In This Issue

SEECS Annual Activity Report:
Highlights from May 2001 to May 2002
By Erol Gelenbe, SEECS Director
SEECS Activity Report: Annual Review from May 2001 to May 2002

It is a pleasure to offer this annual report on the activities of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The past year of May 2001 to May 2002 was one of growth and accomplishments for SEECS. Our activities and achievements, summarized here, are best illustrated when show in correlation to the University of Central Florida's Five Goals:

1. Offer the Best Undergraduate Education in Florida
Of particular note during this year was the May 2002 graduation of SEECS's first group of undergraduates with a bachelor's degree in Information Technology. Also, our students received numerous awards, scholarships and honors this year for individual as well as group accomplishments.
    Last fall, the UCF Programming Team, advised by Ali Orooji, Computer Science Associate Professor, was successful again in the Southeast Regional Programming Contest, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). UCF teams finished first, fourth, seventh, 15th and 17th in the regionals. In March, the first-place team competed in the ACM's International Collegiate Programming Contest Finals. The team finished fifth in the United States and 27th in the world. Our undergraduates were distinguished in national TopCoder programming competitions as well.
    A group of undergraduate and graduate Electrical Engineering students, advised by Dr. Issa Batarseh, received third place in the prestigious Future Energy Challenge Award for "Best Engineering Design." Other recipients of the award, given by the Department of Energy, included Texas A&M (first place), Virginia Tech (second place) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (fourth place).
    We are pleased that SEECS remains the largest recipient of National Merit Scholars and Finalists at UCF. Of our scholars, the majority are majoring in Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
    Our undergraduate education is greatly enhanced by continued participation in the successful NSF-funded project "Research Experience for Undergraduates in Computer Vision," led by Mubarak Shah, Computer Science Professor, and Niels da Vitoria Lobo, Computer Science Associate Professor. The REU project's aim is to encourage talented undergraduates into research careers. Shah and Lobo also organized a workshop in Orlando for all PIs in the REU program.
    In support of our efforts to continue providing the best education possible, we actively recruited new faculty members in the Fall and Spring semesters. We are pleased with the outcome of our search, which attracted three new tenure-track faculty members in Computer Engineering and three faculty, also on tenure track, in Computer Science.

continued on this page
Industry Alliance Profile: Computer Science Team Collaborates with ImageSoft Technologies
 

seecs network - issue 4 - fall 2002
For information or to submit story ideas contact Michelle Berberet, Information Specialist, at (407) 823-2750 or email: michelle@cs.ucf.edu

SEECS Network is a publication of the
Director's Office of the School of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science at UCF:
PO Box 162362 * Orlando, FL 32816-2362
Phone: (407) 823-2341 * Fax: (407) 823-5419
©2002 www.seecs.ucf.edu