Playing catsup

Well our new Intersession - oh, wait, I mean, "Tiger Term™" -  has proven to be even quieter than I expected. That being the case, I have been able to check a bunch of things off my to-do list (and there was much rejoicing - yaaaaay). Among other things, I've sent in a proposal to a conference, made some headway with the designers of the new website, created a log detailing pretty much every outreach event that has taken place since I started this position (boy am I glad that I've been keeping up this blog), and finally finished backfilling the microgrants webpage.

Thankfully I got a little help with the microgrants from the student assistants in the main office, who I tasked with compiling title and PI information, converting all the files to PDF, and renaming and organizing the files according to a standardized directory structure. As with many projects, though, getting help is both a blessing and a burden. Although it saved me a notable amount of effort, the work was not quite done to my specifications; I already had to go back and ask for revisions once, and after that I kind of gave up and decided it would probably just be faster to finish it myself. So, adding everything to the webpage was partnered with confirming and updating nearly every entry. To top that off, as I mentioned before, organization was very poor to begin with. Many reports are missing (were they ever provided?), files were sorted into incorrect directories, some proposals and reports were not correctly associated, et cetera. Because of these issues, I still can't even be sure that this webpage is 100% exhaustive and accurate. But, it uses everything I've been provided, so I guess that means I'm finally done.

...Sort of. I still don't have thumbnails representing each awarded grant. Maybe I'll be able to task one of the new students in the main office with that (I originally asked the previous students to - twice). Though, I wonder how necessary that truly is? It may not add enough to the page aesthetically to make up for the amount of effort required.

Check out the webpage as it currently stands and let me know what you think.

It's (pretty much) all the same to you

Who knew that my last post about snowballing would be so prophetic, what with last Thursday's 18" of snow and the impending "Blizzard of 2014" predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Nonetheless, I've been working (how nice and quiet it has been!) and have managed to complete the updates I mentioned previously to our USB drives.

Just like last time, this is all kinds of zoomed out to fit here as an image.

The most obvious change is the update to the new color scheme that incorporates varying shades of gray, and then also the updated digital booklet cover. Besides those changes, this probably looks almost identical to before - however, I actually completely rebuilt this whole menu. 

You may ask why I bothered to make significant behind-the-scenes changes, when essentially it appears like only simple updates occurred. There are a few reasons. For one, I built this menu before the class I took last quarter, which you may recall involved building websites. With that increased knowledge under my belt, I could see a lot of ways in which the html and css code could be improved so as to be more robust while also being simpler and more efficient. Secondly, there was room for improvement in terms of functionality: previously, the backgrounds behind the text were clickable, but the text itself was not. While there were several ways to fix this, all of them relatively simple, I did not truly know a good way to do it until now. So, I rebuilt the page from the ground up by hand; and although the changes may not be apparent to anyone else, I know it is overall a much better product. Plus, there will surely be more updates in the future, and this new clean code will be much easier to modify.

With all that, plus a straight forward replacement of the updated digital booklet itself, the USB is now ready to go in its new and improved state. 

'Tis the season to snowball

You may or may not be aware of some changes that have happened in CIS in the past 6 months. The Munsell Color Science Lab, previously housed under the umbrella of CIS, has split off and become their own lab that reports directly to the College of Science dean. In many ways, things have simultaneously changed while staying exactly the same. But anyways, functionally this meant that some of my promotional materials were now inaccurate, most notably the back panels on the brochures that include language about offering degrees in Color Science. I did not make any immediate updates at the time of the change, but now that my supply of 9-month-old undergraduate brochures is running low, it is time to make any edits before ordering more.

What started out as a seemingly simple update has since evolved into a rather significant (at least in terms of effort, if not appearance) revamp. After updating the language about CIS and switching out the HDR image on the cover, I also cleaned up some wording here and there, changed the "Features of a large university" bullet points, and updated/removed/added some logos of companies who hire Imaging Scientists. In addition to the content updates, I changed some formatting, most notably changing the ">" arrows to ▶ , decreasing font sizes, and increasing spacing. Lastly, it was suggested that I update the color scheme to more closely reflect the new website we will have soon, which makes a lot of sense. It was a little complicated to figure out what colors to use, how to make it all fit together while remaining distinguishable, and, most importantly, how to make it look good. Although that was tricky, I am happy to say that the result is most definitely an improvement - Check it out! 

