Cultural Artifact and Document Imaging

            Carrie Houston, a third-year undergraduate, is enjoying exploring all of the opportunities afforded to her at the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT.  
           An honors student with a minor in Math, Carrie is currently doing research with Roger Easton, a faculty member at the Center. "There's a lot of history involved with our project," she says. "We're doing image processing on pages of a journal of David Livingstone's, trying to recover the handwritten text so scholars can read it."
            Carrie also recently completed a five-week study abroad program in Australia and New Zealand. "It was field studies," she says about her time there, "we went camping and kayaking and climbing mountains. It was a really interesting and amazing experience."

Recently, CIS caught up with Allison Bright, one of our summer interns from back in 2005. She reminisced about her internship experience and updated us on what she's up to now.

Recently, CIS caught up with Matthew Heimbueger, one of our summer interns from all the way back in 2002. He reminisced about his internship experience and updated us on what he's up to now.

By Amy Mednick

Most undergraduates do not get to experience a summer working alongside Library of Congress preservation experts and curators in preserving 500-year-old documents. Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science junior Maggie Castle got that opportunity. For nine weeks last summer, Castle worked on a diary from the mid-15^th century and a 1513 Ptolemy atlas that few people ever see, let alone examine in great detail.

During Castle’s Freshman Imaging Project, the students created a polynomial texture mapping device, which allows imaging scientists to study the texture of an old document.  Dr. Fenella France, chief of the Preservation Research and Testing Division at the Library, was invited to speak to the class and Castle became intrigued by her work. Later, she visited France’s lab during a vacation to Washington, D.C.

Inspired by her visit, Castle applied for and received an internship in the Preservation and Testing Division at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to work on three separate projects using spectral imaging at ultra violet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths. CIS Professor Roger Easton agreed to fund the internship last summer.