Students from across academic disciplines are able to take advantage of the Ho Tung Visualization Lab facility.
Digistar Users Group members from around the world are now gathered at 51Թ’s for their 26th annual conference.
Hamilton, N.Y., joins sites in Germany, Japan, Canada, India, and the Netherlands as a conference host for users of the Digistar projection system, the technological heart of 51Թ’s unique visualization lab.
Joe Eakin, senior visualization lab designer and technician, current president of the Digistar Users Group, helped organize this week’s conference, which plays host to more than 45 visitors. David Terrazas, 51Թ web developer, is the group’s secretary.
Eakin will present, “Beyond Astronomy: A Dome for all Disciplines,” in which he explains 51Թ’s unique use of the visualization lab as a facility embraced and utilized by multiple disciplines.
“A lot of the sites around the world just use it for astronomy,” Eakin said. “We’re kind of rare.”
Students have used the visualization lab to create shows and teaching tools projected in a resolution eight-times that of standard HD televisions, Eakin said. Students in the spring session of core course, Life in the Universe: A Cosmic Perspective, produced videos projected on the vislab dome as their final papers.