Dr. Robert Riggins (left) and Dr. Carolyn Browning (right) of Bluefield State College have been awarded grants by the BSC NASA Advisory Committee through the BSC Office of Institutional Development and Advancement to underwrite a pair of important research projects. Dr. Felica Wooten Blanks (second from left), President of the BSC Research and Development Corporation, and Dr. Shekhar Pradhan (third from left), Director of Sponsored Programs formally presented the awards during a brief ceremony at the College.

(BLUEFIELD)--Two grants presented by the Bluefield State College NASA Advisory Committee through the BSC Office of Institutional Development and Advancement will underwrite a pair of important research initiatives by College employees and students. Dr. Felica Wooten Blanks, President of the BSC Research and Development Corporation, presented the awards during a recent ceremony at the College.

A proposal submitted by Dr. Robert Riggins (Professor of Electrical Engineering Technology) was selected by the committee to receive a $3,000 NASA Faculty Research Enhancement Award to focus upon integrating sensors into a previously designed and created autonomous ground robotic vehicle. The work will involve designing, coding, and testing of a sensor integration algorithm that employs filtering, mapping, and learning for the autonomous robot, mimicking as closely as possible to human sensory behavior. "Vasilius," the robot designed by a team of BSC students, won two world championships at the international Intelligent Ground Robotic Vehicle competition in Oakland, MI earlier this year.

The NASA Faculty Research Enhancement Award will underwrite costs to present a professional paper on the "Vasilius" project before the "Journal of Robotic Systems" and advance the design refinement of the IGRV. "The goal is to integrate eight sensors to produce optimal estimates of where the robot was, where it is, and where it is going," Riggins stated. "Expansion of the sensory capability and integration of the robot will constitute a major step forward for this initiative."

The committee awarded a $1,000 NASA Research Capability Enhancement Mini-grant to Dr. Carolyn Browning. "It is truly an honor to have been selected to receive this grant," Browning noted. "Through this grant, faculty, counselors, and students from the Emerging Leaders Institute will be able to attend the 2003 "Science Day" (November 17, 2003) at the Oak Ridge (TN) National Laboratory." Attendees will observe "cutting edge" scientific research, learn how to apply for research opportunities, talk to top scientists about pressing scientific problems and how they can become involved in research to address those problems, and distribute copies of resumes, establishing career connections, she explained.

According to Dr. Shekhar Pradhan, Director of Sponsored Programs, this is the first of many such awards to be given to faculty and staff to build research initiatives at BSC.

November 4, 2003