INDUSTRY

Indiana University's role in the State of Indiana's economic development is highlighted this week at SC2003 Igniting Innovation, held November 15-21 in Phoenix, Arizona. With a focus on economic development particularly in emerging technologies, life sciences, and advanced computing architecture, Indiana University researchers are presenting the latest technological innovations at the conference. Licensing of new display device highlights role of economic development and technology transfer Indiana University is effectively working to capture two of the key economic benefits of advanced information technology research and development: transferring new technologies into the private sector and building up the high tech workforce of tomorrow in central Indiana. In this way, the Pervasive Technology Labs are at the forefront of both technology development and Indiana's economic development. One example of technology transfer from University Information Technology Services is the recently licensed and commercialized John-E-Box. This portable, large-format, 3D stereo display system developed in IU's Advanced Visualization Laboratory has recently been licensed for commercial production to a central Indiana firm, and is one of the key elements of the Research in Indiana display this year. The John-E-Box aids in the understanding of the true 3D structure of scientific data, medical scans, engineering models and virtual environments. The large 4' x 3' screen allows the 3D experience to be shared among small groups of users, while the portability of the system allows it to be deployed wherever researchers, educators and artists need these capabilities. The John-E-Box was developed by John N. Huffman (University Information Technology Services), John C. Huffman (Department of Chemistry and School of Informatics), and Eric Wernert (UITS). The prototype was fabricated by Gary Fleener (Department of Chemistry), and the licensing was handled by IU's Advanced Research and Technology Institute. Emerging Technologies Researchers in the State of Indiana are at the forefront of innovation in many areas of advanced information technology and their applications. Current areas of innovation include systems that enable people to easily interact with advanced 3D maps that scale from a city block to the world, and systems that identify wireless computers and help enhance computer security. The focal point for creation of new computing technologies at Indiana University is the Pervasive Computing Labs. The focus areas for the Pervasive Computing Labs at Indiana University include the following: * Networked devices, sensors, instruments, and interfaces * Information and computational resources, organized and accessible as a ubiquitous service grid * Converged telecommunications including global wireless and broadband networks * Advanced high-bandwidth networking services * Ubiquitous tools for analysis of information * Human-machine interaction technology * Software agent technology The Pervasive Technology Laboratories directors include experts who have had past successes with startup companies, and new startups located in IU's new business incubator are anticipated soon. Life Sciences Indiana University is in the third year of the Indiana Genomics Initiative, a project that enables IU to perform the basic research required to create new medical treatments that take advantage of our growing understanding of the human genome. Information technology has been a critical part of this effort. For example, IU has created, in collaboration with IBM, the Centralized Life Sciences Data Service. This federated data system enables researchers at the IU School of Medicine to seamlessly access public data stores and data obtained within the School's own research programs. The Advanced Visualization Laboratory has developed new applications in visualization aid researchers studying human diseases, including fetal alcohol syndrome. "The most important indicator of the value of IU's advanced IT environment is that M.D. and Ph.D. researchers now consider IU's supercomputers, massive data storage systems, and advanced visualization facilities a routine and essential component of their research, accelerating some discoveries and enabling others that would otherwise not be possible," said Craig Stewart, director of University Information Technology Services' Research and Academic Computing unit. Advanced Computing Architectures In September 2003, Indiana and Purdue Universities were awarded a grant to join the TeraGrid, a nationwide effort to build a national grid of advanced supercomputers, massive data storage systems, and advanced instruments, all joined together by high speed networks to create a nationwide system to perform the nation's most advanced research — termed "cyberinfrastructure." The joint IU-Purdue effort will create a system within the state, called the IP-grid, which will join together the prodigious supercomputing, massive data storage, advanced instrument, and data resources at Purdue University and Indiana University. IU and Purdue already operate an advanced optical-fiber network, called I-Light, which links IU Bloomington, Purdue's West Lafayette campus, and Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis. The universities will provide both raw computing power and huge amounts of research data in areas ranging from global weather statistics to retail sales, satellite data to chemical catalysts. The SC2003 conference is sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Architecture and is the largest international conference on high performance computing and communications. For more information, see: http://www.sc-conference.org/sc2003/ For details about Indiana University's activities at SC2003, see: http://www.research-indiana.org/