Summer and Fall 2015: Topics for Directed Independent Study (Graduate and Undergraduate level) and MS Thesis Topics
Please contact: Dr. Shankar, , (561) 297-3470
I apply engineering concepts in embedded systems, semantic web, data analytics, smart phones, and instrumentation to the research areas of education, healthcare, and robotics.
You can find more about our work at the following sites: , , , , and . We also have several Github sites: , , , , and .
If any of these interests you, register for 3 credits of DIS (directed independent study) which counts as a technical elective, or for 6 credits of research for MS thesis with me, and work on the topic for one to two semesters. Some students have started with DIS credits and proceeded to continue with MS/PhD on that topic.
Topic #1: Biomedical Signal Processing with TI’s DSP Board
Focus: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Level: UG (EEL4905) / G (EEL 6905) - 3 credits/semester/student
Prerequisites: One or more of: Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Instrumentation, and Python.
Description: TI provides a DSP board that works with Code Composer Studio IDE (integrated development environment). One can plug in the board via a protocol emulator (on the board) to USB input of a PC, so the IDE can be used to develop and debug C/Python/Matlab code. The student will help develop a course around their TMS DSP board and the books for a biomedical lab. This hands-on experience will help with jobs and advances in the medical field. Three EE students (Felipe Carvalho, KhrystsinaNavumenka, and Jonathan Solano ) have worked on the project so far. More info is available at: . They are currently using the TI board in acquiring and processing the ECG signal. A second paper will be submitted by Khrystsina and Jonathan to ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) in fall ‘15. You are welcome if you are interested. More information at .
References: “Real-Time Digital Signal Processing from MATLAB® to C with the TMS320C6x DSPs,” Second Edition, by Welch, Wright and Morrow; and “Biomedical Digital Signal Processing” by Willis Tompkins.
Number of DIS Students: Two students. Duration: One or two semesters
Topic #2: Robotic Platform for Math Education and Multiplayer Games
Focus: Computer Engineering,Computer Science, and/or Electrical Engineering
Level: UG (COT4900, EEL 4905) / G (COT 6905, COT 6900, EEL 6905)
Prerequisites: Course on robotics/mechatronics/microcontrollers
Description: Low cost robots have been built in courses at FAU using Arduino boards and open source software. These robots are used in math education at the high school level, where students draw geometric art on a 6’ x 6’ canvas. Interested students will use modular approaches for building software using Python, a high level (easy-to-use) language, for drawing geometric primitives (arcs, lines, and angles), and use them to build more complicated shapes (circles, polygons and fractals). The UI (user interface) on the PC needs to capture raw data on speed, distance, direction, angle, and time - and use them to compute Physics and math variables of interest. The following students have contributed/are contributing to the topic: Jean Lapaix, Senior in BSEE, used PID algorithms to improve robot’s precision. MalissaAugustin is developing math lessons with this robot for her MSCE thesis. Santiago Aguerrevere is optimizing QOS (quality of service) metrics for this robot for his MSCE thesis. Students are welcome to work with them and/or address other topics such as building multiplayer games with autonomous robots that will interlink Android smart phones via Raspberry Pi relay centers to robots. More information at: , and . . This last site documents work from a course on embedded robotics offered during spring ’15. A second paper was recentlyaccepted for presentationby ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education).
References:
Number of DIS Students: Two students. Duration: One or two semesters
Collaborators from other fields: Dr. Don Ploger, Math Education, Education, Agnes Nemeth, Math teacher at Henderson School, FAU, and Jessica Swanson, Magnet Program coordinator, Dillard High, Broward County.
Collaborating Institution: Broward county school system
Topic #3: Smart Web Technologiesfor Education, the Society, and Health Care.
Focus: Computer Science and Computer Engineering
Level: Graduate (COT 6905, COT 6900)
Prerequisites: Python/Java
Description: Smart web combines both the top-down perspective of the semantic web and the bottom-up perspective of data analytics. A middle-out approach, such as this, results in targeted, quick and efficient decision making with the most relevant data. This approach is also seamlessly expandable to include multiple perspectives (as with socio-technical systems) and scalable to include information from multiple sources (as with integration across geographic regions). The federal government recently mandated that all their public data be semantic web compliant. We have developed an infrastructure at FAU under which professors and students from multiple disciplines in various colleges at FAU are working together to build such truly multidisciplinary databases, case studies, and smart phone Apps.
Kris Donate, MSCS, recently built a semantic search engine for seeking urban planning information. ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) has accepted this for presentation in June 2015. Newman Souza, MSCE, updated the popular tutorial for use of Stanford University’s Protege tool for use with OWL 2, the standard web ontology language. Sifat Islam and Melissa Serrano are, respectively, conducting PhD and MS research on empowerment apps for middle school students. The intent here is to gauge and increase STEM interest in these students. Iris Minor, a middle school teacher, started her PhD in Education to collaborate with us to apply the technology developed to help middle school students. See and for our work on empowerment. Graduate students aggregated federal government and social web data using Python for exploring social, demographic and environmental trends. See . See also for API information on popular social sites. More students are needed, to develop similar systems for social, health, and education applications.
References: Semantic Web Programming by Hebeler et al., and Social Web Mining by Russell.
Number of DIS Students: Four students.Duration: One or two semesters.
Collaborators from other fields: From FAU: Prof. Francis McAfee, Arts and Letters, Dr. Diana Mitsova-Boneva, Urban Planning, Dr. Michael Harris, Anthropology, Dr. Susanne Lapp, Education, Dr. Mate Thitisawat, Architecture, and Dr. AlkaSapat, Public Administration. We are also collaborating with several non-FAU partners in healthcare.
Collaborating Institutions: Museum of Discovery and Science, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Children’s Services Council of Broward County; Broward county school system; and FIU’s School of Medicine