Introducing the Imaging Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2013

Last night was the Imaging Hall of Fame (cue fanfare)! So, who were this year's honorees? Luckily for you, I've updated our Imaging Hall of Fame webpage to include the etchings and biographies for this year's three honorees: Heilmeier, Ng, and Toepler.

Actually, I've created a new PDF format for the profiles, so that we aren't making new webpage nodes for every inductee; this is partially in preparation for the new website. When I have a chance I will have to go through all the previous inductees and turn their profiles into PDFs, as well... eventually...

Anyways, you can also check the seminars website in the next few days for a recording of the entire ceremony and keynote. It is worth a watch, particularly because we had one of the inductees, Dr. Ren Ng, present to accept a duplicate of his plaque which now hangs in the Hall of Fame!

Dr. Ng accepts his Hall of Fame plaque. (Photo by A. Sue Weisler)

This was only the second time we've had an honoree present for their induction (Steve Sasson last year being the other time), so that was pretty exciting. He flew all the way from California to join us! Actually, we are especially lucky that he made it, because of course there had to be a rather significant storm this week to disrupt everybody's travel. Flight cancellations affected both Dr. Ng and our keynote speaker Dr. Koonin; thankfully, they both made it in time for the big event (phew!), though at the expense of their scheduled agendas.

Oh, and another reason to watch the video? Apparently there was a rather comical interruption about half way through the keynote presenation (I unfortunately was not present because I had to leave early in order to set up for the after party). Fun fact #1: did you know the podium in the auditorium has a telephone in it? Neither did we, until it started ringing! Which brings us to fun fact #2: Did you know that whatever is on the podium phone goes out over the auditorium speakers? Once again, neither did we! Joe attempted to pick up the receiver to make the ringing stop, and some robocall came on that apparently related to surveillance - how appropriate, given the keynote presentation all about big data. Then it was apparently impossible to get the phone to actually hang up. Anyway, that's the best I can describe it since I wasn't there, but when the video is posted, fast forward to around 38 min to see it all go down.

Meanwhile, I'm guessing the snow had a negative impact on our audience as well, because both the ceremony and the reception were more lightly attended than we had anticipated. In fact, a bunch of the people who were at the ceremony and registered for the after party did not actually attend. On top of the weather, today was the last class day of the semester - tomorrow is a "reading day" and then finals start on Friday, so that may have impacted people's availability too (particularly students). Thankfully, enough other people arrived at the after party to make up for those who had RSVP'd and did not actually show up, so we still had a relatively sizable crowd of around 30 people (not bad, but not bumpin like last year). Although I was somewhat disappointed by the turnout, we had a great after party. Both Dr. Koonin and Dr. Ng attended, so there were opportunities to talk with them (actually a benefit of a smaller crowd). Dr. Ng was really nice and had some great insight into innovating in the imaging industry, and the roles our students can play in that. (I'm hoping we can get him to be our keynote speaker next year.) And, it's always nice to get out of the office and socialize in a different way with the folks you see every day.

View some pictures from the Hall of Fame ceremony and after party here!

Despite some of the challenges (late promotion; flight cancellations; snowy conditions; new semester schedule), we were still able to pull off a pretty darn excellent Hall of Fame ceremony and after party. I think we can feel proud of how everything went, and confident in our ability to make events such as these go smoothly even in the face of complications. However, the fact that so many complications arose leads me to wonder whether we should think about changing the timing of next year's Hall of Fame. At the very least, I think we should avoid the night before reading day in the future. I think we might also save ourselves some hassle if we avoid winter travel. Some things to think about...

And not a moment too soon

I told you to stay tuned, and now here it is: confirmation of our speaker, and an abstract and bio posted on our seminars website! With less than a week to go before the Hall of Fame, I hope this is enough time to promote successfully and get RSVPs on the event page. Thankfully I sent out that link last Wednesday in an effort to get people signed up, even in the absence of any information about our keynote... But with that being the day before Thanksgiving, and people's inherent nature to put things off to the last minute, we don't have too many people signed up yet.

Here's a new teaser that should get people interested, though: one of last year's inductees, Steve Sasson, will be attending, as will one of this year's inductees!!! Who will it be? Well, you'll just have to wait until next Wednesday to find out...

Save the Date: 8th Annual Imaging Hall of Fame

I realize this is a bit late for a Save the Date, but nonetheless: Announcing....

So, why the delay? Well, I promise you it's not me being lazy (after all, how hard is it to simply update the poster I use every year?). The secret truth is, we're not sure whether our scheduled keynote speaker is actually going to make it or not. I had been waiting to put out posters due to lack of keynote presentation info, but at this point, I needed to get SOMETHING out there - so I made a Save the Date announcement that will just have to hold us over until we get the rest of the information we normally use for promotions. So for now, mark your calendar on December 11th (back to our regular schedule of the last seminar of the calendar year), and stay tuned!

DC-area Reunion, 7th ed.

