Faculty Highlights

Professor and department Chair Dr. Louis Chow is keeping things cool around the University of Central Florida. Chow is at the forefront of developing a revolutionary thermal management system for high-energy lasers and high-power electronics. Since both high-energy lasers and high-power electronics are notorious for generating an immense amount of waste heat, a critical problem occurs when ineffective thermal management leads to overheating and subsequent failure of these systems. Dr. Chow says, "The heat fluxes at many of the components can exceed several thousand watts per square centimeter, which is comparable to the heat flux at the surface of the Sun." With such high levels of waste heat, an effective thermal management system is vital for proper operation and long-term reliability of the systems. Dr. Chow's challenge has been to provide a compact and lightweight heat removal system that will keep these components near room temperature.

Dr. Chow has taken on the problems of high-energy laser and high-power electronic waste heat with his pioneering research into a technology known as spray evaporation. His research into this technique relies on the key principle that, since spray evaporation uses the least amount of coolant compared to all other known techniques, a lower coolant flow rate will result in lower pump power and subsequently a smaller fluid distribution and a lower overall mass. Dr. Chow explains the workings of spray evaporation: "The idea is to exploit the heat of vaporization where the droplets impinge directly on the heated surfaces. The outcome is that surfaces are maintained wet with the high velocity droplets where intense evaporation keeps the surfaces cool."

The advances Dr. Chow has made with his research in spray evaporation techniques means that everything from military electronics such as those contained in reconnaissance planes and amphibian vehicles, to business high-end supercomputers will reap the benefits. Chow's research and application of this new technology will impact both government and private industry, and his thermal management system will be imperative for the future of electric automobiles, which will require a compact and lightweight heat management approach. The importance of cooling high-power electronics will be a key issue in the future of these electric vehicles, and the effects of Dr. Chow's spray evaporation will be tremendous.

The recognition Dr. Chow has received for his groundbreaking research has resulted in over one hundred international and national journals. Along with this published acknowledgment comes a staggering three million dollars in funding from various private companies, as well as another four million from many government agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and NASA. The pay-offs for the successes of his thermal management research have been rewarding to Dr. Chow, who has been working on spray evaporation since 1984. Most of that research has been done right here at the University of Central Florida's Boiling and Phase Change Heat Transfer Laboratory, but there is still much to be done. Dr. Chow says of the direction in which his work is heading: "The demand for high flux cooling is increasing due to the deployment of more electrical weapons such as high-energy lasers. High flux cooling of high-power electronics is beginning to find more application in electrical vehicles and power machineries. The high flux thermal management area will continue to be a very active research area in the next 10-20 years." Working with a veritable fleet of dedicated post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students, and bringing great acclaim to the University of Central Florida, the future for Dr. Chow's research is unquestionably bright.

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Dr. Henry Daniell and his team of 15 graduate students have a simple yet complex mission: To save the world, and to do it economically.

Daniell is a University of Central Florida professor and Trustee Chair of molecular biology and microbiology. He also is a cofounder of Chlorogen Inc., the first UCF biotechnology company and the first company in which the university has equity.

Chlorogen uses a patented chloroplast technology to develop plant-made proteins and antibodies for use in producing drugs such as interferon and vaccines against such diseases as the plague, anthrax and hepatitis C. Largely using tobacco leaves, which Daniell has called "the fruit fly of plant research," the research team has developed a way of producing large quantities of affordable pharmaceutical proteins.

How affordable? According to Daniell, a four-month treatment for hepatitis C typically costs $26,000, a hardship for the 40 million Americans who lack insurance, along with the 800 million people worldwide infected with the disease, most of whom earn less than $1 a day, Daniell said. By contrast, treatment derived from chloroplast technology would cost about $100.

Among other innovations from Daniell's think tank are edible cholera vaccines grown within carrots, insect-resistant plants, high-energy crops that produce polymers, drought-resistant crops, and plants whose genes are coded to break down heavy concentrations of mercury.

The research has attracted the attention and support of the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to Daniell, "students are trained in every facet of life sciences" through their funded research positions, including gene cloning, recombinant DNA, vaccine development, working with plants and animal testing.

