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Building the Future: 2 �鶹ԭ�� Students Awarded Astronaut Scholarship

Jonathan Gabriel ’06 and Marisa Ramiccio ’11 — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 15:44:57 +0000

Two Burnett Honors Scholars, Rishi Basdeo and Emma Shafer, were the recipients of the prestigious Astronaut Scholarship this year.

The scholarship, which is awarded by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation to promising STEM students seeking to conduct graduate research and advance their fields, is highly competitive. Since 1986, 39 scholarships have been awarded to �鶹ԭ�� students. This year, 56 students from 41 universities nationwide were recipients of the Astronaut Scholarship. Astronaut Scholars will be honored at the Innovators Gala on Aug. 22 in Washington, D.C.

Future Prosthetics Engineer

Basdeo, a mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences major, plans on pursuing a graduate degree in biomedical or rehabilitation engineering after graduation. Ultimately he wants to become a prosthetics engineer, developing assistive technology for those in need. A passion for science runs in Basedo’s family — his father was a research scientist, and his mother worked as a pharmacist. Both encouraged his ambitions.

“Since my early childhood, they’ve always been supportive of my need to build all kinds of whimsical inventions, like a toy train-powered dishwasher,” he says. “Even though most of my creations never made it past the diagram phase, they always made me feel like I could make a difference with my designs.”

Basdeo decided to study at �鶹ԭ��, in part, because of the MEDD (medicine-engineering double degree) offered through a partnership between �鶹ԭ��’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Medicine, and Burnett Honors College. He says the cross-disciplinary program will give him a holistic understanding of his future career path.

“Seeing the transformative power of 3D-printed bionic arms in the lives of children inspired me to dedicate my life to improving the quality of life of children around the world.” – Rishi Basdeo, �鶹ԭ�� student

“As a prosthetics engineer, I will be likely to work alongside doctors and physical therapists, so having that grasp of the basics of their fields will make me a more effective communicator and collaborator, allowing us to develop more impactful devices,” he says.

At �鶹ԭ��, Basdeo co-founded the �鶹ԭ�� chapter of Global Engineering Brigades, a student organization to help develop water sanitation and distribution systems abroad in Honduras. He’s built portable health diagnostic devices that are currently being used in �鶹ԭ�� studies. And he has been active with the nonprofit to construct and maintain prosthetics for kids.

“Seeing the transformative power of 3D-printed bionic arms in the lives of children inspired me to dedicate my life to improving the quality of life of children around the world,” he says.

Currently, Basdeo is conducting undergraduate research in the lab of Michael Hampton, a professor in the Department of Chemistry. There, Basdeo is designing a device called a microscale gas chromatograph to analyze the chemical signature of emotions. The device could have other uses too, ranging from predicting the wandering behavior of Alzheimer’s patients to forecasting the emergence of harmful algal blooms.

“Rishi has demonstrated the drive, passion, organization, and way of thinking that will allow him to be a great success in research,” Hampton says.

Future Space Explorer

Basdeo expects the mentorship provided by the Astronaut Scholars program will help him develop invaluable connections with others in his desired field. And he plans to pay it forward. “I hope to mentor students like me to help them embark on their journey toward making an impact in their own communities,” he says.

Emma Shafer, an aerospace engineering major, knew she wanted to pursue a career in STEM, but she wasn’t sure of which passion — zoology or spaceflight — to follow. But after viewing a documentary on the Hubble Space Telescope in middle school, her mind was made up.

“When I was in 7th or 8th grade, I saw an IMAX documentary in the Challenger Center in Tallahassee about the Hubble Space Telescope, and I fell in love with that documentary,” Shafer says. “That documentary brought out my passion for spaceflight, and after the movie, I told myself I want to work in the spaceflight industry.”

Aerospace engineering was a natural choice for Shafer, who chose to earn her degree at �鶹ԭ�� because of the reputation of its program and its proximity to the Kennedy Space Center. As a National Merit Scholar, she was also greatly attracted to the honors program.

In the two years that she’s been at �鶹ԭ��, she’s built up quite the list of extracurriculars. She’s been an active member of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) as well as the newly formed Society of Women in Space Exploration (SWISE). She also works in the Vasu Lab, where she conducts research under the guidance of Associate Professor Subith Vasu, who says he’s impressed with her work thus far.

“Advancing space exploration will help humanity in countless ways, and I hope to be a part of that.” – Emma Shafer, �鶹ԭ�� student

“Emma is a highly motivated, ambitious, and smart undergraduate student,” Vasu says. “She came to me as a freshman to become involved in my research and since then she has done a tremendous job.”

When she’s not in the lab or in class, Shafer likes to volunteer as a tour guide for the American Space Museum in Titusville. Eventually, she hopes to work for NASA or Blue Origin, but she plans to attend graduate school first. The Astronaut Scholarship will not only fund her graduate school tuition, it will also provide her with access to a network of mentors that will help Shafer continue her research on space exploration.

“Advancing space exploration will help humanity in countless ways, and I hope to be a part of that,” Shafer says.

If you are a student interested in learning more about the Astronaut Scholarship or one of the many other STEM-related scholarships available, contact Morgan Bauer, director of the Office of Prestigious Awards, at OPA@ucf.edu. Astronaut Scholarship nominees must be U.S. citizens and be in their sophomore or junior year.

