University Times

Pitt's School of Information Sciences (SIS), the Department of Computer Science and the Bradford campus were recently awarded Link-to-Learn grants from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Link-to-Learn is Gov. Tom Ridge's multi-year, $166 million initiative to expand the use of information technology (IT) in the classroom. This year's Link-to-Learn request for proposals stipulated that submissions include pledge commitments from regional companies of time, cash gifts or in-kind equipment.

As part of the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Information Technology Work-force Development, faculty members at SIS and Bradford were awarded two grants each, and a computer science faculty member received one grant.

School of Information Sciences SIS faculty members Hassan Karimi and Prashant Krishnamurthy received grants for curriculum development to prepare students in two information technologies, geoinformatics and wireless communications.

The grant awarded to Karimi will support curriculum development for a geoinformatics track in the information science master's program. The geoin-formatics track will focus on geospatial-related activities including geographic information systems, the Global Positioning System and remote sensing.

The award from the commonwealth totaled $487,712 and will be used to develop course materials and a learning laboratory, create laboratory exercises and implement an outreach initiative to teach geoinformatic technologies to educators and students in K-12 schools.

Combined with commitments from business partners including Duquesne Light Company, Environmental Systems Research Institute, WEC Engineers, Michael Baker Engineering, Keystone Precision Instruments, Regional Planning Technologies, Rettew Associates, E Transport, Microsoft Corporation, Trimble Navigation, and Kiely and Associates to provide hardware, software, technical support and training, the total value of the grant is $1.2 million.

According to SIS Dean Toni Carbo, "There is a growing demand by IT employers for people with education and experience in geospatial data collection; geospatial information analysis and modeling; and geospatial information systems development, implementation and processing."

The $298,877 grant awarded to Krishnamurthy will support curriculum development for a wireless information systems (WIS) track in the Master of Science in Telecommunications degree program. The first of its kind, the WIS track provides a technical education emphasizing a systems perspective in the development, design and deployment of wireless information networks. Other university wireless communications programs use an electrical engineering focus.

"Major corporations and venture capital firms are investing large sums of money in developing wireless data technology, resulting in explosive growth in the demand for professionals trained in wireless information systems," Carbo said. "Our telecommunications program is one of the best in the country and the addition of Dr. Krishnamurthy has strengthened its position, so a new track in wireless information systems is a logical and valuable extension of this program."

Krishnamurthy's grant will support course and laboratory exercise development and a new wireless technology teaching laboratory. The grant also will partially fund the "wireless classroom" initiative, to bring inexpensive wireless handheld computers into the classroom at all education levels. Microsoft Corporation has donated software and mobile computing devices to support the program.

With the support from Microsoft and other business partners, the Link-to-Learn grant's value is $415,000.

Bradford Ongoing efforts at the Bradford campus to integrate advanced technology across the curriculum and reach under-served rural communities were given a boost by a pair of Link-to-Learn grants totaling $190,000.

Carol A. Baker, vice president and dean of academic affairs, said: "We live in a region of the state that does not yet enjoy the full benefits of technology, which makes the college's role as a leader in technology development and education vitally important."

The first grant, for $110,000, was awarded to Bradford's business management department, in partnership with several regional businesses. According to Richard Nelson, associate professor of business management and chair, "Our goal is to create a curriculum in the department that effectively prepares students to fill IT-related jobs within this rural region of Pennsylvania. Students with strong IT and business backgrounds are in high demand today. We are working to build a model program for the region and we will continue to integrate the latest technologies into our curriculum."

Don Lewicki, assistant professor and coordinator of the management information systems concentration, said, "Our new program will involve distance education technologies that engage faculty from Pitt's Oakland campus, real-time ITV (interactive television), a variety of Internet usages and links, as well as one-on-one interaction among students and faculty."

The second grant, for $80,000, was awarded to Bradford's Office of Adult Continuing Education, in partnership with the Community Education Council of Elk and Cameron Counties and the Warren/Forest Higher Education Council.

"We're offering a number of certificate and degree programs with the education councils in St. Mary's and Warren, but the demand continues to grow," said Deborah Dick Pontzer, director of adult continuing education at Pitt-Bradford. "Our partnership and this grant will connect adult students and businesses to University resources and increase access to technology-based education for a currently under-served population."

Pontzer said the grant will have several benefits for the community, including increasing the number of programs and courses offered by the University.

Department of Computer Science Computer science has been awarded a Link-to-Learn grant to strengthen the technology workforce in Pennsylvania by increasing the number of computer scientists at various educational levels.

The grant, totaling more than $300,000, will be directed by Mary Lou Soffa, professor of computer science.

The grant focuses on increasing the number of under-represented students, women and ethnic minorities who graduate with a B.S. degree in computer science and the number of American students who obtain an advanced degree.

"Without an information technology workforce that is large enough and technically strong enough to meet both the public and private sectors' growing demand, and that is adept at using and producing information technologies, Pennsylvania, and indeed the U.S., risks losing the scientific, economic and human resource advantages it now has," Soffa said.

The target population will be students from area high schools and Pitt undergraduates. The grant will be used to develop and implement a combined B.S. and M.S. degree in computer science. The grant also will help establish workshops that demonstrate the excitement, creativity and opportunities for students who participate in the technically challenging field of computer science, Soffa said.

"The under-representation of women and minorities in computer science is a serious problem," she said. "If women and minorities were already fully participating in IT, then there would be no shortage today. Having women and minorities participate in the technically strong disciplines of IT, such as computer science, will not only benefit them but also Pennsylvania and the nation," Soffa added.

Conferences are planned to inform students, teachers and parents about the career opportunities in computer science. The grant will fund a new computer lab to enable computer science majors to learn and explore state-of-the-art techniques.

As part of the project, the computer science department has forged partnerships with Marconi Communications (formerly FORE Systems), Alcoa and other high-tech companies to help inform computer science students about job opportunities and career paths available and to provide industrial and business input to the department.

A partnership also has been developed with approximately 100 area school districts through the University's College in High School program.

–Peter Hart