You know mild-mannered, Drexel professor Eric Zempol as the guy who teaches Graphic Design to legions of eager students each semester. You may not know that Eric's superhero alter-ego, meanwhile, is out saving lives by helping to train tens of thousands of emergency responders monthly how to manage emergency incidents. And now he needs your help.
Eric helped to develop the CommandSim Strategy and Tactics Simulation System, a virtual, web-based environment in which responders can practice command, strategy, tactics, and communication safely and efficiently.
This year, Eric's CommandSim platform is one of four projects—and the only one based in Philadelphia—vying for a prestigious Adobe MAX 2009 award, which recognizes the most outstanding contributions to the Public Sector.
The award was determined by PUBLIC VOTE, between Monday, September 28, and Tuesday, October 6, 2009. It was presented to Jon Kaye, my business partner who was present at the award ceremony in Los Angeles on October 6th (by Mark Hamill at the place where they hold the Academy Awards-- swank!)
MANY, MANY thanks to everyone who took the time to vote!!
http://max.adobe.com/awards/finalists/
WHO IS ADOBE?
Adobe is the company who releases a wide variety of software applications that we use on a daily basis, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc... all the way down to Adobe Acrobat (PDF's).
The award ceremony will be in LA (Jon's going) on October 7th, at the same place where they hold the Academy Award ceremony.
CommandSim has a distinguished list of more than 60 customers in the US and Canada, primarily in the industrial and municipal Fire Service, such as the State Fire Academies of Utah, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Quebec, as well as Orange County Fire Rescue (Florida), Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the Las Vegas Fire Department, Valero, Duke Energy, General Electric, and the United States Air Force. Furthermore, through Fire Engineering.com, the most prestigious training source in the Fire Service, CommandSim simulations are used by over 30,000 responders each month.
