(BLUEFIELD)—A fifth scholarly paper prepared and submitted by Bluefield State College faculty members has been accepted for presentation at the 2007 American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition in Honolulu, Hawaii next summer. The conference brings together more than 2000 engineering educators, vendors, and publishers. Two of the papers describe collaborations with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation to VBI.

The paper, “Developing a Center for Applied Research and Technology (CART, Inc.) at Bluefield State College,” will be presented by Frank Hart (Dean/BSC School of Engineering Technology and Computer Science) and Bruce Mutter (Vice President/Operations, CART). ASEE proposal reviewers noted, “The Center for Applied Research and Technology could be a valuable resource for any state-of-the-art engineering program. This is definitely a unique way to teach and promote innovation and entrepreneurship.”

BSC faculty members Lionel Craddock (BSC Associate Professor, Computer Science), Dr. Martha Eborall (BSC Associate Professor, Biology), Dr. Lewis Foster (BSC Professor, Physics), Hart and Mutter collaborated with Daphne Rainey (Virginia Bioinformatics Institute Bioinformatics Scientist), Dr. Susan Faulkner (VBI Education & Outreach Officer), Dr. Stephen Cammer (VBI Senior Bioinformatics Scientist), Dr. Bruno Sobral (VBI Executive and Scientific Director), and Dr. Oswald Crasta (VBI CIG Co-Director/Computational Biology), and Betsy Tretola (Virginia Tech Associate Director/Research & Assessment, Teaching & Learning, Electronic Environments) to present “Developing a Multi-Disciplinary Online Cyber-Infrastructure Course Through Project-Centric Bioinformatic,. And “A Project-Centric Approach for Cyberinfrastructure in Bioinformatics.”

Roger Owensby (BSC Assistant Professor/Department Head, Mining Engineering Technology), Akhtar Safder (BSC Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Technology) and Mutter prepared “Development of a Web-Based Curriculum in Mining Engineering Technology” for presentation.

Robert Riggins (BSC Professor/Electrical Engineering Technology) and Mutter prepared a presentation for the “Impact of Intelligent Ground Robotic Vehicle Competition on Engineering and Computer Science Student Education.”

"We're excited by the opportunity to participate and present the results of the past year’s research along with VBI in the ASEE Conference," Mutter noted. "These presentations provide the platform for considering how the most current technology can be utilized in delivering technology-reliant education. The five papers approved for presentation represents the highest number of BSC-submitted papers ever accepted for an ASEE conference and exposition."

April 5, 2007

School of Arts & Sciences

School of Engineering Technology and Computer Science