Aug. 1, 2008


CAMPUS NEWS AND NEWS & EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS

The Princeton Review names RIT among 'Best 368 Colleges'
RIT is recognized as one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education in the just-published 2009 edition of The Best 368 Colleges.

Researchers aim to create better silicon-photonics devices
RIT researchers are working to advance the use of silicon photonics to revolutionize semiconductor electronics.

Hospitality students 'find the missing link' for hotels
Three RIT students created a Web site, www.hotelproxy.com, to revolutionize the ways in which hotels communicate.

RIT students win ADDY Awards
An RIT student is among this year's national winners in an American Advertising Federation-sponsored competition, and several other RIT students won local ADDY awards from the Rochester Advertising Federation.

Five trustees added to RIT board
Five new members of the RIT Board of Trustees were announced during RIT's West Coast Board of Trustees meeting in July.

More News & Events

For additional updates, visit the Dateline: RIT Web site and Dateline: RIT Facebook Group.


RIT IN THE NEWS

Highlights of media coverage of RIT news and RIT people in the news. For more RIT In the News, visit the University News Web site.

Click "Text" or scroll down to read story | Click "View Clip" to go to media outlet's Web site

Selected stories (July 16-31, 2008):

Barnes & Noble@RIT, the anchor of the Rochester Institute of Technology's mixed used development Park Point, is open for business.

The 46,000-square-foot campus bookstore, part of the $72 million retail and residential development at Jefferson Road and John Street in Henrietta, is open to RIT students and the public, according to assistant manager Lisa Boice.

Located at 100 Park Point Dr., the bookstore will carry the bookseller's standard products along with RIT-branded merchandise.

Barnes & Noble@RIT is one of nine businesses at the retail complex.

The other businesses -- several restaurants, a sports bar, coffee cafe, a salon and natural nail spa and a 24-hour convenience store -- will open on a staggered schedule in August, according to Wilmorite Management Group, developer of the project. When the remaining businesses open, students will be within walking distance or able to take RIT transportation to get to the shopping area.

The bookstore is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Aug. 17. Then the hours on Sunday are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

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Microsoft raises subject at annual Faculty Summit

Microsoft Corp. researchers huddled with top university scientists Monday to discuss the latest trends in technology -- including a huge increase in data and online connectivity, and the resulting impact on society.

'In the next five years, it's quite clear that from all the sources - satellites, sensors, high-throughput instruments - we'll generate more scientific data than we have in the whole of human history,' said Tony Hey, a Microsoft Research executive. 'That really is a data deluge that's going to be facing almost every scientist.'

That was one of the central subjects on the opening day of Microsoft Research's annual Faculty Summit, which sets the tone and agenda for the company's work with university researchers. Microsoft used the occasion to release a free set of tools meant in part to encourage use of its software in the scientific research community.

Microsoft Research also did its small part to contribute to the flood of data by conducting a series of real-time polls of the audience, using digital clickers.

Some of the questions demonstrated a gap between the researchers in the audience and the younger generations whose lives their work may ultimately affect. When a question was posed about use of text messaging, for example, one person in the room asked if e-mail counted. No, explained Microsoft Research chief Rick Rashid, who said he had never sent a text message himself. Most respondents said they sent fewer than 10 per week. A smaller portion said they sent large numbers.

'Wow, you must have a lot of much younger friends,' Rashid said.

The rising tide of data already is influencing the direction of Microsoft products, and it's one of the areas where the company is collaborating with university researchers. Examples cited Monday include Microsoft Research's use of software algorithms to analyze large amounts of data to help in the search for an HIV vaccine.

Attendees also discussed security and privacy implications. Whereas people in the past might have had complete possession of their personal data, it's now held in a complex set of systems and data centers, to the point where it can be hard to know who is holding it, said Edward Felten, a Princeton University computer-science professor. But laws relating to data often are based on physical possession, he noted.

'The technology is really racing ahead of the law and the rulemaking in this area,' Felten said.

At the same time, younger generations in general may not be as sensitive to security and privacy issues. Elizabeth Lawley, director of the Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said her students aren't concerned, for example, about someone snooping on IM conversations.

'They are completely convinced that security through obscurity is sufficient for them,' she said. 'They are totally unwilling to believe that anybody would care about what they are doing. ... They don't yet have a sense for how easily data mining can extract the things that they might have said at one point.'

At the event, Microsoft also announced a new set of free tools for university researchers. They included a 'Microsoft e-Journal' service that academics can use to publish their journal articles, and specialized add-ons for Microsoft Word 2007 designed for research use. The academic community traditionally is a hotbed for use of Linux and other open-source programs that compete with Microsoft offerings.

© 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Four local colleges have been named to a list of the nations best institutions for undergraduate education by The Princeton Review.

The 2009 edition of the annual book The Best 368 Colleges included Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY College at Geneseo, Nazareth College, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Roughly 15 percent of the nations 2,500 four-year colleges are included in the book. It includes two-page profiles of each school and ranking lists based on student surveys that highlight the top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories.

Nazareth was one of two schools from New York to be added to the list in 2009.