Meanwhile, since the point of the brochure is to whet someone's appetite enough to go check out the full online information booklet/slideshow, it became clear that that would need modification, too (not to mention that the new semester curriculum has already changed since I made the slideshow just one year ago, so the class names needed to be fixed). So, first I had to change the slide backgrounds to reflect the new color scheme (and new image that replaces the HDR one), and then I had to go through and change the text formatting to coordinate/be legible. There was a bit of time-consuming trial-and-error involved, but I think the end result is good. Luckily there wasn't a lot of content to change in this one, besides the course names, so that part was pretty simple. 

But of course, nothing is ever that easy - of course the online implementation of the booklet uses JavaScript and exported images of the slides, which all needed replacing. And since I removed a slide, the actual code needed editing as well. What was probably the most annoying part of this process was the fact that I changed my Windows system settings so that PowerPoint exports images at a very high resolution, so after exporting images of all the sides I had to also resize each and every one of them. Thankfully I set up a batch process in Photoshop to do the monkey work for me. After loading the new images and updated code to the server, the new online booklet is off and running. View it here!

ImSci info booklet cover with the new color scheme. Snazzy, eh?

Now all that's left to do (I think...) is update the version on the USB drive we hand out to prospective students. But, of course with that change, I should also update the formatting of the interface to coordinate, which is another whole ball of wax - or, I guess to be more seasonally appropriate, snow. One thing leads to another, to another, to another, and the snowball grows ever bigger...     

"Okay, so there's the RIT website... Now show us your project."

Remember how I was building an undergraduate recruitment webpage for a class project, and then the next project required building upon that page? Well, that next project is now done - and even besides my desire to use my blog to virtually sing through the mountains about the fact that I am all done for this semester (that still feels weird to say), I figure it is appropriate to post a link to the page here since it is, in fact, incredibly relevant. And, with any luck, it will actually go live as part of the CIS website soon! So without further ado...

Bethany's next class project: An expanded look at Imaging Science at RIT

I put a lot of really hard work into trying to make a website that was clean, professional, and presented a lot of information without overwhelming the user. I used JavaScript to create sub-menus that separate each page's information into chunks that are visible only one at a time (I think this is pretty cool and surprisingly sophisticated for what I thought I was capable of). And, I like the overall look and feel. Obviously I'm no professional design team, but I am pretty darn proud of what I've learned and accomplished over a single semester. I hope you like it. (At least my professor does... the title of this post is actually what he said when I presented my project in class!)

As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to comment!

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...

Fall Imaging Connection now available!

The latest issue of the CIS Imaging Connection Newsletter is available! (Finally, I am back on schedule...)

Highlights in this issue include:

• New CIS Faculty 
• Xerox 75th Anniversary 
• First Annual ImSci Immersion 
• ROAR Day 
• Our latest video about the Freshmen class

...and more! Check it out!

Meanwhile, I'm hoping to someday soon update the formatting to be true HTML and CSS (thanks to all my newly acquired official skills learned in the class I'm taking this semester). Hopefully the intersession will allow me a chance to develop a refreshed look in time for the winter edition!

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!

Has it really been three months already?

It's hard to believe, but it's that time again! 

Our second Staff Council Block 6 Block Party is set for one week from today. Unfortunately I won't be there until 5, since I have class :-( Even so, come on out to blow off steam and enjoy some fall treats!

Finally, a student willing to build a CIS website for their project.

PSYCH - that "student" is me! Right now I am in a class provided by RIT's IT department all about web technologies. For our second assignment, we had to build a multi-page website with certain criteria (menus, etc) from scratch using HTML and CSS. I chose to build a site about the imsci undergraduate program aimed specifically at prospective students and their parents. This is both something I am very familiar with and something I have an actual professional need for, so it seemed like a good choice. Although we have a lot of web content that can be used by prospective students to learn more about Imaging Science, we don't necessarily have anything right now specifically written for that audience with an explicitly clear navigation path; rather, much of our content skirts a line between current and prospective students. I even have print material for prospective students that isn't necessarily available online. So, I thought it would be a good idea to take a stab at creating a very segment-specific website. After all, if it ended up being redundant in CIS's eyes, there's nothing saying we have to use it, but it will fulfill my project either way.