Yesterday was the 7th annual Imaging Science DC-area reunion! Typically this is our best attended event, as very many CIS alumni settle in Washington, DC and the surrounding area. Well, except for last year, that is, when we tried to coordinate with SPIE DSS and NO ONE came. The year before that was the mega 24 hour adventure that included a reception that was relatively well attended, but could have been more successful if the venue was actually accessible and not so difficult to find. Previous to that, in 2010 we followed a more traditional approach and had an excellent turnout; so in an attempt to reclaim past glory, we went with the tried-and-true Tysons Corner Marriott for this year. (Which had the extra benefit of beautifully renovated facilities, but the totally bogus addition of paid parking, whaaaaat!)

Greetings from Assoc. Dir. of Alumni Relations for COS, Lauren Sauer, with the welcome table and raffle prizes

Leading up to the event we had around 26 people RSVP, but as is to be expected we had a bunch more alumni show up on the day-of - which is totally okay, except for that it makes us nervous that there won't be enough food (but that rarely ends up being a problem anyways since there is almost always too much food... but even so, TSK TSK for not registering!). The cost of registration covered 1 drink and the heavy hors d'oeurves, which included cheeses, crackers, spinach artichoke dip, and a pita station with all kinds of dips and hummus and olives.

The beau of the ball was without a doubt John Schott, whom we were celebrating for his sort-of-retirement. Part way in to the party Lauren got everyone's attention and showed the Monica video and John's Innovation Hall of Fame video, after which John put down a baby in order to get up to say a few words and update everyone on recent happenings at the Center.

Turns out every shot of Schott is an Action Schott.

Some of the crowd, during John's update.

Overall the event went very well. We ended up having around 40 alumni in attendance, which is great! Even better, graduation years spanned a wide range, so we had a really nice mix of alums. One of the attendees was even a distance learning graduate, so it's fantastic to have them connecting with RIT on a personal level! We also welcomed COS Distinguished Alumnus John Roberts, as well as upcoming summer intern Calvin Salacain. Together we celebrated engagements, weddings, new babies, new houses, recent graduations, and retirements. And a great time was had by all! Hope to see you next year!

PS: More pictures here

Imaging Hall of Fame 2012

Last night was the 7th annual Imaging Hall of Fame! Now, we couldn't just let this year's event be the same as last year's, so we planned for a couple little special extras. For the first time ever, of of the current honorees was actually present for his induction! And then to take things even one step further, we also decided to honor Dr. Schott for all his years of dedication to CIS - but NOT as a retirement celebration, no sir re bob... (Despite the communication that went out that did indicate it as such. WHOOPS) (Not my fault) Anyways, following the usual ceremony for this year's inductees (Harold E. “Doc” Edgerton, David E. Kuhl, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, and Steven J. Sasson - click for more info), Dr. Schott was presented with a non-Hall of Fame, but similar, plaque in his own likeness...

After which, special guest (how many special guests are we up to now?) Steve Schultz (VP and CTO of Pictometry) (and former boss of mine!) said a few words...

"Schott: 'Imagine my hair as a black body radiator.'
'Don't you mean a white body radiator?' And that cost me a letter grade." - Steve Schultz

And then we got to the actual keynote speaker, special guest Dr. Ray Jayawardhana...

ALIENS

At this point I actually had to duck out to get to the after party and set up, but Joe stayed behind to snap a few pics of our VIP inductee, Steve Sasson.

Imaging Science 3rd year student Kevin Dickey presents 2012 inductee Steve Sasson with a souvenir plaque in his honor, identical to the one to be hung in the Hall of Fame.
PS: Kevin also got Steve's autograph. Awesome

Congratulations, Steve!!!

Following the ceremony, (and ceremony, and recognition, and keynote,) was the afterparty at TC Riley's! Similar to 2010, when we hosted the very first Hall of Fame afterparty, we reserved TC's Library and stuffed ourselves silly on deliciously greasy finger foods.

This is the only picture I've got of the reception, and I didn't even take it. My camera is out for repair :-( and the backup I was using took pictures so terribly in such low light that I didn't even try.

This year we had our highest turnout EVER, with around 55 CIS students, faculty, staff, alumni, and several VIPs!! It was really exciting to see so many people come out, especially the various VIPs, which included Catherine Carlson, former director Ed Przybylowicz and his wife, Steve Schultz and family, Steve Sasson and his wife, Dr. Schott and his wife, and our keynote speaker Dr. Ray. The party stayed strong for around 3 hours (!) and went incredibly smoothly (well done, TC's!).

Considering how seemingly successful the night was overall, I hope everyone will now plan to make an annual tradition of attending! Or maybe we just peaked by having so many excellent special recognitions and talks all at once. How can we possibly top this next year?!

To see more pictures (except for the afterparty, SORRY), click here. Video of the ceremony and keynote also available.)

Announcing: 7th Annual Imaging Hall of Fame

Time to rev up the promotion machine for the 7th annual Imaging Hall of Fame ceremony and keynote... Task #1: make poster. Check!

Antares has gone supernova.