The announcement that our college was selected for this honor has created a buzz of excitement on the Nazareth campus, said Daan Braveman, Nazareth president. We have been included in Princeton Reviews Best in the Northeast and now are pleased to be included in the national ranking. As one of only four schools to be added to the 2009 edition, Nazareth is extremely proud of its work to earn this distinction.

In its profile on RIT, The Princeton Review quoted extensively from the universitys students surveyed for the book. The publications summary of student comments acknowledged RIT as a serious, no-nonsense school with amazing facilities and a unique cooperative education program which is very good at preparing you to work in the real world.

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Business Journal

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Before David and Maura Reza hand out the $5 weekly allowance to their children, David reads a Scripture from the Bible about money.

This is a shift for the family, which has retreated from what Maura Reza calls years of "selfish spending." Now they have turned to a higher power for managing their budget, the world of biblical financial planning.

The five children -- Brandon, Parker, Chandler, Lauryn and Aaron -- squeeze around the dining room table in their spacious Mather-area home to listen to their dad. They light up when Mom walks in with the cash.

"The important thing to remember is that all of this," said David Reza, opening his arms wide gesturing to everything in their house, "belongs to God."

It may not belong to the Rezas much longer. The family is in danger of losing their five-bedroom, 2,900-square-foot home. Even if they do, they believe their faith will help them with their finances.

The Rezas have turned to their church to help them climb out of debt. Courses on biblical financial planning -- which emphasize paying off debt, saving and tithing -- are now offered at more than a dozen churches in the region. More classes start in the fall.

"How we manage our money says a lot about how we feel about God," said Mark Eshoff, executive minister at Fremont Presbyterian Church, which has offered financial courses for several years. "When you are worried about money, you can't be free."

A half-dozen church leaders a week are asking about classes, more than twice as many as last year, said Pamela Christensen of Crown Financial Ministries, which is taught at several churches in the region.

"Their people are in a crisis situation, they don't know what to do," said Christensen. "They hear about what the Bible said about debt and it makes a lot of sense."

Christensen said money is mentioned more than 2,300 times in the Bible, more than any other topic, including the oft-cited Proverbs 22:7. "The rich rules over the poor and the borrower becomes the lender's slave."

In their 13 years together, money has posed the biggest threat to the Rezas' marriage. Maura would leave the room when she saw her husband with their checkbook. "I knew that would mean a fight," she said. The couple, both registered nurses, have a combined income of nearly $125,000.

They each spent freely for years. Their situation worsened in 2006 when they bought a second home and kept their current home as a rental. "Houses were going up $10,000 a month," David Reza said. "We foolishly thought it would continue."

The Rezas fell into a financial hole. Their renter moved out, Maura Reza developed health problems and cut her work hours. They tried to sell their home.

Last November, the bank foreclosed on their second home and the couple declared bankruptcy.

That wasn't the bottom. That came soon afterward when Maura Reza was shopping for groceries with the kids. Her ATM card was rejected. Near tears, they left the store without their food.

That night the Rezas prayed. They later heard about biblical financial management and in June, the couple finished a 10-week course at Bayside Church in Granite Bay. For the first time, they say they are united about money.

It has not been easy.

They keep track of what they spend in a notebook. They sold some of their possessions, including an exercise machine. They cut back cable TV, quit their gym membership, unplugged a freezer in their garage and juggled work schedules to save on child care.

When their dryer started breaking down, they put a clothesline in their backyard.

"I know what we're doing is the right thing, and it's important that we are better examples for our children," Maura said as she showed her daughter how to hang a blouse on the clothesline. "But we have a long, long way to go."

Gina and Joe Macfarlane of Folsom say they have found financial peace.

"We got tired of living paycheck to paycheck," said Gina Macfarlane, who works as a bookkeeper at Lakeside Church in Folsom where the family attends. Her husband is in sales.

Believing they were not living the way God intended, they began following a program at their church that teaches the Dave Ramsey approach to finance. He is a radio talk show host who tells listeners they should be debt-free.

The Macfarlanes sold their new 2,200-square-foot Folsom home and moved into a 1,200-square-foot ranch house in an older neighborhood. They sold their BMW, their motor home and furnishings to pay off $42,000 in credit card debt.

They have followed the program faithfully for four years, and can account for every dollar of their $140,000 income. They use cash only, believing credit is not biblically sound. Every month, each has $40 of "blow money" to spend. For Gina Macfarlane, that usually means a pedicure.

"It's all about choices," said Macfarlane, 37, on the day before the couple left for a pre-paid Hawaiian vacation.

The Macfarlanes plan to pay off their house soon, saying they don't want to grow old with a mortgage payment.

While paying down debt is admirable, some analysts suggest there are limits.

Dave Ramsey "creates this Mayberry world, but this is a much more sophisticated society," said Robert Manning, professor of consumer finance at Rochester Institute of Technology and author of "Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit."

"The reality is that we live in society with tax advantages and where credit should be used effectively -- not banned."

Manning praised churches for promoting financial education but cautioned that religious groups also are acting out of self-interest. "If these people are in debt, they can't tithe, and that means the church feels it," he said.

"These programs teach that you should tithe first."

Before their budgeting, the Rezas gave sporadically. Now they contribute about $300 a month to their church. "What we have given we've gotten back in blessings," said Maura Reza.

