UA College of Engineering Awarded NSF Grant for Internet-Accessible Laboratory Development

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama College of Engineering has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant for a research project involving the development of a new Internet-based laboratory that provides instructional material on embedded systems.

Embedded systems are found in many common electronic devices including consumer electronics (cell phones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, etc.), computer network equipment, home appliances, office automation, business automation, automobiles, industrial automation, medical equipment and military applications. By some estimates, embedded systems represent 95-98 percent of the total market share for computing equipment.

The grant, which totals nearly $200,000 for two years, provides a unique environment for student access to expensive, sophisticated equipment either remotely or in a hands-on laboratory setting. The new lab enhances the degree programs of students majoring in computer engineering, electrical engineering and computer science. Enabling students to receive high-tech experience on such equipment better prepares them for the work force.

“The research project was developed through multiple efforts to design a modern computer engineering curriculum focusing on embedded systems,” explains Dr. Jeff Jackson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and project director.

“This laboratory and associated embedded systems curriculum focus makes the electrical and computer engineering program at The University of Alabama both regionally unique and attractive to incoming students,” Jackson said. “We hope to attract the brightest students to this program and produce highly qualified engineers for industry and academia.”

Jackson works with Drs. Kenneth Ricks and William Stapleton, both assistant professors of electrical and computer engineering, on this project.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.