RIT).Q. What has been challenging?A. It's been a challenge to know what it is he wants to do with his degree. His hobby-level interest is challenged by academics and his expectations change from semester to semester.Q. Do you plan to get a master's degree?A. If an employer will pay for it, Joe might go on. He is career oriented so he'd rather not make the decision right now. He does feel, however, that it's important to have a business background in combination with the tech field.Q. Where does Joe hope to go after earning his bachelor's degree?A. He had a fantastic co-op experience this past summer and the company has invited him back to work full time. His job hunt isn't totally over but he's sitting in a good position.
IT Alumni Speaking Engagement
2013-11-01 04:00:00
IT Alumnus Erhardt Graeff, now at the MIT Media Lab and Center for Civic Media, will be speaking at RIT with his mentor Ethan Zuckerman. The title of their talk is 'Mapping Media Ecosystems to understand Digital Civics'. The Talk and Signing for Zuckerman's book Rewire will be November 11th at 8:00pm, Carlson Auditorium.
IST Professor Edward Holden Interviewed by Christian Science Monitor
2013-10-31 04:00:00
IST Professor Edward Holden was interviewed by Christian Science Monitor regarding the healthcare.gov issues.Most of us by now have heard of the technical problems on the website to sign up for insurance. Read more here about Professor Holden's comments.
'Secrets and Lies' author Bruce Schneier visits with RIT faculty to discuss student project inspired by his book
2013-10-29 04:00:00
Author Bruce Schneier visited with RIT faculty Wednesday, Oct. 23 to talk with Professors Dan Bogaard, Bill Stackpole and Daryl Johnson about a student project inspired by a lecture on a chapter from his book, Secrets and Lies. Students Matt Tentilucci and Nick Roberts initially launched the project, titled 'Crowdsourcing Computer Security Attack Trees,' and were joined shortly thereafter by IST students Shreshth Kandari and Victoria Brake. Also part of the project is George Markowsky, a visiting scholar from The University of Maine. In their project proposal, Tentilucci and Roberts write, 'Attack trees or fault analysis trees have been used for a variety of different purposes in a number of different industries. However, there seems to currently be no effort to use attack trees in a computer security context. This project seeks to find an easy way to create and utilize attack trees for visualizing and understanding computer security vulnerabilities while also being able to harness the power of crowdsourcing.'
One of the '25 Most Powerful Women Engineers in Tech' joins Golisano College faculty
2013-10-22 04:00:00
The following article is the first in a series of articles that will highlight professors at the Golisano College. For our first installment we spoke with Distinguished Professor Vicki Hanson, who recently joined the faculty in the department of Information Sciences & Technologies, where she specializes in the field of human-computer interaction. Dr. Hanson was formerly a professor at the University of Dundee, Scotland and head of IBM?s Accessibility Research Group. She is a Research Staff Member Emeritus at IBM. Hanson is a recipient of the Anita Borg Woman of Vision Award for Social Impact, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women Engineers in Tech by Business Insider.How did you get your start in tech?Human-computer interaction (HCI) grew out of a number of fields and one of those was cognitive psychology. I fell into it as my Ph.D. is in cognitive psychology. In my undergraduate years I used computers, back when using computers still consisted of making little punch cards. During my graduate program, computer science was an option you could take to fulfill a graduate foreign language requirement so I pursued that course. It came in handy as I was running psychology experiments and needed to write my own programs for the studies. My HCI work began when companies began realizing the importance of making their offerings easily usable. My HCI work combines my skills is cognitive psychology and computing.Can you discuss the research you conducted at IBM and what drew you to that work?I spent more than twenty years at IBM and early on I worked in the K-12 education group. One of my favorite pieces of software I?ve developed was called HandsOn. The program used stories told in American Sign Language to develop deaf students? understanding of English. I also worked on programs to help teachers with their assessments, and in one memorable project I lead a group that developed an early Internet server for K-12 schools.What was your proudest achievement or project you worked on?In 2000, IBM indicated a priority topics was accessibility so I had an opportunity to get back to doing what I love. I was asked to manage the Accessibility Research Group at the T. J. Watson Research Center. One of the projects we worked on was accessibilityWorks, which was software that adapted the web to make it easier for persons with disabilities to use. We also worked with the developers of the virtual worlds game PowerUp to make the game accessible.What do you see as some of the biggest challenges in your field going forward and what are some of your goals at RIT?Our goal is to expand and strengthen our HCI offerings, especially with regards to accessibility. RIT has a long-standing strength in accessibility so I see a lot of opportunity. For example, a lot of mobile and tablet technologies are still hard for people to use. I?m a big fan of making applications that everyone can use rather than making separate applications for persons with disabilities. Therefore I?d like developers to have a better understanding of the needs of persons with disabilities so that they can implement that understanding into their design from the outset.How about hobbies and personal life?I have a wonderful and supportive husband and two daughters. One is finishing her Ph.D. in human-computer interaction at the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom and the other is now working in music here in Rochester. I also have two dogs, both shelties, named Luna and Bella.Dr. Hanson is currently seeking current and prospective Ph.D. students, as well as master?s students with an interest in human-computer interaction for research opportunities. If you are a student interested in working with Dr. Hanson you can contact her at : vlhics@rit.edu
Dr. Tomaszewski gives talk at the University of Bonn, Germany
2013-10-17 04:00:00
Brian Tomaszewski, Ph.D. gave a talk this summer at the University of Bonn, Germany Geography department, the oldest Geography department in Germany. The talk was given in collaboration with Tony Vodacek from CIS/COS about their joint spatial thinking research. Tomaszewski and Vodacek were both in Germany via funding an International Partnership Development grant sponsored by the RIT Office of Sponsored research.
