VIRGINIA SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM AWARDS FUNDS TO BCET FACULTY

The Virginia Space Grant Consortium recently made three awards to Old Dominion faculty members through its Innovative Projects competition, and two of those awards went to Batten College of Engineering and Technology faculty.

Ravi Joshi, professor and eminent scholar of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded $10,000 to develop a new graduate course for engineering: Numerical Methods and Mathematical Model-Based Analyses for Engineering and the Physical Sciences.

Chung-Hao Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded $10,000 for his proposal, "Object Retrieval Using Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles."

The period of performance for all of the projects is now through December 31.

The VSGC invited proposals from its member institutions in four specific areas of interest to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education; foster academic pipeline retention; engage students in flight missions; and increase student interest in STEM studies and careers.

The areas of interest are:

• Support for student flight projects at the higher education level.
• Development of new STEM courses with strong NASA relevance at the higher education level.
• Professional development programs for middle school teachers.
• Support for initiatives at the freshman and sophomore college levels to encourage student retention in STEM fields with strong NASA relevance.

One of VSGC's goals is to recruit students from populations that are underrepresented in STEM, including women, underrepresented minorities and the disabled for careers in STEM, so outreach to these populations is encouraged. More information about VSGC can be found at http://www.vsgc.odu.edu/.