In a cooperative effort between the National Solar Observatory at Sunspot, New Mexico, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), junior and senior electrical and computer engineering students spend the summers working on design projects at UTEP and at the observatory. At present, observatory personnel do not have the time or resources to retrofit or redesign existing equipment that, although marginal, functions at an acceptable level. This opens the door for many student design projects aimed at optimizing existing equipment. These projects include the design of a seeing monitor for observing solar phenomena and a CCD camera interface.