Brandy DeCosa, who graduated with a Master of Science in Molecular Biology and Microbiology, credits her work under Daniell with her success as a forensic technologist for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Fellow graduates have gotten positions with top biotechnology companies, research institutions and the NIH.

"The various molecular techniques and instrumentation that I studied in Dr. Daniell's lab are similar to what I perform or use now," DeCosa said. "Also, I did extensive public speaking in graduate school presenting my research, which allows me to present detailed data to fellow scientists or the general public. This exposure will be invaluable to me when I testify my forensic findings in court to a jury in the future."

With papers published in leading journals such as Science News, Nature Biotechnology and Scientific American, Daniell's students are not only gaining exposure for their groundbreaking research but also for their futures as researchers.

Andrew Devine, a master's student in molecular biology, is co-authoring with Daniell a chapter for a book titled Plastids, to be published in 2004. Having worked in collaboration with DuPont Chemical Co., Devine's work with chloroplast genetic engineering is leading him toward pursuing a Ph.D. at UCF.

"My experience in Dr. Daniell's lab has prepared me for not just work in the scientific field but also how to deal with everyday situations that everyone, at some time or another, must face," Devine said.

The job offers already are coming in for Oscar Ruiz, a Ph.D. candidate in biomolecular sciences. "I have to say that my mentor, Dr. Daniell, is very supportive and helpful, and that the environment in the laboratory is one of friendship and collaboration, which facilitates work in the lab," said Ruiz, who has conducted research in collaboration with Dow Agrosciences.

Ruiz's credits include a paper published in Plant Physiology, and a book chapter, written with his mentor, that focuses on methods in molecular biology. He is primary or secondary author of several other papers under review.

The success of Daniell's students results in additional notoriety and publicity in local and national media, including CNN.com, The New York Times and Central Florida Business. Such notoriety and publicity makes it easier to recruit topquality students for Daniell's lab.

"Knowing they are producing some of the top research in the country and are published in leading journals, they get the self-confidence that they can compete with students from Harvard and Yale," said Daniell.

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University of Central Florida researcher Peter Delfyett is shedding light on the telecommunications and semiconductor industries.

A partnership between UCF School of Optics/CREOL and the business community has resulted in a breakthrough in optical transmission: the world's fastest laser, breaking the 1 terra per second mark.

"Many times there are various technical solutions to problems. But the one that actually gets used and makes the company the most money is not the technology that works best, but the one that works as well as the others and is 10 times cheaper," asserts Delfyett.

Industry representatives echo Delfyett's confidence that his technology will bridge the gap between the capacity to transmit and receive data. "This accomplishment is a giant leap, not only for the field of phototonics but also in how it will impact the future of computing and information systems," says Jeff Saunders, president of Schwartz Electro-Optics in Orlando.

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It could be called "Survivor," and the money pot is comparable. Dr. Karen Dow's work, however, is infinitely more important than staying on the island. Dow, a professor in the School of Nursing, has garnered more than $1 million in research funds, making her a member of the coveted UCF Millionaires Club, for her research on women's health, primarily focusing on breast cancer patients. Her work provides support and information to women in their most difficult trials, as well as advancing the education of their caregivers.

Her graduate students work with her in "nearly every phase: data integrity, safety and monitoring, monthly research team meetings, suggestions," she said. Dow's research is web-based, providing information about fertility after breast cancer for young breast cancer survivors, as well as introducing innovative technologies in oncology nursing in a multiplicity of cultures.

Because the research addresses various disciplines, nursing, technology and statistical analysis, for example, Dow draws students from different disciplines. Leandro Barreiro, a master's student in Nursing, works with the Breast Cancer Quality of Life Study and WebONE.

The National Institutes of Health-funded study, according to Barreiro, "is a quasi-experimental study aimed at measuring the effects of educational interventions about cancer management provided by the research nurses on the quality of life of female breast cancer patients."

His work with the study has involved "inputting data into the statistical database and checking the data entered by others." For WebONE, an online continuing cancer education course for oncology nurses worldwide, Barreiro has translated Spanish discussion messages into English and has "analyzed the content of those discussion messages to look for trends," he said.

Besides helping Barreiro prepare a paper about his findings for submission in a cancer nursing journal, Barreiro credits Dow with "guiding me through the process of analytical research."

