TRECC Links Illinois Students with Japanese Peers

released 07.15.03

Contact

Trish Barker NCSA Public Information Specialist tlbarker@ncsa.uiuc.edu 217.265.8013

WEST CHICAGO, IL  — Today the Technology Research, Education and Commercialization Center (TRECC) in DuPage County is connecting students from high schools across Illinois with students from Akifu High School in Hiroshima, Japan.

The students are participating in the Illinois International Career Academy (ICA). The 3-year-old program was created by the Illinois Math and Science Academy to equip high school students for advanced international studies and to help build the work force the state needs to compete in the global economy.

TRECC is a program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign administered by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and funded by the Office of Naval Research.

This year, ICA participants were tasked with advising the Bank of Japan on how best to comply with recommendations from the International Monetary Fund to reduce inflation. While the assignment is a simulation, the problem is real. The students will present their findings to the Japanese Consulate in Chicago on July 17. Students in Japan prepared information to share with their American peers via the Polycom® videoconference enabled by TRECC. This is the first time an IMSA program has been involved in a student-to-student international videoconference.

ICA Director Carl Heine said the videoconference will broaden the ICA students' perspectives and understanding of Japanese culture and economic conditions.

"The ability to converse face to face in real time provides unparalleled depth to this learning experience," Heine said. "Without leaving the country, students in Illinois and Japan have the means to discuss similarities and differences in regard to schools, culture, and economics, which contributes to strengthening vital global relationships."

"Hosting this event at the TRECC facility gives the students an opportunity to learn about the visualization and communication technologies at the center," added NCSA Director Dan Reed. "By videoconferencing on the 15' x 18' screens used for video projection they can see how next-generation collaboration tools can reduce the barriers of time and space."

Illinois high schools participating in ICA include:

• Bloomington High School


• Carbondale Community High School


• Central High School (Champaign)


• Edwardsville High School


• Glenbrook High School (Glenview)


• Herrin High School


• Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (Aurora)


• Jones Academic College Prep (Chicago)


• Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center (Chicago)


• Walter Payton College Prep (Chicago)


• University of Illinois Laboratory High School (Urbana)


• Vienna High School

TRECC aims to meet the critical need among Illinois' educators, researchers, businesses, and entrepreneurs for access to cutting-edge technology. The center's mission is to support and accelerate the development of innovative ideas, to develop new education applications and learning systems, and to demonstrate on-the-horizon information technologies. For more information on TRECC, see http://www.trecc.org/.

NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) is a national high-performance computing center that develops and deploys cutting-edge computing, networking and information technologies. Located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NCSA is funded by the National Science Foundation. Additional support comes from the state of Illinois, the University of Illinois, private sector partners and other federal agencies. For more information, see http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/.

For more information on the International Career Academy, go to http://www.imsa.edu/org/ica/.