Livonia High School visit to RIT
2013-10-13 04:00:00
Livonia High School AP Environmental Science students met with IST Professor Brian Tomaszewski on Thursday, Oct. 10th. Not only did the students visit the labs in the IST Department located in the Golisano College but they were also impressed with GISystems technology and the GISustainability building.
Steve Wozniak visits GGCIS
2013-10-10 04:00:00
Computing Security student James Simmonds asked his friend Steve Wozniak if he might be able to visit him at RIT. Mr. Wozniak was in the area and visited the labs on the 2nd floor in the Golisano College. He was kind enough to stay and chat with the students, even giving his autograph on computers and other items. In case you're not familiar with Woz, he was a co-founder of Apple Computer, and is the famed inventor of the Apple I and Apple II.
Student Collaboration
2013-10-06 04:00:00
Professor Catherine Beaton teaches 'Designing the User Experience' and describes it as, 'Students put into practice a wide range of concepts; from psychology to physiology, usability to accessibility. Students delve into personas and scenarios to drive an iterative design that culminates in a showcase of student work. This course lays the foundation for further course development in the rapidly growing field of Human Computer Interaction. The Information Sciences and Technology department focuses on the people as well as computing, which makes our department both unique and practical. This is one example of many instances in our department where students work in teams to attend to multiple perspectives, reaching consensus on the best practices and principles that allow them to create awesome interfaces!'
Dr. Tomaszewski Interviewed on 13WHAM
2013-10-03 04:00:00
Dr. Tomaszewski was interviewed by 13WHAM regarding the recent seizure of a 'Deep Web' site known as The Silk Road. The deep web is a home for websites offering various illegal products and services which can only be accessed using a technique known as 'Onion Routing'. Onion routing encrypts the network communications in layers and sends it along an obscured path that masks the origin of the transmission. This makes it safer for criminals to purchase and sell all sorts of normally illegal products, most notably drugs.You can find the full news article here.
Brian Tomaszewski Conducts Geographic Information Technology Training in Rwanda
2013-09-30 04:00:00
Brian Tomaszewski, Ph.D., recently traveled to Rwanda as part of his externally funded research to develop spatial thinking skills in Rwandan teenagers. During this visit, he helped train Rwandan secondary (high school) teachers and students on how to use geographic information technology such as tablet-based mapping tools. He also conducted a mind mapping exercise with the Rwandan students as part of a baseline study to assess their spatial thinking levels.
IST Lecturer Wins Teaching Award
2013-09-27 04:00:00
Congratulations to IST Lecturer Thomas Borrelli for receiving the ACMT/RIT Faculty Excellence Award for Outstanding Teaching! It is given to one faculty member per year in Dubrovnik, Croatia who has a significant impact on teaching as assessed by the leadership team, fellow instructors and student feedback.
Blended Interactions Workshop
2013-09-26 04:00:00
On Thursday, October 3rd from 1:30pm to 5pm, the Blended Interactions Studio in concert with the GCCIS IST department will be hosting the Blended Interactions Workshop. Researchers from Edinburgh Napier University's Centre for Interaction Design, Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design and RIT's MS Human Computer Interaction program will showcase their latest evaluated interaction design innovations in digital tourism, presence and user experience design as mobile services. The workshop will chaired by Brian O'Keefe, with presentations from:David Benyon (Edinburgh Napier University): Presence and Digital TourismJohn Zimmerman (Carnegie Mellon University): Mobile Service Design and the User ExperienceOli Mival (Edinburgh Napier University): The Design, Development and Evaluation of the Jupiter Artland Mobile AppBrian O'Keefe (RIT): NYSCA Mobile Experiences for Tourism ProjectRIT Student Exhibit: MS HCI Capstone projects, defended and in-progress
IST Student in the News
2013-09-20 04:00:00
A 22-year-old RIT student created an app he hopes will improve safety and security on campus in our area and across the country. He created the 'campus safe' app to better connect public safety officers with students.It was inspired by the blue light security phones you see on practically any college campus. It gives students full access to campus security right from their smart phone. The goal is to cut response time during emergencies.The new app is designed to help students whenever and wherever they are. All they will need is WI-FI connection on their phone.If a student is in distress all they have to do is find the blue. But now a 22-year-old RIT student has made it even easier.Eric Irish said, ?Safety is a big thing and I said, 'why can't we combine our smart phones which we have in our pockets with the ability and the need to be safe.'