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RIT adds video-conferencing center to NTID | Democrat and Chronicle | democratandchronicle.com
The opening of a high-tech video-conferencing center will enable Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf to bring advances in learning and social interaction to the hearing-impaired community.
Nearly $700,000 worth of teleconferencing equipment was installed in the TelePresence Center at NTID. The center was made possible by a research grant from San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc.
It's billed as the only video-conference center of its kind between Toronto and Albany.
For deaf and hard-of-hearing students, the TelePresence Center offers a chance to see and experience expressions and gestures, and there are separate video screens for captioning.
"It tears down communication barriers," said Samuel Sandoval, a third-year student from Fairfax, Va., majoring in information technology.
Sandoval and Kelley Duran, a student from North Fayston, Vt., completed summer co-ops with Cisco and helped the company develop products that are more accessible to the deaf.
Research over the next 11 months at RIT will be used by engineers at Cisco to develop even more advanced networking products for the deaf community.
The goal, Cisco executives say, is to create a product that people want to use, not one that people must use because nothing else is available to them.
"Partnering with our students not only gives the students opportunities to work with cutting-edge technology, their findings will benefit countless others in years to come," NTID president Gerry Buckley said.
The TelePresence Center also could create the opportunity to provide educational opportunities to students who are not located in high-density population areas.
"How does one kid out on the Iowa plains — the only deaf kid studying chemistry — how in the world are they ever going to get a sense of community," said Jim DeCaro, past NTID president and dean.
The hope is that the TelePresence Center will enable RIT and NTID to reach out to those students.
"RIT and NTID are moving toward distance learning," said Gary Behm, director of Center on Access Technology. "Also, we want to provide the ability for our students to use this system as part of their social interaction."
The opening of a high-tech video-conferencing center will enable Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf to bring advances in learning and social interaction to the hearing-impaired community.
Nearly $700,000 worth of teleconferencing equipment was installed in the TelePresence Center at NTID. The center was made possible by a research grant from San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc.
It's billed as the only video-conference center of its kind between Toronto and Albany.
For deaf and hard-of-hearing students, the TelePresence Center offers a chance to see and experience expressions and gestures, and there are separate video screens for captioning.
"It tears down communication barriers," said Samuel Sandoval, a third-year student from Fairfax, Va., majoring in information technology.
Sandoval and Kelley Duran, a student from North Fayston, Vt., completed summer co-ops with Cisco and helped the company develop products that are more accessible to the deaf.
Research over the next 11 months at RIT will be used by engineers at Cisco to develop even more advanced networking products for the deaf community.
The goal, Cisco executives say, is to create a product that people want to use, not one that people must use because nothing else is available to them.
"Partnering with our students not only gives the students opportunities to work with cutting-edge technology, their findings will benefit countless others in years to come," NTID president Gerry Buckley said.
The TelePresence Center also could create the opportunity to provide educational opportunities to students who are not located in high-density population areas.
"How does one kid out on the Iowa plains — the only deaf kid studying chemistry — how in the world are they ever going to get a sense of community," said Jim DeCaro, past NTID president and dean.
The hope is that the TelePresence Center will enable RIT and NTID to reach out to those students.
"RIT and NTID are moving toward distance learning," said Gary Behm, director of Center on Access Technology. "Also, we want to provide the ability for our students to use this system as part of their social interaction."