It's a lesson they're teaching their kids. After her husband hands them their allowance, she takes out two envelopes -- one labeled "Giving," the other, "Saving." The children contribute one dollar to each envelope.

"I don't want them to make the same mistakes we made," Maura Reza said. "I don't want them to go through what we've gone through."

Finding Financial Peace

1. Establish $1,000 emergency fund.

2. Pay off debt, paying off smallest debt first. Apply that payment to second smallest and so on.

3. Build 3 to 6 months in savings.

4. Invest 15 percent of household income into retirement.

5. Save for children's college fund.

6. Pay off home mortgage early.

7. Build wealth, after you pay off your bills.

Source: Michael McTighe, who facilitates using the Dave Ramsey method.

Copyright © 2008 The Sacramento Bee

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Houston, Texas -- Christopher Ubelacker was so disoriented that he couldn't tell which way was up. His sense of direction was in overload -- Christopher had just experienced weightlessness for the first time.

Still, he remembered what he had been told to do during hours of preparation for this feeling. He pointed his feet toward the floor because it would soon come flying toward him. Such is the transition between weightlessness and nearly two Gs, or twice Earth's gravity.

Christopher, 22, and three alumni from Rochester Institute of Technology recently had the opportunity to experience the feeling of near-weightlessness similar to what astronauts experience when they are in orbit around the earth. The RIT team was among 50 teams selected to participate in NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The program gives undergraduate students the chance to propose and build a near-weightless experiment that they then take up in an airplane, and try out.

The teams perform the experiments aboard NASA's C-9 aircraft, which produces weightlessness 18 to 25 seconds at a time by executing a series of 30 parabolas -- steep climbs followed by free falls -- over the Gulf of Mexico. During the free falls, students gather data while experiencing near-weightlessness.

"The C-9 was like nothing I have ever experienced," Christopher said. "Not many people get this chance and being among a select few is an opportunity of a lifetime. I had a great time and this experience has been enough to point me in the NASA direction when it comes to choosing a career."

Christopher, a fourth-year imaging and photographic technology student at RIT, and recent RIT graduates Greg Sharp, Jarret Whetstone and James Craven spent hours designing an experiment that tests the accuracy of using a computer printer in a weightless environment.

"We were looking for the differences between normal printing on the ground and printing on the C-9," Christopher said. "We first need to understand how printheads work in this sort of environment and how accurate they are, and then we can figure out how we can use them."

These types of flights and experiments are not new. NASA has been flying parabolic flights on various aircraft for decades. These aircraft were used to teach and familiarize astronauts with the sensation of zero gravity and to teach them how to walk in space and on the moon. The airplanes were nicknamed the "Weightless Wonders" and are popularly known as the "Vomit Comets" -- a moniker derived from the number of passengers who became sick during flight.

In 1959, Project Mercury astronauts trained in a C-131 Samaritan aircraft. Shortly thereafter, KC-135 Stratotankers, or airplanes, were used until December 2004 and have since been retired.

In 2005, NASA replaced the KC-135 with a McDonnell Douglas C-9B Skytrain that was formerly owned by KLM Airlines and the U.S. Navy. This is the aircraft that Christopher and the team from RIT conducted their experiments on. A KC-135 was used by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment for filming scenes involving weightlessness in the movie "Apollo 13."

But for RIT's part-time astronauts, just moving around was difficult.

"Imagine wearing clothes made of lead or being so tired that you don't have the energy to move," said 23-year-old Greg Sharp. "That's what it felt like -- you could barely stand -- and then you are weightless again."

Copyright © 2008 GateHouse Media Inc.

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(IDG News Service) REDMOND, Wash. -- The next generation of social networking will give people more tools for defining smaller online communities in a way that mimics the real world, academic researchers said today.

'One thing that's very broken in the social tools we have right now is context and boundaries and a sense of who I want to share what with,' said Liz Lawley, director of the laboratory for social computing at Rochester Institute of Technology. Many social networking sites essentially force users to become part of a huge community, or they force users to choose whether someone is a friend, with no other subtleties defining that relationship, she noted.

'People want to create villages and they're being forced into cities. That's creating a huge tension in social interactions,' she said. Lawley and other academic researchers spoke at the Microsoft Research annual Faculty Summit, an event that brings together academics, government workers and Microsoft researchers to discuss new fields of computer science research.

Ideally, Lawley and the researchers she shared the stage with would like to be able to define various sets of friends online.

'The people I fly with as a pilot could care less about my ... amateur radio work. They should have the ability to say they'll be my friend in this context and not necessarily in another context,' said R&H Security Consulting President and CEO Howard Schmidt, a former academic who consults for the government. 'This is something we have to fine-tune as we build out social networking.'

Academic researchers could help contribute to developments allowing such fine-tuning, but first they will have to start using the tools, Lawley said. 'Many of my colleagues could bring interesting insight, but I look at their use of these tools and they have no idea that there's a way you can share bookmarks with other people, no idea that you can moderate comments on a blog.'

The researchers also discussed opinions, some of them perhaps surprising, on other notable subjects in the online social-networking space. Lawley, who has a 14-year-old son, said she is strongly against some of the restrictive methods used online to segregate adults from children in an attempt to protect kids from predators. On Second Life, for example, she can't interact with her son because he has to be in the teen grid and she has to be in the adult grid.