?Eric Irish has found a way to communicate on campus-quickly. With this new app, all you have to do is press the blue button on your phone if you're in trouble anywhere on campus at any time.Irish said, ?Instead of calling public safety and having a search go on for half an hour, we can give them an exact location and hopefully cut down on response time.?The app can also help certain students who may need extra help.Irish said, ?A person if they are diabetic and have a health problem, they can cite that in their report and so first responders can arrive at the scene with that information.?And it also makes some female students feel safe in certain areas.Sierra Williams, RIT student, said, ?If I run the loop at night, I will generally run with someone else. That's the only time I feel a little creeped out. You're not always by the blue box so to have something that you can just look at your phone is obviously pretty helpful.?Irish says the app is more than a blue button.Irish said, ?Let say you need an escort, you're walking around campus late at night, you just put in your current destination, your location and we'll come with an officer to help you across campus.?Right now, RIT is approving the product. If it gets the green light, the app is expected to change college security across the nation.Irish said, ?No promises right now, but hopefully it will be out here first.?Since RIT has such a large deaf and hard of hearing population. They can use the app and send campus security a direct text if they need help and since it's all touch screen, they are able to get easier, direct services through the app.Article from News10NBC, by Joangel ConcepcionOriginal article can be found here.Photo by Will Ingalls
IT Alumni Harper LaFave Featured on TechCrunch
2013-09-18 04:00:00
Harper LaFave is one of four developers of a mobile app named 'Trance' which was created at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. The Hackathon took place at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco, CA. Trance allows dancers to create and share video clips of their work with other dance enthusiasts. ArticleAfter earning his bachelor's degree in Information Technology from RIT in 2009, Harper landed a job with Microsoft. Looking for a change after a couple of years, he left Microsoft to attend Carnegie Mellon University to pursue a Masters Degree in Human-Computer Interaction.
Congratulations to Tom Oh and Bill Stackpole
2013-09-10 04:00:00
Article by Fran BroderickTwo RIT professors have recently received a funding from Korea?s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in an effort to develop more effective protection against malware in Android devices. Professor Tom Oh, the principal investigator of the proposal to ETRI, and professor Bill Stackpole, co-PI, will be leading a team of RIT researchers that include professors and students.The support stems from Oh and Stackpole?s initial research into malware in Android devices and novel concepts they presented for improving mobile security. ?We chose to research Android in part because it?s open-source,? explains Stackpole. ?So there was more data available to observe and analyze. During our initial analysis we found roughly 15% of Android devices running Google?s Jellybean platform presented with malware.?The team submitted a report to ETRI, one of the most respected technical organizations in the world, demonstrating findings from their survey of Android devices and conceptual solutions for a cloud-based malware mitigation system for Android. In April, Oh traveled to Korea to present to ETRI in person and made a successful impression.?They have made an initial grant of $35,000 to begin our work and will be sending one of their prominent researchers, Yung-Ho-Kim to collaborate,? says Oh. ?We hope Dr. Kim will also be able to aid in training and increasing students? knowledge base.? Ho-Kim will remain at RIT for a year in an effort to establish a mobile security lab in partnership between RIT and ETRI.In a recent article in the intellectual property magazine IPToday, ETRI was ranked first in the 2012 Innovation Anchor Scorecard, which measures ?patent activities by prestigious research institutions, universities, and governments around the world.? ETRI?s work spans a variety of technologies and platforms. ?In Korea, smartphone usage is far more advanced, and while a company like Samsung develops many of these products, they may not perform in-depth theoretical research associated with [the products],? says Stackpole. ?For that, they can go to ETRI.?The research and development partnership between the two institutions ultimately aims to deliver a cloud-based malware mitigation prototype within the next year.
Congratulations to Nirmala Shenoy
2013-09-06 04:00:00
Andrew Sears, Dean of Golisano College of Computing & Information Sciences announced that Nirmala Shenoy has been named the head of the new IEEE working group for Loop-Free Switching and Routing. The working group is charged with developing a new Standard (P1910.1) for Meshed Tree Bridging with Loop Free Forwarding, based on work done by Nirmala and her colleagues, Daryl Johnson, Bruce Hartpence, and Bill Stackpole.The Dean said, 'My understanding is that this new algorithm addresses complexity and instability issues as well as security limitations associated with current routing and switching protocols - an idea that has apparently generated support from a number of networking vendors.'
Professor Ron Vullo Presents at Fifth Polytechnic Summit
2013-09-03 04:00:00
Professor Ronald Vullo was invited to present at the fifth Polytechnic Summit, which was hosted this year by the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts June 5-7, 2013.The annual Summit is designed to allow administrators, faculty, staff, and students from polytechnic schools and technology programs to share interesting projects, discuss issues related to technical education, and learn from one another. In addition to concurrent presentation sessions on a variety of research and education topics, this year?s agenda featured a keynote speech by former Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis and a tour of the completed 'Big Dig' tunnel system and command center.Dr. Vullo's presentation, A Minor in Web Design and Development for Non-computing Majors, was very well received with several attendees expressing their desire to replicate the program.
