Mark Your Calendar

NASA UCF
Human Factors Symposium
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July 8

UCF Robotics Outreach Program- Battlebots IQ Robot Camp
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1st Annual Stormwater Symposium
October 12, 2004
Rosen Centre
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Fast Fact

More than one third of UCF's honor students are in the College of Engineering & Computer Science.

American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) 2003 Profile Says We Are Tops Nationwide

Top 8% in engineering bachelor's degrees awarded

Top 12% in engineering master's degrees awarded

Top 13% in engineering doctoral degrees awarded

Top 8% in engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to women

Top 3% in engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to hispanics

Harris Corporation/College Enter Into Major Research Development Agreement
by Wayne Weinberg

Melbourne based Harris Corporation, and the College of Engineering & Computer Science have approved a major Research Development Agreement. The agreement establishes a framework that facilitates collaboration between Harris and UCF to promote research and development in a variety of engineering fields. According to Dr. Neal Gallagher, College dean, "This research development partnership will advance faculty and student learning and help solve challenges that will result in new discoveries of great benefit to industry and society."

Hank Eyster, division vice president of Engineering, Harris Government Communications Systems Division (GCSD) believes, "This more formal agreement provides the vehicle for Harris to not only access the university's top engineering graduates, but also to leverage the institution's outstanding research capabilities into our markets."

Harris Corporation is an international communications technology company focused on providing assured communications™ products, systems and services for government and commercial customers.

College Debuts National Ads to Increase Women Enrollment
by Wayne Weinberg

The College will introduce two ads in U.S. News & World Report publications to help launch its position as the premier College for women in engineering and computer science. A half page color ad will appear in the national magazine's America's Best College's Guidebook on August 24. 600,000 copies of the guidebook will be available on major news stands and in book stores such as Barnes and Noble for one year throughout the country. A full page color ad will debut in the U.S. News & World Report special annual issue- America's Best College's on August 30th. The ad will be targeted to over two million readers in nine northeastern states.

Fighting Crime and Terrorism
by Wayne Weinberg

Two Central Florida congressmen Tom Feeney and Ric Keller will seek $1.7 million in federal grants to link law enforcement agencies around the country to a new data-sharing system developed by the College of Engineering & Computer Science and the College of Health and Public Affairs.

Criminal justice and computer science experts at UCF developed the system which connects computers at law enforcement agencies and enables them to share information about property, people and vehicles. By sharing data, the agencies can quickly identify patterns of criminal activity and significantly reduce the time they spend investigating crimes. About 60 local and state agencies in Florida already use the system.

Dr. Ron Eaglin, an associate professor and chair of Engineering Technology, used new software development tools to create a system that enables one agency to search the databases of many other agencies over a secure, dedicated network provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The structure of this system allows each agency to maintain control of its own data.

The White House has identified information sharing as one of the critical foundations for homeland security.

Watch Eng. III Grow Live
by Wayne Weinberg

Now you can watch live 24/7 the building of all 100,000 square feet Engineering III by visiting the ENGR III live webcam. The new home of the School of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is scheduled to be finished by mid 2005.

Engineering III Construction Site
Photo by: Marie Aguilar

Endowed Scholarships Aid Creation of Future Leaders

Miller Sellen Conner & Walsh, one of Florida's most respected community planning and civil engineering firms, has created an endowed scholarship at the University of Central Florida's College of Engineering and Computer Science. The scholarship will annually aid undergraduate students studying in the fields of civil engineering, environmental engineering or stormwater management. The endowment - created by a $15,000 donation from MSCW - will be used to support an outstanding engineering student each year.

MSCW principal Carol D. Conner, P.E., who serves on the Dean's Executive Council at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said the decision to create an endowed scholarship reflects MSCW's long-term commitment toward advancing professionalism in the civil engineering industry. "The MSCW scholarship will continue in perpetuity," Conner said. "We anticipate that someday this scholarship will prove to be a real difference in helping create professional engineers who will help create sustainable communities."

The Society for Information Management (SIM) Central Florida Chapter has made a gift of $25,000 to endow scholarships to support Information Technology and Computer Science students at the College. The endowment will be awarded annually to pay for tuition, textbooks or fees in that order. The SIM members raised the $25,000 endowment over the last 4 years. According to SIM President Rick Sickles, "We hope this is a start to an endowment that will grow for our UCF Information Technology and Computer Science Students graduates who will lead us in the future,” said Rick Sickles, SIM president. "One of our goals in SIM is to help create the next generation of IT leaders. This SIM UCF scholarship helps accomplish our goal."

