Adjouadi, Malek Barreto, Armando Pasztor, Ana Martinez, Maria Roig, Gustavo Florida International University (FIU)
Development of an Institutional Infrastructure with Special Focus on Human-Computer Interfaces and Information Processing
This award enables the establishment of a multidisciplinary educational infrastructure with key innovations in engineering that promote an environment with effective learning strategies based on bridging instructional activities with research facilities. The award drives an ambitious program that focuses on FIU's strengths in the areas of human-computer interface research to include those persons with disabilities; key aspects of information processing (image and signal), including real-time applications; hardware-software integration; distributed processing, and data structures. A supplemental instruction component is included to tackle head-on the failure rates in those SEM "high risk" courses (failure rates exceeding 30%), which are critical foundations for Computer Science and Engineering. Within the proposed infrastructure, a comprehensive pipeline is established to attract more students in engineering and to redress at FIU the national trend showing limited graduation rates in Computer Science and Engineering. The project also addresses the recruitment and retention of students from groups traditionally underrepresented in Computer Science and Engineering, namely women, Hispanics and African Americans. In addition to these educational enhancements, the impact of the project will be extended through expected research results in distributed processing, and image and signal processing, particularly in their application to human-computer interfaces for individuals with disabilities.
Through this effort, Florida International University is expected to develop further its computing science and engineering research capabilities involving minority students in greater numbers, paving the way for eventual conferring of more doctoral degrees, not only to Hispanic students, but also to African American, and disabled students. It is hoped that through these efforts, the nation might find a successful model that will help in building a better racially and ethnically balanced technological enterprise for the benefit of its present and future generations.