So anyways, without further ado, here is the "finished" page I am submitted for my project. I welcome any input you have (please leave in comments)! Please bear in mind, although this is "complete" in terms of project requirements, this is not a page I would go live with quite yet. I would add more images, some more pages, and probably a secondary menu - but, that's for our next project. We were told that Project 3 actually builds upon Project 2, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn't too exhaustive so that I still have something left to do. With that in mind, suggestions are very welcome!

Bethany's class project: Imaging Science at RIT

Happy Anniversary, Xerography!

It was just brought to our attention that Tuesday marks the 75th anniversary of Chester F. Carlson's invention of xerography! (Hello, why wasn't anyone paying attention? We are the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science...) Anyways, better late than never, I quickly made up a banner that will hang in the building:

Also, we were able to get DVDs of locally-produced documentaries about Chester F. Carlson and Xerox, so we will be showing one of them during our normal seminar time slot:

It's not much, but at least we are doing something to celebrate the anniversary of this momentous breakthrough!

Turn on, tune in

Right around a year and a half ago I took control of the screen downstairs in the lobby so that it would display a slideshow of various CIS media - videos, announcements, seminars, important dates, etc. Over that time I have added content and kept it up to date, but it was becoming an arduous process since the method to remotely take control of the desktop was clunky and laggy. Content was updated more slowly than it should have been, and seminar announcements went the wayside. Well, I am happy to announce that thanks to some really serious help from Carl and Phil Salvaggio, we now have a new and improved kiosk!

Actually, I suppose the user experience will be more or less exactly the same. But my process for uploading content has now greatly improved, so the display will now include more timely information, as well as the return of important dates and seminar announcements (so long as the speakers actually send me their info... but that's another story.). I'll have to get back into the groove of remembering to add new content, but expect to see some good (new!) stuff to start appearing on the screen at any time. Don't just walk by assuming it's the same old things you've seen before!

Look who's back... Important Dates!

Oh, and I also acquired one of those hanging wall files, which I hope to mount so that I may leave some Imaging Science brochures inside for the taking. You never know when someone might stop to watch the kiosk, get really interested in Imaging Science, and wish they had more information they could take with them...

Summer Imaging Connection Now Available!

Staying true to this four-week-behind holding pattern I seem to be stuck in, the Summer Imaging Connection newsletter is now finally available. Highlights in this issue include:

• Our NEW video about the Innovative Freshmen Experience class!
• Interns 2013
• Student Conference Presentations
• Alumni Giving Back

...and more. Check it out!

Announcing: The CIS Microgrant, Major Impact Challenge

For my first time ever, I have been involved with the planning and support of a fundraising campaign. Over the past couple months, we have been working with RIT Development to develop a campaign the raise money for the CIS Microgrants program. In the past, microgrants were funded mostly by donations from Kodak. For obvious reasons (unless you have really been living under a rock), that funding has since run out; so in order to continue fostering cutting edge research performed by students, CIS has had to look for other sources of funding. Towards that end, we have developed an internal campaign whose main goal is to maximize faculty and staff participation: so long as 50% of faculty and staff donate some amount, Stefi will match all raised funds, up to $5,000. The hope is that by challenging Stefi to pony up some cash out of her own pocket, more faculty/staff will want to participate. We also hope that students will participate, too. Then, later on, we will take the campaign out to external collaborators and alumni - but it is imperative that we first demonstrate how committed we are to our own cause (hence why it is starting out as an internal campaign).

I mentioned last week that the Fall Picnic was supposed to include the kickoff for the campaign, but unfortunately that momentum got a bit muddled because of the fast-approaching ROAR day at RIT. Our hope is to have as many people as possible donate to the microgrant fund on ROAR day, since their impact can potentially be tripled. For any amount donated between $5 and $50, RIT upper administration will match it; and then if we get the 50% faculty/staff participation, Stefi will match donations as well. Hopefully we can get a lot of people participating on Thursday so that things will snowball!