Teachers Conduct Space Research This Summer at New UCF Institute
by Chad Binette

When 11 high school and middle school teachers return to their classrooms this fall, they'll be able to show their students what it's like to research rocket fuels, nanotechnology and cooling techniques for engines.

The teachers from six Central Florida counties are conducting space research for eight weeks with professors and graduate students from Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace Engineering. The teachers will then develop models, DVDs or other teaching tools they can use to share their research with their students. The Central Florida Space Science Institute is one of six Research Experiences for Teachers centers in the United States funded this year by the National Science Foundation. The foundation awarded UCF a $450,000 grant for three years to create and run the institute. MMAE professors Dr. R. Kumar (PI) and Dr. E. Petersen (co-PI) hope that by reaching out to teachers, they can inspire more students to study engineering in college and to become more aware of the many careers in the field.

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New Student Union Expansion Will Feature Green Roof
By Chad Binette

An environmentally friendly design could double the life of part of the roof on the Student Union expansion and cut energy costs by as much as 50 percent, engineering professor Dr. Martin Wanielista said. Plants such as bougainvillea and ficus will cover half of the expansion’s 3,200-square-foot roof when it is finished next year. The other half will not have plants so researchers can determine how the “green roof” section affects energy consumption and storm-water runoff, said Wanielista, who is the director of the UCF Stormwater Management Academy.

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Turning Young Women on to Engineering & Computer Science
by Jennifer McDaniel

Expanding Your Horizons attendees in the Harris Corporation Partnership Atrium in Eng. II

More than 200 4th to 9th grade young women from around the state attended the "Expanding Your Horizons" conference at the College. The conference goals were to increase an interest in engineering, sciences and mathematics by providing fun hands-on learning experiences, fostering awareness of career opportunities, and providing students with an opportunity to meet and form personal contacts with positive women role models.


The conference offered over 15 hands-on workshops taught by professional technical women from both academia and industry. There were over 70 parents, teachers and Girl Scout leaders in attendance.


The conference was coordinated by Women's Program Interim Director Jennifer McDaniel and the EYH Planning team - members from the professional Society of Women Engineers, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SMP Electronics, Imagine Solutions, Siemens, SMP Electronics, and Walt Disney Company.

NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Bill Parsons, who received his Masters in Engineering Management at UCF, returned to campus to deliver the spring commencement speech to nearly five thousand people at the UCF Arena. Parsons captivated the audience with stories and humor to communicate the importance of character.

Staff Kudos
by Wayne Weinberg

The College is fighting heart disease and stroke by participating in the American Heart Association's annual Heart Walk in Orlando. Director of Academic Support Services Mellisa Falls is the College's team captain. The Heart Association's goal is to raise $600,000 at the September 18th Walk.

Computer Science

The Office of Naval Research has awarded Drs. Charles Hughes, Hassan Foroosh, Michael Moshell, Sumanta Pattanaik, and Stapleton a $351,000 grant.

Dr. Mark Heinrich is the recipient of the highly competitive 2004 IBM Faculty Award for the quality of his research and its importance.

Dr. Ali Orooji has been elected president of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the International Honor Society for computing and information disciplines.

Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Department

Dr. Vimal Desai has been selected as one of the five scientists in the world for the American Society of Materials Indian Institute of Metals Visiting Lecturer Program. Dr. Desai lectures will be given at several locations in India and ASM India Chapters.

Dr. Alain Kassab has delivered three lectures at the Inverse Design and Optimization Symposium, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Department chair, Dr. Ranganathan Kumar has been invited to lecture at Hanyang University in Korea to develop collaboration in research and education between Hanyang and UCF.

Dr. Sudipta Seal visited NIMS-Japan on a JSPS Visiting Fellow Scholarship; He was invited by University Grant Commission, Hong Kong Governmentt as a USA as part of a team of nanotech experts. He also received the ASM IIM lecturer award from ASM International.

What a Knight to Remember!

Photo by: Jennifer McDaniel

What a "Diverse", "Talented" and "Dedicated" set of students in the College of Engineering & Computer Science. This spring the Society of Women Engineers hosted the 1st ever multicultural fashion show, ethnic food celebration, cultural dancing and "Ancient engineering" presentation!

