December 1, 2000. The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) opened its new Health Sciences Campus location this week. While the Center has been in operation serving the faculty from the uptown campus since early this Fall, the staff had been working out of a crowded makeshift office making it difficult to function effectively. The new location is conveniently located across the street from the Hammer Building at the Armory Track and Field Center at 168th Street. The Armory, soon to be home of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and already the home of several national and community organizations as well as the Columbia Center for Population and Family Health gives the Center a connection to the community and the University.

A unique feature of this new location is that the office is entirely wireless, connected to Columbia University and the rest of the Internet using a wireless access point that intercepts a beam of information that is sent from a similarly configured access point on the wired network. This focus on exploring new technologies is representative of the Center's goals of integrating new media tools with the health sciences curriculum. Thus far, the emphasis uptown has been on working with imaging and digital video technologies to provide health care students with patient simulations, virtual charts, and case studies, as well as providing the same services provided by CCNMTL at the Morningside campus.

In early January, The Center will announce an open house for faculty and staff to visit and become acquainted with the work of the Center. Until then, Dr. John Zimmerman, Associate Director of the Center and head of the uptown office, invites inquiries and visitors. John can be reached at (646) 772-8607 or zim@columbia.edu.