1. Why a focus on information technology?

It’s exciting work.

The next generation of electronics may come from reverse-engineering portions of the human nervous system. A goal of Kwabena Boahen, a Stanford scientist, is to build brain-like electronic circuits capable of forming new connections in response to changing stimuli while using only small amounts of energy. These machines could learn from experience.

Keep reading for more examples.

Tech Valley is a good place to learn more.

• The Spatial Information Technology Center in partnership with NASA, at Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnstown offers students experience analyzing aerial photographs and satellite images to pinpoint precise locations. Using Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing and Global Positioning Systems, students learn to collect, analyze and display information in ways increasingly useful in transportation planning, disaster management, utilities design, crime analysis and weather forecasting. The Center also sponsors a Spatial Information Technology summer camp for students entering grades 7-12 and hosts the Hamilton Fulton Montgomery BOCES New Visions program in Geospatial Technology.
  
  
• Tech Valley High School, a public school funded through the traditional BOCES aid formula, will open for its first year at MapInfo headquarters in the Rensselaer Technology Park, Troy, in fall 2007. Eventually it will grow to 400 students in grades 9-12. In partnership with businesses such as MapInfo Corporation (a firm that integrates software, data and services related to location-based information), Tech Valley High aims to influence schools throughout the region though project-based teaching and learning.
  
  
• The Information Technology Commons Catalog was developed by the University at Albany in order to keep pace with “…Today’s information-centric society.” The catalog seeks to increase access to courses offered by many departments. Among the featured categories are:
  • Decision Sciences and Data Analysis,
  • Digital Media,
  • Geographic Information Systems,
  • Modeling and Simulation.
  
  
• The UAlbany College of Computing and Information, launched in the fall of 2005, is “designed to prepare the IT workforce of tomorrow, advance scientific research and further UAlbany’s partnerships with government and industry.”
  
  
• Video Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences, is a new major offered at Rensselaer (RPI) through the Information Technology Department. RPI offers career exploration opportunities such as “Design Your Future Day,” a program aimed at connecting local educators and high school students with graduates who have gone on to exciting careers. On the RPI web site, for example, read about Tracy Mack, an automotive design and systems engineer for General Motors.
  
  
• ScoresUp.com, a collection of student-run websites and online magazines created by business classes from over 20 area high schools. The website uses e-commerce curriculum and software from Genium Group, Inc in Amsterdam, NY. The firm will also contract with schools for sports marketing software called the eCommSports Kit for use by business students.
  
  
• The Children’s Museum of Science and Technology in Troy, NY is hosting a series of experimental, immersive visual and sound art works. Thanks to an art and technology partnership between DomeWorks and the museum, performances by digital media artists, called Club Dome events, may be viewed in the museum’s planetarium. The performances are best viewed from cushions on the floor. (Personal pillows and special blankies allowed.)

Students will have a choice of good jobs.

IT-related jobs such as those listed below regularly appear on the top “25 fastest growing jobs” list (as projected in the Capital Region by the Business Review). They often top the list of highest paying jobs in the region as well.

• computer software engineers, systems software
• network systems and data communications analysts
• database administrators
• medical records and health information technicians
• desktop publishers
• network and computer systems administrators
• computer support specialist
• computer software engineers, applications

Predictions aside, IT companies dominate the Tech Valley Roadmap, with more than double the number of businesses listed in any other high tech sector. The U.S. Department of Commerce says that nearly three quarters of the jobs in the Northeast are information-intensive.

Across the country, information technology will comprise 70 percent of new science and technology jobs according to U.S. Department of Labor predictions. Four of the five job categories with the largest expected percentage growth through 2012 will be in IT areas, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It’s the information age.

“…the next ten years are really going to be the most exciting, not just in computer science, but in all the sciences, as we take the advances in software, as we take these new computational capabilities and apply these to some of the world’s toughest problems.”
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation. November 2005

The big picture: why science, math and technology matter

They’re essential for everyone. On a practical level, ours is a technology-driven economy with an increasing number of jobs requiring technical skills. But there are other reasons too:

• Learning about technology will mean more opportunities to succeed, whether or not a student wants to work in fields related to math, science and engineering.
  
• Boosting awareness of the importance of technology increases esteem for jobs and encourages more students to pursue careers in science and engineering.
  
