Tennessee State University News January 19, 2011 Virtual and Augmented Reality Research to Advance at Tennessee State University A $299,000 grant has been awarded to Tennessee State University to develop a state-of-the-art Virtual and Augmented Reality (VAR) Research and Educational Laboratory. As part of the University’s Targeted Infusion project conducted by the College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science (CoETCS), the laboratory will immerse students in solving practical engineering design challenges in tomorrow’s workforce. Funded by the National Science Foundation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), the project aims to prepare globally competitive engineers by equipping African-American engineering students at TSU with knowledge and understanding of critical engineering concepts such as VAR technologies. Dr. Sachin Shetty, assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in CoETCS, said the project will establish academic training labs to give students a realistic learning environment. “VAR is usually employed for handling problems with large or complex multidimensional data sets such as how meteorologists use when studying weather phenomena, archeologists for studying excavations or political analysts in studying political trends,” explained Shetty. “The critical demand for modeling, analyzing, and visualizing these complex multidimensional data sets creates a need to offer this VAR initiative for training students and integrate advanced engineering tools in electrical and Mechanical Engineering that are relevant industrial applications and the research conducted at TSU,” he said. Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of CoETCS, hopes the project contributes to the underrepresentation of African-Americans in the VAR workforce and competitive graduate programs. “Though VAR has been identified as one of the grand challenges in the field of engineering, few graduates apply to VAR graduate programs or become employed by industries specializing in VAR technologies.” “We know that the VAR laboratory will result in the enhancement of our electrical and mechanical engineering curriculum and increase mentored research opportunities for undergraduate students,” he added. Funding for the VAR laboratory will be received through 2013. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.