Congratulations to Professor Sharon Mason!
2013-08-13 04:00:00
Congratulations to Associate Professor Sharon Mason! She is a co-Principal Investigator for a Grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is 'CONNECT:Increasing the Representation and Advancement of Women Faculty at RIT.' RIT's President Bill Destler wrote an article for the Huffington Post regarding the advancement of women in Science and Technology. The NSF Grant is mentioned in the article. Read more here.
Guest Speaker Invitations for Professor Tae Oh
2013-07-23 04:00:00
Tae (Tom) Oh received guest speaker invitations and gave several presentations at Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI), National Security Research Institute (NSRI), Sungkyungkwan University and Chonnam Univesity in South Korea. Prof. Oh has been actively analyzing mobile device malware and has been proposing potential solutions to mitigate the mobile device malware. Several research institutes and Universities from South Korea were interested in Prof. Oh?s research and invited Prof. Oh to present his malware research and mitigation results.
Best Paper Award to Yoshihiro Nozaki
2013-06-24 04:00:00
Congratulations to IST's PhD student, Yoshihiro Nozaki. He recently attended the 9th International Conference on Networking and Service (ICNS) 2013. Yoshihiro published two papers at the conference. 'Tiered Interior Gateway Routing Protocol' was selected as one of the best paper award and invited for inclusion in IARIA Journal. 'Wireless Sensor Actor Networks for Industry Control' was also invited for IARIA Journal. Both papers are mentioned here.
Tae Oh Elected to Lead Technical Group K
2013-06-17 04:00:00
Congratulations to Professor Tae (Tom) Oh for winning an election to be in charge of Technical Group K: Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Communication Engineering at Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA). It?s a very competitive election and Professor Oh will be serving as Technical Group K leader for the next three years.KSEA is like IEEE for Korean Scientists and Engineers. Currently, there are approximately 3000 members.Read more about KSEA.
Professor Nirmala Shenoy Offered Scholarship
2013-06-10 04:00:00
Professor Nirmala Shenoy has been offered a scholarship to participate in the TRUST Women?s Institute for Summer Enrichment (WISE) Program at San Jose State University June 23-28, 2013. Topics this year will include: Healthcare Security, Internet Privacy & Security, Cyber-Physical Systems/Industrial Internet, Privacy and Online Learning. This year will focus less on privacy and more on Cyber Physical Systems or the 'Industrial Internet' as President Obama has made this a national priority.
Professor Brian O'Keefe Enhances Tourism Experience
2013-05-31 04:00:00
May 20, 2013 by Scott Bureau Follow Scott Bureau on TwitterFollow RITNEWS on TwitterFaculty and students at Rochester Institute of Technology are using mobile technologies to engage visitors of historical destinations in the Greater Rochester area. The mobile design strategy, called Brick City Tours, personalizes the tourism experience using digital storytelling, cultural heritage and interactive arts, such as augmented reality.RIT is collaborating with here, Greater Rochester?s official tourism promotion agency, to design mobile experiences that personalize and capture tourists? visits at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. The technology is also designed to scale to many of VisitRochester?s other top destinations. The Mobile Experiences for Tourism Project is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Funding for the project comes from a $52,958 award from the 2012 Regional Economic Development Council Awards and a matching $52,958 contribution from RIT and VisitRochester.Brick City Tours was developed within the Mobile Experiences for Tourism course in RIT?s master?s in human computer interaction program, created by Brian O?Keefe, a visiting assistant professor in RIT?s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. The course brought together graduate students from across RIT to research and develop pervasive mobile technologies that create new visitor experiences before, during and after visits.
Professor Bruce Hartpence -author of 3 books
2013-05-20 04:00:00
IST Department Professor Bruce Hartpence is now the author of 3 books published by O?Reilly. They are 'The Packet Guide to Core Network Protocols', 'The Packet Guide to Routing and Switching' and just released is 'The Packet Guide to Voice over IP'. In support of classes, students and based on the book chapters Professor Hartpence runs a youtube channel and a website: here. Both of these contain information for students and Professor Hartpence adds information almost every week. Coming up Professor Hartpence will be running a ?giveaway? for subscribers of the youtube channel ? it?s a blind drawing for books.
Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars
2013-05-13 04:00:00
Congratulations to the IST Department?s Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars! The Scholars are Grace Cortright, Shawn Hoerner, Michael Norman and Noah Peregrino. Students must have earned a GPA of 3.85 and completed at least 125 quarter credits of study in order to receive this distinction. Their selection was also based on other factors including creative work, independent research, and university, college and community service. Pictured from left to right is Shawn Hoerner, Grace Cortright and Michael Norman. Noah Peregrino is currently on co-op this quarter.
Junior Open House
2013-05-06 04:00:00
On Friday, April 19, 2013 RIT hosted a Junior Open House. The purpose is for students in their junior year of High School to explore the various programs RIT offers. The IST Department joined other computing departments in the Golisano College?s Atrium for an information session targeted at students interested in the various computing disciplines. The IST Department was represented by Professor Dan Bogaard along with student ambassadors Kiere Caston, David Collette, Nicholas Joerger and Kelley Scanlon.