Battle of the Bands

Bands performing in front of ENGR II

The College has held its First Annual Battle of the Engineering and Computer Science Bands. Really! Six bands performed a forty minute set of mostly original music. Every band participating contained at least one engineering or computer science major from various departments of the College. A goal of the event was to promote the creative engineer. More than 350 students, faculty and staff attended. Free food was provided thanks to event sponsors the Dean's Student Advisory Council and the Mechanical Engineering Honor Society (Pi Tau Sigma).

Civil & Environmental Engineering

The ASCE Student Chapter has been selected to host the 2005 ASCE Student Steel Bridge competition. This event attracts student clubs from all over the nation to participate in basic steel design and fabrication, project scheduling and management, and hands-on experiments looking at the strength and versatility of structural steel.

The Civil and Environmental Engineering student design team has taken first prize at the Florida Water Environmental Association beating two University of Florida teams, FAU, and the University of Miami. Student members, Jeff Flairty, Boyd Jenkins, Jesus Garcia, Susan Ehring, and Teri Carson have earned a chance to go to nationals in New Orleans in October.

Computer Science

Dr. Jamal Nayfeh and Barry Kudrowitz Photo by: Marie Aguilar

The 2004 Founders' Scholar Award in the College of Engineering and Computer Science goes to mechanical engineering major Barry M. Kudrowitz. As an undergraduate student, Barry earned a cumulative 4.0 GPA. He will be pursuing his doctorate in mechanical engineering this fall. Barry served as president of Pi Tau Sigma, the mechanical engineering honors society. He is the recipient of the "Order of Pegasus of 2004", UCF's highest student award. In his "spare time" he organized Battle of the Bands.

Industrial Engineering & Management Systems
Industrial Engineering students captured third place in the Service Learning Showcase for the engineering design work they did to benefit the Orange County School District.

Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace Engineering

Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace student Dr. Wendy Li, a graduate from Dr. Seal's group will be starting her prestigious National Research Council post doctoral Fellowship at NASA.

Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace/Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC) Ph. D. student Jing Liu, has been awarded the Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship. This Fellowship has been internationally over 53 countries since 1938. Along with the prestige, Jing will receive a stipend support for $6,000 per year.

Mr. Balaji Jayaraj, a Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace AMPAC graduate student is the proud recipient of the UCF's "Most Outstanding Thesis." His thesis is entitled "Non-Destructive Evaluation of Thermal Barrier Coatings using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy." Dr's. Yongho Sohn and Vimal H. Desai served as advisers.

Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace Engineering/AMPAC undergraduate student Andrew Warren won first prize for his poster "Electron Microscopy of Melt Spun Ribbon" at the America Vacuum Society-FSM 2004 Joint Symposium in Orlando.

Engineering/AMPAC student Ravi Todi won first prize Student Poster for "Investigations of SiCN Thin Films" at the 205th International Conference of the Electrochemical Society in San Antonio, Texas.

Joel Hall won first place in the Undergraduate Technical Paper entitled, "Evaluation of Several Detailed Kinetics Mechanisms for the High Temperature Oxidation of C2Hx Fuels". He will be representing the Southeast in the national competition to be held at the annual AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Reno this January.

From a very grateful college we thank our valued contributors for their gifts from April 4 to May 29, 2004.


(Annual Gifts of $10,000 to $999,000)
Lockheed Martin Corporation Matching Gift Program
Society for Information Management
The Xerox Foundation Central Florida Chapter
Welbro Building Corporation
Wharton-Smith Construction Group, Inc.

(Annual Gifts of $100 to $9,999)
Adaptec, Inc.; Monica Brooks; Joann M. Browning; John C. Callander; CDM; James Christopher; Dolores Cross; Duanne D'Allessandro; Clarence J. Elkins; Kenneth P. Evans; Gerald John Feller; Krista Gates; Ron Grapevine; Jesse Harris; William Haygood; Kevin Hoshstrasser; Anna Marie Kent & Mr. Joseph Kinsley; Jai Kundu; Neel Long; Steven W. Mc.Gee; David and Dena Morrissey; Thomas J. Murray; Janis Olson; Hugh Owens; Tony Ponko; JoAnne N. Puglisi; Sven Rodenbeck; Christian Sadowski; Anne and Bob Shelby; John Simpson; George E. Smith; J. Douglas Smith; William Tonnies; Ricky Vescovacci; Christopher Wall; Marty and Betty Wanielista; Arthur G. Wilson; Wil Wilson; Mark and Karen Yerkes