Vice President and Chief Information Officer Polley McClure and Associate Provost Barbara Nolan created the program to be faculty-directed and to solve faculty problems. A dozen TTI fellows are selected each year. Applicants submit a project proposal that outlines tangible strategies for achieving their objectives, which might involve creating a new course or improving an existing one. Fellows are provided support that is tailored to their specific needs. The package typically includes a mix of financial and technical support, funds for graduate student assistance, release time, and software and hardware.
Fellows gather monthly to discuss their projects, their aims, and their methods.
Chemistry professor Grisham applied to be a TTI fellow with a good sense of the computer programs he wanted to produce for his students. What he needed was help making his vision a reality. With TTI funds, he hired a programmer to create a library of three-dimensional models of molecules and various interactive programs that simulate chemical interactions. Using the interactive program , students drag one molecule to attach it to the appropriate site on another. Correct matches generate an animated sequence of the real-life reaction.