Professor Bogaard - Responsive Web Design
2013-05-05 04:00:00
Professor Bogaard was interviewed last week as an expert in responsive web design by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Bogaard talked about the current state and future of the web with the proliferation of devices with multiple form factors.The full article can be found here
Smart Cane Technology
2013-04-30 04:00:00
Tae (Tom) Oh, an Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technologies, is helping the visually impaired with smart cane technology. The cane will allow deaf-blind persons to guide themselves through their environment.Please go to http://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=49921 for more information.
Innovation in Business and Corporate Culture
2013-04-25 04:00:00
On Friday, April 12, Professor Michael Shamiyeh, Head of Design-Organization-Media Research Laboratory in Austria led a discussion about how inventors innovate in business and corporate culture. The discussion was held in the Student Innovation Hall at RIT. In attendance were Steve Sasson, the inventor of the digital camera and Ken Parulski, who commercialized the first digital camera. Please go to: http://blendedinteractions.com/ for more information.
Student Open House
2013-04-22 04:00:00
A Student Open House was held Friday, April 5 and April 12 at RIT. Forty-one students and their families were registered to attend the two IST sessions. After attending an information session at the Gordon Field House, the students and families were led to the Golisano College of Computing Information Sciences. Department Chair, Steve Zilora then led a session that was specifically targeted to the students interested in IST. A tour of the facilities followed along with a talk/demonstration on current projects given by Professors Jeff Sonstein, Brian O?Keefe and Bryan French.
Featured Professor/Catherine Beaton
2013-04-16 04:00:00
Welcome to the first article featuring IST faculty members!Catherine Beaton is a full-time Associate Professor in the IST Department. She was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and grew up in a small community about 30 minutes outside Halifax. I asked the following questions to Professor Beaton:What degrees do you have and where are they from?My degrees are from Dalhousie University, in Nova Scotia. I did an Advanced Major Bachelor's degree in English, a Bachelors of Education, and finished with a Masters' degree in Information Technology Education. I also did several certificates over the years: Adult Education, Community Development, Conflict Resolution, Mediation, and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language).What led you to RIT?I arrived in the USA, being recruited to a business as an Oracle Forms developer. That kind of transitioned into a developer/educator for existing employees. While working there, I had a friend who knew a friend?It's all about networking. Her friend asked me to interview for NTID. I had never heard of NTID. While there, Jim Leone asked me to interview for the (then) Department of Information Technology. How long have you been teaching here?I've been here since 2001! When I went to my first retreat in May/June of 2001, I was apparently the only deaf faculty member outside of NTID. Kinda cool.Is there anything related to either HCI or something else that you feel passionate about?I wouldn't limit my scope to HCI: I'd say I am most motivated by the challenges of computing related to disadvantaged populations: Seniors, veterans, people who are economically disadvantaged, members of the AALANA communities, and people with disabilities. This kind of meshes with my love of the social ramifications of computing and our ethical responsibility as professionals in the computing field. HCI is one small part of the bigger picture.Any hobbies in your spare time?I used to be quite involved in the car racing community. I worked on building an old 914 Porsche, but sold it before I came to the USA. I read vast amounts of weird stuff, to pull into my Ethics class. I am an admitted fan of Reddit, which is a veritable fountain of useful and sometimes meaningless information! It's an online community that sucks away 2 hours of my life, every day! I've started snowshoeing, and hope to re-start biking in June, when we hope to see spring. I also love to cook, which I inherited from both grandmothers and one grandfather. And travel. Travel is probably my passion and hobby, which combines food with travel! I've now been to (I think) 32 countries, and my 'places to go' list grows as I encounter more international students who extoll the virtues of their respective countries! While it isn't a hobby of sorts, I have a very unique dog, Maggie, who is a 'Glove' beagle. From the 13th century, these dogs were hunters?little hounds that could fit in a nobleman's pocket! They're also known as Olde English pocket Beagles because of their tiny size. Maggie is 10 pounds and will likely never reach 15 pounds. And thanks to Reddit's influence, I now recognize the joys of cat ownership. Leo, who looks like a lion, is thought to be a Ragdoll cat, because of his propensity to flop on the floor wherever there is a puddle of sunshine, and hangs limply if you pick him up. The other cat is Pazzo, Italian for 'crazy.' She fits the bill. She and the dog conspire. She knocks stuff down, and the dog destroys it. A delightful relationship! I suppose pet ownership has led me to discover more of Rochester's parks in all seasons.Are you currently working on any grants or projects?I've been researching the use of technology in the classroom to reach out to economically disadvantaged schools, in an effort to collaborate with a local school, sharing resources, and having kids develop teaching modules to be delivered through Skype. That will lead to a grant application. But my most recent brainstorm has stemmed from the development of an Access and Accessibility class to be offered (hopefully) next year. I'd like to see a resource center offering videos for our students to consider how disadvantaged communities use computers, in the hopes that they can become computing professionals that consider the needs of all people. There are so many barriers one must consider beyond physical accessibility. As a former English teacher, the use of language strikes me as particularly important. It's great to have a lot of valuable information on your website, but if people cannot read/understand it, it's really a wasted effort. We sometimes lose sight of who is using the product, when creating a product.
