NCSA NEWS

Digital Community 2001 to Highlight Technology's Impact on C-U

released February 12, 2001

 

Contact
Karen Green
Public Information Officer
kareng@ncsa.uiuc.edu
217.265.0748 phone
217.244.7396 fax

CHAMPAIGN, IL — An event sponsored by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, and Champaign County Network (CCNet) will provide a glimpse of cutting-edge technologies and how they are impacting the Champaign-Urbana community and its businesses.

CCNet/NCSA Digital Community 2001 will be held from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Feb. 13 at the Beckman Institute Auditorium (room 1025). A reception and demonstrations of new technologies will be held in the Beckman Institute atrium from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

"This is a chance to look at where we've been and where we are going with technology development and to find out how new technologies will impact our businesses, schools, and everyday life in the months and years to come," said Chris Schroeder, partner, ACE/CENTREC and CCNet co-chair. "In terms of technology's impact, our community is on the map. We want to share our successes, address concerns, and look ahead."

The afternoon agenda will feature presentations by Dan Reed, director of NCSA and the National Computational Science Alliance and head of the U of I computer science department, and Mary Reynolds, chief technology officer of the state of Illinois. Reed will discuss new technology initiatives at NCSA and in computer science and how those efforts will impact Champaign-Urbana businesses, schools, and families. Reynolds will talk about technology programs being pursued by the state and the role the Champaign-Urbana community will play in those initiatives.

"NCSA and the University of Illinois do not exist in a vacuum—they are components of the larger community and partners with that community in improving the quality of life in central Illinois," said Reed. "Every new initiative at NCSA has some impact on our community and how we live our lives."

Digital Community 2001 will also feature panel discussions on technology directions and on assessing community needs. Among the topics to be touched on by the Technology Directions panel will be wireless computing, high resolution displays and their impact as they enter the home, and technologies that impact agriculture and medicine. The Assessing Community Needs panel will look at strategies for recruiting students and faculty to the U of I, issues related to the new U of I research parks, and what the community can do to attract established companies to the area. The panel will also address the digital divide and look at how Prairienet, TechCommUnity, and similar programs can bring new technologies to a broader audience.

Technology demonstrations will include wireless communications devices, such as hand-held computers, uses of technology in the schools, the Lincoln Trails Library System's E-books project, wearable computers, and medical applications. Donna Cox, an NCSA researcher and professor in the UI School of Art and Design, will present high-resolution scientific visualizations that she and colleagues Bob Patterson and Stuart Levy of NCSA developed for a film shown in the Space Theater at New York's Hayden Planetarium. In addition visitors will have the chance to use the Access Grid, which uses high-performance networks to link people in collaborative sessions.

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is the leading-edge site for the National Computational Science Alliance. NCSA is a leader in the development and deployment of cutting-edge high-performance computing, networking, and information technologies. The National Science Foundation, the state of Illinois, the University of Illinois, industrial partners, and other federal agencies fund NCSA.

The National Computational Science Alliance is a partnership to prototype an advanced computational infrastructure for the 21st century and includes more than 50 academic, government and industry research partners from across the United States. The Alliance is one of two partnerships funded by the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI) program, and receives cost-sharing at partner institutions. NSF also supports the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI), led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

 

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