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The Interactive, Intelligent, Spatial Information System’s (IISIS) Laboratory, designed by GSPIA Professor Louise Comfort and
Pitt’s Department of Computer Science, has developed a prototype decision support system that will enable communities to
increase their capacity for coordinated action to emergencies. Using the prototype IISIS, communities in the Pittsburgh
metropolitan region will be able to make decisions about the vulnerability of infrastructure, the degree of threat to local
residents, and the capacity of local emergency services to respond effectively to disaster situations. This fall, IISIS will be on
display at the Annual Conference of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in Pittsburgh. Conference
attendees will have an opportunity to tour many affected areas of the Monongahela Valley and witness a demonstration of
coordinated disaster response.
“IISIS is consistent with GSPIA’s goal of serving as a regional asset, in this case, assisting municipal managers with the
daunting responsibility of ensuring public safety,” said Interim Dean David Y. Miller. Thanks to the capabilities of the IISIS
Laboratory, local municipal leaders now have more options to manage their resources and implement effective response
strategies during natural disasters.
Twelve local communities received technical assistance from GSPIA’s Nonprofit Clinic, which served as the coordinator of
teams of faculty and students from GSPIA and other colleges and universities throughout Pennsylvania. The technical
assistance projects, carried out as part of the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Blueprint Communities Initiative, assessed major
issues facing these local communities such as residential housing demand, crime reduction, strategic planning, commercial
revitalization, and community and business needs.
Haley said that each of the 12 communities receiving technical assistance had measurable civic participation and strong lo cal
leadership. “They simply refuse to give up hope on the communities and neighborhoods they and their ancestors have called
home for many generations,” he said.
Students gained invaluable experience by getting directly involved in the communities and helping to initiate neighborhood
improvement. “Our students get a real feel for the dynamics of community development…we’re working with the people who
want to make a difference to turn their communities around,” said Haley.
Five of the 12 communities identified housing demand as one of the top priorities for study by the technical assistance project
teams. Haley believes that determining the housing needs of at-risk communities is important for helping developers make the
right choices--choices, he says, that will bring more families, more businesses, and eventually greater economic viability to the
neighborhoods.
"China is rising – will the rise be peaceful?" says Keller, stating the major theme of the book. As a significant world economic
power, this Asian nation is making great strides, especially in the technology sector: It is a leader in semiconductor produc tion
and has graduated an estimated 951,000 engineers from its universities, a figure that outpaces the number of newly graduated
American engineers by approximately 886,000. In the book, China's continuing economic and political developments are
examined from a number of angles, including technological advances, immigration rates, trade, and the policy-making of other
major nation-actors on the world stage relative to China.