Course Registration Help!
2013-03-27 04:00:00
Shopping carts open on SIS today (March 27th).We strongly encourage you to start building your Fall schedule NOW. Get familiar with the system now. We may not have time to answer your questions if you wait until the last minute!Frequently Asked QuestionsHow do I find classes?Semester course codes start with letters instead of numbers, for example:NSA => 4050-xxx = NSSA-xxxISF => 4050-xxx = CSEC-xxxIT => 4002-xxx = ISTE-xxxUse these SIS search tools to find the courses you need:Class search by subject:http://www.rit.edu/sistraining/sites/rit.edu.sistraining/files/how_to_search_for_semester_classes.pdfBrowse catalog (includes quarter>semester equivalents): http://www.rit.edu/sistraining/sites/rit.edu.sistraining/files/how_to_browse_course_catalog.pdfWhich semester courses count for my Gen Ed Electives, Gen Ed Immersions (freshman & transfers), Liberal Arts Concentrations (upperclassman)?Gen Ed Electives: PDF from Liberal Arts coming soonGen Ed Immersions (freshman and transfers): PDF from Liberal Arts coming soonLiberal Arts Concentrations (upperclassman):Most current concentrations have an equivalent immersion in semesters. You can look for equivalent courses through SIS or look at the equivalent immersion for class offerings.Which semester courses count for my Liberal Arts Minor?PDF from Liberal Arts coming soonPlease see the attachment pertaining to your programIT Semester Conversion Course GuideNSA Semester Conversion Course GuideB.S. in Applied Networking and System Administration Communications & Lab Science ElectivesHow do I know what courses I should take?At your course planning/IAP meeting with your advisor, you reviewed a detailed course plan. Please email your advisor if you need another copy sent to you. On your worksheet fall semester is numbered 2131. (academic year 2013-14 = 2131 fall; 2135 spring; 2138 summer)If you haven?t yet reviewed your plan with an advisor, or if you still have an advising hold on your record, please contact us ASAP. How does a repeat of grade work completing a course during quarters, then retaking it during semesters?Please see your advisorHow does my quarter total credit convert to semesters and how does my year level look?Year-levels were recalculated using the semester cutoffs and the resulting year-levels remain unchanged. Below are the semester credit hour cutoffs. 4 Year Programs YearCredits Earned10-26227-55356-84485 & aboveEnrollment Dates:Summer Quarter (2124)4/8Graduate Students & early 4th yr students4/94th year students4/10early 3rd year students4/113rd year students & early 2nd year students4/122nd year students & 1st year students4/15non-degree studentsFall Semester (2131)4/15Graduate Students & early 4th yr students4/164th year students4/17early 3rd year students4/183rd year students & early 2nd year students4/192nd year students & early 1st year students4/221st year students4/23non-degree students
Professors Tae Oh and Rick Mislan receive a Provost's Learning Innovation Grant (PLIG)
2013-03-26 04:00:00
Professor Tae Oh from the Department of Information Sciences and Technologies and Professor Rick Mislan from the Department of Computing Security received a Provost?s Learning Innovation Grant (PLIG).The title of the grant is MoSeVERE - Mobile Security and Vulnerability Exploitation Research and Education.As mobile devices have become essential to the daily social fabric of our lives they have also become a popular platform to exploit. The security of mobile devices is a growing necessity, yet many in our population are woefully inexperienced in providing proper security measures. In an effort to address this need, this proposal is the development of a unique classroom model based on the flipped classroom that provides a repository website of integrated course resources and virtualized laboratories for the education of 'Mobile Security and Vulnerability Exploitation.' Given the specific needs of this type of mobile security modeling, it is imperative that our students participate in a secured laboratory setting. To meet this specific necessity, we propose the development of a website repository and the inclusion of video lectures, presentations, and virtualized laboratory exercises specific to two new courses, 'Mobile Security' and 'Mobile Vulnerability Exploitation.'