To help promote both the Challenge and ROAR Day, I made up a quick poster detailing the challenge:

I know it's wordy (just like this blog post...), but there wasn't really any way to explain it in fewer words. This campaign is also the reason I teased a while ago about why I was asked to update the microgrants webpage. 

Anyways, that's the main gist of the Challenge. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what to expect. Some people expect it to do very well, while some people don't expect it will go successfully at all. I have witnessed a lot of mixed reactions... It is very difficult to ask people to give during a time when so many of us feel stretched so thin already. I certainly hope that the campaign goes well, not because of my involvement or the hard work I've had to put into it, but because I don't want to see the microgrants program suffer. We have been lucky to be able to offer such a special program for our students, and I would hate to see it be diminished in any capacity; there already wasn't enough funding to award every great idea that was submitted, and it would be a shame for the program to have even fewer resources. At the same time, I feel incredibly awkward working on the campaign and trying to encourage my fellow staff and faculty to participate... I am more than happy and proud to sing the praises of CIS and encourage students to come here and alumni to reconnect, but soliciting donations is definitely outside of my comfort zone. I also hope that this doesn't damage all the work I've done over the past 4 years trying to convince alumni that I am only asking for connections and involvement, not money. Thankfully I haven't been asked to put the "hard sell" on anyone, but I can't help but feel nervous about how my involvement might reflect on my position and the promises I have made. At least my work has essentially been behind-the-scenes, and really, it's not like this is some kind of dirty work - we are trying to do something very positive here! But you never know how some people might react. I guess all I can do is keep thinking positively, do my part, and ROAR loudly on Thursday... 

Some major effort for micro grants

So it turns out the CIS website had some webpage about microgrants that I didn't even know existed. Even once I knew it existed, I had no idea what was going on with it or what its purpose was. Well, I got introduced to it recently because, in preparation for something we'll be unveiling soon (spoiler alert: it's a campaign of some sort), we'll be wanting to feature our microgrant program, and that current page was not going to cut it. It was formatted poorly, had no introduction or explanation, no updates; in fact, it didn't actually have the functionality that was originally intended. So, even though most major website updates are on hold until we get that new website I teased created, it has been my task recently to create a more functional and user-friendly page about our microgrants.

Originally, the page was intended to have all of the awarded microgrants listed by title, with PI and advisor (if applicable) names, a thumbnail image, and links to the associated proposal and any updates. It was the hope that the website content would be maintained by the PIs; as in, they would be in charge of uploading images, updates, and any other related information. I'm not sure what happened, but the page didn't come out that way, so I was asked if I could make the page more functional and able to facilitate easy updating. My first thought was to utilize some sort of wiki for each of the projects, as that would allow for PIs to do their own uploading (thus taking the burden off of me or anyone else). Well, this is still a good idea moving forward, but that wasn't going to help with cataloging what's already done. So, the burden is on us (me + some helpers, I hope!!!) to get everything from the past 8 or so years posted online and appropriately linked.

So far I have been able to reorganize the existing abstracts that were online (and upload them as PDF instead of them existing on their own pages), which were all from this past year. Beyond that, I've simply added placeholders for what will eventually be filled in. This included creating a logo that can stand in for image thumbnails until real ones are added. Creating this page was as much a proof of concept, if anything, as I needed to get something together to see whether it would meet the original requirements. Anyways, you can check out the work in progress here: http://www.cis.rit.edu/micro-grants

It turns out the page as designed is a go, so now everything needs to get organized and linked in. This is a major task... Even getting this far was not at all trivial. Formatting seems to be wildly inconsistent, and not all of the files I have been provided are organized. Add on to that that I have no prior experience with the microgrants program (in fact I really know diddly squat about it) and this was all needlessly complicated. I may have to enlist some help to get this underway because it has already been really time consuming and that was only for abstracts and only for one year. There are hundreds of other files that need converting to PDF; the overall listing that includes titles, PI names, and advisors for all previously awarded microgrants needs to be created; and all those files need to be opened up and searched to find accompanying images for thumbnails. EEK. It would be one thing if this was the only thing on my plate, but this is only one of several major projects I am waist-deep in in the moment. Needless to say, I am feeling a little overwhelmed in general...

