Dr. John Kevern, SCE Assistant Professor and Dr. Jerry Richardson, SCE Associate Professor, both in the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department, recently had a new research project funded. Their proposal on the hydraulic design of permeable interlocking concrete pavers will be funded by the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI).
Will traffic lights exist? Will cars still have human drivers? These are some of the questions that Dr. Vijay Kumar will be addressing at the Centurion Monthly Task Force Meeting on Oct. 8. According to Dr. Kumar, “The idea of a driverless car is very exciting and such cars may come in about 15 to 20 years. More interesting is to provide a driverless option while keeping intact the fun of driving. Our love of cars does not want to lose the fun of driving. One of the main objectives is to improve traffic flow inside the city and do away with traffic lights to prepare the platform for driverless cars.” One of his current research projects uses sensors to automate traffic at intersections.
Dr. Kumar, Professor in the Computer Science Electrical Engineering Department at UMKC, proposed a new approach to sensor technology at an Air Force workshop in St. Louis. While at the workshop, the Air Force Research Lab in Rome, N.Y. took great interest and funded Dr. Kumar’s research project. Since then, he and his graduate assistant, Amol Khedkar, have explored the deployment of this technology. Their research is based around what he refers to as the “Self-Synchronization of Mobile Objects.” Kumar’s technology would communicate with surrounding vehicles and instruct the vehicles when to stop and when to go, without the interference of human drivers. For this technology to be effective, all the cars on the road must be equipped with this system. Kumar also suggests integration of an override system so that it can be switched off. Further advancement of the technology could begin regulating the speed of vehicles on the road, avoiding collision and eliminating wait time. Dr. Kumar and Khedkar’s research was recently featured in the U-News article, “Say ‘goodbye’ to traffic lights with driverless cars.”
The Centurions October Task Force meeting will focus on what Kansas City will look like in 20 years. The meeting will cover several different areas, including economic, demographic, environment and architecture planning, biotechnology, and Dr. Kumar’s presentation on driverless cars. The task force will explore critical measures and initiatives needed to continue growth and development in Kansas City.
Photo Courtesy Visionstyler Press – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution, Share-Alike License.
An interdisciplinary group of researchers, Dr. ZhiQiang Chen (Civil Engineering), Dr. Yugyung Lee (Computer Science), and their graduate students, Jianfei (Max) Chen (Electrical Engineering) and Feichen Shen (Computer Science), at the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering have developed a new approach for reporting damaged infrastructure: a smartphone-based application geared towards real-time damage quantification and collaborative decision making. According to the ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, the GPA for the infrastructure’s condition and performance is currently rated at a D+. In addition, the monetary investment needed to repair the infrastructure to maintain a functional state (that is, to get a grade of B) is $3.6 trillion by the year 2020. Such a tremendous investment demands a critical need – innovative and rapid technologies for civil infrastructure condition assessment. Different from a Google Street View application, the app seamlessly integrates mobile imaging, interactive analytics, and cloud computing, all processed in the real time.
SCE is always looking for ways to engage students and ensure that they are able to find jobs when they graduate. This fall, SCE will host eleven computing and engineering companies as part of the SCE Career Connections program. This program provides an opportunity for SCE students to interact with the companies and learn more about the career options they offer. In addition, on October 2nd, UMKC Career Services will be hosting a career fair featuring a number of STEM companies. In addition, local engineering companies will be holding on-campus interviews for potential employees.
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UMKC’s EyeVerify, a Kansas City startup developing biometric identification devices for mobile phones, was recently selected as a winner of two 2013 Silicon Prairie Awards. Out of the hundreds of nominees, only 12 received awards at the Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines, IA. EyeVerify received the Startup of the Year award, and Riddhiman Das, software developer for EyeVerify, received the Technologist of the Year award.
UMKC civil engineering students will be developing construction plans for a public park project this fall. The Civil Engineering Planning and Scheduling Class visited the construction site at the intersection of 8th and Main in Grandview, MO earlier this month. Eric Davis from Landworks Studio Architects gave a tour of the construction site and talked about different sequencing and staging details of the project. After the project is completed, 8th and Main will serve as the city’s entrance to the Farmers’ Market, as well as provide an urban pocket park for many planned community events. The class will work during this semester to generate an estimate and schedule for the construction project with the help of the City of Grandview Public Works Director Denise Randolph. The project is expected to be finished by December 2013.
Praveen Rao, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, was recognized by IBM for his work in the development of curriculum that will prepare a skilled workforce capable of tackling challenges in Big Data management. He is one of 14 professors world-wide that were selected by IBM Big Data and Analytics Faculty Awards for this award. According to the Wall Street Journal, IBM is working toward narrowing the Big Data Skills Gap By Partnering With More Than 1,000 Global Universities. The UMKC Today article, UMKC Professors Nets IBM Faculty Award, also has additional information.
It was a busy summer for mechanical engineering student Sierra Shipley and electrical computer engineering student William Leverette as they served on the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Regional Leadership Conference Planning Committee helping to the organize NSBE Regional Leadership Conference held here in Kansas City August 9 – 11, 2013. Along with their NSBE student chapter staff advisor Selena Albert, Sierra and William made sure the 100 NSBE student engineers who traveled from all over the Midwest to attend the conference walked away with a better understanding of what it means to be a leader. See the UMKC Today article, UMKC Hosts National Society of Black Engineers Leadership Conference, for more information.
Our new SCE students enjoyed a warm and informative welcome from SCE student organization leaders, faculty, staff and our student led Student Mentoring and Recruitment Team (SMART). Dean Kevin Truman welcomed the 100 new undergraduate students by providing recommendations for creating a vibrant campus experience. He encouraged them to be active, rather than passive, learners, and gave suggestions for a successful transition to UMKC. A scavenger hunt activity led students to find out about student organizations, SCE laboratories, departmental offices, computer labs, the student lounge and other locations. SCE Student Affairs staff coordinates this annual SCE event which follows UMKC Convocation. At the conclusion of Convocation, students walk to their respective academic homes to learn more about their School’s student organizationsand being involved within their discipline and School. Our Best Wishes for a Great Academic Year to all our new SCE students!
The Computer Science 4 High School Summer Camp, CS4HS@UMKC, was developed and taught by SCE faculty Yugi Lee and Cory Beard, along with Alexis Petri from the UMKC Institute for Human Development and Liz Tascio, UMKC English Department faculty. Participants learned how to write computer code to tell their own creative stories using Scratch, a programming language developed by MIT Media Lab. View the students’ project pictures now posted on the web. The UMKC SCE CS4HS camp was sponsored through the Google Computer Science for High School initiative. It was one of dozens held across the world and sponsored by Google. Continue reading
