Now I can check off one of the projects I mentioned back on 5/20

One of the things I've been working on lately is putting together a web page for CIS's Innovative Freshmen Experience (IFE). Although the IFE2010 wiki is a great source of information from the class, it isn't exactly the kind of friendly informational website you would send somebody to. (This is especially apparent to me due to the fact that I had to create much of the IFE web site's content; I couldn't just copy/paste information from the wiki, for example.) So, we now have pages on the CIS site devoted specifically to getting the word out about IFE.

The main IFE page can be viewed here. The page addresses two main audiences: prospective students, and educators. The prospective student pages include:

• information about how the class works, including a video made by some of the students
• a description of the 2010-2011 project, with two more student-produced videos
• a list of all the IFE2010 students with their major and what IFE team they were on, and soon email addresses as well
• and a link to all the pictures taken throughout the year. 

The educator pages include:

• the pedagogy of the class, with a link to a paper written about the class
• a description of the 2010-2011 project (same page as for prospective students)
• a link to the IFE2010 wiki
• and (Coming Soon!) some basic outlines on how you can create your own PTM in less than two hours. 

On the main IFE page I've also included links to related news stories, and information about Imaging Science as a major at RIT. The page is sure to grow and evolve over time, but at least now we have somewhere to send people when they want more information.

One thing I did stylistically for the cluster of pages was give them all an IFE banner. The neat thing is that it rotates images, so when you refresh the page or go to a different page, the image changes. This may seem like web page design 101, but I think it's pretty cool and does a really nice job of unifying all the pages. Here it is below:

And remember, SCIENCE RULES!

Last Friday, June 10 was Science Fun Day at Quest Elementary School! Science Fun Day is a day dedicated to learning science in a hands-on and interesting way. Students traveled around the school building, the nearby creek and outdoor classroom to learn about science. Among the opportunities were: demonstrations about wildlife, the science behind a rollercoaster, steam engines, buoyancy, chemistry, making chewing gum, forces and motion, reducing friction, air powered rockets, egg drops, water testing, paper making, recycling, states of matter and scores of other ideas - AND, my [biased] personal favorite, getting to interact with a thermal camera! These demonstrations were led by local science professionals, parents whose profession involve science, high school students, teachers, Quest students, and (of course) yours truly. This was a new event for CIS to participate in; I was introduced to it through a personal friend who is a teacher at Quest who invited me to present (yay!).

I presented 5 times for 35 minutes each to groups of around 15 5th and 6th graders. It is a lot of fun to interact with kids that age! I am however admittedly not as experienced presenting to students at that level, so it is a learning experience for me as well as I get more knowledgeable about what subjects they are familiar with and which they are not - and also what they are and aren't comfortable with doing. For example, I had no fewer than 2 volunteers that REALLY could not stand to hold onto an ice cube - something I've never encountered before and which definitely took me by surprise (and made me feel bad).

Nevertheless the experiments in front of the FLIR were definitely highly enjoyed (as were the stickers, as always!). One of the big hits was a new addition to my bag of tricks, which included pouring hot water into a tin cup, ice cold water into another, and then combining them into a third. Even after the water is poured out, the cups retain their temperature. It was definitely neat to witness. At the end of the sessions I invited the students to have their pictures taken with the FLIR and printed out on a photo they could keep. (Unfortunately, the first group didn't have a chance to do this, since the introduction session ran over by 15 minutes and session 2 was cut short.)

All in all, what a fun day and great way to get kids interested in SCIENCE! Many thanks to Quest for including me as part of their day.

I'm AT LARGE! (But not in the criminal sense.)

Today I was elected to the At-Large position on RIT Staff Council (RSC)'s Executive Committee! The At Large position is described as:

•  Working with officers in forming the direction of RIT Staff Council
• Attend Executive Committee (EC) meetings 
• Opportunity to ask questions of top administrators
• Understand the ‘why’ of Institute issues 
• Support things that are good for constituents, challenge things that are not
• Attend Institute Council meetings
• Learn many things happening across campus 
• Interact with faculty, staff, students and administration across RIT

I was drawn to the position because I would like to get more involved in RSC and the happenings around campus. Through my regular work, I can be thought of as "the face" of CIS... And now I can be "the face" (well really, one of the faces) of Staff Council! (I wonder how much my hair had to do with getting me the vote?)

I served as Member at Large at WITR for two years (before coming General Manager), which was a job that I loved - so I'm hoping to draw on my experiences from that to become a successful representative for RSC at Institute Council meetings. Although I am new to Staff Council, I believe my ambitious personality and fresh outlook will prove beneficial.

I am very excited to take on this new opportunity! And I am extremely grateful to my RSC peers who voted for me : )

Multidisciplinary is our middle name

This summer CIS will be trying out a new lunchtime movie series. Check out the poster I put together below for more info.