'So I don't learn from him about how to use technologies, and he doesn't learn from me about how to interact in a social context,' she said.

Shutting down sites or trying to shut out people won't solve the problem of sexual predators, she said. 'We don't talk about shutting down the Catholic Church,' she said, referring to the clergy sex-abuse scandal. 'Sexual deviancy isn't unique to the online world.'

While she sees the value in age verification online, age shouldn't be used to segregate users. It's better that parents and adults teach young people how to interact safely online 'that's the real preventative,' she said.

Other academics agreed. Few people assembled at the conference could go online and fool a kid for long because most people wouldn't be able to imitate their vocabulary well, said Dan Reed, director of scalable and multicore computing at Microsoft Research. Training young people in how to identify adults posing as children can work well, he said.

At the event, Microsoft unveiled free software tools offered to researchers and aimed at making it easier for them to publish and share data throughout academia. The products include e-Journal, a hosted service that lets researchers self-publish online-only journals; the Research Output Repository Platform, which connects various types of research output, such as papers, lectures and presentations, to make it easier for others to find related materials; and the Research Information Centre, a collaborative workspace based on Microsoft SharePoint and delivered in partnership with the British Library.

Copyright © 2008 Computerworld Inc.

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When you're in free fall at 32,000 feet, your feet leave the floor and you float. You lose your sense of the sky and ground, and gravity no longer seems part of your reality.

For decades, private researchers, NASA scientists and astronauts have been getting that "zero-G" feeling in reduced-gravity aircraft.

Earlier this month, Upper Southampton native and 2004 William Tennent High School graduate Christopher Ubelacker got a taste of the action when he caught a ride in a $35 million C-9 aircraft - called the Weightless Wonder - at Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field in Houston.

"The key is to be relaxed and accept the fact that nothing's going to feel normal," he said after his experience. Ubelacker and three other students from New York's Rochester Institute of Technology's imaging and photographic technology program spent two days aboard the C-9 testing an experiment they designed.

Last year, the team applied for NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, which allows undergraduate science and engineering students to experience a unique research challenge. More than 70 college teams across the nation applied. The RIT team was one of about 40 whose research proposals were accepted for the program.

"We need to make sure that what they propose is technically accurate and achievable in 20 to 30 seconds of microgravity," said Douglas Goforth, the program manager. The proposals also have to be relevant to microgravity applications, have technical merit and meet safety standards. Students also have to develop an outreach plan to share their research with others, said Goforth.

Ubelacker and his team members proposed studying whether or not inkjet printers could work in space.

Engineers have found a way to make complicated circuit boards using inkjet printers, he said. The inkjet mechanism can precisely and efficiently lay down conductive pathways. Those circuit boards can then be used in electronics and computers.

"We figured if it works in a low-gravity environment, we may be able to use that technology in a long-term space mission. This technology could also be used for any application where you have to apply a small drop of liquid in an accurate manner," said Ubelacker.

Before the team even got to the space center, the members put in hours of work researching the experiment, designing test equipment and collecting preliminary data. They worked on the project from the time they were accepted in early December until the time they flew, said Ubelacker.

Before they got off the ground, each team member had to be trained and certified as a non-flight crew member. The team's equipment also had to undergo trials to make sure everything would run smoothly and safely in flight.

Despite all the preparation, the four RIT students had time to enjoy a tour of the space center, said Ubelacker. "It was very interesting. Since we actually have alumni at the facility, we had more of a catered tour of Johnson Space Center," he said.

After a week of training and evaluations, it was time to fly.

The C-9 aircraft is similar to the McDonnell-Douglas DC-9, a twin-engine jet passenger plane, according to the Johnson Space Center Web site. Most of the cabin has been turned into a cargo test area for the experiments.

Passengers escape the sensation of gravity as the airplane executes a periodic series of climbs and free falls. At the peak height of about 32,000 feet, passengers feel absolute weightlessness for 10 to 15 seconds at a time, said Ubelacker.

"You leave the floor and you're completely floating free. It's very strange," he said. "The first time it happens, you're confused, you feel like asking, where am I? Then you start to get used to it. You know that the floor is supposed to be 'down,' but regardless of what you see, it feels nothing like that. I had a pretty difficult time adjusting to it and getting my bearings straight and not feeling really disoriented."

Ubelacker said the transitions between zero gravity and normal gravity and back were gentle and gradual. The team members held onto straps on the floor so they wouldn't float too far away from their experiment.

The tests were successful and showed that zero gravity inkjet printing could work for future applications like printing out circuit boards on the International Space Station, Ubelacker said, adding that one of the astronauts they spoke with was interested in their results. Next, the four will analyze their data.

The other three team members have graduated and Ubelacker is finishing up work on his degree.

After that, he said, "I would like to apply and hopefully work at JSC since I had such a positive experience. My area of interest is high-speed imaging and they're slowly getting into that at JSC. By the time I graduate, there will probably be a very heavy need for it."

© 2008 Copyright Calkins Media Inc.

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Indian companies are beefing up their workforce requirement with internal educational programs and on-the-job trainings designed to quickly improve the expertise of new recruits especially in the high-tech industry.
These steps have been taken due to problems with the subcontinent's uneven education system, which many companies believe is still lagging in the areas of technology research and development, according to researchers with the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation.

