The Academy of Electronic Media

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Home Page: http://www.academy.rpi.edu

Electronic media is an integral part of all aspects of society, yet with all the potential offered by today’s electronics and computing we have only begun to scratch the surface of how we may use technology to improve our lives. The Academy’s vision is to produce and facilitate the use of interactive environments that explore a creative application of electronic media and computing. We strive to empower individuals by developing innovative electronic media and technologies that engage users and remove the restrictions imposed by static toolsets, passive entertainment, conventional media or physical proximity.

The mission of the Academy is to fundamentally challenge and expand the way electronic media impacts people, and the way people relate to electronic media and technology. The Academy combines multiple award-winning (e.g., PREMIER AWARD for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware) artistic and technological expertise to investigate basic IT research in the areas of dynamic data access/utilization (e.g. animation, video, multimedia, etc.), collaborative computing environments, 2-D/3-D visualization & modeling, user I/O interactivity programming, and electronic media scalability/ platform adaptation. The Academy develops interactive electronic media that stimulates multiple senses to better understand, visualize, and express ideas. 

New interactive user interfaces and visualization technologies hold the promise for many to now grasp and utilize information and concepts that once were the domain of a select few. The Academy is a magnet for scholarly students, faculty/staff, and corporate partners to work together on projects in education and arts and entertainment. Some of the Academy’s more recent projects involved the development of a multimedia tool to teach Greek as a second language (in collaboration with the Hellenic American Union), a simulation/training experience for intelligent transportation systems operators (at Traffic Operations Centers), educational materials to support engineering and computer science (through a number of NSF supported efforts), nanotube-based sensor R&D modeling (an NUE project), and a web-based interactive play/musical. The Academy offers a home where community members can exercise both the technical and artistic sides of their creativity, while serving as a Rensselaer resource to facilitate the utilization of electronic media and offer the guidance necessary to allow content providers to produce innovative material and technology.

Academy Staff: D. Millard, Director; W. Brubaker, Programming Director; A. Yu, Systems Administrator

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