"The modules provide students with the basic concepts and fundamental results in each field." says Guha. "The course has been successful and has given us confidence in the modular approach. And we hope to add two more courses in the next year as part of the project."    A special, week-long workshop, "Summer Workshop on Distributed Systems and Applications: Innovative Curriculum for Undergraduate Computer Science and Engineering Students," was developed also. "The workshop will provide concentrated seminars, an overview of the modules and their associated labs, as well as explain the Web-based course development environment at UCF," adds Guha.	"For this first year, the workshop is by invitation only, and faculty from minority institutions (HBCU/MI) were invited to attend. Our guests are from two Univ. of Puerto Rico campuses (Mayazuez and Arecibo), California State Univ.-San Bernadino, Univ. of Texas and Univ. of Houston. We also welcome Dr. Y. B. Reedy of Grambling State Univ., who is attending the workshop and will spend a few of months working with our CS department as part of the project's Visiting Faculty Program."    Bassiouni, Gelenbe and Guha intend to do the seminars again next year. UCF's Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL), Course Development and Web Services unit and the Office of Instructional Resources are also participating in this year's workshop.
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship: Optical Communications and Networking
Guifang Li, Associate Professor of Optics, Physics and ECE, and Mostafa Bassiouni, Professor of Computer Science, have earned $445,000 for the CS program from NSF for an Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program with a multidisciplinary research theme in optical communications and networking. Over the next five years, the program will train 30 Ph.D. students in a joint effort with 20 UCF scientists, engineers and educators from the departments/schools of Mathematics, Statistics, Optics, Physics, Material Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Education.    Research efforts will focus on four areas: advanced components, transport, switching and networking and network management. One goal for this graduate education and training program is to provide IGERT students with a research framework that crosses disciplines, is vertically integrated and is conducive to industrial involvement.    Both PIs hope to create a diversified team environment for learning and to offer an advising/mentoring structure that works with the research framework and the integrated education and training goals. IGERT students will benefit from new courses, developed by a companion NSF grant and the same PIs, covering the latest developments in optical networks.	States Bassiouni, "The project provides hands-on training on campus and in an industrial setting. It gives students a complete, non-technical training that incorporates interpersonal and business skills with ethics. Our team learning and team advising provide an innovative atmosphere that is enhanced by co-op in industry or government labs. Essentially, our goal is to produce 30 very well-trained Ph.D. students that will become leaders in their careers and will impact many other students who will benefit from the activities the IGERT program will bring."
Research Experience for Undergraduates in Computer Vision
Research Experience for Undergraduates in Computer Vision has operated successfully within UCF's Department of Computer Science since the inception of REU by NSF in 1987. In these 15 years, nearly 150 undergraduate students from institutions in and outside of Florida have participated in the program. And during the past three years, this grant has brought $202,000 in funding.    Focused on the opportune area of computer vision, the project is led by PI Mubarak Shah, Professor of Computer Science, and Co-PIs Niels J. da Vitoria Lobo, Associate Professor of Computer Science, and Takis Kasparis, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.	"The aim for the REU grant," says Shah, "is to encourage talented undergraduates into research careers." The project includes 10 students per year for five years. Each year, the students take part in a 10-week, full-time summer program, followed by part-time participation in the subsequent fall and spring terms. The year-long program includes five primary phases: (1) recruiting, (2) a short course, (3) research project selection, (4) coursework in CAP 5415 Computer Vision and (5) writing a technical report on the project.    Shah states there are several distinctive elements to the project. First, students gain a full calendar year of experience. Second, all participants are assigned a faculty advisor from his or her own school. Also, the project truly immerses students in a serious research environment, and they must meet real expectations in addition to the research. Students also have advisor and/or group research meetings, attend colloquia presentations and meet with visiting researchers.    Shah adds that the REU experience prepares undergraduates for the future. "To date, our REU participants have co-authored more than 50 research papers. Approximately half of the students have gone to graduate schools and five have written Honors in the Major Theses. Four participants are now faculty members at different universities, and another four REU students have started their own companies. All are a testimony to the benefits students receive from a program such as REU in computer vision."
