November 17, 1999 - Over the past several years, the University of Houston has nurtured a number of information technology related projects. From computational medical research to telecommunications engineering to distance education, UH has innovated and produced important results both for scientists and the general public. Now UH is about to enhance its commitment to information with a facility dedicated to the research and development of technology-based tools for research and instruction.
Dubbed the Texas Learning and Computation Center (TLC2), this project will provide a forum where the diverse information technology projects across campus can come together under a single roof. Once completed, these facilities will form a fully integrated, state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure and learning complex where technology-based applications will be developed and deployed. The equipment and staff of TLC2 will act like an intellectual catalyst for researchers. It will house UH’s leading information technology dependent research programs, such as: the Institute for Molecular Design, the Virtual Environment Technology Laboratory, Instructional Technology, Allied Geophysics Laboratory, Computational Science Program, Computational Biology Distance Education, Telecommunications Engineering, Information Technology Availability Center and other emerging centers.
At first blush, the interdisciplinary value of linking important components of academia via computer networking and infrastructure may seem small. But scratch away the surface of each of these groups and you will find they share many common problems and need similar solutions. They all require an infrastructure of high performance computing facilities and skilled programmers and technicians, but on their own none could afford either the equipment or the people. The TLC2 program will significantly enhance UH’s and Texas’ role as a leader in simulation and virtual environment technologies. By placing these diverse but related projects together, UH is creating the opportunity for a dynamic cross-pollination of ideas between researchers. By placing them together in TLC2 , synergies will emerge, propelling them to all to new heights.
To develop TLC2 the University of Houston has requested funding from several sources. The recent $4 million in federal funding as part of the NASA appropriations bill joins $1.3 million in line item funding from the State of Texas. The university is also working to arrange funding from private and corporate donors.
Once constructed, TLC2 will serve a diverse group of scientists and educators. The project can be divided into three main areas: a visualization facility, an educational facility and a research facility all housed in one center.
Visualization-The old cliché about a picture being worth a thousand words is given new meaning in the age of computer generated graphics. Long rows of numbers and long equations can bedevil even highly skilled analysts, but design a graphical computer representation of that data and we can discern patterns quickly. The development of computer technology over the past 20 years has seen rapid advances in this area, but this has only emboldened us. Researchers at UH are now trying to apply visualization technologies to data sets that were once dismissed as too large to contemplate. For example, the seismic data from complex oil and gas fields is large, but visualization technology is developing better ways to extract profitable data for the petroleum industry.
Education-As a multi-user/multi-interactive facility, TLC2 will change the way both classroom distance learning work. Classrooms in TLC2 will emphasize new tools in visualization and presentation for teaching. Each will be a showroom for current technology as applied to teaching, with student desks equipped with fiber optic communications. Some classrooms will have computers on each desk while others will have 3-D display devices. In addition, each classroom will have a multi-media bench/podium allowing seamless integration of computer, video technologies, and document/object projection. Chemistry students will no longer squint at a screen to see the professor’s stick-and-ball model. Instead, they have their own three-dimensional model beamed to them.
Distance Learning will be enhanced two ways. First the center will house state of the art distance learning studios and production facility. By integrating these studios with the visualization facilities, UH distance educators will be better able to show students their lessons. For example, health professionals in rural areas will practice assessing rare conditions in near-to-real life care by interacting with patients through the visualization facility.
Research-Computer simulations have long been used in many fields, but limitations on computer power meant that these simulations were often crude approximations of only moderate use. However recent advances in computer speed have made computer simulations more useful. For example, where once researchers guessed using trial and error, they can now develop new drugs and other materials through computer simulations. For example, new drugs are often like keys, designed to fit specific molecular shapes on bacteria cells or viruses. Computer models and simulations allow researchers to design molecules that fit a known shape. This is much more effective than our old hit and miss method- the time consuming task of testing multiple variations.
The past decade has clearly shown that the traditional boundaries inside universities are not always applicable to modern problems. TLC2 is an extension of the trend toward interdisciplinary centers. Information technology has reached the point where there is a convergence between disciplines that once seemed remote. Five years ago would have been too early for a center like TLC2, but this is the right moment and UH is the right place for an innovate information technology center to unite these disparate elements.
For media inquiries only, contact:
Sheldon Smart
713/743-8186 (office)
Smart@uh.edu
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