Road Rally. The student engineering team spent three years designing and building the high-performance hybrid electric car that beat 43 other vehicles. In 1998, NYIT opened its first international program in China. In 1999, Bill Gates spoke at NYIT and received NYIT's Presidential Medal. In 2002, NYIT installed the fastest broadband network on the East Coast. The 21st century In 2003, NYIT opened its Bahrain site to students seeking an American-style education in the Middle East. In 2005, NYIT participated in its first Solar Decathlon, an international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. NYIT was one of nineteen colleges internationally and the only school in the New York metropolitan area. The team, composed of students and faculty, captured fifth place honors. In 2007, NYIT co-hosted the International Energy Conference and Exhibition in Daegu, South Korea. In 2007 the university received $500,000 in federal funding to develop a "green print" initiative to research alternative fuel technology and determine its carbon footprint. In 2008, NYIT installed a 3-D motion capture lab for its Fine Arts program in Old Westbury. The system allows the university to use technology to teach the next generation of computer animators. In 2008 NYIT was awarded a $130,000 research contract by United Space Alliance to help NASA scientists design the crew module of the Orion spacecraft using 3-D motion capture technology. NYIT's College of Osteopathic Medicine also uses 3-D motion capture technology to help doctors better identify mobility and stability problems in patients with Parkinson's disease. In July 2008 NYIT sponsored the first annual International Water Conference at the United Nations in New York City. The event brought together representatives from non-governmental organizations, international corporations, and universities to discuss the need to safeguard the planet's water resources. In 2009 NYIT sponsored its second U.N. event, the International Energy Conference (Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 2009) to welcome energy secretaries, policy makers, and executives from multinational companies to examine opportunities and innovations in the field of sustainable technology. NYIT closed its campuses in Jordan and Bahrain in 2013 and 2014 respectively. NYIT had to close its campus in Bahrain because the Higher Education Council of Bahrain decided to come up with a new set of regulations, aiming to standardize all private universities in Bahrain. NYIT could not adapt to the changes like the other local universities in Bahrain, as all NYIT campuses around the world must follow the same