The
RIT Research Corp. will have a hand in both the United States
decennial census in 2000 and the worldwide census, following an
official endorsement by the United Nations Statistics Division.
The
endorsement ensures the creation of an Electronic Data Capture
and Analysis (EDCA) Laboratory at RIT Research Corp., a wholly
owned subsidiary of RIT. The lab will provide educational and
consulting services to United Nations member states to help them
develop electronic solutions to capture census, population and
housing surveys and other statistical data. In 1995, the UN passed
a resolution calling for all member states to conduct population
and housing censuses by 2004.
For
more than seven years, RIT Research Corp. has been working with
the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census,
supporting the development of electronic data capture for the
Y2K decennial census. By 2001, RIT Research Corp. is expected
to earn $7.5 million from the bureau for advice on various topics.
The Y2K decennial census will capture data on over 1.5 billion
pages of questionnaires in 100 days.
"Our
experience with the project will enable us to assist the member
states in designing the best possible data capture solution for
each imaging application," says Donald Boyd, until recently RIT
Research Corp. president and currently associate provost for outreach
programs. "This is where our knowledge and expertise in electronic
data capture will play a significant role." The EDCA laboratory
is expected to be operational in the next few months and will
provide training and consulting services for representatives from
UN member states during this multi-year project.