"The work I have done as a graduate assistant has helped me improve my research skills in the areas of data management, critical thinking, literature searches and technical writing for publication," Barreiro said.

A graduate research assistant working under Dow, Sreeramen Ramaswamysanthanam, is a master's student in Industrial Engineering. "I work on transforming data from hard copies into a statistically analyzable format," he said. "I load it onto statistical software packages and perform quality control on the data. Later, I provide the statistician with data for analysis."

Ramaswamysanthanam also monitors and analyzes the web oncology course, collecting information about its overall impact upon its international audience. "It helps us gain insight into cancer research and application of quality control techniques that I have learned during my graduate education at UCF," the engineering student said, adding that he expects to publish a couple of papers soon as a result of his research.

Dow looks at the human side of her work. "The significance of my research is that I am working in women's health research," Dow said. "My work stands out because it involves human research focusing on women's needs. I think, too, that I have been a voice for cancer survivors nationally, having provided testimony and research expertise on national panels."

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With U.S. forces engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq and increased instability in the world's political climate, technological and military preparedness have taken on increased importance in our nation's defense. UCF researcher Peter Hancock is using computer simulations to model battlefield stress and develop strategies to reduce wartime casualties.

With a $5 million grant from the Department of Defense, Hancock is studying ways to understand and overcome the effects of battlefield stress on decision-making. A Provost's Distinguished Research Professor in human factors research, Hancock conducts his studies through the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Simulation and Training.

Hancock's research focuses on a Catch-22 of modern warfare: The very technology designed to equip soldiers for more effective combat can also be a souce of stress. His project, Operating Performance Under Stress, is the first behavioral Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative that the U.S. Army has ever funded. Among Hancock's findings is that a soldier's spatio-temporal perception narrows under stress.

"Soldiers today are not facing traditional situations," Hancock said. "In the old days you could prepare for a basic mission. Modern soldiers are inundated with information. They operate in highly technical situations."

Soldiers today sport headsets with visors, carry miniature computers, and use global positioning systems. Hancock's team is studying how the technology can be more user-friendly and how it can aid, not detract from, the decision-making process. Identification Friend or Foe technology, for example, can recognize friendly forces and thus eliminate casualties from friendly fire. Eventually it may result in the development of weapons that will specifically target enemy forces. Hancock's team hopes to use its findings to develop visual display units to aid in training and, ultimately, a greater understanding of how technology can be used to save lives.

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Dr. Kien Hua is a very, very busy man. As a professor of Computer Science and Interim Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, it is a wonder that he has any time to conduct his own research work. The fact is, Hua thrives on his research, explores projects in a number of areas, including wireless communications, mobile computing, multimedia databases, multimedia communications, and sensor computing.

One standout project has been Dr. Hua's current efforts in developing Range Multicast. Since large-scale deployment of multimedia applications hinges on a cost-effective technique for video delivery on demand, a system that can reduce service costs and accommodate the differences that multiple users incur without exhausting system resources needed to be developed. Dr. Hua's ingenious solution to this twenty-first century conundrum has been in developing a new communication paradigm known as Range Multicast. Dr. Hua explains his method: "Unlike users of a conventional multicast who must share the same play point in a video at all time, users of Range Multicast can have a range of different play points. Thus, they can join the Range Multicast at their leisure without waiting. This is achieved without using any more server resources than in standard multicast." With Range Multicast, Dr. Hua's system enables the most productive and cost-effective large-scale deployment of video-on-demand applications such as digital libraries, distance learning, video catalogs for eCommerce, and both entertainment and news on demand. The benefits of Dr. Hua's research are far-reaching, and positively affect everyone from private companies to consumers, and scientists to students.