"How the Disciple Became the Guru: Is it time for the U.S. to learn workforce development former disciple, India?" authored by Harvard and Duke researchers, looks at 24 Indian companies in emerging sectors, including IT, business process outsourcing, software, pharmaceutical, and retail, financial, hospital, and education services.

All have grown quickly in spite of major roadblocks-what the report calls "skills shortfalls and talent shortages".

"Indian industry does not rely on its education system to provide with what it needs," said Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Harvard and the lead author of the study. "Companies act as surrogate universities. They hire for aptitude and potential, not specialized technical skills."

Innovative workforce development

Taken on their own, India's workforce development efforts aren't unique or innovative. U.S. and European companies have had such programs in place for decades.
The innovation comes from integrating programs into day-to-day operations and systems of career advancement; the use of technology in managing the processes; and the decision-making that is based on them, the report stated.

India's top five IT companies-TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, and HCL-hired some 120,000 new employees in 2007, most coming straight from Indian universities, the report stated.

Training of what companies describe as "freshers" is a major part of corporate strategy, with CEOs and senior employees often deeply involved. It can be lengthy-and costly.

Take the case of Infosys. Most of its engineering recruits take an intensive 16-week program costing over $6,500 per new hire. Non-engineer new employees do a three-month program, and computer science recruits do a six-week program. India's successful workforce development poses a question, Wadhwa said. If internal workforce training can turn products of a weak education system into first-rate engineers and scientists, what could be done in the U.S., where workers have some of the best education in the world?

"India's system produces world-class engineers and scientists," Wadhwa said. "It may be time for the U.S. to learn from its former pupil and take a hard look at our business methods in the search for ways to maintain our competitive edge."

It's true that the Indian model works well, but that's for India-specific reasons, pointed out Santosh Kurinec, who heads the microelectronic engineering department at Rochester Institute of Technology.

India lacks a sound accreditation system for higher education. The workforce absorbs and trains most students who graduate from unaccredited institutions, she said.

"What India is doing is a good thing because it's keeping the youth engaged in technological development. That's very important for the economic and political stability of a country," Kurinec said.

But while it makes sense for India, the U.S. is another case, she said. "This system works for India at the moment, but the U.S. shouldn't compromise its own educational system," Kurinec said.

Instead, the U.S. can add another layer of education-taking students from two-year and community colleges and giving them workforce training.

"That can be added on to the current system, which produces leaders and innovators," she said.

There are other steps U.S. colleges and universities can take. A good example is the cooperative education program in RIT's engineering department, which allows students to have paid employment while still pursuing their education, she said.

"This is another model that should be enhanced for the U.S. to stay competitive," Kurinec said.

Copyright © 2008 TechInsights

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Dubai gives elite schools and colleges a new location for their successful teaching ethos, finds Diana Bentley

Nowhere is the economic boom in Dubai more evident than in the education sector. A rash of new schools, universities and colleges have opened and many more are planned. Dubai's government believes that education will help boost its talent pool and achieve the knowledge-based economy envisaged in its Strategic Plan for 2015, launched in February 2007 by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. In May last year, his educational foundation was established with a personal endowment of about £5 billion to help realise improvements in the sector.

Infrastructure for education has expanded to include dedicated learning precincts and demand for training and education in a rapidly expanding workforce is at an all-time high. As the boom continues, the government is introducing measures to regulate the quality of existing and new educational bodies.

Education zones

Two special precincts in Dubai are devoted to learning - the Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV), launched in 2003, and the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), founded in 2007. "We've now got 400 business partners in areas like HR training and development, management training, e-learning, linguistic institutes, executive development and HR consulting and an assessment and testing centre," says Dr Ayoub Kazim, executive director of both villages.

The 25m square foot DIAC is a natural offshoot of the growth of DKV, he says. "This cluster is devoted to higher education and is the result of the huge demand for it from regional and expatriate students." Together, the villages host over 25 universities from around the world. "More land may be allocated to learning when both zones reach their maximum capacity," says Kazim.

Both villages are free zones, which means they are not subject to the regulations of the UAE Ministry of Education and institutions operating there enjoy 100% foreign ownership, 100% freedom from taxes and repatriation of profits. Both have an array of common amenities like restaurants, car parks, gardens and shops. However, they are choosy about who gets in. "We ensure a proper balance of the institutions coming here based on their standing and programme quality. Last year 54 applications were received and four universities were selected," Kazim reports. "Two institutions have been asked to leave DIAC when the quality of their programmes failed to match the standards of the parent institution."

Regulators at work

"The UAE ministry of education has been decentralising the administration of education in the UAE for some years. It understands that states in the UAE have different challenges," says Dr Abdulla al-Karam, director general of Dubai's Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). Formed last April, the KHDA oversees the development and supervision of Dubai's education sector.

Dubai has 200,000 students in public and private schools and universities he points out. "Twenty different curriculums are taught here, which is remarkable for a place with a small population. But that reflects Dubai's cosmopolitan nature," says Karam. While Dubai is already an economic regional hub, development of social services such as education will help drive further growth. "We need a high-level workforce to reach the goals of the strategic plan and trying to achieve that is challenging."

