Listen to a conversation between a student and a counselor.

Hi, I'm Tina Morley.

Oh, Tina. Yeah, good to meet you.

You told me on the phone that you're looking for a part-time position?

Yeah. My roommate works at the dining hall and she heard a part-time job might be opening up there for this new semester, so I was hoping...

There was one... but that got filled a couple days ago.

Oh no, really?

Thing is... I've gotta do something to pay for expenses.

And, well... I-I'm not afraid of hard work.

I guess not!

Y'see, I always have to check the class schedules of potential applicants... to make sure they're full-time students in good standing.

And... your schedule this past semester... I mean, everything from computer science to African history to zoology and physics...

How do you manage with such a heavy class load?

Pretty well, actually.

If I do get a job, of course, I may have to cut back to a more normal schedule, but... y'know, there are so many great subjects to learn about.

Ah, a generalist.

Yeah. It's gonna be hard for me to pick just one thing to specialize in.

Say, that gives me an idea.

Uh, you're pretty comfortable on a computer, right? with learning new software applications?

Sure, I'm pretty good at that. Why?

Well, last week I got a call from the folks over at the Visualization Project.

They want to add a couple part-timers to their staff.

The Visualization Project?

Yes. They help professors from all different departments turn information into something their students can see.

You know, instead of just writing on a blackboard, more and more professors want to project information onto a screen.

And... how do I say this... some professors are really good in their own subject areas, but when it comes to computers, well...

I get the picture.

So they use the Visualization Project to create... what... like, graphs of different sorts?

Right. Graphs of economic trends, for instance, or population growth.

And sometimes dynamic maps- maps that change on screen to show, for instance, how trade ebbed and flowed over the centuries along various routes between China and the Mediterranean.

Wow, that'd be interesting.

Yeah, and that's just what they do for classroom lectures...

A project staffer might also be asked to help professors put together some of their research data and model that visually.

They claim that putting their research in a map, for example, or a moving image, helps them see connections... new relationships in data on, say, animal migration patterns that they might miss if they're just looking at numbers on a piece of paper...

That's terrific.

Uh, what about working hours?

They're pretty flexible.

Staffers can go in to work day or night...

They just have to make sure it's all done by the time the professor needs it.

So, shall I give you the number to call to get in touch with these people?

Oh, would you?

To think I came in just hoping to get something in the dining hall!