 

 

Antares G. Choate

Home: Rush, NY

Date of Death: January 30, 2012

Place of Birth: Rochester, NY

Birthdate: October 23, 1980

Age: 31

Click here to view full obituary and light a candle. 

Biography

Antares G. Choate of Rush, NY, died Monday January 30, 2012 with his family by his side at the age 31. Antares was born October 23, 1980 in Rochester, NY the son of Albert and Julie Gayk Choate.
Antares was a 1998 inductee into the Henrietta Youth Board Hall of Fame in recognition of overcoming many challenges faced as a pediatric brain tumor survivor. After volunteering through the Friends of Strong at Strong Memorial Hospital, he landed his dream job in Clinical Engineering in May 2006 and continued working during his illness until August 2011.
Antares is survived by his loving parents, Albert and Julie Choate; sister, Bethany (Matthew) Heimbueger Choate; many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Services will be held privately. Memorials may be made to the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, 601 Elmwood Ave. Rochester, NY 14642 or to VNS Hospice, 2180 Empire Blvd. Webster, NY 14580. 

On a side note, here is some information on the red supergiant for which Antares was named. Savvy astronomers know that Antares is in the constellation Scorpius, while savvy astrologers will note that my brother was born under the sign of Scorpio.

"So in terms of your tuition dollars you're never going to find a bargain like this anywhere else on the RIT campus, so thank you all for coming tonight"

Last night was the 2011 Imaging Science Hall of Fame Ceremony, Keynote, and After Party (cue fanfare)! It was finally revealed who this year's inductees were: Alhazen, Thomas Edison, Harry Nyquist, and Felix Nadar. You may be wondering, who are these guys? (Well probably not for Edison.) You're in luck: check out the etchings of our winners and read their citations by visiting our Imaging Hall of Fame webpage that I just updated. You can also view a video of the entire ceremony and keynote at our seminars webpage by scrolling down to December 14 in the calendar and clicking "presentation video" on the right. (Though, the video unfortunately crops out yours truly, doing my best Vanna White impression while unveiling the plaques as the winners were revealed. Oh well, I know you really wanted to see that.)

The only recorded evidence of my Vanna skills.
It looks like Thomas Edison and I are giving each other the stare down.

We had a pretty good turnout for the ceremony and keynote!

The keynote presentation for this year was really interesting (I definitely suggest you check out the video mentioned above), but I had to duck out early to set up for the AFTER PARTAYYY, woooo! This year we celebrated at Lovin' Cup in Park Point, and we had a fantastic turnout - I think we got even more attendees than when we did the after party last year. We had 38 people (undergrads, grad students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the keynote speaker himself) sign in, and there were plenty more people who joined us but didn't actually check in. So: big success! We definitely spilled outside of our little reserved area (not my fault; only 20 people pre-registered as requested, so I told Lovin' Cup 25-30 people...) and munched on a huge variety of tasty appetizers. The party didn't break up until 7:30 or so finally, and even that's mostly because Lovin' Cup needed to free up space for their "12 Beers of Christmas" tasting that was coming up at 8, which I think a few of our folks actually stuck around for. 

Everyone you can see in this picture was part of our party - and there were way more that I couldn't fit in the frame (despite hiding behind that table annoyingly in the foreground).

Overall, it was a great event. I wonder whether I should start planning something for spring so that we start getting together on a seasonal basis?

See the rest of the pictures from last night here.

Drumroll, please

So I've been hard at work this week getting everything organized for the Imaging Science Hall of Fame (cue fanfare)! And now that all the details are finalized, promotions are underway. Here are the posters I've put together and plastered all over our webpage, Facebook page, email, and within CIS itself:

If you want to know more, just click on those posters to view a larger size, and/or click on the link up above. Oh, and by the way - you should join us! You can Register Here.

Only a couple months old and already I'm slacking

As is the case with practically any diary, enthusiasm runs out before too long and posts are spread further and further apart. I have never been able to keep a journal or a diary or anything of the like consistently up to date, and this is unfortunately no exception! (It doesn't help that I can track how many people actually visit my blog, and the meter is running at zero 99.9% of the time - RRRRR rrrrrrrrrr.) So here are some things I've neglected to post as they were happening:

• Some CIS website updates (in addition to the layout changes): Intern program; Imaging Hall of Fame; Imaging Bashes; updated Ugrad and Grad menus; and a whole new "About" menu
• Helping out in the College of Science Dean's Office part time to help fill the void left behind by a recent beloved staff member's departure. My tenure over there is already over, but it was definitely a very pleasant and valuable experience from which I can take away new friendships and professional relationships. 
• Some visitors coming in to learn more about CIS - this was very exciting because it was 2 girls (& their families) whom I had presented to at Midlakes MS! I was very proud to have left such an impression on them, and hopefully they'll have futures here at RIT.
• Organizing the high school intern selection process - but this deserves its own post, soon to come...
• And last but not least, the new CIS Imaging Connection alumni newsletter went out.

I am probably forgetting some things, still... Let that be a lesson to me!