{"id":36984,"date":"2012-05-24T14:56:38","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T18:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=36984"},"modified":"2020-09-24T11:19:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T15:19:25","slug":"ucf-researchers-in-nations-top-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-researchers-in-nations-top-ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ Researchers Make National List"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, the University of Michigan and the University of California San Diego also landed five awards. Only the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, University of Washington and Pennsylvania State University earned more grants.<\/p>\n
DURIP awards totaling $54.7 million will help 190 researchers at 100 academic institutions purchase state-of-the-art research equipment, which will benefit science education, medical training and the preparation of soldiers before heading to war.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the state cuts we have no state money for critical instrumentation for STEM research and education,\u201d said M.J. Soileau vice president for research and commercialization at Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½. The university has seen a loss of $145 million in state funding over the past five years. \u201cOur researchers are always tasked with competing for funding to pay for their research however this year we are especially pleased to have five faculty members who succeeded in competing with the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
The money coming to Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ will help an array of projects including a program that blends the physical and virtual world by incorporating avatars and robots to help train medical personnel and soldiers before they leave for dangerous missions.<\/p>\n
\u201cFunding programs like the DURIP are critical to keeping our research competitive,\u201d said Professor Gregory Welch, who joined Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½\u2019s Institute for Simulation & Training and College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a> last August.\u00a0 Welch also holds as an appointment at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n The funding will allow Welch and his team to greatly advance their work in the area of robotic physical-virtual-avatars. These creations are specially designed mannequins that have a projected real human face. A human operator in a remote location can see what the avatar sees in real time and can reproduce the human’s facial expressions and head movements.<\/p>\n Welch plans to create a \u201cSensorium system\u201d to explore aspects of the physical-virtual avatars. For example, in addition to being used in military, medical and rehabilitation training, the system could be used for teaching students advanced techniques in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Welch said.<\/p>\n Other Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ projects slated to receive funding:<\/p>\n A system for aligning and dispersing carbon nanotubes to allow for the creation of a new class of super-strong materials, led by Chengying Xu, assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.<\/p>\n Completion of a unique facility in the Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½\u2019s Townes Laser Institute that will allow a laser system to operate at record high power, led by Martin Richardson, Florida Photonics Center of Excellence trustee chair, professor in the College of Optics and Photonics<\/a> and director of the Townes Laser Institute.<\/p>\n