FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, January 31, 2000
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, January 31, 2000 |
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The Indiana University High Performance Network Applications Program (HPNAP), an initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, supports research into groundbreaking network applications that are significantly and qualitatively accelerating the evolution of next generation network-based applications and research tools at IU. The applications being developed through this initiative are providing considerable competitive advantage to the University in the areas of teaching, learning, and distributed education, and in new collaborative technologies.
In its second round of funding, the HPNAP has funded seven new grant proposals to assist IU faculty, graduate students, and staff in developing innovative applications for research and teaching that require high performance local, regional, or national advanced networks. (For a complete list of grant recipients and funded proposals see: http://www.indiana.edu/~uits/hpnap/projects00/)
"The wide range of applications proposed to the HPNAP by researchers in disciplines across the sciences, the arts, and education represent the diversity of the university and underscores the impact of high performance networks on our lives at even the most basic levels," said Dr. Donald F. McMullen, director of the High Performance Network Applications Program and principal scientist in the Advanced Information Technology Laboratory at University Information Technology Services.
Among the funded proposals is a project that will develop a virtual reality world where users can discover ancient Mayan architecture, artifacts, and culture by navigating in 3D virtual environment; research that will implement the technologies required to run fastDNAml on distributed networks of personal computers, allowing IU's biologists to create complex maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees using computationally-intensive genetic data in the Student Technology Centers; and a project which aims to establish one of the most sophisticated interface technologies for desktop computers at IU, allowing users to use multi-modal data, accessible from anywhere and at any time, in support of student-to-student and student-to-instructor collaborations.
Through a number of recent and ongoing efforts, including participation in the Internet2 Abilene network, the National Science Foundation's vBNS research network, and development of the TransPAC international research network, IU has achieved a position of prominence in advanced networking. "As a result, the IU community has gained unprecedented access to high bandwidth networks," noted McMullen. "The proposals funded under the HPNAP are contributing to a new generation of applications that can effectively use the capabilities of these high performance networks, as well as other emerging high performance network connection technologies such as cable modems, xDSL, satellite and wireless."
For more on all the funded research proposals, including those funded during the 1999-2000 academic year, see the IU High Performance Network Application Program Web site at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~uits/hpnap/
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA — A new grant program at Indiana University is supporting research into ground breaking network applications that enable remote astronomical observation and collaborative musical "jam" sessions; develop human-computer interfaces for accessing information available in digital libraries; create a three-dimensional tour of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza; and help to establish a multi-disciplinary teaching, learning, and research center for the study of child growth and development.
The Indiana University High Performance Network Applications Program (HPNAP), an initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, recently awarded nineteen grants to assist IU faculty, graduate students, and staff in developing innovative applications for research and teaching that require high performance local, regional, or national advanced networks. (A high performance network connection can be up to 50,000 times faster that a standard dial-up modem connection, with the ability to process nearly one and a half billion bits per second.)
The HPNAP aims to significantly and qualitatively accelerate the evolution of next generation network-based applications and research tools at IU. The applications developed through this initiative will provide considerable competitive advantage to the University in the areas of teaching, learning and distributed education, and in new collaborative technologies.
One application to be developed under the HPNAP is We Think!, a collaborative learning tool for distributed education. Proposed by researchers in the Kelley School of Business at IUB, We Think! will enable up to 40 concurrent, collaborative learning exercises among pairs of students in distributed classrooms, each performing exercises via personal control of voice, video, and data sharing as effectively as students who are physically sitting beside each other. We Think! will offer students the benefits of interaction with peers in other countries, cultures, and academic disciplines, and universities will benefit from the economic and strategic appeal offered by inter-institutional courses.
"High performance digital networks and distributed software systems have the potential to change our whole social fabric — to significantly influence and expand the way we work, communicate, learn, retrieve and store information, and conduct research," said Dr. Donald F. McMullen, director of the High Performance Network Applications Program and principal scientist in the Advanced Information Technology Laboratory at University Information Technology Services. "This is evident in the wide range of applications proposed to the HPNAP by researchers in disciplines across the sciences, the arts, and education."
Through a number of recent efforts including participation in the Internet2 Abilene network, the National Science Foundation's vBNS research network, and development of the TransPAC international research network, IU has achieved a position of prominence in advanced networking. "As a result, the IU community has gained unprecedented access to high bandwidth networks," noted McMullen. "The proposals awarded under the HPNAP will develop a new generation of applications that can effectively use the capabilities of these high performance networks, as well as other emerging high performance network connection technologies such as cable modems, xDSL, satellite and wireless."
For more on the funded research proposals, see the IU High Performance Network Application Program Web site at:
It is anticipated that a second call for proposals will be issued in late fall 1999.
Press contact:
Dr. Karen Adams, Executive Officer
Office of the Vice President for Information Technology
kadams@indiana.edu
(812) 856-5596
Press Releases CPO Web page IT@IU Web page
Posted January 31, 2000
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