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EDUCATION Accents Le virtual t’s get By Briana Murrell You’re standing on the side of a country road. An 18-wheeler has turned over, its contents slowly seeping into the streets. Nearby are a group of cows plus a small farmhouse. All of a sudden, the cows begin to collapse, one by one. What do you do? Students in the Environmental and Occupational Management Program know exactly how to respond; this is what they train for in the virtual realm of the nation’s only Environmental Disaster Simulator at Methodist University. Methodist is a liberal arts college on the north side of Fayetteville with a campus spanning more than 600 acres. Undeveloped woodland and Cape Fear River frontage mingle with state-of-the-art buildings, numerous residence halls and an 18-hole golf course. With more than 70 majors and concentrations housed in five schools, Methodist prepares students for a variety of careers and educational pursuits. The Southeastern Center for Environmental Excellence (SECEE), founded in 2008, houses the Environmental Disaster Simulator and the Environmental and Occupational Management Program (ENM). Students seeking a Bachelor of Science in the program, as well as professionals in the field, use the simulator to get hands-on training in managing environmental disasters. Located in the New Science Building, the simulator is equipped with 27 surround- sound speakers, a plasma display screen and a vibrating floor. Run by six different computers, the simulator features three-dimensional video, a tracking system, a head- mounted display and data gloves. Slip on the oversized headgear and you’re thrust into a virtual world of chemical spills, poisoned water supplies and secret methamphetamine labs. One’s sense of sight, sound, touch and even smell are bombarded from all directions. “The best part about it is that you can do it over and over again until you get it right,” says Carla Raineri Padilla. A graduate of Methodist, Padilla is now director of the ENM program. She and her father, Sal Raineri, developed the idea for the simulator. It was presented to Congress and a grant was obtained to help build the center. The simulator’s programmer, Taylor Blackley, knows the machinery like the back of his hand. A graduate of the program, Blackley was hired to come back and run the device. “I deal with all the technology and programming,” he said. “It’s quite a job.” The virtual scenarios are created by Blackley, students and staff of the ENM program, and sent to WorldViz of Santa Barbara, Calif., for production. Since the center’s launch, more funds have been received and a minor studying clandestine drug laboratories has been added. The simulator now includes scenarios of virtual methamphetamine houses. “The head of the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) came (to the center) and helped design our meth lab program,” Padilla said. “He provided plenty of pictures of actual meth houses so we could get the scenario as close to the real thing as possible.” The Southeastern Center for Environmental Excellence is well on its way to producing students who will be well-equipped with tools like none other in the fields of environmental and occupational sciences. “Students in this program,” Padilla says, “are more than ready to tackle whatever disasters the environment may throw at them.” 64 | Accents • 2010 - 2011

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