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The sleek glass structure rising above the headquarters of JTM Concepts Inc. in downtown Rock Island brings a new dimension to a company that offers a new dimension in learning.

The 5,300-square-foot expansion at the company headquarters, 420 23rd St., represents a major milestone in the growth of the decade-old company whose enterprises range from publishing technical manuals to designing Web-based information systems.

The latest expansion will help the company keep pace with its latest venture, the creation of three-dimensional interactive visual simulations for schools and industry. Amid a soaring space awash with natural lighting, employees will design and assemble what the company calls its Classroom^3(R) or Classroom Cubed.

The addition also reflects the growth and momentum of the woman-owned JTM Concepts, which is certified by the Small Business Administration as a small disadvantaged business enterprise. The owner is Janet Masamoto, a Japanese-American who was interned with her family in a relocation camp during World War II.

She attributes the success of the woman- and minority-owned business to her 27 employees, eight of whom will be celebrating their 11th anniversaries with the company this fall. Employees include technical writers, illustrators, programmers, software engineers and others.

"We are growing and expanding," she said. "I have to be grateful to my employees. I always give them the credit for what happens to this business and for what they have done for me."

Indeed, JTM Concepts has come along way since Masamoto launched the business in October 1996 to supply technical publications through a contract with the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armament Command. In addition to its work with the government, the company produces technical manuals and other services for the transit industry.

The latest product is the Classroom^3(R), or Classroom Cubed, which more than 1,000 students in the Rock Island-Milan School District have used as a learning tool. The computers allow students to view demonstrations of such phenomenon as the workings of the human ear in 3-D. The teacher or student can manipulate the 3-D image in order to examine the ear and see how its parts function as sound enters.

"It brings objects to life," said Tracey Masamoto, Janet's daughter and the company's director.

Other customers include suppliers of buses, light rail vehicles, heavy rail vehicles and commuter trains. Last fall, JTM Concepts created the computer-generated images that were beamed onto a wall of water in the Mississippi River as part of a presentation to illustrate the building of the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi River. The "Ghost Bridge" was among the festivities of a community-wide celebration of the 150th