• Technological literacy can help narrow the wage gap—and related shortage of skills—between salaried workers with higher education and hourly workers without it.
  
• Technological literacy can provide a tool for dealing with rapid changes. The kind of thinking that comes from engineering (considering risks, benefits, trade-offs) helps us make sense of the world.
  
• There’s a technical component to most current political, legal and ethical issues, from global warming to protecting privacy in the information age.
  
• We know that students are more likely to succeed when they see academic knowledge and skills applied in the workplace. With high-tech companies moving to New York’s Capital Region and the workplace changing in fundamental ways, it’s more important than ever to help students meet New York state’s CDOS standards (Learning Standards for Career Development and Occupational Studies).

Good jobs are available at many levels.

High-tech fields like information technology depend on a workforce that falls generally into four classifications—scientists, engineers, technicians and operators. Starting on a high tech career path is possible directly after high school. In addition, IT businesses are more likely to hire technologically literate staff for non-tech positions.

 

2. Information Technology basics

Waves of IT innovation have reshaped the way we live, work and learn—mainframes in the 1960s, minicomputers in the 1970s, personal computers in the 1980s, networking and the Internet in the 1990s and now a “fifth wave” of mobile, connected devices. We are at the beginning of “an epic technological transformation,” a new state of continuous computing enabling people to both pull information about virtually anything, from anywhere, at any time, and push their own ideas and personalities back onto the Internet.

Perhaps it is these waves of change that have made technology = information technology for those who have witnessed them. For example, the Vault Guide to Technology Careers is about preparing for work in “the professional field that creates and maintains the computers and related systems that keep modern society interconnected and comfortable.”

In late 20th century schools, “educational technology” meant desktop computers. It now means pocket PCs, digital cameras, microscopes, web-based video equipment, graphing calculators, weather tracking devices and other tools for learning in every school subject.

According to Business 2.0 magazine, a perfect storm of forces—cheap and portable computing devices (in PCs, phones, lamps, keychains…) low-cost, omnipresent bandwidth and open standards—will lead to new companies and new industries. Of course, old companies in old industries have Chief Information Officers and IT departments. Even the smallest businesses use tools created by computer science and run by information technology. Internet purchases represented about 5 percent of all retail transactions in 2005.

Computers are increasingly social machines, built to enable new kinds of interactions: blogging, text messaging, photo sharing, web surfing from a smart phone, locating and learning about a public place or a desired service on the way to its door. Software developers now speak about Web 2.0, a collection of pages that look like static documents but are actually computing platforms. Web-based software applications proliferate:

• Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks, like Skype and Gizmo;
  
• Google’s Gmail for messaging with pictures, sound and video;
  
• Tools for audio and video blogging, RSS, a tool allowing bloggers to syndicate their content and readers to subscribe to content in their areas of interest;
  
• Podcasting;
  
• Social-networking sites .

One of their effects is that time spent on the computer feels less like time away from real life. Internet-based services help keep families and businesses connected. They also help distribute pornography, run terrorist networks and filter out ideas that might threaten a person’s firmly held beliefs.

The Big Brother potential of computing is also a threat.

“Information technology, as a subset of the wider category [of technology], is experiencing its own wave of skepticism and fear. After 20 or 30 years of widespread acceptance and participation, a backlash is brewing against IT, mainly in terms of privacy and personal control.”
--Information Weekly columnist, John Soat.

These concerns have lead some experts to say “The Internet is Broken.” and advocate for a new architecture that would provide security, allow for new applications and be easier to manage. One approach has been the Semantic Web initiative, introduced by the creator of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, and sponsored by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Although less in the public eye than consumer and business applications, technical computing is revolutionizing science and medicine:

• putting out sensors to learn about the beginning of life ( for example, by measuring chemical changes in water along fault lines at the bottom of the ocean)
  Read more about the NEPTUNE Project
  
• gathering and analyzing Doppler radar data from potential tornados to improve detection rates
  Read more about Doppler Radar and Tornadoes
  
• downloading data from a protein mass spectroscopy machine to study biomarkers in blood samples as a way to detect cancer without invasive and expensive biopsies
  Read more about Proteomics

An essential aspect of the task will be the “ruthless pursuit of affordability” that motivates organizations such as the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. They aim to change this assessment:

For the more than two billion people who subsist on less than $2 a day, the inventions churned out from First World design labs—the iPod, the PalmPilot, even the personal computer—are, for all their genius, almost unimaginably irrelevant.