Learn more about �鶹ԭ��’s role in the aerospace and defense industries.

Leading Virtual Reality

Jamie Giller — Mon, 04 May 2020 16:05:24 +0000

From an early age, Thomas Pring ’20 loved video games — but he never thought he’d end up where he did.

“I was always the kid who would stay in his room playing video games growing up,” he says. “A lot of those games left an impression on me and I thought ‘What kind of video games could I make?’ But, I always assumed I’d be an engineer.”

At 12 years old, Pring attended a summer camp for coding and game development. He was immediately hooked. He worked for the camp every summer after that teaching kids programming, programming languages and software to make video games. He would later move to private lessons and online tutoring, where he started to appreciate how much kids like to learn.

“I realized this is something fun and is both a creative outlet and art form.” – Thomas Pring ’20

“I realized this is something fun and is both a creative outlet and art form,” he says. When it was time to go to college, he told his parents he wanted to make video games. “Both of my parents work in incredibly different fields than anything I’ve ever been interested in. But they were quick to say ‘Go for it! We’ll help however we can to try to make sure you can do what you want to do.’ ”

Pring transferred to �鶹ԭ�� his sophomore year and eventually settled on a game design major and computer science minor. Today, Pring is working at two research labs at �鶹ԭ��.

At , Pring works on the Video Game Training Team and is advised by assistant professor of Game Design Peter Smith ’05MS ’12PhD. The team develops video games to assist bionic kids as they learn the mechanics of their new prosthetic arm. Unlike purely entertainment games, Pring says these games “help kids learn to react to the game and flex their hands or make gestures through video games. It’s all about making their reactions natural or second nature.”

“Thomas has been one of our most accomplished game design students and has been a big part of the new training games arriving in both Android and Apple app stores as well as our bluetooth flex controller for the phones,” says Albert Manero ’12 ’14MS ’16PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of Limbitless Solutions. “We are really proud of his accomplishments.”

“Thomas has been one of our most accomplished game design students.” – Albert Manero ’12 ’14MS ’16PhD

The second lab would fulfill Pring’s interest in virtual reality — and would help push him professionally. He applied to participate in The Harrington Lab, which investigates Virtual Nature, using augmented reality and virtual reality as a technical artifact to better understand perceptual phenomenon as it relates to human-computing-environment interactions that cause emotional, learning and aesthetic outcomes. Pring’s work hinged on discovering how people learn best, using a virtual recreation of the �鶹ԭ�� Arboretum as the classroom. The idea is to understand how people can learn about nature and plants in a virtual environment.

“If you want to learn about plants, you could do a virtual walk and get information from a pop-up window,” he says. “Or you could go out into the environment with a phone and get information on your device. Or you could be sitting in a classroom and watching the tour on a screen.”

He and his fellow researchers started with a first-person version of the project to test how it worked. The team then moved on to VR to create a more immersive experience.

“In March, we developed a controller to work with a treadmill desk so you could literally take a walk through the Arboretum with a projector,” he says.

Pring is complimentary of the artwork in the game, which was worked on by others before he joined the team. “I’m not an artist in any way, shape or form but that art is amazing. The plants are as real as you can get. The team went out and took photos of the leaves and what they look like up close — same for the water, sand, even tree bark — and they made those in game as real images. It’s really impressive.”

A screenshot of the Virtual Nature VR experience, which Pring helped to create.

Pring says he could see VR experiences like Virtual Nature useful in a variety of formats.

“For people who live in northern areas where you can’t go outside in the winter, imagine being able to go out and have a walk in nature,” he says. “Or even on the International Space Station. Astronauts are sitting in metal all day and night. They could use this to be around plants again, which is good for emotional and mental health. It’s also good for learning about plants and learning overall. I’m an experiential learner, so staring at a screen all day — I can’t take that in. But if I can interact, I can learn a lot more about the subject, enjoy the experience and retain more detail.”

Of all the projects he’s worked on, Pring says he’s most proud of his contributions to Virtual Nature, which both challenged him and allowed him to expand his skills among several disciplines. He credits Assistant Professor Maria Harrington, who directs the Harrington Lab, for mentoring him.

“She has guided me professionally, taught me, and gave me so many opportunities,” he says. “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for her.”

He says an important lesson he learned from Harrington was getting over Imposter Syndrome, which he says is prevalent among game-design majors. “She taught me to be proud of my own work, not to downplay myself and believe that I can program and make products” he says.

“I always wanted to help others — it’s a lot of fun to teach people. At some point in my life, I’d like to be a professor.” – Thomas Pring ’20

“Thomas is an amazing undergraduate student whose work rivals what I have seen Ph.D. students do. He could easily make contributions to projects at NASA,” says Harrington. “Thomas has taken advantage of opportunities at �鶹ԭ�� to help advance his studies. I know he will go on to do great things in this field.”

As for what’s next, Pring says he hopes to land a job in the gaming industry.

“Working for a VR company would be ideal for me, but whoever has availability,” he says. Ultimately, Pring says he wants to continue giving back and helping others learn. “I always wanted to help others — it’s a lot of fun to teach people. At some point in my life, I’d like to be a professor.”