Product Knowledge 2013, featuring a sneak peek at new ImSci recruitment materials!

Today was our annual Product Knowledge meeting with Undergraduate Admissions! A meeting takes place each year where representatives from Undergraduate Admissions assemble to hear more about academic programs, what types of students we are looking for, what interesting stories they can highlight to prospective students, et cetera. Typically these meetings are college-wide, but since we have always had to spend so much time explaining just what Imaging Science is, it made sense for us to break off and have our own session. Last year was the first time we tried that and it went very well, so this year we followed a similar agenda.

Everyone got together in the freshmen lab where we started off by discussing what Imaging Science is and how Admissions currently markets it. I then unveiled a new recruitment tool I have been developing this summer: USB drives! In the past, I would send prospective students and inquiries a folder containing multiple documents about Imaging Science: a booklet, a lenticular postcard, FAQ, a comparison chart, etc. These folders and materials were getting increasingly expensive to produce, and they did not even have long shelf lives since information gets updated so quickly. You may recall that this same issue brought about the development of a new online information booklet to replace the printed version. In addition to this, more and more of our recruitment materials are video-based. So, what better way to disseminate digital information than with some kind of computer peripheral?

CDs and DVDs are a thing of the past (some computers and laptops don't even come with drives anymore!) so the obvious answer was to go with USB drives. I had received one from RIT before that was actually integrated into a silicone wristband, so that seemed pretty cool. We got 4GB drives because, even though that's much more storage than our materials require, perhaps the recipient will actually use and appreciate it. We got our logo printed on them, so even if someone decides, "meh, who cares about this stuff that came on this drive, I'm going to delete it so I can use this for whatever I want," at least our logo is still there as a reminder.

Pretty snazzy, huh?

Instead of simply copying and pasting a bunch of files onto the drives, I thought it would be a good idea to create some kind of visually appealing navigation to lead the prospective student through the materials. To achieve this, I created local webpages (they are viewed in a browser, but only use files contained on the USB drive, so no network connection is required) that have pictures, links, and descriptions for each of the files contained on the drive. (Actually, there is a landing page that mimics the new tellmemore page before the page I just described, to act as a mini-intro.) The page is represented as a file with the name "Start Here!", and all other files on the drive are hidden.

So the idea is this: a prospective student plugs in the drive and double clicks "Start Here!" This opens up a page with the tellmemore images that directs them to "Click Here to start your adventure", after which they see the contents page:

Note, this is all kinds of zoomed out to fit here as an image.

They then click through the various materials contained on the drive to get more information about Imaging Science! Ta da!

This whole presentation seemed to go over very well, though I couldn't actually show the Freshmen Innovation at CIS video since it hasn't been completed yet; right now I just have a placeholder there. We did have the rough cut of the faculty version of the video available to show, but it's not really the correct video for prospective students; we just showed it to familiarize everyone with the freshmen class. Regardless, everyone seemed pretty impressed with the USB drives (if I do say so myself).

Anyways, later in the meeting we pulled in a bunch of freshmen who happened to be out in the hall to talk about their experiences so far and what got them into Imaging Science in the first place. This was very useful for the admissions counselors, as it helped provide a profile of the type of student we're looking for and what motivates them to want to get involved in a program such as Imaging Science.

After a few questions and answers, we headed down to the Bat Cave (the undergrad research lab) to take a look around and discuss various student projects taking place. And after that, we called it a day. By the end it really seemed like the Admissions group had a good understanding of what Imaging Science is and what type of student thrives in this program, so hopefully when they go out on recruiting trips they will be able to send some prospective students our way! It is a great feeling to know what we can work together to achieve our common goals.