Want to know about careers related to IT? Find job profiles by selecting from these six categories:

• Computer Network Systems
• Geographic Infomation Systems
• Information Technology Services and Support
• Multi-Media and Electronic Technologies
• Programming/Systems and Software Development
• Web Technologies

 

3. Information Technology in Tech Valley—what's going on?

Games Research Group
The ErGoGenic Game Research Group- wants to pry children and adults away from the magnetic attraction of sedentary activities such as the Internet and video games! They developed a series of dynamic games that combine fun, education and physical activity using “physical interfaces to digital environments.” EGG is a team of medical doctors, artists, programmers, cognitive scientists, game designers and musicians that are affiliated with Rensselaer (RPI) and Russell Sage College

Cutting-edge Wireless Technology
Dr. Alhussein Abouzeid, a professor of electrical, computer and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has won a National Science Foundation CAREER award to investigate “multi-hop” wireless networks. Possible uses for the networks include environmental sensing, disaster response and connecting homes within a community. Professor Abouzeid will integrate his research with education by developing learning games and exercises with the help of high school students from the New Visions program. New Visions provides students with college-level experience in computer networks as well as other math, science, engineering and technology fields.

High Altitude Airships
Auxilia, Inc. with locations in Troy and at the Watervliet Innovation Center, provides technology and services related to lighter-than-air vehicles. LTAVs are free-flying or tethered computer-controlled, pilotless airships that are guided by GPS. For intelligence/ surveillance applications, they are equipped with sensor, digital communications and avionics technology. This small company offers clients an Airship Simulation Center where a virtual fleet of airships are at the user’s fingertips to test a system design. Auxilla and partners build and deliver integrated airship and payload systems that meet specific mission requirements. The firm also promotes a wireless Internet-based communication network that allows teams of disaster responders to connect with each other and with organizations. Along with other Innovation Center businesses that focus on homeland security products, Auxilia aims to bring high-tech military technology to civilian's.

Product Delivery and Product Go-to Market Teams
CEO Deborah C. Ryan of IA Systems, an Albany-based company that develops business process technology for credit unions, banks and other financial institutions, announced staff expansion and reorganization to prepare for the launch of a new product. The next-generation software suite will help banks process and approve loan applications. AI Systems was founded in 1991. In 2000 Securian Financial Group purchased the company and promotes its products with a national sales force.

QVC, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Staples, Target…
Located at Albany’s Nanotech complex, CommerceHub links retailers and suppliers, smoothing the process of online shopping. Its programs translate online orders electronically allowing retailers to communicate with hundreds of manufacturers and keep track of orders, no matter what programs they use. The company was founded in 1997 and earns about 1 percent of the value of every sale that goes through its network without selling or shipping anything. Instead, it facilitates drop-shipping, an electronic-based technique that is great for retailers because they don’t need to pay for products before they are sold, store them in warehouses or maintain shipping departments. “They really are one of the leading companies in drop-ship,” said an editor of Internet Retailer Magazine about CommerceHub. “They have an interesting technology — and they have many big-name customers.”

• 1st Playable Productions (independent video game studio moving into new markets)
• Accuframe System (developed by local carpenter to make blueprints easier to read)
• Autotask (web-based management tools) founded by “Serial Entrepreneur”
• CMA Consulting Services (business development, systems integration with examples of tools used for WIC and public health in NYS)
• DomeWorks (art collaborative creating hardware and software tools and equipment for art works in wraparound realities)
• Fountain Forestry Inc (GIS consulting and application services to forestry and other landowners, utilities in UK and USA, based in Schenectady)
• VersaTrans (pupil transportation software including GPS)
• Vision Data Equipment Corporation (IT for newspaper industry since 1973) Security Integration (customized access card, business security systems)
• Waste Management & Recycling Products Inc.(alternative to disposing of unwanted electronics in landfills and participant in Tech Valley Summer Camp 2006)
• Wurld Media (on-line, peer-to-peer delivery of PC games, and other audio & video content using a digital media distribution platform)

 

4. Industries and Occupations affected by information technology

Information technology produces a wealth of information. A visit to the online version of InformationWeek reports timely IT news for 29 industries, including chemical, construction/engineering, consumer goods, electronics, financial services, energy, food/beverage, hospitality/travel, e-marketplace, retail, distribution, education, utilities, telecommunications, real estate, manufacturing, metals and natural resources, non-profit, entertainment and transportation. And that does not include IT news related to government and the arts. It’s not even unusual to find IT news happening in New York’s Tech Valley.

