Hand Recognition
Device Debuts
A high-tech hand recognition device used to control access at
banks and government laboratories has come to West Virginia University.
Diebold, a company known by most colleges and universities for
its single card identification system, is testing a hand geometry
reader in Boreman North Residence Hall and the Student Recreation
Center.
"WVU
has partnered successfully with Diebold since 1995 with the use
of the Mountaineer Card system, which allows our students to
do a variety of things from purchasing meals at campus restaurants
and items at the bookstore, to riding the Personal Rapid Transit
System (PRT) and gaining entry to athletic contests," WVU
President David C. Hardesty Jr. said. "This innovative electronic
security system for the residence hall and campus recreation
center is just another example of how this company is changing
the way we do things to make life more secure, convenient, and
accessible for our students."
Wes Vance, Diebold's chief operating officer, said the company was anxious to pilot different types of cutting-edge, human factors technology—in this case, hand geometry—on a university campus that is a "proven front-runner" in the high—tech world of forensic identification and biometrics.
Students simply enter their pre- selected, five-digit personal identification number (PIN), then place their hand in the reader. The scanner takes more than 90 measurements of the hand in terms of length, width, thickness, and surface area in the span of one second. If the hand is authenticated the door unlocks (or, in the case of the Rec Center, the turnstile opens).
New Technology
to Enhance Students' Training
WVU has added the most advanced Automated Fingerprint Identification
System (AFIS) to its forensic program's criminal research facility.
In a partnership with SAGEM Morpho, a proven provider of mission critical biometric solutions and services, students in the Forensic Identification Program will be able to use the newest AFIS technology in their coursework. Students enrolled in this program are trained for recruitment by law enforcement organizations at the federal, state, and local levels.
SAGEM Morpho, which already provides biometric technology to more than 35 government and law enforcement organizations worldwide, will house its AFIS technology in the newly developed Biometrics and Computer Forensics Lab in WVU's Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
The equipment is designed to digitally capture and identify latent fingerprints left at crime scenes and on other pieces of evidence for matching against a database of arrested individuals' fingerprints. Users of this technology can positively match a suspected criminal's fingerprint in a fraction of the time required for fingerprint matching using traditional ink-rolled fingerprints captured on paper.
The gift in-kind to the Forensics Identification Program will count in the $250 million Building Greatness Campaign being conducted by the WVU Foundation on behalf of the University.
Biometrics
Specialization Added to Master's Programs
Beginning in fall 2003, WVU will incorporate an information assurance/biometrics
(IA/B) specialization into three master's degree programs.
While work is still being done to finalize curriculum, the program has already been named a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance by the National Security Agency (NSA). This highly regarded distinction has only been granted to 33 higher education institutions.
Given the University's experience with biometrics, initial courses are already in place for the IA/B specialization available to graduate students in computer science, software engineering, and electrical engineering.
While certain courses are only accessible to students enrolled in one of the three master's programs, two other options exist for those interested in IA/B concepts: a five-day course and a certification program.
Alternative Fuel Vehicle
Training in India
The National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) at
WVU was awarded an $85,000 grant by the United States Department
of Energy to conduct alternative fuel training in Delhi, India.
A member of WVU's Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) training program spent two weeks in January conducting orientation workshops and providing technical assistance and training to members of the Delhi government, the Delhi Transport Corporation, and other members involved in the Indian automobile industry.
"The need for alternative fuel vehicles is becoming ever more urgent," said Al Ebron, executive director of WVU's NAFTC. "AFVs can help clean the air, especially in large metropolitan areas with a lot of traffic congestion. I have traveled to Delhi and have experienced its very poor air quality firsthand."
In an effort to improve the environment in Delhi—India's third largest city—the Indian Supreme Court mandated that the city must increase the amount of natural gas and alternative fuels used in vehicles.
Weekly Newspapers
Important, but Overlooked
Many of West Virginia's 58 weekly newspapers are "crucial
to their towns" but are rarely recognized for their contributions,
according to Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism Assistant
Professor John Temple.
Temple profiled three of West Virginia's weeklies—the Ritchie Gazette, the Pocahontas Times, and the Hampshire Review—in an article published in the December 2002 American Journalism Review.
"Daily newspaper reporters and editors tend to look down on weekly newspapers, and I wanted to write a story that would give insight into the parallels and differences between those two sides of journalism," said Temple.
Temple said some of the state's weeklies "contain every 'weekly' stereotype: dull leads, flagrant misspellings, meeting stories that read like transcripts . . . ." But he described the Ritchie Gazette and Hampshire Review as "dynamic . . . news operations."
Many of the newspapers must toil in towns where advertising revenue is scarce and conflicts of interest are many.
"I profiled three weekly newspapers and the people who worked at all three were genuinely committed and even excited about their jobs," he said.
Cyber Shakespeares
Make the Web Their Manuscript
WVU faculty and students are letting their imaginations roam
the digital depths of cyberspace, courtesy of an on-line literary
site called The Loop.
The web site (www.clc.wvu.edu/loop) helps place WVU's Department of English in the forefront of contemporary literature, featuring work by students, faculty, and internationally known writers on the cusp of digital writing and art. "
Computers permeate our lives," said Sandy Baldwin, assistant professor and director of the Center for Literary Computing. "Today, everyone uses a computer to write, if only for word processing. The Loop takes this seriously as a poetics, as a method of writing."
WVU has long been a leader in literary computing, going back to professor Patrick Conner's founding of the Center for Literary Computing in 1991. The Loop continues WVU's ongoing research and creativity in the field of electronic literature. The site is designed and created by a team of students under Baldwin's supervision.
Cemetery Project
Earns Grant
An area historic preservation and WVU community service initiative
received a financial award that will enhance its long-term success.
The Fairmont City Cemetery Restoration Project has earned a $5,000 grant from the Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation. The funds will be used to purchase computer systems that will help project participants develop and use three-dimensional pictures and digital maps of the cemetery, which is located on Maple Avenue in Fairmont's Bellview section.
The computer system will expand the project participants' ability to electronically search for buried grave markers, read weathered headstones to determine names and dates, and provide a better overall record of the site's history. The cemetery is the final resting place for some of Marion County's most prominent original citizens from the early 1800s.