Program Description

On April 19 & 20th, in Blue Bell, PA the 1st Annual KINBER Member Meeting will be held at the Montgomery County Community College with KINBER members and potential members. The result of the collaboration will be a compelling and informative event that combines the high-profile content of how to get connected and maintain a network, how to best utilize the network, and what technologies and products will best bring value.

This meeting will bring the member community together for interactive discussions about new and ongoing work and provide a venue for members to make connections and form new collaborations. The meeting will host presentations on high definition videoconferencing in subjects such as education and healthcare, plans for the future of PennREN, the importance of BTOP initiative, what we're doing to make education in PA better from K-to-20, and much more!

Agenda

To view the complete agenda online please see https://www.kinber.org/index.php/agenda

Registration

Registration is available to KINBER members at the discounted rate of $50 for the two days. It is available to others at $150 for the two days. Space is limited.

LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS

As part of the KINBER Member Meeting several live demonstrations will be available. There are five interactive seats for each of the live demonstrations. To register to be an interactive site in one of the live demonstrations please fill out the registration form. A LIVE Webstream of the demonstrations will also be available for a non-interactive audience.

The schedule of live demonstrations is as follows:

Thursday, April 19th

(Note: All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time)

10:20 - 11:00 AM - Higher Education Collaborations for Research and Teaching at Lehigh University via PennREN

Dr. Benjamin Felzer, Assistant Professor, Department Earth and Environmental Sciences and Michael A. Chupa, HPC Team Lead, Library and Technology Services, Lehigh University

Computational science and engineering is now a peer of the time-tested experimental and theoretical investigations of the world we inhabit. If the subject of investigation is the size of a planet, and when the time scales under investigation span centuries or eons, computational methods are essential to gain insight and understanding at vast scales. Dr. Benjamin Felzer is a climate/ecosystem scientist using the Community Earth System Model (CESM, see http://www.cesm.ucar.edu) as a component of his research at Lehigh University. Full production runs of this coupled model include hundreds or thousands of years of coupled ocean,sea ice, atmospheric, land vegetation, and biogeochemical data spanning terabytes of disk storage. Mike Chupa demonstrates live access to these data stores at Lehigh University using the VisIt visualization and analysis application (see visit.llnl.gov), which allows users to send data analysis and display commands to a remote computational resource, and to bring the results of these analyses over PennREN to a modest notebook computer. Felzer, participating via videoconference link, discusses the visualizations of his simulation data, illustrating the research and teaching collaborations that PennREN makes possible. The societal impacts of these collaborations are evident, as real-time access to resources like climate simulation data enables working scientists to convey accurately the implications of their research to a broad audience.

3:00 - 3:45 PM - International Student Summits and Youth Forums

Tim Devlin, Allegheny CONNECT

During the 2011-2012 academic year, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit in Western Pennsylvania has been engaging students both regionally and internationally in a series of topics that will enable them to understand the complexities of challenges facing the world today. This presentation will explain the objectives of the summit talks, the partnership with the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, and demonstrate the value of research and education networks in bringing them together through today’s technology.

4:00 - 4:45 PM - The Educational Collaboration, Using Advanced Networks to Educate PreService Teachers

Susan Darlington, Director of Online Learning and Satellite Campus Technology, Gywnedd-Mercy College

Advanced networks can literally transform the learning environment from a passive place of learning to an active engaged learning experience. Video-conferencing over advanced networks has allowed the students in the Education program at Montgomery County Community College to observe live classroom instruction without leaving campus. Learn how MCCC organized and collaborated with a local school district using advanced regional networking to support learning and inspire their students.
Friday, April 20th

(Note: All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time)

9:00 - 9:45 AM - Current and Potential Collaboration Opportunities in Europe

Tom Fryer, International Relations Officer for DANTE

Tom will give an overview of the pan-European network known as GÉANT, and explain what national research and education networks, (NRENs) there are in Europe. GÉANT’s global connectivity which includes Internet2 here in the U.S. affords numerous opportunities for collaboration. Tom will showcase some of the current initiatives.

10:00 - 10:45 AM - Healthcare Virtual Presentation - Telemedicine and Regional Healthcare at Geisinger Health System

John Kravitz, Associate Vice President, Geisinger Health System

Geisinger has worked diligently to provide needed healthcare services to community hospitals that would otherwise lead to patient transfers to larger healthcare institutions. This is being accomplished in a number ways which include Tele-Medicine and the Keystone Health Information Exchange (KeyHIE). Tele-Medicine provides a needed service which allows the patient to remain in a community hospital, providing their acuity is reasonable, while services are provided and guidance occurs from a distance. In many cases these services range from e-consultation, e-Neuro, e-ICU as well as a number of other areas. Health Information Exchange services are paramount to supporting these initiatives by providing access to key medical record information such as patient problems, allergies, medications and critical laboratory and radiology results. We are working to provide these services to rural institutions; however without the extensive proliferation of broadband to these territories this initiative is extremely difficult.

11:00 - 11:45 AM - Advanced Network Applications for Public Media

Bill Weber, Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, WHYY and Craig Santoro, Director of Media Instruction

Non-commercial Public Media remains a vital community resource to inform, educate, and entertain diverse communities and organizations across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The arrival of the KINBER advanced network adds an exciting new dimension to the public media technology tool kit. Rich media content exchange between all participating KINBER partners and mature media services will bring amazing new resources to bear, to strengthen each organization and its ability to fulfill its mission.