Health care—
Just as cochlear implants translate electronic signals into nerve impulses to restore some hearing in certain types of deafness, retinal implants with light sensors may feed signals into the nerve cells that conduct visual stimuli to the brain, restoring sight in some types of blindness.

Stanford University Professor Daphne Koller sees huge breakthroughs in biological understanding and medicine coming—because of computer science not biology. “You could argue that computer science had the largest impact on society in the last 50 years. Well, the discipline likely to have largest impact in the next 50 years is biology,” she said, “as computer science becomes the discipline of helping people understand other data,” chiefly biological and cell data.

Automotive industries—
Among the 140+ IT businesses in Tech Valley is Auto/Mate Dealership Systems, a “fully integrated in-house computer system designed exclusively for automobile dealerships.” The company combines hardware, software, training and support for sales, parts, service, office management and other functions.

Sports —
Consider baseball. Scouts use laptops to track a game with measures such as a team’s “scorabililty,” or a player’s “seasonal notation.” Big league teams use a “video coaching system” containing an entire season’s pitcher-batter match-ups, viewed from four camera angles. An “Umpire Information System” uses pairs of cameras to track pitches including a set in the dugout to snap a picture of the batter just after the pitch. A computer uses these images to determine the path of the ball within half an inch and to generate a CD for a ref to study after the game.

Startups —
Students and young graduates invent IT businesses, on their own or with support of some of the country’s earliest and strongest new business networks (such as Rensselaer's Incubator Program, founded in 1980.) A contagious entrepreneurial spirit drives co-founders of HostRocket.com Inc., a Web-hosting and broadband telephone service business (with executives under 25 and 24 employees), to sponsor the Shenendehowa High School Robotics Team.

Music —
Digitalization has revolutionized music. Home recording studios are affordable, downloading from the Internet has changed how music is distributed and the multibillion-dollar music industry has “an insatiable and growing need for engineers” according to an expert writing for www.engineeringk12.com. Music is also a great medium for teaching engineering and electronics concepts. At Union College in Schenectady, courses in “Sound and Engineering” and “Music in the 20th Century” have merged for concerts and seminars. Students earning a B.S. in Music Industry at the College of St. Rose in Albany use a computer lab designated especially for music majors.

Supermarkets —
The next generation of shopping technology includes touch-sensor payment systems, a cart-mounted scanner called the Shopping Buddy (that keeps a running total of purchases & makes deli orders) plus shelf-mounted devices that help locate products.

Psychology —
Researchers now have the tool of digital video to study human behavior. Scientists at the UCLA Center on Everyday Lives of Families have observed a week in the lives of 32 Los Angeles families to examine the intersection between family life and work. Eventually their results may influence public policy on family issues.

Filmmaking —
“Star Wars movie spawned a galaxy of technologies” is a headline supported by examples in every Hollywood studio as well as in home stereos, cell phones and medical imaging devices. In the 1980’s the George Lucas computer division developed a complete digital editing system and software capable of rendering images in three dimensions. This technology became Pixar, Inc. the company that developed RenderMan infusing computer images with realistic qualities. Skywalker Sound transformed audio post-production as did LucasArts for video games.

Public Health —
From virtual “Hazmat Hotzone” disaster drills to train first responders, to GIS applications for public safety (mapping wildfires, monitoring emergencies in real time), to fields such as medical geography (the study of how disease and health care are distributed across the face of the earth), information technology in public health saves lives.

Agriculture, natural resources —
One way to gauge the importance of IT in a particular industry is to observe its impact on college courses. SUNY Cobleskill added bachelor of technology degrees in fisheries and aquaculture, in wildlife management and in agricultural business management. Tractors are powered by GPS tracking systems and a John Deere program teaches diagnostics for machinery operating systems.

