NEWS RELEASE October 17, 2000 TerraFly Project High-Performance Database Research Center School of Computer Science Florida International University

Contact: Martha Gutierrez Phone: (305) 348-6262 or (305) 348-1706 | Fax: (305) 348-1705 | E-mail: Address: 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199

The Florida International University Council of 100 has chosen Dr. Naphtali Rishe, Director of the High-Performance Database Research Center (HPDRC) and its TerraFly project, as the recipient of the university's first annual Outstanding Faculty Award. This award carries a $10,000 cash prize.

Rishe, a professor of computer science, established the HPDRC six years ago; it counts NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Departments of Defense and the Interior among its clients. The Center developed NASA's semantic database management system and, in conjunction with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, established a NASA Regional Applications Center (RAC) at FIU four years ago. Rishe's team attracts $1.5 million annually in contracts and grants.

An elite group of significant annual donors to the university, the Council of 100 created the Outstanding Faculty Award last May as a way to recognize and support sustained excellence in teaching, research, and service among the FIU faculty. For seven years now, members of the Council have each given at least $1,000 a year to the university. To increase the amount of the Outstanding Faculty prize to $15,000, Council members voluntarily raised their minimum annual dues to $1,500.

The increase will also help build an endowment in support of the award, meaning it will be given in perpetuity, according to the group's chairman, Larry Kahn, and president, Lowell Homes.

"We believe it's important to recognize the emerging excellence of the FIU faculty and to reward long-term achievement in a meaningful way," said Kahn. "Our faculty, after all, are the faculty of a top-rated research university, as the Carnegie Foundation has indicated through FIU's new ranking. This new award will help focus attention on the very best of those professors and serve as an incentive for top achievers to continue their outstanding work at FIU."

Rishe received the award at FIU's recent Convocation ceremony and was inducted as an ex officio member into the Council at its meeting on October 18th.

Among Rishe's work at the HPDRC is the TerraFly project, a new Internet-based technology that makes it possible for users to "fly over" vast land areas using only an ordinary Web browser. By using high-resolution imagery collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other sources, users can experience an overhead view of almost any location in the United States at a one-meter resolution-without the expense of standard GIS application software. The project, which is funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and IBM, can be accessed on the Web at http://www.terrafly.com.