Combined Research Curriculum Development: Machine Learning Advances for Engineering Education
The Combined Research-Curriculum Development (CRCD) program is another grant from NSF earned by SEECS. A joint project of the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), the CRCD program will bring $407,000 to SEECS.    The mission accepted by the PIs, Michael Georgiopoulos, Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Erol Gelenbe, is to integrate innovative and modern multidisciplinary projects into upper level undergraduate and introductory graduate curricula in engineering, computer and information science. Projects within the CRCD program address the need for ground-breaking courses, textbooks, instructional modules and instruction laboratories by bringing the research and educational interests of faculty into the classroom.    Explains Gelenbe, "The CRCD program works to connect faculty researchers with students in an innovative environment and curriculum where education and research are of equal value. We also want research and education to have the support of the academic administration and industry and to be complementary parts of an integrative engineering and science education enterprise."    Typically, NSF has always had a mission to invest in people, Gelenbe says. The foundation wants people to work on the development of a diverse, internationally competitive and globally-engaged work force of engineers, scientists and well-prepared citizens.	He adds that NSF uses ideas to provide a deep and broad foundation in science and engineering. And the foundation encourages the use of tools to give students access to a science and engineering infrastructure that is widely accessible and state of the art.    Gelenbe continues, "Our work with the CRCD project at UCF focuses on bringing many disciplines together with the latest technology to develop new courses and enhance our curriculum and the student experience. Our emphasis on critical thinking, intellectual growth and communication skills adds to the knowledge our students graduate with."
Autonomous Vehicle Design for Competition by Undergraduate Students
A visionary concept to combine advanced robotic simulation with both classroom and research experience has earned funding and contributed to a new course within SEECS. Students in UCF's Robotic Combat Club (Rc2) had strong interest in building a robot for competition. Members of Rc2 asked Fernando Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering, to work with them on a robot and to help them earn funding for a project.    Gonzalez wrote a proposal for the Autonomous Vehicle Design for Competition program, which was accepted by the Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) in support of the Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM). The proposal focused on two points: creating a new undergraduate robotics course and building an autonomous vehicle to exhibit innovative intelligent vehicle behaviors on a robotics platform at the STRICOM CFTDC.    Next, Gonzalez developed a new robotics curriculum. He and the club's members began to generate interest in the autonomous vehicle design course, which was held for the first time in the Spring 2002 semester. Roughly 35 students from various disciplines — Computer Science, Electrical, Computer and Mechanical Engineering in particular — registered for the class.    The course, EEL 4932, was divided into 12 phases with the end goal to have a vehicle ready for competition at the 10th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, held in Orlando in July 2002. Students were split into groups, and each unit focused on a primary aspect of the robot's design, technological components and/or construction.    As part of the curriculum, the groups worked within areas of specialty (i.e. CS students focused on high-level software while EE students concentrated on electrical circuits). And all groups had to communicate their progress and plans with the others.    "This is a very interdisciplinary project that provides real-life experience. This class and vehicle project gives students exposure to a lot of design elements plus the experience of building circuits and working with different types of hardware," explains Gonzalez. "Mechanical aspects of design were also addressed, and the course provided learning opportunities that are different from other classes offered."	The curriculum introduced undergraduate students to subjects including: robotic controls, including robotic kinematics, motion planning and dynamics, data acquisition from GPS and other sensors, video sensing, image capture, robotic vision and basic object recognition, electric motors, variable speed motor controllers, and artificial intelligence.     Gonzalez adds, "Four disciplines had to work together like in a real company, and the students had to handle other responsibilities found on the job, such as budgeting the funding, purchasing equipment, following purchasing procedures and time management. These are very realistic situations and students welcomed the experience, learned a tremendous amount and produced an excellent vehicle for competition."