Dr. Hua's Range Multicast research endeavors have the potential to influence the entire video-on-demand technologies of today, and his techniques have been more than influential in shifting the established status quo. Thinking with an open mind and working with a flexible attitude are the cornerstones of any good research work, and Dr. Hua's success in helping an entire industry reach a new plateau is a testament to this kind of research methodology. His is deeply dedicated to assisting the local community and economy, and his advances have been beneficial in assisting area companies in cutting edge development work; Dr. Hua has helped local companies such as Oracle, ImageSoft, Fiserv, and Electronic Arts have all benefited from his research. The former Vice President of ImageSoft Technology said of Hua: "When we try to develop new, unique, and competitive advantages in the marketplace, we want to employ the latest in technology, and we know that Dr. Hua and his students will get the work done. They've succeeded over and over again for us." Many of the students that have assisted Dr. Hua have been his graduate and doctoral students, and Hua's reputation as a professor who includes rather than excludes has served these students well. Every one of Dr. Hua's Ph.D. candidates is currently a professor at a major institution—a fact that attests to Dr. Hua's dedication as an advisor and educator.

In order to aid Dr. Hua's continuing research efforts in serving both the University of Central Florida and local business technologies, over 2.3 million dollars in research funding has been awarded to him for various projects, primarily from the prestigious National Science Foundation. This funding has greatly influenced the success of Dr. Hua's Range Multicast project, which in 2001 began its initial stages in 2001 mainly out of the Data Systems Laboratory located in the Computer Science Building. All of Dr. Hua's hard work has paid off, as a video-on-demand system employing Range Multicast technology is in its final stages of implementation. Results have been more than promising and Dr. Hua says, "The main objective is to prove the feasibility of the Range Multicast approach and investigate its performance under realistic scenarios."

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UCF is proud to boast of its first commercially available product, the Gossamer Wind^TM ceiling fan, developed by Danny Parker of UCF's Solar Energy Center. The fans, which are aerodynamically designed, have blades modeled after aircraft propellers, and can move up to 40 percent more air than standard flat-blade models. This new blade design allows for a smaller fan motor, which not only reduces the ceiling fan's energy use by 50 percent, but also cuts noise and wobble. The Gossamer Wind^TM also features a fluorescent lamp that reduces both energy use and heat output, temperature-activated controls, and a motion sensor control, all of which have helped it become the first ceiling fan to earn the EPA's Energy Star designation for energy efficiency. The Gossamer Wind^TM is available at Home Depot stores nationwide under the Hampton Bay label.

UCF's Office of Technology Transfer assists the UCF community in the development of intellectual property assets, in turn licensing them to the commercial sector, which leads to a return on investment for the university. Technology Transfer, a division of the Office of Research (OOR), is UCF's clearinghouse for all patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets at the university. OOR also represents UCF in all matters of intellectual property management affecting relations with government, industry, and the public sector.

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In his fourteen years of service to the University of Central Florida Dr. Zhihua Qu has been bringing international attention and acclaim to the University and specifically to his department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Recognized on both national and international levels as a leader in his field, Dr. Qu is an invaluable asset to both the University and ECE.

Part of Dr. Qu's reputation as a forerunner within the Electrical Engineering arena comes from his success in research areas. Of primary focus has been Qu's interest in advanced controls and robotic systems. Dr. Issa Batarseh, a colleague of Dr. Qu's, and the current Interim Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering said, "As a researcher Dr. Qu has clearly demonstrated his superior intellect, and his research has led to many groundbreaking results, especially in the areas of nonlinear robust control, planning and control of autonomous robotic systems, and fault-tolerant controls." One of Qu's most current research endeavors has been his work developing an autonomous robotic system able to operate in uncertain environments for space missions. Operating mainly out of the Control Systems and Robotics Laboratory, Dr. Qu's project for NASA's Space Research Initiative began in late 2003 with the purpose of contributing to the areas of systems automation and robotic inspection that NASA has identified as "High Priority Technology" for their organization. The project has been funded with close to two hundred thousand dollars, however, this is a relatively small sum compared to the over 3.4 million dollars Qu has been awarded from various federal and state agencies, as well as private industry sources.

