In This Issue

Research plays a major role in universities worldwide and is rightly perceived as the fuel of innovation and economic development, especially in high-tech areas such as Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering. Thus, in the last four years, UCF's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has secured more than $20 million in research awards from industry and federal and state governments.
   Erol Gelenbe, Director of SEECS, points out that research and scholarly work by the faculty and students of our school also contribute very significantly to education, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This transfer and interaction between research and education occurs in several ways:

1. Research allows our faculty to remain at the top of the profession and to provide courses that represent the absolute state-of-the-art in our rapidly changing field.
2. Research enables our undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience with advanced technology through a variety of programs, such as the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates.
3. Finally, it is through their research projects and experience that our alumni, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, can then contribute advanced methods and technologies to the IT industry in Central Florida and across the nation.