Presenter Bios

Michael A. Chupa, High Performance Computing Team Lead, Lehigh University Library and Technology Services Group
Michael A. Chupa is HPC team lead for Lehigh University's Library and Technology Services group. He has worked in high-performance computing and scientific visualization at the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering (Princeton University), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. Chupa has a B.A. in Physics from Oberlin College and an M.S. in Computational Engineering from Mississippi State University. During his work at MS State, he also worked at a number of supercomputing centers in Mississippi and Ohio doing research sponsored by the DoD's High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Chupa also has a decade of independent school teaching experience in Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics.

Susan Darlington, Director, Online Learning and Satellite Campus Technology, Gwynedd-Mercy College
Susan Darlington is the Director of Online Learning and Satellite Campus Technology at Gwynedd-Mercy College where she provides instructional technology support to faculty, particularly in the area of online learning where she continually searches for new technologies that will engage the online student. She spent a number of years as a Senior Instructional Designer at Montgomery County Community College providing classroom technology support for faculty. Her strong interest in Internet2 led to her MAGPI Fellowship in 2010 and nomination to MCCC’s Innovation of the Year Award for her creation of the Virtual Education Collaboration. Prior to working in academia, Susan spent over 20 years in the business environment as a computer programmer and business analyst. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Business from Immaculata University and her master’s degree in Instructional Systems from Penn State, where she also earned a Web Graphics Design certificate.

Tim Devlin, Program Director, Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3
Tim Devlin is a Program Director at Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3 (AIU3) located in Pittsburgh, PA. AIU3 serves classrooms in school buildings in forty-two suburban Pittsburgh school districts and four career centers. Tim is managing the development of a $9M county-wide fiber optic network that connects the 200 school buildings in Allegheny County to provide high-quality streaming media capability and new interactive videoconferencing capabilities. Tim and his colleagues also provide other technology support and training programs for administrators and staff. Tim's undergraduate work included a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master's Degree of Public Management of Information Systems and Master's of Educational Technology Management from Carnegie Mellon.

Dr. Benjamin S. Felzer, Assistant Professor, Lehigh University
Dr. Benhamin S. Felzer has his B.A. Swarthmore College, M.S. University of Colorado-Boulder, Ph.D. Brown University, Post-Doc National Center for Atmospheric Research. Felzer is a climate and terrestrial biogeochemical modeler who focuses on how natural and human disturbances to the land and atmosphere affect vegetation productivity and carbon sequestration of terrestrial ecosystems. Recent work has included studying the linkages between carbon and water by determining how plant physiological responses to elevated CO2 and other disturbances affect the hydrological cycle.

Tom Fryer, International Relations Officer, DANTE
Tom Fryer joined DANTE in October 2008 as a member of the International Relations Team. As International Relations Officer, he supports international dialogue between the GÉANTcommunity and regional R&E networking organisations. One of his particular responsibilities is to collaborate with CLARA in the preparations and implementation of the ALICE2 project. In addition he assists in the management of relations with GÉANT NRENS, promoting wider use of the GÉANT service portfolio. Tom has a background in international event organisation and coordination acquired in Germany, the UK and finally Spain where he lived from the beginning of 2000 until joining DANTE. He also has wide experience in translation and has worked as part of the support team for the Spanish Blind Sports Federation and the Spanish Paralympic Committee at a number of world class sporting events including the Beijing Paralympics. Tom has a degree in modern languages and linguistics from the University of Essex.

John Kravitz, Associate Vice President of Information Technology, Geisinger Health System
John brings more than 20 years experience in the Healthcare field to Geisinger Health System. He is responsible for regional health information exchange, KeyHIE, which currently connects diverse organizations in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. John also leads the I.T. support to Geisinger's Tele-Health Programs which consist of e-ICU, Tele-Stroke, Tele-Trauma, Tele-Psych, Tele-Echo, etc ... He also has is responsible for the technology design for new grant ventures. Prior to joining Geisinger, John was VP/CIO for Good Shepherd Rehab Network located in Allentown, Pa. While at Good Shepherd he had the technological responsibility for Good Shepherd Penn Partners, which was a joint venture with the University of Penn. He was responsible for all technology for the facility as well as process workflow and systems integration between University of Penn Health Systems and Good Shepherd. Deployment of the e-ICU (Visicu System) was also part of his responsibilities. While at Good Shepherd he had planned and implemented a number of advanced clinical application systems which included G.E. Centricity RIS/PAC's, TheraDoc Infection Surveillance, Medication Dispensing Systems as well as clinical documentation systems. Mr. Kravitz is a member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, Health Information Management System Society and the American Telemedicine Association.

Craig Santoro, Director of Media Instruction, WHYY
Craig Santoro joined WHYY in 2002 and shortly thereafter started the station’s first youth media program. Since then, he has created and managed ongoing after-school documentary workshops for Philadelphia teenagers and partnered with community centers to hold video production classes for teens that have dropped out of school. He’s developed award-winning video summer camps, partnered with numerous schools to train teachers to use video in their classrooms and created video learning experiences for nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions and learners of all ages.

Bill Weber, Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, WHYY
Bill Weber is a graduate of Temple and a long term key member of the executive management team developing and executing WHYY’s overall technology and community service strategy. In 1995, Mr. Weber co-founded the region’s first online, non-commercial Internet community service organization named LibertyNet.. In 2002, Mr. Weber’s was appointed by the mayor of Philadelphia to the Mayor’s Commission on Technology. During the following 8 years the commission advised the Mayor and City Council on technology policies and regional work force development. His responsibilities at WHYY have broadened significantly as new technology platforms evolved and converged with Information Technology. To most recent being digital television, high-definition content production, new telecommunication options, computer networking, digital asset management, high capacity storage and now, advanced networks such as KINBER. WHYY’s and the other 7 public media station in Pennsylvania are early members of KINBER. And Bill was recently selected to participate on the KINBER Services and Objects committee reporting and advising the Board.