Dr. Qu's contributions to the University have extended beyond his significant research involvements. Qu served the University of Central Florida and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as the Director and Interim Chair of ECE from 1999 to 2003. As the departmental head, he worked diligently with school administration to recruit outstanding junior faculty and he also designed and implemented the school-wide policy of a reduced teaching load. The policy is designed to reward faculty with high achievements in research and funding. This initiative has helped UCF in its continuing mission of establishing the University as a landmark research institution. In working towards this goal Dr. Qu was able to facilitate the increase of external funding to the Electrical Engineering faculty by 58% during his tenure as Department Chair. Throughout all of his achievements Dr. Qu has maintained a normal teaching assignment and contributed to countless academic and professional societies and publications. In addition to over 100 articles in top robotics and controls journals Dr. Qu has published three books as a result of his research discoveries. Extending his duties and service to his field, Dr. Ou also serves as Associate Editor for Automatica and for International Journal of Robotics and Automation.

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Dr. Essam Radwan has been serving the University of Central Florida for over fourteen years in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), which sits under the umbrella of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. As both a full professor and the Executive Director for the Center for Advanced Transportation Systems Simulation (CATSS), Dr. Radwan has had a full plate since he started at UCF.

Having so many responsibilities has not kept Dr. Radwan from conducting his own outstanding research in the areas of traffic safety and operations. He primarily works within CATSS and the CEE on research that utilizes the art and science of computer simulation in order to model traffic movement on highways and streets. Part of working with the computer technology aspect of his research means that Dr. Radwan and his university associates have had to help develop simulation software and human-centered simulators that can aid in carrying out their tasks. These simulators are invaluable because they assist in researching efficient and safe techniques that help design roads and successfully manage traffic movement. These same simulators also help to license commercial vehicle drivers and train them to be safe and conscientious motorists. A natural extension of Dr. Radwan's highway and street traffic safety modeling has been his involvement in researching and developing models that provide an effective design for toll plaza facilities, as well as identifying operation and management problems within these facilities.

In order to encourage and continue his traffic and safety research, Dr. Radwan has received close to ten million dollars from the United States Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of Transportation. This funded research has been integral to both of these organizations as they try to combat our country's transportation problems. In addition to the driving simulators CATSS uses on a regular basis, Dr. Radwan and his ten research and graduate assistants have developed simulation software to evacuate transportation networks under emergency conditions, as well as animation and 3-D visualization software that demonstrates the utility and advantages to using traffic simulation software. Behind all of his hard work and exhausting research has been Dr. Radwan's sincere desire to educate and promote safe driving on the road in order to save countless lives.

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Simply put, Industrial Engineers make things work well, and Industrial Engineering and Management Systems professor Dr. Kay Stanney wants to do just that—for human beings. Her exceptional research in multi-modal computing is making such an ambitious directive like this possible.

As we advance into the 21st century and technology becomes more sophisticated, the strain on the human operator to process dense information quickly increases. The need for information interfaces that will allow human operators to process the optimal amount of data is pivotal if we expect to yield the greatest benefits from our expanding technological endeavors. Dr. Stanney's research in multi-modal computing explores ways in which different system designs can aid the human operator and produce optimal results. Since future systems are likely to convey information and data at ever-increasing rates, her research suggests that human interaction with these systems can be substantially enhanced by adopting a paradigm shift from current, primarily visual systems, to new systems that optimize the distribution of perceptual and cortical processing in order to utilize the totality of the human capacity to handle data. That utilization includes taking advantage of the multiple sensory abilities that humans possess. Dr. Stanney says that by expanding the number of sensory channels engaged, "such multi-modal systems have the potential to not only enhance the overall user experience, but also allow individuals with sensory losses to more fully engage and leverage information appliances."

What types of interactive systems has Dr. Stanney's research yielded? Working with several university and Institute for Simulation and Training (IST) colleagues and graduate assistants, including Dr. Clint Bowers, Mr. Brian Goldiez, and Dr. Jannick Rolland, as well as many others in her Synthetic Environment Research Group, Dr. Stanney's efforts have produced promising results in multi-modal interactions involving integrated visual displays, auditory displays supplemented with 3-D audio, olfactory displays, and haptic displays using special gloves and tactile vests. By tapping into all of the sensory capabilities of the human body, and not limiting processing to solely visual abilities, Dr. Stanney has been able to achieve a rich and more efficient multi-modal experience.

Dr. Stanney's new multi-modal systems will be particularly beneficial for supporting time-dependent, information-laden tasks such as those performed by air traffic controllers, command-and-control personnel, and emergency management respondents. Her theories and models also take advantage of a number of sensory channels, so individuals with visual-impairments, hearing impairments and tactile sensation loss, including the elderly, can participate with these new multi-modal systems more fully than they might using a more traditional visual system.

