Gallaudet unveils new research, scholarly achievement database

Image: Gallaudet Research Institute staff members Dr. Charles Reilly (standing), associate director and senior research scientist, and Kevin Cole, research applications programmer, review the “Research and Scholarly Achievement at Gallaudet University” website they produced with Senda Benaissa, research associate, and Leah Magnus, graduate student. The site provides the public, for the first time, a comprehensive view of the wide range of Gallaudet’s unique contributions in these fields.

Gallaudet Research Institute staff members Dr. Charles Reilly (standing), associate director and senior research scientist, and Kevin Cole, research applications programmer, review the “Research and Scholarly Achievement at Gallaudet University” website they produced with Senda Benaissa, research associate, and Leah Magnus, graduate student. The site provides the public, for the first time, a comprehensive view of the wide range of Gallaudet’s unique contributions in these fields.

A comprehensive view of the wide range of Gallaudet's unique contributions in the fields of research and scholarly achievement is available online to the public for the first time, thanks to a new database developed by the Gallaudet Research Institute (GRI).

"Research and Scholarly Achievement at Gallaudet University" boasts full online access to approximately 190 research projects and more than 350 scholarly and creative achievements, including publications, presentations, exhibits, and performances by the University community. The database can be searched through a variety of categories, such as department, individual, priority, and other criteria to locate both prior and current projects. Because it is always evolving, the database will be frequently updated. Eventually, the database will be a chronological archive of summaries of research projects.

"'Research and Scholarly Achievement at Gallaudet University' not only provides better reporting on Gallaudet's contributions, it greatly expands the number of groups and individuals who will become aware of the burgeoning research efforts and other notable accomplishments the Gallaudet community has made in a wide variety of fields," said GRI Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist Charles Reilly. "These accomplishments are another step toward fulfilling the University's strategic goal to make Gallaudet an epicenter of research. In addition, current or prospective students will find the database helpful in learning more about the scholarly merits of Gallaudet's skilled faculty."

In addition to Dr. Reilly, GRI Research Associate Senda Benaissa and graduate student Leah Magnus shared the responsibility of compiling the data. Reilly said Kevin Cole, research applications programmer, spent many months designing the online database and multi-tier review approach. "A great deal of credit also goes to everyone on campus who responded to requests from the Provost's Office to send their achievements to GRI," Reilly added.

This marks the first time that the GRI has been able to report the University community's creative achievements to a broad audience, said Reilly. In the past, research projects undertaken during a given year by Gallaudet faculty and professional staff could only be found in the University's Annual Report of Achievements, a print publication to the U.S. Department of Education, required under the Education of the Deaf Act, covering Gallaudet's accomplishments of the previous fiscal year. While the report is a useful way to share information about the University with other groups, such as donors and foundations, the audience was limited.

To help ensure that all audiences are able to benefit from the information, the database has been developed entirely with Free Open Source Software, with a focus on international standards of openness and accessibility.