NAILED IT

Today being the second-to-last day of the 2013 summer internship (wait, how did that happen?!), we did our final presentations dry run. This year we did them in the morning (whereas we used to do them in the afternoon), which allowed time for any changes to be made based on any feedback. However, as it turns out, not many interns have much work to have to do, because a lot of them aced their dry run! (Or at least came really close.) There were no crashes-and-burns or meltdowns like last year - in fact it was quite the opposite. And not only was I impressed by the quality of the presentations, but the interns also were very involved in each other's presentations and gave lots of valuable feedback. Wow. I can tell from today that we are in really good shape for tomorrow, which I don't think is a total comfort I have enjoyed before (and definitely not last year). I can rest easy tonight!

I think a lot of this success and time management can be attributed to the milestones we established this summer. By having due dates and group critiques of titles, abstracts, and presentation outlines, the interns were given more feedback than in the past, not to mention the looming final presentations were kept on the front burner. I know that last year I struggled with how to develop this concept so as to not hold the interns' hands, but I think that we miraculously managed to strike an appropriate balance on our first try. Yeah! We'll definitely want to continue this format next year, based on how well it has worked.

Meanwhile, this year I put a little extra work into the presentation programs. Instead of a single handout that only lists presentation titles, presenters, their labs, and their schools, I put together a whole booklet that also contains the project abstracts (in addition to all that other information), as well as some information on the intern program itself.

I thought this might serve multiple purposes: it provides extra information on the presentations; it is somewhat of a promotion piece for CIS; and it could kind of be a keepsake for the interns and their parents (I know it sounds lame, but that is totally the kind of thing I would have kept when I was an intern). You can view the whole thing online here.

Well, wish us luck tomorrow - though, I don't think we actually need it this time!

Go ahead - Make: my day

One new thing I have been working on for a while is actually an advertisement. This is somewhat new territory for me, because although I have done plenty of promotional materials, I have never put together an advertisement intended to go out to the masses via broadcast media. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, I'm not sure that CIS has ever done this before. Nonetheless, I have been tasked with putting together an advertisement for Make: magazine that focuses on the undergraduate program in Imaging Science. (We wanted to do one for Popular Science, too, but the price was SO expensive, like tens of thousands of dollars expensive, it just wasn't justifiable.) After many drafts and revisions, I can now reveal the final product:

Watch for it in the Fall issue of Make:, Volume 36, focusing on 3D - hitting newsstands October 22!

Meanwhile, putting together this ad made me realize that our /tellmemore portal was due for a major overhaul. There aren't many promotional materials out there that point to it at this point, it isn't even linked in the CIS website anymore, and the content was starting to look a little dated. However, it would still be a useful site to use in the ad since it has Google Analytics embedded and tracking tools associated with it that will allow me to analyze the effectiveness of the advertisement. So, I gave the page an overhaul to be more in line with the look and feel of the advertisement. It doesn't function as much as it used to, but it doesn't really have to, especially since I updated the ugrad Prospective Students pages; all we're really using it for is tracking purposes. Nonetheless, I made it eye catching and slightly interactive (just utilizing rollovers). Check it out!

Operation Imaging Connection

My blog has been a little bit quiet lately because most of the items at the top of my to-do list are somewhat long-term and/or require multiple meetings and discussions on the path to completion. One such thing that has made notable progress however is a recent effort to get more alumni, particularly those who graduated from RIT pre-"Imaging Science", more strongly connected with CIS. For those who are not familiar with our history, I'll attempt to give a brief synopsis (from the best of my knowledge and with a bit of help from this website and its appendices):

• 1930's - Photographic Technology is established as a program at RAMI (Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute, later to be renamed RIT in 1944) to respond to local industry demand for trained workers. This program differentiated science-based photography studies from fine art and studio-based studies, which also existed at RAMI. These programs would evolve over the next few decades to address changing trends.
• 1956 - BS in Photographic Science is established.
• 1962 - MS in Photographic Science is established at the urging of the US Air Force.
• 1966-67 - Names of both the BS and MS programs are changed to Photographic Science and Instrumentation.
• ???? - Now stuff gets confusing. Photo Science becomes Imaging Science at some point, and in 1986 CIS is established. Then at some other point, CIS breaks off from the College of Graphic Arts and Photography and becomes its own entity, although degrees continue to be granted out of CGAP (later CIAS) until 1996.
• 1989 - The Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science building is dedicated.
• 1990 - RIT's first PhD program, in Imaging Science, is established.
• 1994 - RIT's College of Graphic Arts and Photography becomes the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences.
• 1996 - CIS joins the College of Science, and Imaging Science degrees are granted now by COS.

