SUNY Awards Buffalo State Three Innovative Instruction Technology Grants

Three Buffalo State projects have been selected for SUNY’s 2013 Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) program.

IITG is a competitive grant program open to SUNY faculty and staff across all disciplines. Recipients will openly share the outcomes of their projects, enabling SUNY colleagues to replicate and build upon the innovations. The grants are disseminated into award tiers of $10,000, $20,000 and $60,000.

J. Tomás Henriques, director of digital music production in Buffalo State’s Music Department, received a tier-three grant for a project in creative instruction for music technology called "Learn-Operate-Outreach-Perform (LOOP)."

The grant will fund technological augmentation to an existing lab in Rockwell Hall, turning it into a state-of-the-art facility that will serve three main goals. First, the lab will provide an innovative space where students in the digital music production program can develop their compositions in an interactive manner. Second, the lab will become a performance space consisting of a one-of-a-kind orchestra of computer workstations with the capability to send sound to the Louis P. Ciminelli Recital Hall for audiences to enjoy. Finally, the project will provide community outreach as Henriques plans to collaborate with local artistic and academic institutions, as well as invite students in area high schools to attend sound design and electronic music composition workshops in the lab.

“The community outreach component is a fundamental part of the project and will be used as a recruiting tool,” Henriques said.

Additionally, Jinseok Heo, assistant professor of chemistry, and Krista Vince Garland, assistant professor of exceptional education, each received tier one $10,000 grants for their respective projects, “A Virtual Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (VIAL) for Buffalo State and Open SUNY,” and “TeachLivE from New York: Developing Innovative Practices in Immersive Teaching Technology.”

Of the 93 proposals submitted for this year’s competition, only 33 were selected to receive awards. View the complete list of grant-funded projects.

“This program is one of many that exemplify SUNY’s capacity to model innovative instructional practices for higher education nationally and globally,” SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher said. “We look forward to seeing these outstanding ideas replicated across SUNY to benefit even more of our students, faculty, and staff.”