The KDHA licenses companies that provide education and training and is creating new bodies to regulate the sector. "About five years ago, branches of foreign universities started opening to satisfy demand for higher education. We have universities from 13 countries here. We need to triple our number of graduates but we need to maintain quality. >From last year, more due diligence is being carried out on educational institutions wanting to open here," Karam says.

"Quality assessment has always been there but we established the University Quality Assurance International Board [UQAIB] in March, which will help strengthen it."

Composed of an international panel of experts, the UQAIB will ensure that higher educational bodies opening in Dubai's Free Zones are properly accredited in their home countries and that degrees earned in Dubai match the standards in their country of origin. From next year all schools will be inspected by the new Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau. A body to oversee early learning bodies will be established next year.

The local population enjoys free higher education and is catered for by federal institutions such as the UAE University and Zayed University for women. However, private universities - some with fees of about £27,000 for an MBA - can be expensive for locals. "Scholarships for locals to attend private universities may be a good idea - more support is needed in this area," Al Karam admits. The Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Foundation is also interested in wider regional development he reports. "Dubai has a unique opportunity - we're better placed than anyone else to create a global educational system."

Higher education

When they want further study, Dubai's expats and locals can chose from a range of higher education institutions from around the world. Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) already houses 29 universities and colleges, including European University College Brussels, Mahatma Gandhi University, Manchester Business School Worldwide, the University of Exeter, the University of Wollongong in Dubai and the University of Phoenix. Last December the Rochester Institute of Technology announced it would open a campus in late 2008. Michigan State University, too, will open next month and a Dubai branch of the St Joseph University Beirut will be established.

Middlesex University Dubai's first students were admitted in January 2005. The Dubai school is the university's first campus outside the UK. Based in Dubai's Knowledge Village, (DKV) it started with 25 students and now has 950 from 45 countries. "We should grow to 3,000 students in the next four to five years," says deputy vice-chancellor Terry Butland. "We cater for expats and locals but we also have students from Nigeria. They could go to our campus in London but some want to stay in a Muslim world." There have been no difficulties working in the Muslim world, he says. "We have mixed classes and operate on the Muslim calendar."

Edinburgh-based Heriot-Watt University opened its Dubai campus in 2005. Ruth Moir, head of campus, says: "We now have about 700 students, mostly from the expat community, but will have 900 next year and possibly more." Like Middlesex University and others, Heriot-Watt's undergraduate and graduate courses are designed to meet local interests.

"We have a good range of courses including accounting, business and finance, engineering, science, construction management and quantity surveying and factories management," says Moir. New courses will include urban real estate management, logistics, supply chain management and transport.

Undergraduate Neeru Kundvani, one of its first students, considered the local universities before selecting Heriot-Watt. "My parents wanted me to stay in Dubai and I did, too. With Heriot-Watt you can study with an internationally recognised university and with an international mix of students and you can transfer to Edinburgh."

Kundvani, 21, is now completing her studies in Edinburgh. Although she praises the level of teaching at the Dubai campus, she notes that until now Dubai has lacked student services. "It's not as good as it is in Edinburgh. But last time I visited Dubai, I saw that student life has improved - there are more sports and clubs available."

Story continues at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/newspapers/supplements/dubai/article4360184.ece

Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.

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Rising oil prices don't seem to be putting much of a damper on William West's business.

"We have seen an upswing," said the president of Gates-based Precision Design Systems, which provides testing services for companies developing fuel cell prototypes.

Many of his staff, in the past year have gone from working less than 40 hours per week to about 60, West said. He's even thinking of bringing on three more full-time engineers.

The shift, he said, started at roughly the same time gas prices began their rapid ascent -- now hovering above $4 per gallon.

"I can't necessarily say it's because of higher fuel prices," he said, "but I suspect there is a relationship"

Some statistics seem to bear West out. According to the United Nation's 2008 Global Trends in Sustainable Energy report, global investment in green or renewable energy sources rose by 60 percent in 2007 to $148.4 billion. Much of that growth, the report notes, occurred in China and the United States.

Another report from the U.S. Department of Energy shows actual renewable energy consumption in the United States decreased by 1 percent in 2007, due largely to droughts that affected hydroelectric generation. Energy consumption in technologies that power the transportation sector, such as biofuel, however, increased by about 30 percent.

The numbers don't come as a surprise to West, who is seeing a greater push from many of the companies he works with, both large and small, to move their products more quickly in the development and commercialization pipeline. The race is on now to get their products to market, he said.

Tom Currie, vice president of sales and co-founder of Pittsford- based Solar Sentry Corp.,

said his firm also is experiencing an uptick in interest. His three-year-old company develops tools to monitor power generation from photovoltaic cells, which can cut the costs of solar power generation.

"The interest is there," Currie said. "I think there is a lot of hope as to what renewable sources can do to in terms of providing relief to oil use."

John Olenick, president of Alden-based EnRG Inc., which manufactures ceramic parts used in renewable and ultra-efficient energy applications, said he is planning to hire two more employees to handle increased inquiries and orders.

"I expect this to be part of a longer-term trend," he said.

