UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, April 8, 1997
5A
KU makes Internet magic
By Tim Harrington Special to the Kansan
A million-dollar U.S. military grant is allowing University of Kansas students and faculty to work on a computer project that could change a wartime battlefield and revolutionize the Internet.
Financed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Department research division, the project is called MAGIC II and is being undertaken by the newly formed Information and Telecommunication Technology Center in Nichols Hall on West Campus.
MAGIC II will be a networking system that will allow users to retrieve and manipulate audio, video, graphic and other forms of data in ways never before possible.
"It's a chance to take on research in a really cutting-edge technology," said Amit Kulkarni, Bombay, India, graduate student, who is working on MAGIC II.
The University received about $1 million of a $4.8 million grant that had been spread out to four other
developmental organizations across the country.
KU researchers are working on the telecommunications part of the project.
MAGIC II researchers hope to create the technological foundation for the creation of a supermilitary information network. The network could give every soldier on the battlefield instantaneous access to information a four-star general would have.
With the technology developed under MAGIC II, troops in the field could view enemy forces superimposed on a 3-D map and follow their movements as they occur in real time. Military headquarters could constantly monitor the health and safety of every soldier during a battle.
But whether MAGIC II leads to practical military use is irrelevant to ITTC member Yulia Wijapa, Jakarta, Indonesia, graduate student.
Wijapa said the research being done at the University ultimately would affect the way computers talked to each other.
What Wijapa, Kulkarni and the
rest of the ITTC team are developing a new, smarter Internet that will be able to distinguish between different types of data. Whether it be text, audio, video or graphic, MAGIC II will monitor how crowded the network is, realize what types of computers are being used, what their capabilities are, and then deliver the data in the most efficient way possible.
It will do all of this in one or two seconds.
"We call it an active network," Kulkarni said. "Networks today are like pipes that you push your data through from one end to the other. The active network is much more intelligent."
MAGIC II, which stands for multidimensional applications and gigabyte Internet consortium, is the direct descendant of the MAGIC I project, which also has roots at the University.
MAGIC I, which was created in large part at the University between 1992 and 1995, laid the foundation for the MAGIC II program. Work on MAGIC II began in the fall of 1996 and is slated to run for three years.
KU team to study school violence
By Mark McMaster Kansan staff writer
With the help of recently approved federal funds, KU researchers soon will begin investigating solutions for the growing problem of violence in schools.
The Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence, created by Congress last fall, is sponsoring research at eight universities, said Martin H. Gerry, director of the KU Center for the Study of Family, Neighborhood and Community Policy. Gerry will lead the KU team studying the issue.
Beginning April 15, the University will receive $170,000 for the year-long study.
The institute plans to
continue the study for five years, pending Congressional approval, resulting in nearly $1 million in research funds for the University.
KU's research will deal with violence in middle schools, where most juvenile behavior problems initially appear, Gerry said.
"The outcome we're looking for is to find strategies that will, on a predictable basis, reduce violence," he said.
Wayne Sailor, director of the University Affiliated Program, is one of the four members of the KU faculty who will be involved in the project full-time. He said that the University's community study programs were well-known and that their strong reputation probably played a role in
securing the research award.
"KU has quite a bit of power in this area of study," Sailor said. "It is one of the major developers of resources in this area."
This project will be different from other research, however, because it focuses on solutions that can be applied in the community.
"I don't think they want us to do a bunch of academic research so that 10 years from now we can write a book that nobody will read," Gerry said. "It's not like the average research grant. We'll sit down and explain things in a way that will allow people to use the ideas."
The team will be studying a variety of models for
reducing violence, primarily preventive methods.
"I have a feeling that prevention is worth a lot here," Gerry said. "I know from working in the juvenile justice system that once the kid is in the system, it's really difficult to accomplish anything."
Later in the study, the researchers plan to become involved in new reform programs in Kansas City, Kan., Washington, D.C., Chicago and Oakland, Calif.
Gerry said that the problem of violence in schools was serious and that it was getting worse.
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