| 1993-1994 Undergraduate Catalog Graduate Studies and Research Research Centers The University has a number of specialized research units that provide students the opportunity to conduct research in conjunction with faculty, professional staff, and industrial personnel. Brief descriptions of a sampling of the University's research centers are given below. CENTER FOR APPLIED SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IN REHABILITATION. Founded in 1988, and located at the Alfred I. duPont Institute, a nationally recognized pediatric hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, the Center conducts research in augmentative and alternative communication and rehabilitation robotics. This University Center and the Department of Applied Science and Engineering at the Alfred I. duPont Institute are administered by their respective institutions, but share a common staff and excellent research laboratories. A vast array of clinical services enhances the research environment for the more than 60 faculty members, medical personnel, research staff, graduate and undergraduate students, research fellows and administrative staff involved in the program. Graduate and undergraduate students from the University Departments of Computer and Information Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Linguistics participate in interdisciplinary research. Current projects are in the areas of natural language processing, speech synthesis, speech processing, sign language, systems development and evaluation, rehabilitation robotics, telemanipulation, virtual reality, upper extremity biomechanics and vestibular stimulation. For further information, call 651-6830. CENTER FOR COMPOSITE MATERIALS. Established in 1974 within the College of Engineering, the Center for Composite Materials (CCM) is internationally recognized as a top academic research center in composite materials. Sponsors include an industrial consortium, the Army Research Office, and other government agencies. The Center currently involves approximately 27 undergraduates who work with graduate students and faculty in research teams. The interdisciplinary center calls on the resources of the Departments of Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineering, the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the College of Business and Economics, and the Materials Science Program. Composite materials combine reinforcing materials with polymer, metal, or ceramic matrices to provide superior performance beyond that attainable with the individual constituents. The major challenge facing the academic sector in the composites field today is educating enough high-quality engineers and scientists to insure and sustain the technological edge vital to the global economy. Since 1980, CCM has offered an undergraduate research program that recruits students both directly by the Center and through the Honors Science and Engineering Scholars Program. A variety of mechanisms, including scholarships, fellowships, employment opportunities, and academic credit, are used to sponsor students' participation in research programs under the advisement of Center faculty and professional staff. The Center provides industrial sponsors with student resumes and encourages its undergraduates to gain relevant industrial experience during the summer between their junior and senior years. Senior Research Fellowships, offered by the Center on a competitive basis, require six credits of senior research, a research report, and an oral defense to a committee of faculty members. CCM students are also eligible to be selected for various awards, which are given annually to undergraduates for the quality of their research projects. CENTER FOR CATALYTIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. Since 1978, the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology has provided a comprehensive program of education and fundamental research in catalysis and chemical reaction engineering. Catalysis research is essential to the creation of new technology to meet the challenges of energy supply, economical manufacturing of high quality chemical and polymeric materials, and environmental protection. Center personnel number about 100 individuals including faculty from the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry and Biochemistry, adjunct faculty from industry, visiting scientists, professional staff, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate and undergraduate students. The Center has the best-equipped catalysis laboratory in the U.S. It is supported by industrial sponsors and the federal and state government. CENTER FOR MOLECULAR AND ENGINEERING THERMODYNAMICS. Established in the spring of 1992 as a research unit within the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Center for Molecular and Engineering Thermodynamics (CMET) serves as a focal point and stimulus for collaborative research, advancing experimental and theoretical research, encouraging the development of new educational materials, textbooks, monographs and both regular and short courses in all areas of thermodynamics, and maintaining state-of-the-art thermodynamics laboratories. Thermodynamics, which lies at the core of traditional chemical engineering practice, is also related to the purification of pharmaceuticals, bacteria and other biologic materials, to a wide range of environmental problems and to new separations technologies. Research at the Center is conducted by the faculty, their undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists and research professionals. Students are deeply involved in the Center research, which is being carried out with the support of industrial and governmental grants and contracts. For more information, call 831-4500. DELAWARE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) was established by an Act of the General Assembly in 1951 and is organized as a unit of the University. This arrangement reflects both the research orientation of the Survey and its dedication to the application of geologic information throughout the state. The Survey is charged with the systematic investigation of the geology, mineral, and water resources of Delaware and with the advisement of state and local agencies, municipalities, industries, and individuals concerning these matters. In fulfillment of this charge, it conducts a program of geologic research, exploration, and service. The Survey's staff, under the direction of the State Geologist, is appointed by the University. Survey programs are coordinated with related state and federal agencies. The Delaware Geological Survey serves as the state's cooperator with such federal units as the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Bureau of Mines, U.S. Minerals Management Service, and the Delaware River Master. Liaison and counsel are provided to other appropriate governmental and technical units through various appointments held by the State Geologist and other members of the scientific staff. Students may benefit from association with Survey geologists and their research projects. In addition, some of the geologists participate in teaching programs. The research results of the Delaware Geological Survey are published as Bulletins, Reports of Investigations, Geologic and Hydrologic Maps, Atlas and Miscellaneous Map Series, Special Publications, Open File Reports, and journal articles. Well records, Sample Library, and other data collections are additional resources available to the scientific community and the general public at the Delaware Geological Survey Building. For further information, contact the Survey or the DGS Earth Science Information Center at (302) 831-2833. INSTITUTE OF ENERGY CONVERSION. The Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC), established in 1973, is a laboratory devoted to research and development of thin-film photovoltaic cells. Fundamental material and device research is carried out in parallel with process engineering studies and analysis of film deposition processes. The Institute has a staff of some 25 professional and support personnel. This number is augmented each year by programs providing partial support for faculty, visiting scientists, and graduate and undergraduate students. Professionals from the Institute lecture in undergraduate courses as well as help supervise graduate and undergraduate students in research. BARTOL RESEARCH INSTITUTE. The Bartol Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization, moved to the University of Delaware in 1977 and established a joint graduate program with the Department of Physics. The Institute conducts research and provides instruction in graduate courses on cosmic rays, the interplanetary medium, planetary magnetic fields, high energy particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology, condensed matter physics, solar and stellar physics, and nuclear physics. There are currently (1993) 16 faculty and 17 Ph.D. research associates and post doctoral fellows at BRI. The Institute receives support from the endowment established by Mr. Henry Bartol, from the University of Delaware, and from grants and contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The BRI is the lead institute in the Delaware Space Grant College Program of the NASA. Dr. Norman Ness, President of the Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is the principal investigator on the NASA SGC. He is also the principal investigator of a magnetic field experiment on the twin Voyager spacecraft, which successfully completed its twelve-year tour of the four largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and is now outbound from the solar system toward interstellar space. Bartol operates experimental facilities in Antarctica at McMurdo and the South Pole in cosmic rays, helioseismology, air showers investigating very high energy elementary particle interactions, and infra-red astronomy. Also, balloon borne high altitude studies of primary cosmic radiation are conducted from northern Canada. The research budget in 1992 was over $3.5 million. OTHER RESEARCH CENTERS that are housed in colleges and departments throughout the University include: * Bureau of Economic Research * Center for Applied Coastal Research * Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research * Center for Archaeological Research * Center for Climatic Research * Center for Colloidal Science * Center for Counseling and Student Development * Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies * Center for Economic Education * Center for Energy and Urban Policy Research * Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering * Center for the Mathematics of Waves * Center for Remote Sensing * Center for Science and Culture * Center for the Study of Marine Policy * Delaware Public Administration Institute * Delaware Transportation Center * Disaster Research Center * Education-Related Centers * Financial Institution Research and Education Center (FIRE) * Orthopedic and Biomechanical Engineering Center (OBEC) * Water Resources Center | |
|
