By Nick Schmidt
Oswego State women’s soccer goaltender Emma Allen was named the SUNYAC defensive player of the week. Against Brockport last Friday, the sophomore surrendered only one goal while playing the full 90 minutes. The following day in the Lakers’ win over nationally ranked Geneseo, she notched ten saves, just four shy of her career-high. Her efforts against the Knights also gave her her third shutout of the year.
With 49 saves this season, Allen is currently in a tie for fourth in the SUNYAC. She will be back in action along with the rest of the Lakers on Saturday when they travel to Cortland to take on the Red Dragons.
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Hewitt Hall Set to Become New Communications Building
This spring, Hewitt Hall is expected to shut down in preparation for its renovation to become the new communications department building. This new space is set to give students more access to the tools they need.
The Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Jessica Reeher, explains what is planned to be included in this new space. “The new building is going to house all of communications studies as a department, and as well as the Dean’s office for SCMA and the graphic design faculty component of the art department.”
The Hewitt building is home to many of SUNY Oswego’s departments, including the Department of Sustainability and the Department of Auxiliary Services. It also currently includes many counseling services, and the health center.
The renovated Hewitt building is expected to be a space for students to utilize 24 hours a day. Once the renovations are finished, this new space is set to include open areas for students to relax and eat.
There are also plans for team rooms where small groups can get together to work on projects or scripts. There will also be more studio spaces, more computer labs, and more opportunities for students to get ahold of the technology they need.
Reeher stated, “We envision this as a 24-hour building. So students can access if you need to get into the editing suite, if you need to get into a studio, you can get access to many of the facilities 24 hours.”
According to Reeher, once the space in Hewitt is up and running for the students, Lanigan hall will then move into a phase of renovation. All of the renovations happening are being done with the students in mind, so they are able to make the most of their time here at Oswego.
The renovation plans were made pre-COVID so the dates for opening the new building are subject to change. But, Reeher seems to have high hopes that the project will be completed and that the building will be open for students by spring 2024.
“It’s just a beautiful space, the renditions are, if it looks half as good as the current computer renditions it’s going to be really amazing.” -Jessica Reeher
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Women’s Soccer Suffers Tough Loss
The Oswego State women’s soccer team suffered a tough 1-0 loss against Potsdam on Saturday. With the defeat, the Lakers drop to 4-4-1 on the season while the Bears are now 8-2-2.
Both teams were held scoreless in the first half but not before Oswego had their chances to score. Within the 41st minute alone, the Lakers took three shots including a header by Taylor Harrington. They would go on to outshoot Potsdam in the half 9-3, and 17-5 in total. The Bears scored the game’s lone goal early in the second half.
The Lakers will look to end their three-game losing streak when they face Buffalo State on Friday at 3 pm.
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Oswego State’s New Partnership with Virtual Reality
by Jamie Aranoff, WTOP-10 TV
German Virtual Reality Company, Crytek has announced a sponsorship with Oswego State providing virtual reality research opportunities and human-computer interaction graduate programs.
VR [Virtual Reality] First is an initiative to integrate virtual reality and create labs in higher education institutions nationwide. The aim of VR First is to link schools to a global network of virtual knowledge and research.
The need for jobs in the virtual reality market is rapidly opening, said Dr. Jolanda Tromp, a visiting professor at Oswego State. “Experts are needed to help with improvements to the hardware and there are a multitude of application areas opening up, such as big data visualization, explorations of the microbiology world, medical training, health & safety training for hazardous environments, college education programs of all sorts, fashion, journalism, marketing, to name a few,” said Tromp.
Oswego has joined a partnership of schools including Purdue University, Oklahoma State University, University of Florida and many others spanning six countries.
The Academic initiative with Crytek has allowed for the creation of a virtual reality lab in the Shineman center, with five state of the art virtual reality headphones. In addition, all headsets will be complete with Crytek’s software development, CryEngine.
Virtual reality is a computer-generated program that is viewed from specific headgear with a screen securely placed in front of users’ eyes. Virtual reality’s specific draw is that the program allows for users to feel as though they are in a three dimensional location, which is a dynamic shot allowing the image in front of a users eyes to move in sync with a user.
“It’s becoming affordable, the technology is improving and the headsets are smaller and more comfortable to wear,” Tromp said in a press release.
Last Spring, students in Tromp’s graduate virtual reality course divulged into the myriad of opportunities that are presented with the technology. It is applicable not only to the science and technology fields but medical, marketing, psychotherapy, space travel, journalism and more.
“There is a need for software development talent in this field,” said Tromp.
Many students of varying majors and studies are provoked by the new technologies, and their opportunities in the job field.
“It’s becoming cheaper and more common to produce headsets and I really feel as though the ideology of being able to interact with interact with virtual technology paves a way to new technologies I can not even begin to fathom,” said Sophomore computer science student, Joseph McGee.
In addition to the practicalities among many different fields, one Oswego student has taken the technology and applied it to pain management.
Second-year graduate student, Ryan Kikta is using virtual reality to bring patients undergoing medical treatments to feel as though they were in a non-medical location.
“It’s a green technology, it saves resources and time. Its flexibility is incomparable” said Tromp on the ability to use the technologies in different settings.
For students interested in the vast world of virtual reality technology, Tromp is teaching a graduate level virtual reality course again in the upcoming spring semester. The virtual reality lab is available for students to propose projects for, and to collaborate with companies off campus, some even providing opportunities for internships.
