NEWARK , February 14, 2000 -As "America's Most Wired Public University" (Yahoo! Internet Life, 1999), NJIT computing resources serve the larger community through special programs for small businesses, pre-college students, non-profits and government agencies.

Pre-College Educational Assistance
NJIT's Center for Pre-College programs is dedicated to providing increased access to scientific and technological fields among traditionally under-represented populations. The Center serves a widening geographical audience of more than 3,000 students, teachers, parents and educational professionals from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Programs have an intensive focus on building computer literacy and proficiency as students progress from early elementary grades to high school.

High School Skill-Building and Support Web Skills for Teens
Students at High Technology High School in Lincroft, N.J. are learning how to develop applications for the World Wide Web while earning six college-level credits in NJIT's new WebMeister Program. Participating students also get a chance to use their newly-honed web skills to compete for scholarships to NJIT.

Developed by NJIT's Division of Continuing Professional Education, the NJIT WebMeister Certificate is an Internet-based learning program covering the same course material as the WebMaster Fundamentals Program for adult learners. Students convene for three hours each Tuesday and Thursday for intensive, interactive on-line classes covering relevant areas of Web development. NJIT mentors facilitate collaborative, electronic discussions asynchronously every day and grades electronic self-assessments, assignments, and examinations. Mentors are also available on-line for real-time mentoring.

Participants develop applications using leading Web development languages and standards while working on a portfolio to demonstrate the skills they acquire throughout the program. Upon completion of the credential, an awardee is entitled to enter his/her portfolio into a new NJIT WebMeister Competition where distinguished webmasters will judge entries and award scholarships for NJIT study.

Virtual Help Desk
The NJIT Service Corps links students, alumni, faculty, and staff directly to community service activities with non-profit organizations located in and around Newark, and throughout the state of New Jersey. Among the services provided is a Virtual Help Desk, co-sponsored by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and Peat Marwick KPMG. Staffed by NJIT students, the Help Desk is available to faculty and staff at local public schools with questions about commonly-used software.

Multimedia Resources Access to State-of-the-Art Technology
As the technology transfer component of the New Jersey Center for Multimedia Research (NJCMR) at NJIT, the Multimedia Production and Internet Delivery Studio (MPIDS) aims to make state-of-the art multimedia technology accessible throughout New Jersey. The studio is equipped with the latest multimedia hardware and software, including complete DVD authoring capability, RealNetworks for live webcasting, RealVideo encoders, and software to support 3-D modeling and animation.

MPIDS sponsors numerous workshops and training programs on such topics as SMIL (synchronized multimedia integration language); Macromedia Flash; Apple Quicktime, and multimedia and DVD production, as well as Multimedia Bootcamp, an intensive, week-long program on multimedia production. The studio offered special programs for the New Jersey Chapter of the International Television and Video Producers Association and Liberty Science Center staff, and offered two workshops at the National Educational Computing Conference, for which MPIDS also webcast keynote addresses.

The studio also offered multimedia workshops for the high school students of North Arlington, Highland Park, Governor Livingston, and Union County Technical High Schools and for more than 1,000 students who attended NJIT's Engineering Career Days. MPIDS assisted West Side High School in Newark in producing a video that was entered in Toshiba's science competition.

The MPIDS group has provided technical assistance for a variety of organizations, including IEEE, the Puff Daddy Web site, Lockheed Martin, Burlington County College, Lucent Technologies, Rutgers University, and the State Office of Technology, as well as webcasting various events for the State of New Jersey. MPIDS also hosted new product roll-outs for Apple, Digital Origin, SGI, and Metacreations.

Internet Access
NJIT provides email, internet access, and web hosting services to approximately 35 small companies housed at the university's business incubator. NJIT also hosts web services for several non-profit education-related organizations.

NJN Web Host
NJN, New Jersey's public broadcasting network selected NJIT to host the NJN Foundation (NJNF) Web site. NJIT provides NJN with a full range of technical capabilities, including streaming audio and video, and will establish such features as on-line discussion centers, forums and message boards; an online store with secure transactions; and periodic, scheduled chat sessions. NJIT's Multimedia Production and Internet Delivery Studio will also webcast all of NJN's original programming.

Better Internet Communications
Necdet Uzun, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading a research project at the New Jersey Center for Multimedia Research at NJIT to develop new architectures and algorithms for improving Internet communications. Supported by a $192,000 research contract with Fujitsu Network Communications, the project is aimed at improving Internet bandwidth capacity, quality of service, and network performance for Internet applications, such as video conferencing, electronic commerce and Web hosting.

Bandwidth capacity of Internet is limited by the amount of information that can be carried over fiberglass cable systems and switched over routers and switches. It can be increased through better switch and router architecture and algorithms. NJIT's partnership with Fujitsu will include research in asynchronous transfer mode, a telecommunications switching technology that offers high bandwidths, improving speed and quality of communications. The research is expected to improve the infrastructure of the Internet, benefiting Internet service providers, telecommunications carriers and users.