In her twelve years of research into human-computer interaction, Dr. Stanney's efforts have received recognition from a number of different sources. Primary to all of these is her assistance to the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and their attempts to realize Augmented Cognition, a program destined to revolutionize the way humans interact with computers. The theory behind the DARPA program is that by replacing electromechanical interaction devices like a joystick or mouse with electrophysical interaction devices such as electroencephalograms (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), subtle human physiological indicators could be used to direct human-computer interactions. Dr. Stanney's multi-modal research aids the Augmented Cognition program by devising theories to direct how best to coordinate between physiological sensing and interface presentation. In collaboration with her colleagues at UCF and IST, Dr. Stanney has been able to secure over two million dollars in research funding over the past two years from the Office of Naval Research to support such multi-modal research.

Throughout her work in human-computer interaction and more recently multi-modal computing research, Dr. Stanney has made immeasurable contributions to not only the field of Industrial Engineering, but also to the University as a whole. These efforts have recently been recognized by the bestowment of the UCF Trustee Chair distinction. She envisions making continued contributions to this expanding field for at least another.

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University of Central Florida professor Dianna Stone in the College of Business Administration would like business to facilitate the inclusion of outgroup members, especially members of different cultures, racial minorities, and people with disabilities.

"I have always been interested in the inclusion of outgroup members in organizations and the fair treatment of individuals in our society," Stone says. "As a result, I have studied stigmas and unfair discrimination in organizations—especially issues of race and disabilities—throughout my career."

Her tireless efforts in fairness issues have earned Stone countless accolades, including being named "One of the Top Ten Women in Orlando" in 2002. She also has received the coveted Lyman Porter Research Award.

The impact of Stone's research is being felt in management. "In particular, my work on the fair treatment of employees with disabilities has been used by a number of private sector organizations and human service agencies," the professor relates.

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UCF's emerging role as a research epicenter, particularly in technology, has acted as a magnet for students worldwide, attracting and equipping them for positions of significance in their fields.

Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Cynthia Young says of her research students, "They are the project. I just steer the ship." Young and her "crew" are developing mathematical models of atmospheric effects on laser beams, which would pave the way for laser communication and laser radar systems.

According to Young, the "real-world applications are laser communications systems and laser radar systems." The advantages of laser systems vs. conventional radio frequency systems are "higher data rates for communication purposes and secured channels for Department of Defense applications."

Doris Cowan, a Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics, is working with Young on a ground-to-international space station laser communication system. Her work, supported by a fellowship through the Florida Space Grant Consortium, focuses on statistical calculations.

"My focus will be on determining the average number of times that a laser signal will be below a specified acceptable level—when the signal will not be received," Cowan explained, "And, when it is below that level, how long does it stay down?"

Cowan, a former teaching assistant for Young, enjoys the closeness and accountability that result from being part of Young's research group. "Last summer we met once a week to discuss how each of our individual projects was advancing so that we could all share experiences. We work together well," she said.

Aaron Masino, whom Young calls "the lead in my office" in her naval research project, also applies statistics to laser systems, researching such variables as atmospheric-induced frequency fluctuations related to a laser radar target identification system.

"We develop models that describe various statistical quantities of a laser beam that is sent through the Earth's atmosphere, and we apply those models to applications such as laser radar and laser communications systems," said Masino, a Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics who called his experience with Young's group "excellent."

So far, Masino and his colleagues have published two conference proceedings papers and one international journal article, with two more international journal articles and two more conference papers in the works.

"I have had the opportunity to conduct research, publish papers in international journals, give presentations at professional conferences and assist in the management of a research team," Masino related. "Very few graduate students are afforded all of these opportunities."

The experience is priming Masino for a future as a faculty member at a research university. "By having the opportunity to conduct research on a large-scale project such as this, I am more marketable for such a position," he said.

Real-world applications partner with real-world experience to set UCF graduate students on a path to success. "They get experience working in a group setting, both as peers and with a mentor," Young said. "As the project progresses, they become more independent, which assists in their maturation as scientists and engineers."

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