Professor Jeff Sonstein presents at Syracuse University
2013-03-20 04:00:00
Professor Jeff Sonstein is involved in building the code people use to make immersive 3D/VR experiences happen. On March 6, he gave a presentation at Syracuse University.Immersive journalism? is the production of news in a form in which people can gain first person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories. Well-crafted journalism always aims to elicit a connection between the audience and the news story.The fundamental idea of immersive journalism is to allow the participant to actually enter a virtually recreated scenario representing the news story. The participant will be typically represented in the form of a digital avatar ? an animated 3D digital representation of the participant, and see the world from the first-person perspective of that avatar.For more information regarding Immersive Journalism go to: http://www.immersivejournalism.com/about/.To view Professor Sonstein?s presentation go to: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/newhouse-digital-edge-journalism-seminar-series
Professors awarded grant money to impact education in Rwanda
2013-02-19 05:00:00
By Fran BroderickAssistant professor Brian Tomaszewski and associate professor Tony Vodacek have been named recipients of a Rwanda Innovation for Education grant, and will travel to the African nation this Friday for the first of many trips intended to aid education efforts in the region. Tomaszewski and Vodacek were recently awarded $474,780 by the Department for International Development (DFID), a branch of England's Ministry of Education. The program, which is part of a partnership between the governments of Rwanda and the United Kingdom, has stated its goal of 'ensuring girls and boys complete basic education [in Rwanda]' and has tasked the research team with studying how the process of innovation impacts education.The professors plan to teach spatial thinking to students through a variety of means including environmental mapping projects. Tomaszewski explains, 'students will be given tablets to map natural resources in their area while learning more about those resources.' Over the course of 26 months the research team aims to not only improve education but also better understand how to more effectively help Rwandan students.Friday will mark the team's first trip to the region following the securing of funding. 26 projects, totaling more than $11 million in grant money were funded through the Rwanda Innovation for Education portfolio.In addition, Tomaszewski has been active at the Golisano College where he has recently launched the Center for Geographic and Spatial Information Science and Technology (CGSIST) with the goal of developing more Geographic Information Systems (GIS) educational offerings and applied research at RIT. RIT has recently been certified as an Esri Development Center, a recognition that indicates 'special status for university departments that have exemplary programs focused on educating students to design and develop GIS applications using Esri's ArcGIS.'
Zagreb IT major awarded by FB & Google
2013-01-31 05:00:00
Josip Franjkovi?, an information technology major in Zagreb, is the recipient of awards from Google and Facebook for discovering security errors. He won multiple prizes and his name can be found on the Google Hall of Fame and Facebook's Whitehat lists. He submitted three errors to Google that he discovered in the XSS, or cross-site scripting. For Facebook, he helped to point out a bug in the website's caching system. Google and Facebook have awarded him more than $4,000 for his discoveries.Full story
Future of Journalism Symposium
2013-01-20 05:00:00
What's Next? Journalism's Leading Questions The Future of Collaboration & InnovationROCHESTER, NY, Jan. 16, - Journalism is at a digital crossroads and a one-day conference on Jan. 29 at the Rochester Institute of Technology aims to examine the multitude of issues this raises.Among the topics to be discussed will be: What will journalism and journalistic publishing look like in the Digital Age? How will journalists and photo-journalists and information technologists work together? How do we deal with 'big data' and unified design across multiple platforms?'We think humanity is in a situation similar to the 1500s, when print was becoming firmly established, but no one really knew all the changes which it would engender in society and all the forms it might take,' says Dr. Andrea Hickerson, a Professor of Journalism, who is organizing the event with Jeff Sonstein of the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences.'We think now is the time to think about the right questions to ask about the future, and that no one really has answers quite yet, ' she says. Speakers will include:David Cay Johnson , Putlizer-prize winning reporter at ReutersDavid Hunke, former Publisher, USA Today; currently Chief Strategy Officer at DigeratiDan Pacheco ,Chair in Journalism Innovation, and Sean Branagan, Director, Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, The Newhouse School, Syracuse UniversityJosh Stearns of Free PressAll sessions will held in Room 2610 of RIT Student Alumni Union on the RIT campus and are free and open to the public. To register your intention of attending please go to http://futurejourno2013.eventbrite.com/For more information contact the organizers:Jeff Sonstein, (585) 475-7315 or jxsast@rit.eduAndrea Hickerson, (585) 475-6129 or aahgpt@rit.eduThe day concludes with a 7 p.m. meetup of the Rochester Hacks/Hackers (journalists/programmers) at Roc City Brewing, 56 South Union Street.
Information Assurance Grad Students Present at the 2012 NYSETA Conference
2012-12-21 05:00:00
Graduate students in Prof. Dianne Bills' Information Assurance class did a poster session titled 'Why an Information Technology Curriculum is Optimal for Teaching Information Assurance' at the 2012 NYSETA conference held at RIT on October 25-26, 2012.The session materials included a poster and supporting slide show of security examples that illustrated the key concepts of information assurance. Some of the students involved are pictured here, from right to left: Librania Santos Espinal, Minh Quang Vo, Marcelo Matus Nicodemus, and Kevin Carpenter, along with Prof. Bills.The New York State Engineering Technology Association (NYSETA) is a professional organization for the faculty and institutions in New York State that provide engineering and computing technology education (http://www.nyseta.org/).
Minh Quang Vo, IT master's student in student spotlight
2012-12-16 05:00:00
Geospatial technologies help pinpoint student focusMinh Quang Vo, an information technology master?s student, working with Professor Brian Tomaszewski, wanted to find a job in geospatial technology, a field that uses geographic information systems, or GIS, to measure, represent and analyze data and the earth. When he found a co-op that allowed him to actually use GIS to analyze the availability and locations of GIS-related jobs in the U.S., he knew he was in the right place.Full Story
Mobile Experiences for Tourism Class Presented to CEOs of Visit Rochester and Genesee Valley Country Museum
2012-12-10 05:00:00
Some of RIT's most innovative faculty and human-computer interaction masters students prepare a visual tour of a mobile design strategy developed in the classroom. The presentation, hosted in the Student Hall of Innovation, shared augmented reality and location-based interactions to students, interested community organizations, and research colleagues in Edinburgh, UK, via Skype.