The New Jersey Center for Multimedia Research (NJCMR), directed by Ali Akansu, professor of electrical and computer engineering, is a collaboration of NJIT and Princeton University supported by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology through the R&D Excellence Program. The mission of the NJCMR is to make significant research contributions in a broad range of multimedia technologies and to encourage the integration of multimedia into educational applications that will benefit people of all ages. The center is also a founding member of the NSF-supported Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Digital Video and Media with Rensslaer Polytechnic Institute and Princeton, developed as a national resource for research in digital media.

Information Resource Development Division
NJIT's Information Resource Development (IRD) Division, under the direction of Thomas J. Terry, associate vice president, provides consulting, design, development and operational services in the information technology arena.

Under contract to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the division operates the New Jersey Immunization Information System (NJIIS), a statewide registry of childhood vaccinations. Current CDC guidelines recommend 21 immunizations for each child before the age of two. Clinics and physician offices are able to schedule immunization visits, record current doses and project future doses in the system. There are currently records on more than 30,000 children in the system and newborns are added automatically.

IRD also operates the Local Information Network Communications System (LINCS), which connects DHSS with 24 county and large-city health offices. LINCS is used for rapid dissemination of time-critical health alerts.

Another IRD project involves converting the state's Selected Vendor Assistance Information system to a Web-enabled database. The new system will enable direct access for state agencies to select vendors from a list of approved small businesses for limited scope procurement projects. In the near future, the new system will enable major companies to search the database for appropriate vendors to fill their own procurement needs.

In partnership with Thomas Edison College, IRD continues to work on the award-winning Healthcare Information Networks and Technologies (HINT) program through a $250,000 appropriation from the state.

Center for Information Age Technology
Helping New Jersey businesses, government agencies, non-profits and school districts make optimum use of information technology is the mission of NJIT's Center for Information Age Technology (CIAT). Founded in 1983, CIAT provides impartial consultants to assist in computer-related projects such as needs analysis, master plans, network design, systems evaluation, specifications, RFPs, implementation, training, support, Web site design, and Y2K compliance. CIAT clients during 1999 included:

Communications Antidote to Bioterrorism
NJIT's has been tapped to fight bioterrorism under a major grant awarded to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services by the federal Centers for Disease Control. The $1 million grant will support the development of an Internet-based Health Alert Network. NJIT will develop the computer system to connect the state health department and 115 local health departments in an around-the-clock system that can function independently in an emergency. Local health departments to community health and emergency response agencies through a rapid telefax system that can then be used to communicate information and coordinate an emergency response.

New Jersey Department of Health
CIAT conducted a study to determine if available technology resources provided Department management with the tools to create, support and deliver health care systems for all citizens of NJ, within federal grant and health delivery guidelines. CIAT analyzed current resources and recommended technology deployment that could more effectively meet the Department's goals for improved health care services.

Camden Schools
CIAT has established a partnership with the Camden Board of Education to assess and evaluate technology needs from essential administration systems for Human Resources and Payroll records, to networking student records, transportation and Internet access for instructional and media deployment.

Webmaster Training
CIAT developed highly successful NJIT's WebMaster certificate program and has presented the program to hundreds of individuals. The center customized the WebMaster program for the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, provided training, reviewed staff-developed practice and business sites, and analyzed the official OLS Web site to provide recommendations.

Business Booster
NJIT's Division of Computing Services provided the technical expertise to establish the Business Resource Center, an on-line database created to market New Jersey's business assets and to help corporate decision-makes considering strategic moves in the marketplace. A joint venture among the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission, NJIT and Prosperity New Jersey, the site came on-line in April 1999, offering data on population demographics, economic indicators, the state's leading businesses, the state's employment by industry and occupation, and information on business incentives, tax credits and financing. To access, visit www.njbrc.org.

Computing and Technical Assistance to Non-Profit Organizations
The university has a special relationship with and provides significant computing assistance to Newark Fighting Back and the New Community Corporation (NCC). Newark Fighting Back is a community based organization fighting drugs,alcohol and tobacco addictions. NCC is one of the largest community development organizations in the nations and provides a full array of social services including day care, job training, housing, and two K-8 elementary schools. Two senior NJIT staff serve on the NCC technology committee and for many years have been involved in NCC's effort to modernize its computing and communications systems.

     NJIT is a public research university enrolling over 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 80 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science.

     Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has ranked NJIT "America's most wired public university" for two consecutive years, U.S. News and World Report's 1999 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities, and Money magazine's most recent issue of Best College Buys rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools and among the top 100 overall. In September 1999, Mademoiselle ranked NJIT as the second most Internet-connected university in the nation.