Fashion —
As all kinds of design moved from the drafting table to the computer screen in the 1980s, working in the fashion industry became more computer intensive. Here’s a sample in the clothing industry: computer assisted design (CAD), body scanning systems, warehouse software, pattern-making software, embroider software, costing software, point-of-sale software, bar code software, mail order software, auction software, supply chain management, import/export software.

Media –
New forms of participatory media pioneered by Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have created a new “self-expression” media sector, according to Internet entrepreneur Robert Young. Microsoft runs the blogging platform MSN Spaces. The Google search engine makes it easy to find citizen-created content, and Google also owns Blogger.com and has formed a partnership with Time Warner’s AOL. Yahoo! offers services that make it easy and cheap to publish individual media creations. A recent “Pew Internet & American Life” study found that 35 percent of adult Internet users have created original content and posted it on the web (which is not counting young people using MySpace).

 

5. Voices from the IT workforce

“I was struck by the wonder of motion capture. It was a direct link from the real to the imaginary.”
Read more  

“Motion capture is the process of recording a live motion event and translating it into usable mathematical terms by tracking a number of key points in space over time and combining them to obtain a single 3 dimensional representation of the performance. In working on the AVA Project’s motion capture at U.C. Irvine's Motion Capture Studio, I was struck by the wonder of motion capture. It was a direct link from the real to the imaginary. I had worked with motion tracking previously for test navigation in on-line virtual environments, so motion capture was a logical next step. In discussing the process and the data structures with my students, one group (consisting of Mike Kingsley and Dan Berlin) was particularly inspired, and so much so that they are now creating a new motion capture system, which, it is hoped, will ultimately surpass existing systems, which have numerous flaws and difficulties.
--Kathleen Ruiz Assistant Professor of Multidisciplinary Electronic Art and Information Technology in the Arts, Rensselaer (RPI)

Motion capture is used in many fields:

• Biomedical research into physiological movement and gait analysis.
• Sports movement analysis, such as correct form in a baseball or golf swing.
• Motion picture industry to provide lifelike movement to computer-generated characters.
• Live and recorded artistic performances.
• Interactive virtual reality training simulations.
• Interactive computer games.

Unfortunately, most motion capture systems on today's market are prohibitively expensive for educational institutions and small businesses. "Our goal is to develop a relatively low-cost, competitive motion capture system…”
-- Kathleen Ruiz, Assistant Professor of Multidisciplinary Electronic Art and Information Technology in the Arts, Rensselaer (RPI)

“I take pride in running an operation that ensures that our patients have a good experience when dealing with all aspects of the hospital—from their care right through to their billing.”
Read more  

“I am responsible for the management and oversight of the hospital’s storage area network, IBM mainframe, hardware and operating systems, UNIX hardware and software operations, the disaster recovery initiative and all of the patient care systems. While the job technically is a Monday through Friday position, our hospital operates 24/7 and requires consistent IT support. Therefore when I am not in the office, I am on call to support the IT needs of the hospital. A typical day is a combination of staff meetings to discuss project status, strategic planning and budgets along with the day to day operations of the hospital’s IT systems. While my days are full, I am also responsible for managing systems implementations, maintenance and testing, which cannot occur during peak hours for the hospital. As a result, we schedule this activity between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, when things are not in high gear. My favorite aspect of my job is working on implementations and upgrades, because it offers a change of pace from the daily routine. It’s an opportunity to see a project through from inception to implementation…. By being aware of how my work affects the patient, some of the most stressful parts of my job happen when we have a system down….I take pride in running an operation that ensures that our patients have a good experience when dealing with all aspects of the hospital—from their care right through to their billing.”

--Bob Massengill, Manager of Technical Services, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center from Vault Guide to Technology Careers

• The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center features profiles and typical day descriptions of over 400 individuals who work in engineering, mathematics or the physical sciences.
• Getthatgig.com features great interviews with individuals who work in thirteen career clusters.
• Career Cruising is a service available for a free three-month trial subscription at your school. Ask your school counselor to call the Center for Innovation in Career Development (CICD) for details.

For a taste of high tech employment opportunities that might be in your future, check Monster.com, classified ads in the Capital Region’s Tech Valley Times, newspaper business sections and the Business Review. News releases and other communications from area colleges often feature interviews with students, faculty members and graduates about the work they do. Regular visits to college web sites are a great way to get into a high tech mindset.