Nabil Nasr, director of Rochester Institute of Technology's Golisano Institute for Sustainability, agrees, but said recently he expects growth will be uneven in the short term. So far, he said, prices for commercial electricity remain relatively stable. Continuing escalation of the price of fossil fuels, however, has and will continue to make innovation in the transportation sector a particularly hot area, he said.

Given the region's highly educated workforce and the presence of companies such as Delphi, Nasr said fuel cell development is a particularly promising avenue of growth for the greater Rochester region.

James Winebrake, chair of RIT's public policy program and a specialist in green energy policy matters, said some factors continue to hold back widespread adoption of renewable energy- powered vehicles, not the least of which is a lack of commercial infrastructure to support fuel cell- or biofuel-powered vehicles. Such hurdles won't last forever, however, he said, and many municipalities, school districts and large corporations already see the potential for growth, he said.

Far more research and development will have to be done fuel cells, for instance, are an affordable alternative to petroleum products in the marketplace, West said. As technology improves, the economies of scale generated by increased use will lower prices on the many new technologies now under development.

"This is kind of a fun place to be right now," Currie said.

© 2008 Daily Record

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1. 'Our branches are there to sell you, not serve you.'
In the late 1990s bank branches were considered outmoded relics soon to be replaced by ATMs and Internet banking. But just the opposite happened: In 1998 there were 89,000 bank branches in the U.S.; by 2007 there were 97,000. Why? The industry realized consumer banking was profitable and that despite the predictions of Silicon Valley wonks, the main criterion consumers use in choosing a bank is proximity, says SNL Financial analyst Jennifer Payne.

But branches aren't just about convenience; they're a bank's primary sales floor. Brochures for services as varied as retirement accounts and home loans are on display, and everyone from the teller on up is trained to make a sale. That's because in the current low-interest-rate climate, it's harder to generate revenue from interest alone. Many players in the industry have been trying to boost fee- and service-based income, so if a teller sees you have a mortgage, he might suggest you meet with a loan officer to discuss a home-equity loan. Says Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, 'The more products a customer has with a bank, the more likely he is to stay with that bank.'

2. 'Our fees will only go up.'
With the economy slowing and big losses looming in the mortgage market, banks are looking for reliable revenue streams. Hence punitive fees - for overdrawing your account, say, or using a competitor's ATM - are increasing. The average ATM service charge doubled between 1998 and 2007, and overdraft fees brought in $17.5 billion in revenue in 2006, up from $10.3 billion in 2004, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Rubecca Hegarty, a married mother of three in Woodridge, Ill., says she often pays upwards of $100 a month in overdraft fees to Chase, since, like most banks, it changes the order of purchases so that large debts get paid first - increasing the likelihood of incurring fees on smaller purchases. JPMorgan Chase says it does this because big payments like a mortgage are more important to consumers, so they get priority.

Revenue from penalties can be addictive for banks, says Harvard Business School Professor Gail McGovern, but 'they're going to face problems from angry customers, which leads to big call-center bills, employee dissatisfaction and turnover.'

3. 'We change our interest rates all the time.'
Regardless of what your credit card agreement says, you can never be sure how much interest banks will charge you. For example, nearly all cards have a default rate - as high as 30 percent - which banks apply when you've done something wrong, usually after two late payments in 12 months. But some banks have cut that to one, says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com.

Banks can also change the terms of your agreement, raising rates when they like (though you can opt out and pay off the balance at the old rate as long as you never use the card again). Bank of America did that recently, upping many cardholders' rates from 10 or 12 percent to 27 percent or more, even though they'd done nothing wrong. 'There's no clarity on what criteria can lead a bank to raise interest rates,' says Robert Manning, director of the Center for Consumer Financial Services at the Rochester Institute of Technology. 'It's a black box.' A Bank of America spokesperson says the company periodically reviews the credit risk of its accounts and adjusts rates accordingly, adding that in the past year 94 percent have had no increase.

4. 'College campuses are a gold mine for us.'
Students are the customers of the future, and banks are increasingly courting them, sometimes right on campus. More than 120 universities have cut deals with banks to issue student-ID cards that are also ATM and check cards. Schools can make millions from these deals, sometimes even taking a small cut of individual purchases.

Students are also a hot market for credit card issuers; banks will make private deals with alumni associations to get contact info for students, parents and even ticket buyers to university athletic events. Card companies cut deals to set up booths on campus, and Chase even inked a deal with Facebook to display ads and set up a Chase group on its Web site.

The problem? Mounting credit card debt among college kids, for one. 'Universities don't negotiate on behalf of students,' says Manning. 'They're negotiating the best deal for the university.' A spokesperson for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities says don't blame schools - banks would market to students anyway, and universities at least try to get the best rates they can for students.

5. 'In debt? The courts won't help.'
Since the late 1990s banks have been including mandatory arbitration agreements in their contracts for many of their products, including auto loans, checking accounts, home-equity loans and credit cards. Such agreements prohibit you from suing and instead require you to use an arbitrator - someone picked by the arbitration firm named in your credit card contract to hear the dispute and decide the outcome.

While these clauses were originally designed to thwart class-action suits, the banks have also been using them for debt collection, says Paul Bland, anattorney with consumer-advocacy group Public Justice. There are even times when consumers, often victims of identity theft and unaware of the debt, aren't present when awards are handed down against them.

