Class weds learning, experience Thursday, January 31, 2002 By: by Shannon Dwyer Virginia Tech’s Virtual Corporation models a real-world corporation, where students from all academic fields come together to develop technologies that are highly sought after in the technology industry. “The focus of the class is to assimilate a real-world corporation, composed of all the layers you would typically find in a modern corporation,” said Kevin Alexander, president of the Personal Electric Rapid Transit System division of the Virtual Corporation and a senior computer engineering major. The corporation was founded by Leonard Ferrari, head of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Krishman Ramu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. It was first offered to students as a class in the fall semester of 1997. The Virtual Corporation was designed to combine many minds to solve a national problem. “Learning is a life-long process,” Ramu said. “We want (students) to know how to work together and how to appreciate others. There is a balance that has to be reached.” Students needs to know how to budget their time and recourses and how to manage themselves, he said. Virtual Corp. is comprised of two divisions, the Personal Electric Rapid Transit System and the Distributed Information Systems Corporation. “Both PERTS and DISC currently have technological designs in place that are being marketed to real technology investors,” Alexander said. In the past, he said, PERTS has been involved with developing a rapid transit system that is based on magnetic levitation and magnetic propulsion. Commuters that choose to use this form of transportation drive their cars onto pods that are magnetically levitated and propelled. The commuter informs the computer of their destination and the pod automatically navigates its way towards this destination at approximately 120 miles per hour, he said. This technology would allow commuters to do various tasks, such as resting, reading and catching up on personal work while driving to work. This technology would allow commuters the ability to travel freely with their car while other means of mass transportation, do not allow this freedom, he said. “This system has obvious benefits to commuter travel, but some particular points of interest are the reduction in pollution and safer, faster travel,” Alexander said. Another aspect of this technology is the ability it provides for commutes to go from point A to point B using mass transportation without having to change different forms of transportation mid-way through their journey, Ramu said. “When we went from horses and stagecoaches to cars, transportation still went door to door,” Ramu said. “That was the convenience we were used to. All of a sudden you ask them to take a bus or a train, so you have to go to the station and once (the train or bus) reaches its destination you have to get transportation to your workplace. How many forms of transportation are needed?” PERTS is working on a low -speed system to shuttle consumers between the Tyson’s Corner malls in Fairfax County. “At present, it is rather unsafe for pedestrians and motorists alike to go between the two large shopping centers making up Tyson’s Corner,” Alexander said. This system will propel vehicles, which look much like public busses, between the two malls. DISC is working on a project that will grant health providers with new ways to monitor their patients. The Personal Medical Monitor will check the vital signs of patients and send that information to a base unit. That will allow doctors to keep track of their patients without having to schedule appointments.