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 Media Advisory - March 14, 2001


 PA/M 01-11


 ABC-TV’S PrimeTime Thursday Features Information Technology  Research on Virtual Tutor

 "Baldi" is a computerized 3D tutor for children with hearing impairments

 On March 15, the ABC-TV news magazine PrimeTime Thursday will feature a National Science
 Foundation (NSF) information technology research project. The segment was originally set to air
 on March 8 but was delayed due to breaking news. ABC correspondent Jay Schadler will
 describe how "Baldi," a 3D virtual tutor, is helping hearing-impaired students to understand and
 produce spoken language. The animated instructor converses via the latest computer technologies
 for speech recognition and generation. The project, led by University of Colorado professor Ron
 Cole, is described in an NSF press release at
 http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr0119.htm.

 The "virtual tutor" is one of several NSF projects in which computer research is helping to educate
 people with disabilities. NSF is also supporting a computer-animated "signing avatar" that
 translates English into sign language, helping deaf and hard-of-hearing children develop language
 and reading skills. A second press release describes that project at
 http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr0120.htm.


 Who:
          University of Colorado professor Ron Cole, NSF principal investigator of “Creating
          Conversational Agents for Language Training: Technologies for the Next Generation
          of Interactive Systems”
 What:
          Segment on 3D virtual tutor, "Baldi."
 When:
          10:00 p.m. EST,
          Thursday, March 15, 2001 on local ABC stations
 Where:
          ABC-TV PrimeTime Thursday


 For more information contact:
 Tom Garritano (703) 292-8070/tgarrita@nsf.gov