...And then I think things are pretty steady from here on to the present day. In case you couldn't tell, finding reliable information on the details of Imaging Science's history is pretty difficult. I think things become especially complicated in the late 80's/early 90's because of the whole - wait, is the coast clear? - CIA scandal (shhh, we won't talk about that here). Anyways...

So, you can probably tell that things are pretty complicated. We have alumni who don't associate with COS. We have alumni who don't even associate with "Imaging Science". And yet, they are all intended to be included as a part of the CIS community. Adding to the complexity is the lack of affinity felt by many alumni; for many decades, RIT just didn't have much spiRIT or connection with its students (for example, I know my in-laws, who are both RIT Alumni, really don't feel connected nor have any desire to be). The RIT Alumni Association as a whole continues to struggle with this, though they have made significant advancements over the past decade or so.

So, what's a poor outreach specialist to do? I have a modest alumni list that I maintain, and they receive the Imaging Connection newsletter seasonally. That list has about 440 alumni on it, whereas CIS has more like 1,500 alumni total. (Actually, my % isn't that bad...) Many e-mail addresses get deactivated, and alumni don't update their contact information with us (despite our simple online form created to do just that). To make matters worse, there are apparently alumni out there who have never been contacted by CIS. Well, obviously, it's time to change that. Enter: Operation Imaging Connection.

Although it is not efficient and not really in RIT's policy to maintain a separate alumni list, CIS does so because we have many alumni that are incredibly sensitive to having their private information shared (not even just for personal reasons, but also considering how many alumni we have in defense and security careers). We have always made it a point to keep our mailing list opt-in, to avoid any possible invasions of privacy. So to keep this going but reach out to a broader alumni base, we've decided to team up with Alumni Relations on a two-prong, try-to-reach-every-CIS-alumnus-ever endeavor. First, we will send an e-mail to every CIS alumnus with an active e-mail address on record; after that, we'll snail mail a physical post card to alumni with mailing addresses who would not have received the e-mail. And then hopefully, we'll be able to more effectively connect with our many alumni from over the decades!

Towards this end, I have created a graphic outlining the benefits of connecting with us. This is planned to be used for both the eblast and the postcard. The eblast should be going out within the next couple of weeks. Enjoy...

Speaking of late... Spring Imaging Connection Newsletter now available!

The latest CIS Imaging Connection Newsletter is hot off the press CPU!

Since the last one was a bit late, this one ended up being late too.... Oops! But I will definitely get things back on track for our next issue, the last one before semesters (dun dun dun). And then... well, I'm not even sure what schedule I'll follow anymore. But there has definitely been more than enough content (especially with these late editions), so I will probably stick to a quarterly schedule even though RIT's terms won't be quarters anymore.

Anyways! Highlights in this issue include: ImagineRIT, Commencement, a feature on the Alumni Admissions Officer volunteer program as I promised after the Boston alumni reception, and... an Imaging Science degree name change?! Check it out!

It may feel late, but it's still a faster turnaround than the Annual Report

So it's been a little over a year this time since I updated the site, but I finally got the Innovative Freshmen Experience webpage all current to showcase 2012-2013's project. After migrating the 2011-2012 project to its own new page, I updated pictures, names, majors, descriptions, videos, and even the list of news headlines. Doing the updating was more difficult this time than last year... This group wasn't as organized or thorough on their wiki, so I had to do a lot of extra digging and investigating. Thankfully there are a few freshmen now-2nd years around this summer that could help me get the details straight (and for the record, they readily admit that the wiki has insufficient content, I'm not just being cruel). They even captured some new images to use to help describe how the array works, so they were super helpful. Thanks, guys!!

I also finally uploaded some new banner images from the past two years - there are 25 of them in all (including the old ones), so you'll have to sit there hitting F5* for a while to see them all!

Anyways... check out all the updates!

*PCs only. I have no idea what the keystroke is on a mac.