A recent suit against an arbitration firm brought by the San Francisco city attorney noted that arbitrators ruled in favor of banks in 100 percent of the 18,045 California cases brought against consumers from January 2003 through March 2007. 'From the consumer perspective, it's a nightmare,' says Bland. If a bank brings arbitration against you, hire a lawyer and request a hearing - in person.

Story continues at http://www.smartmoney.com/10things/index.cfm?story=august2008-10-things-banks-will-not-tell-you&pgnum=2

© 2008 SmartMoney

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With two college-age daughters, Char Ipacs lists tuition reimbursement at the top of her list of favorite benefits as a Rochester Institute of Technology employee. Her younger daughter will start at Syracuse University this fall with a waiver equal to the cost of tuition at RIT, about $26,000. That is one of many reasons Ms. Ipacs, a communications analyst, loves to work at RIT. "The benefits package over all is very nice," says Ms. Ipacs, who has worked there for 18 years. "They always work to improve them every year."

Beyond RIT's participation in Tuition Exchange, an association of nearly 600 institutions that honor one another's tuition reimbursements, the institute offers complete tuition waivers to employees' spouses and domestic partners for undergraduate and, in some cases, graduate courses at RIT. A scholarship program helps employees cover up to $1,500 each year in other costs, such as books or tuition at community colleges. "It's a pretty broad program, and most of the children of our employees should be able to benefit from one of these," says Judy DeCourcey, a senior benefits specialist in RIT's human-resources department.

At a time when health-insurance premiums eat up a growing portion of an employee's paycheck, RIT ties the premiums that employees pay to their salary level. Employees who make less pay less for medical coverage. The institution even offers health insurance for pets, which covers routine care and serious medical problems. The benefits provide "opportunities for people to save money on things they would be doing anyway," Ms. DeCourcey says.

Section: The Academic Workplace
Volume 54, Issue 45, Page B8

Copyright © 2008 The Chronicle of Higher Education

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New York's Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), one of the worlds leading universities, has appointed Dr. Mustafa A G Abushagur as president of RIT Dubai.

RIT-Dubai is located at Dubai Silicon Oasis, the regions leading integrated innovations hub for high-tech industries.

Dr. Abushagur previously served as the director of the Ph D program in Microsystems Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering at RITs Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

Earlier, Dr. Abushagur taught at the University of Alabama as Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Optical Science and Engineering. At the University of Alabama, Dr Abushagur led the development of the universitys optical engineering degree program.

Dr. Abushagur specializes in the fields of optical communications, micro-photonic devices, signal processing and computing.

Shahla Abdul Razak, deputy chief executive officer DSOA, said: We are privileged to welcome Dr. Abushagur to Dubai and Dubai Silicon Oasis. With his extensive experience in the fields of research and education, Dr. Abushagur will prove a great asset to the technology park. His specialization in the field of optical communications, micro-photonic devices, and signal processing and computing are excellently aligned with DSOs core operations. We are confident that hosting RIT to Dubai in general and DSO in specific will contribute directly to the growth of Dubais aspiration of becoming the global hub for technology development and innovation.

As the founder of US-based LiquidLight Inc., a developer and manufacturer of optical network systems for the metro-access market, and Photronix of Malaysia, makers of fiber-optic components, Dr. Abushagur will also bring to Dubai Silicon Oasis an extensive leadership, entrepreneurial and business consulting experience.

Starting this August, RIT - Dubai will provide Masters programs in Finance, Human Resource Development, Service Management, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Networking, and Systems Administration. By 2010, RIT Dubai aims to offer both graduate and undergraduate programs in an innovative class-room environment with applied teaching techniques. - TradeArabia News Service

Copyright © 2008 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group

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Rochester Institute of Technology has been recognized on the Chronicle of Higher Education's inaugural "Great Colleges to Work For" list.

RIT was cited in six categories: professional-career development program, compensation and benefits, tuition reimbursement, 403b or 401 (k) (retirement plan), disability insurance and life insurance.

"We are proud to be a university that attracts the best and brightest employees in higher education," said Patty Spinelli, RIT assistant vice president of human resources. "This honor is a testament to our employees. They make RIT a great place to work."

The recognition appears in the July 18 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. RIT's tuition exchange program received special mention in the issue. It commended RIT for participating in the program, and offering complete tuition waivers to employees' spouses and domestic partners for undergraduate and, in some cases, graduate courses, officials said.

RIT also was commended for having a scholarship program that helps employees cover up to $1,500 each year in other costs, such as books or tuition at community colleges.

The Chronicle of Higher Education modeled its list after Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" issue, but, it opted to recognize small groups of colleges arranged by work force size rather than rank institutions on one list. The results were based on responses from more than 15,000 randomly selected administrators, faculty members and staff members at 89 colleges and universities.

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Business Journal

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Jim DeCaro of Pittsford recently received the Community Person award from the Rochester chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.

DeCaro, directs the Postsecondary Education Network-International at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. That is a network of colleges and universities serving students with hearing loss.

He has worked for NTID for 37 years.

DeCaro is also a board member at Highland Hospital and the Rochester Hearing and Speech Center.

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

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