Rainfall Simulator Featured at New UCF Stormwater Lab
Orlando, FL Dec. 7, 2007 -- Faculty, students and industry partners donned ponchos and got soaked Wednesday to demonstrate a large, outdoor rainfall simulator that is part of a new UCF Stormwater Management Academy lab.
The colorful simulator dumped the equivalent of 10 inches of rain an hour during the open house, where the Stormwater Management Academy also showed off green roof experiments, pervious pavements and other research designed to fulfill its mission of protecting the state's valuable natural resources.
Read more here.
New Master's Degrees in Digital Forensics, Technology and Applied Learning Approved
Orlando, FL Nov. 28, 2007 -- The UCF Board of Trustees on Thursday approved the creation of new master's degree programs in Digital Forensics, Technology and Applied Learning and Instruction.
The master's degree in Digital Forensics will prepare students to work in government or private forensics labs or as industry experts in digital evidence. The program will begin in spring 2008 with about 15 students in its first year. UCF hopes eventually to enroll about 125 students in the program.
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UCF Students' Self-Navigating Car to Compete in DARPA Urban Challenge
Orlando, FL Oct. 8, 2007 -- A self-navigating Subaru Outback that UCF engineers designed to adapt to traffic patterns, obstacles and driving conditions will compete next week in the national semifinals of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Urban Challenge.
Thirty-six teams from across the country will compete Oct. 26 to 31 at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif. The robotic vehicles must operate autonomously, without human intervention, and obey California traffic laws while performing maneuvers such as merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles and avoiding moving obstacles. The vehicles will have six hours to traverse a complex road system that will simulate a military supply mission.
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UCF Hires First National Academy of Engineering Scientist
Orlando, FL Sept. 7, 2007 -- The University of Central Florida has hired
its first National Academy of Engineering member, a distinction that
elevates the academic prestige of the university and may pave the way
for additional academy members on campus.
Marwan Simaan, the Bell of PA/Bell Atlantic engineering professor at
the University of Pittsburgh, will join UCF in the spring as the Florida
Chair and a distinguished professor of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science. He brings to the university extensive research
strengths in the areas of control and signal processing.
Read more here.
UCF Engineering and Computer Science Ranks Seventh In the Nation for Hispanic Students
Orlando, FL Sept. 5, 2007 -- For the third consecutive year, the University of Central Florida's College of Engineering and Computer Science has been ranked as one of the top colleges for graduate studies in engineering for Hispanic students by Hispanic Business magazine.
The college was ranked along with Purdue University and the University of California at Irvine, and it edged out Massachusetts Institute Technology for seventh position. The rankings are in this month's magazine available on newsstands on Sept. 1. The rankings are based on several factors: enrollment, faculty diversity, student services, recruiting, retention rate and reputation.
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CECS Graduate Receives Women's Resource Center Summit Award
Orlando, FL August 15, 2007 -- UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate Cristina Dos Santos has been chosen as one of this year's recipients of the Central Florida Women's Resource Center Summit Award. She will be recognized for her outstanding outreach efforts in mentoring young people to pursue further education in engineering and science. Along with Wendy Chioji, Jennie Joseph, Lucille O'Neal and Jan Stratton, Dos Santos will be honored at a gala event on October 2, 2007 at the Rosen Center Hotel, Orlando.
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UCF Researchers Studying How Virtual Reality Can Influence Fire Policies
Orlando, FL June 5, 2007 -- In a year when many Floridians have experienced first-hand the dangers
of raging wildfires, University of Central Florida researchers are preparing to study whether interactive, virtual reality
simulations of wildfires can make residents more willing to invest in preventing them.
The UCF research team is developing an interactive simulation of a wildfire spreading through Volusia County. Participants
will decide how much they want to invest in prescribed burns and insurance, and their decisions will be contrasted with those
who only receive written information about the danger of wildfires.
Read more here.
UCF COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE PROFESSOR WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Orlando, FL May 9, 2007 -- Yan Wang, an assistant professor in the
College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central
Florida, will create new modeling and simulation mechanisms for
nano-scale materials and systems with a $400,000 grant from the National
Science Foundation.
Nano-scale materials and systems will help engineers design products
with more desirable properties, such as vehicles that are lighter but
much stronger and miniature music players with batteries that have
extremely long lives. There also may be applications in medicine,
business and other fields.
Read more here.
