The students and faculty of the School of Engineering are involved in conducting research in many different areas of science and engineering. Projects include predicting landslides, developing efficient and cheap solar cooking equipment, and building robotic heads for object recognition and motion tracking. Research is funded by the school, the University, and by grants from the public and private sector.
Students participate in a weekly seminar and can receive financial support or course credit.
Equipped with two cameras and controlled by computer, the head provides a pair of images in stereo which can then be processed to determine the distance and shape of objects in the field of view. Most commercial mobile robots are expensive and therefore unavailable to small schools and universities. With the BRAK Project, complete plans and parts lists are made available to anyone with Web access, as well as software for the various components . Engineering Physics - Physics of Fracture Undergraduate students study the physics of fracture with Dr. Cindy Krysac. When and how a particular sample of a particular material breaks under an externally applied stress is strongly determined by the microscopic details of the material.