The LSU Center for Applied Information Technology and Learning has been around since 2001 but is now getting more organized and gaining both national and international attention.
LSU CAPITAL is a state-financed program for research development and technology created to boost the state’s economy and reputation.
During a media luncheon Thursday, Chancellor Mark Emmert stressed the importance of LSU CAPITAL to the University’s Flagship Agenda.
Emmert said a strong research University can usually be found at the root of an economically strong city and state.
LSU CAPITAL is important to the University’s and the state’s economies because it will generate federal funding, attract worldwide attention and open job opportunities, Emmert said.
Because the University and the state recognize the program’s importance, Emmert recruited Ed Seidel from the Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam, Germany, to be the new director for LSU CAPITAL.
Emmert said the University had to compete with California Institute of Technology and Ohio State University to bring Seidel to LSU.
Seidel captured the full room’s attention Thursday by operating his informative slide show presentation through his cell phone. He said it was an example of the kind of technology the University expects LSU CAPITAL to develop and improve upon.
Seidel said he chose LSU because of Gov. Mike Foster’s efforts in the late 1990s to promote the importance of information technology to the state legislature in order to obtain funding.
During his frequent travels around the globe, Seidel said he has encountered many people who know about the University’s research efforts.
He said people in his line of work are beginning to recognize LSU as a leader in the field of technological advancement.
An impressive and well-known program will make the University more competitive for federal funding, Seidel said.
About a dozen other scientists from the Einstein Institute are following Seidel to the University.
“We’ve already started an emigration of high-powered scientists coming to Louisiana,” Seidel said.
Seidel compared this group of scientists, who will hopefully all arrive in Baton Rouge by October, to the United Nations because each person comes from a unique background.
LSU CAPITAL’s presence on the University campus is evident in the supercomputer, the business school’s market analysis and trading laboratory, a virtual meeting room in the Life Sciences building and plans for a high-tech computer lab for creative arts.
SuperMike, the second-fastest supercomputer in the academic world, is composed of 1,024 Intel Pentium processors and is housed in the Fred C. Frey building.
The Securities Markets Analysis Research and Trading Laboratory, or SMART lab, connects students to an interactive stock trading floor to give them hands-on experience in trading and investment research.
The virtual meeting room connects the University to the world through video conferences.
Plans are currently underway for a new creative arts laboratory for students to study video-gaming, virtual reality and 3-D animation.