UCF ENGINEERING, CHEMISTRY PROFESSORS INDUCTED INTO SPACE TECHNOLOGY HALL OF FAME
Orlando, FL May 7, 2007 -- University of Central Florida professors
Christian Clausen, Cherie Geiger and Debra Reinhart have been inducted
into the Space Technology Hall of Fame. Along with two NASA Kennedy
Space Center employees, they were honored for their development of
technology known as Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron, which reduces
groundwater contamination.
Clausen and Geiger are chemistry professors, and Reinhart is a
professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Since 1988, the Space Foundation, in cooperation with NASA, has
inducted into the Space Hall of Fame more than 40 technologies and
honored hundreds of organizations and individuals for their efforts.
Inductions recognize space technology innovators, increase public
awareness of the benefits of space technology and encourage further
innovation.
'This was the result of the efforts of a multi-disciplinary team,
where each brought particular skills and abilities to the team,' said
Reinhart, who is executive associate dean of the College of Engineering
and Computer Science. 'The product of our efforts will make a big
difference in how we are able to tackle some challenging environmental
problems imposed by contamination that is difficult to clean up.'
Read more here.
UCF RESEARCH TO MAKE SPYPLANES SMARTER, HELP PROTECT TROOPS
Orlando, FL March 9, 2007 -- University of Central Florida professors
Niels da Vitoria Lobo and Mubarak Shah earned a grant this week to
develop a way for small, unmanned spyplanes to "speak" to each other
to provide better intelligence to troops on battlefields.
The College of Engineering and Computer Science researchers will work
with unmanned aerial vehicles that the military uses to collect
intelligence on battlefields. In addition to allowing the planes to
communicate with each other, the programming will make the drones
smarter so that they can follow targets and hand off tracking to other
drones when the targets leave their area.
All this information would be beamed back to a laptop computer on the
ground in real-time 3-D images, giving decision-makers valuable and
timely information.
Read more here.
FLORIDA FIRST REGIONAL ROBOTICS COMPETITION INSPIRES EXCITEMENT IN ENGINEERING
Orlando, FL March 7, 2007 -- High school students from throughout Florida, seven other states and Puerto Rico will compete in the action-packed 2007 Florida FIRST Regional Robotics Competition at the University of Central Florida Arena on Friday, March 9, and Saturday, March 10. The competition will be held each day from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
Teams from Orlando, Melbourne and Kissimmee are among the Central Florida participants in the competition hosted by NASA Kennedy Space Center and the UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science. Fifty-one teams are scheduled to participate. In this year’s colorful game, “Rack and Roll,” students are designing and building robots that will place inflatable tubes on a three-level rack in the center of the playing surface.
Read more
here.
BUILDING HOVER CRAFT AND VIRTUAL REALITY PART OF GIRLS' SCIENCE DAY AT UCF
Orlando, FL March 2, 2007 -- About 250 Central Florida middle school
students will have a chance this month to create miniature hover crafts,
wear virtual reality helmets that will let them roam around a community
and see how rehabilitative robotics make the lives of people with
physical disabilities a little easier.
Sixth- to eighth-grade students will have a chance to enjoy those
activities and many more at an "Expanding Your Horizons" event at
the University of Central Florida on March 31. The College of
Engineering and Computer Science, with the help of several private
donors, is hosting the day aimed at getting girls interested in science
and math careers.
Read more here.
UCF COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE HOSTS LOCAL STUDENTS AT ENGINEERING COMPETITION
Orlando, FL February 28, 2007 -- More than 500 students from Orange, Seminole and Volusia county schools participated in hands-on engineering, science and math education events last week at a contest hosted by the University of Central Florida’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and several partners.
Elementary, middle and high school student teams at the SECME Regional Competition designed vehicles powered by mousetraps and solar panels, bridges that withstood pressure tests, containers that protected eggs and were dropped from three stories and water bottle rockets that were launched and evaluated for distance.
Read more
here.
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA ENGINEERING GRADUATE TO BECOME DIRECTOR OF KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
Orlando, FL December 6, 2006 -- The University of Central Florida
has been turning out successful graduates since its inception in 1968,
reaching the landmark goal of conferring its 100,000th diploma this
year. UCF is very proud and pleased to announce that one of its
graduates in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, Bill
Parsons, will become the new director of Kennedy Space Center effective January 2007.
"Bill Parson's success in helping to lead our nation's efforts in
space is yet another testament to the academic opportunity we provide
here at UCF in the College of Engineering and Computer Science," said
Dr. Neal Gallagher, Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer
Science. "We are very proud of all our UCF Engineering Alumnus, but
it's especially motivating to see our graduates truly reach for the
stars, as Bill Parsons has done."
Read more here.