2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 380: REU Site on UAV Technologies: Exposing Participants to Multidisciplinary Environment

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

This paper discusses the multidisciplinary environment that the participants of the REU Program are exposed to at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). The REU Program titled “Research Experience for Undergraduates in UAV Technologies” has been funded by the NSF’s EEC Program. The main goal of the Program is to increase undergraduate students’ participation and interest in research on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) technologies. The current focus of the UAV research at Cal Poly Pomona is the increased autonomy of UAVs, collaboration between and autonomous coordination of multiple UAVs, autonomous coordination between UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and widespread application of UAVs including fire detection, suppression, and monitoring, search & rescue, and package delivery. These projects require knowledge and skills in multiple disciplines including Aerospace, Electrical & Computer, and Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.

The paper discusses how the involvement in multidisciplinary projects has helped the participants learn other disciplines, acquire new knowledge and skills, and pursue industry career or further studies in these areas. The participants are mentored and supervised by an interdisciplinary team of faculty members from several Engineering and Computer Science departments. In addition, participants work in a team environment, which provides additional avenue for them to learn other disciplines from each other. The team environment has also helped the participants acquire group working, time management, and leadership skills. This approach has been found to effectively engage students in learning and acquiring new knowledge and skills. Results of the participant and faculty mentor surveys will be presented along with the evidence of the participants pursuing career in the areas that require multidisciplinary knowledge and skills.

Authors

Dr. Subodh Bhandari California State Polytechnic University, Pomona [biography]

Dr. Subodh Bhandari is a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona and the Director of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Lab. His areas of teaching and research include Aircraft Dynamics & Control, increased UAV autonomy, multi-vehicle collaboration and autonomy, and developing capabilities for widespread use of UAVs. He is an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a member of American Helicopter Society (AHS), Association for Unmanned Vehicles International (AUVSI), and American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).
Dr. Amar Raheja [biography]

Dr. Amar Raheja is currently a professor of Computer Science at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona. He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from University of Toledo, OH in 1999. and MS and BS from Indian Institute of Technology, India i
Dr. Zekeriya Aliyazicioglu California State Polytechnic Institute, Pomona [biography]

Dr. Zekeriya Aliyazicioglu received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1985 from Karadeniz Technical University-Turkey, his MS degree in 1991 and Ph.D. degree in 1995 both in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University-Dallas, TX. He is currently a Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. His research interests include Digital Signal Processing and Digital Image Processing applications, Communication Systems, and Robotics. He is an author of numerous research papers and presentations in these areas. He has worked on undergraduate education research projects sponsored by Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.
Dr. Aliyazicioglu is a member of the IEEE, Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and ASEE. Aliyazicioglu is faculty advisor for the student chapter of the IEEE.
Fang Tang [biography]

Dr. Fang (Daisy) Tang is the Chair and Professor in the Computer Science Department at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Dr. Tang received her Ph.D. degree in computer science in 2006 from The University of Tennessee - Kn

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