BITS Students examine a satellite image of a Philly locale

Researchers around Temple University’s Campus have welcomed BITS participants into their research centers, study zones, and smart classrooms as part of a six-week summer intensive program to learn sophisticated information and communication technology skills and applications. Next week, BITS students will visit the Digilab, a center for using virtual realities to support e-health research.

The Sbarro Health Research Organization’s Digilab, is directed by Dr. Giuseppe Russo, a molecular biologist and bioinformatics specialist. He, along with Geography and Urban Studies graduate student Liv Raddatz, will work with six students to create a virtual reality in three dimensions that will depict a local landscape in Philadelphia. The students will investigate the landscape using traditional geographic field methods to identify key cultural, environmental, and historic aspects of a space of their choice. They will use information technologies like digital photography, online mapping applications, and podcasts to visualize and record their observations about the landscape they depict. They will also disseminate the information they gather on the Internet using such social media applications as Blogger and Flickr.

They will work with Dr. Russo to compile those digital bits of information into a three-dimensional rendering of the space that can be navigated virtually. The students will have the opportunity to work in SHRO’s Digilab to envision and navigate the landscape in three dimensions.

The applications of this technology are multifaceted. Three-dimensional spaces can be explored in different ways than conventional two-dimensional maps because both volume and magnitude are evident in the information sets. When applied to locations, the third dimension supports the analysis of landscape transitions, economic impacts and communications that factors in the effects of differences in the heights and design of buildings, economics of agglomeration when businesses are grouped in close proximities, and multiplying effects when different cultural institutions and historical centers are found in the same locations to create a community and legacy through time. The health applications are equally profound when information is visualized in three dimensions. The inner mechanics of cell functions can be examined in three dimensions, permitting researchers to see processes that are often hidden from two-dimensional views. Alternatively, researchers can also use these technologies in the treatment of patients who are experiencing cognitive and psychological changes that are impacting their quality of lives. When e-communications tools are combined with the creation of three-dimensional virtual realities, researchers and educators alike can interact with each other over large distances in real time to investigate a specific place, a patient’s needs, or participate in a lecture and demonstration.

This internship is just one of ten different ones that provide students and young adults engaged in BITS to gain skills and knowledge about state of the art information technology skills and their applications for both learning and research.

Michele Masucci,  Ph.D.
Director, ITSRG
Temple University