Tech student creates first White House web page

Courtesy of WPI News Service

William J. Mahoney of Newcomb, Md., a WPI junior majoring in mechanical engineering with aerospace interests, spent the summer in Washington, D.C., where he helped to design the internal Web pages for the Executive Office of the President. The pages are accessible through the White House home page.

The Information Systems Technology Group in the Office of Administration sponsored the project to upgrade Internet access within the Executive Office of the President by providing World Wide Web access to the Office of Administration.

Mahoney, who is designing the new Web pages as his Interactive Qualifying Project, worked under the direction of Frank Reeder, director of the Office of Administration, Mark Bartholomew of the Information Systems and Technology Group, and Peter Levin, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at WPI. Levin is a White House Fellow who is currently an assistant to William E. Curry, counselor to the President.

"The new Web pages will provide user clients with access to a wide range of government information, library services, EOP agency publications, records, and schedules for public tours of the White House and Old Executive Office Building," says Levin. "An enhanced set of these pages will also be implemented to aid in the internal communication and document management requirements of the Office of Administration. An assessment of the needs of the Office of Administration and the employees in the Executive Office of the President that depend upon the OA's information will be conducted to maximize the potential of the future pages."