OSWEGO — SUNY Oswego will spotlight its distinctive Global Laboratory initiative and its advances in science and technology education Monday morning (March 5) at the SUNY Central New York Showcase in Syracuse.

Scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Monday, the showcase will be free and open to the public. It will take place in the Comstock Ballroom of the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel and Conference Center, 801 University Ave.

Oswego’s president, Deborah F. Stanley, will welcome the public and introduce SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, who will discuss the “Power of SUNY” as represented by the eight Central New York colleges participating in the showcase.

The eight presidents of the represented SUNY institutions — Cayuga Community College, SUNY Cortland, Empire State College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Onondaga Community College, SUNY Oswego, Tompkins Cortland Community College and SUNY Upstate Medical University — will speak about their displays.

The 36 planned exhibits feature initiatives related to the six big ideas comprising the “Power of SUNY” strategic plan for the state’s public higher education system. The plan focuses on the university system’s role in improving global understanding, creating vibrant communities, building an energy-smart New York, promoting a healthier community, strengthening the education pipeline and encouraging entrepreneurism.

Oswego’s exhibits will focus on the college’s graduate program in human-computer interaction and new science facility. The human-computer interaction program trains students in creating virtual spaces and objects, with applications from gaming to archeology to law enforcement. Damian Schofield, director of the program, heads up Oswego’s forensics-oriented Global Laboratory partnership in Australia and has recently initiated related work with the college’s Global Laboratory partners in Brazil.

Human-computer interaction is one of over a dozen science-related degree programs at SUNY Oswego that will, in a couple of years, have a new home in the college’s $118 million Science and Engineering Innovation Corridor, now under construction. The facility will play a role in training scientists, engineers and mathematicians, as well as educators for schools from the elementary to doctoral level, and be a wellspring of scientific innovation and discovery long into the future.

Showcasing 64 campuses

The SUNY Central New York Showcase is one of 10 held around the state. In this, the third year of SUNY’s strategic plan, Chancellor Zimpher asked each of the 64 SUNY campuses to present a half-day of programming to the public that highlights their innovative endeavors to help build a stronger economy and a better future for all New Yorkers.

The SUNY Regional Showcases for the 64 SUNY campuses, grouped in the 10 regions corresponding to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils, began Oct. 5 on Long Island and will conclude May 1 in Buffalo for the Western New York Region.

For more information, see http://www.suny.edu/powerofsuny/showcases/