IT Alumni keeps strong roots with RIT
2012-12-07 05:00:00
RIT roots strong and growing at JPMorgan ChaseJeremy Edman ?02 (information technology) opened the RIT floodgates at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He was looking for a summer work opportunity in 2001 and applied for one online through the company's Corporate Technology Analyst Program.?I thought no one would read the website,? Edman says. ?It turns out they read the website, so I got a call out of the blue.?Full Story
GIScientist Develops Partnership with United Nations
2012-12-01 05:00:00
RIT faculty are building international partnerships with United Nations organizations to investigate how geographic visualization and interaction can support disaster management spatial thinking.
Professor Tom Oh Awarded Grant
2012-11-28 05:00:00
Title: Method & Apparatus for Enhanced Mobility Cane Utilizing Haptic Device to Guide the Deaf-blind User in Real-time Obstacle AvoidanceProf. Tom Oh has received funding to conduct experiments in utilizing RF and haptic devices to guide the deaf-blind user for real-time obstacle avoidance.MotivationWith the current technologies, it may be feasible to allow a deaf-blind person to navigate surroundings by utilizing an advanced cane that provides real-time force feed back guidance. The unique idea is that it exploits a RF and haptic devices to guide the deaf-blind user for real-time obstacle avoidance.GoalThe goal is to develop a low cost, light weight enhanced mobility cane to allow the deaf-blind to navigate through the surrounding environment at minimal risk.
Students create Buzz with Real-time App
2012-10-28 04:00:00
Information technology students create website to gather geographic dataBrian Schnitzer and Rob Williams, both information technology masters students, created their own website for tracking and mapping tweets related to Hurricane Sandy.Currently, the app pins a tweet regarding Hurricane Sandy on the world map and displays it for 10 seconds. It then stores the message and location in a database, before displaying the next tweet.'We want to collect a timeline of tweets from Sandy's start to finish,' Williams says. If everything holds up, we'll have stored up to 150,000 geo-located tweets by the end of Oct. 30.More from RIT News Site.
Brick City Homecoming
2012-10-08 04:00:00
Discover Golisano College: Mobile Security for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry (Friday, Oct 19 11am-1pm, Golisano Hall Atrium)Discover Golisano College is a collection of exhibits that showcases the innovative and creative spirit of Golisano College students, faculty, and staff. Visitors experience the breadth and depth of Golisano College through interactive presentations, hands-on demonstrations, and research projects set up in the Atrium and computer labs.Malware? Spyware? Is your cell phone really secured? This exhibit offers you a better understanding of how your phone works and how to secure your phone with best practices for each device.
Professor Tom Oh Awarded Grant
2012-09-09 04:00:00
Title: Analyzing the Behavior of Mobile Device Malware and Providing Security Solution to Protect Mobile Devices Prof. Tom Oh has received a funding from Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI) from South Korea to conduct mobile device security research. Prof. Oh will survey existing malwares for the android platform and evaluate their behavior. Using the results of the evaluation, a security solution will be developed to protect android mobile phones.
Geographic Information Scientist's Summer Travels
2012-09-07 04:00:00
Dr. Brian Tomaszewski spent two weeks this past summer as a Visiting Scientist with the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS - site) in Bonn, Germany. During the visit, Dr. Tomaszewski discussed research and education collaboration ideas between UNU-EHS and RIT in the areas of Geographic Information Science and Technology, Vulnerability and Disaster Management.Dr. Tomaszewski also visited various private sector, government and academic groups in Rwanda, Africa this past summer. During his trip, he visited Esri-Rwanda (site) to discuss issues related to data access and conducting Geographic Information Systems (GIS) practice in Rwanda.Finally, Dr. Tomaszewski visited various private sector, government and academic groups in Rwanda, Africa this past summer. During his trip, he visited the Centre for Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing (CGIS) that is part of the National University of Rwanda located in Butare, Rwanda (site). During his visit, Dr. Tomaszewski discussed research and education collaboration ideas between CGIS and RIT in the areas of Geographic Information Science and Technology, Remote Sensing and Disaster Management.
HCI Faculty Applauded at TEDx 2012
2012-06-01 04:00:00
Railway to Prosocial CrowdsourcingProfessor Deb Gears shares a unique analysis of altruistic behavior that encompasses two seemingly dissimilar examples: The Underground Railroad and the Wiki (crowd-sourced information) movement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQ0EgOv7NI
Professor Bogaard honored with Eisenhart Award
2012-03-20 04:00:00
Our very own Professor Dan Bogaard was awarded with the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching! Professor Bogaard has been teaching in the IST Department since 2000. His teaching and research interests include Web-based communication, security, access, and application development - specifically employing emerging technologies. (link to story)