 

6. Helping Tech Valley students get a head start in information technology

Why a head start?

U.S. students need a boost. They are behind their peers in other industrialized countries. (For a trade association’s sobering review of the situation, look at the 2004 report “Losing the Competitive Advantage”) Every adult in a school setting has a role in sending this message to students: science, math and technology matter.

Get involved

Create a high tech news display in the guidance department, media center or hallway by adapting the banner, headers and layout suggestions from NOVA ScienceNOW. High tech is hot and it’s a great way to let students know. Science, math, technology, graphic design and journalism teachers may be willing to recommend students who are willing to help.

A display might also include the practical Pre-College Career Planning guide for students interested in engineering, mathematics or the physical sciences.

The task of building an educated, creative workforce is made easier by local businesses with terrific web sites. One possibility would be a display using material from Vicarious Visions, Inc. a Menands-based company (now a subsidiary of Activision, Inc.) that develops popular entertainment software. The FAQ section contains great advice for students who want to know more about working as a game developer. It might appeal to students interested in computer science, students interested in the arts and to parents interested in helping their children prepare for secure employment in high tech industry.

Also check the Resources section for a printable listing of opportunities such as the Tech Valley Summer Camp for middle school students, a joint initiative of QUESTAR III and Capital Region BOCES.

A career path in any high tech field would include internships and co-ops that provide real-world experience. To help demystify the road to great jobs, read about the value of out-of-classroom experiences in short profiles on the Sloan Career Cornerstone Center web site. There is also a rich section about Pre-College Career Planning.

Learn about what’s hot in information technology
Information Week will send a weekly news show to your in-box. It’s billed as “a heat-seeking missile aimed at technology personalities and trends.”

For inspiration and insight about IT work, explore the web sites of professional organizations such as the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP).

Sample the college experience in detail by looking at weekly assignments for courses posted on college web sites. For example, check Experimental Game Design taught by Associate Professor of Electronic Art Kathleen Ruiz at Rensselaer (RPI).

A chapter of the International Game Developers Association meets in the Albany, New York area to talk about the various aspects of game development, make games, and meet other local people who make or are interested in games. Professional and independent game developers, students, gamers, and anyone else are invited to attend.

Read about what the growing power of technology may mean for humanity in books such as Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau, The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil, Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter and Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age by Bill McKibben.

In its first month of production, NOVA scienceNOW’s podcasts shot to the top of the list of most subscribed productions offered on iTunes. Offered five days a week, the podcasts are companions to the television series aimed at conveying the immediacy of science.

Information Week will send a weekly news show to your in-box. It’s billed as “a heat-seeking missile aimed at technology personalities and trends.”

“Life in the Magic Factory” and more than a dozen other entries make entertaining and inspiring reading at the blog from GE Global Research called From Edison’s Desk.

The Computer History Museum timeline, especially its “People and Pop Culture” section brings computing history to life.

On the topic of robots — How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion by Daniel H. Wilson explains itself. The RoboCup US Open, featuring international robot dog soccer, fosters AI and intelligent robotics research with an occasional high school team competing. The Botball Educational Robotics Program teaches computer programming in the C language to teams of middle school or high school students. College science students work with middle school teams in the FIRST Lego League Challenge (FIRST = For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Sponsor Google provides teams with a digital camera and Picasa software so that students can share photos and stories on the own blog. Look for Robotics events at the Schenectady Museum also, including the summer 2006 installation of League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) that play themselves.

Science-in film, science-in theater and a technology book series are among an astounding array of programs described in the “Public Understanding of Science and Technology” section of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation site.

The Albany chapter of the Alliance for Technology and Women “Great Minds” program kicked off in 2006 with a tour of the clean rooms at the Albany Nanotech complex at the University at Albany. The program is modeled on mentoring programs across the country.

Alice v2.0 is the “best possible exposure to programming” according to its creators at Carnegie Mellon University. It’s also free, uses interactive 3D graphics and offers users an online community. Visit the Alice gallery to see what’s possible.

For a real life treasure hunt, Geocaching can take you around your neighborhood or around the world. Players use the Internet and a Global Positioning System device to locate a cache using posted clues. Visit the site to see clues about locations in your zip code plus notices of pot-luck picnics and friendly competitions.

See Getting a head start in the Resources section for more information.