“This is a tremendous honor for Ms. Barber,” said Mayor John Marks, “It also verifies what we in Tallahassee have known for some time now. Namely, that the City of Tallahassee is known throughout the nation for its proactive efforts on sustainability and doing all we can to create and maintain a vibrant and healthy community.” Mayor Marks is joining Barber in Washington today at the recognition event along with City Manger Anita Favors Thompson.

Barber is the director of the City’s Environmental Policy and Energy Resources (EPER) Department. It was created in April 2008 to direct all of the City’s green initiatives, including creating and monitoring energy reduction programs and seeking grants for green and sustainable programs. EPER is also responsible for establishing organizational policies to keep the City of Tallahassee at the forefront of responsible action in relation to the environment and energy use. The department helps promote environmental stewardship within the community and is responsible for assuring organizational compliance with federal and state environmental regulations. Barber has been employed with the City since August 1991.

“This designation will prepare students at FAMU to contribute to the protection of the National Information Infrastructure,” said Christy Chatmon, an instructor in the Department of CIS who successfully coordinated FAMU’s efforts to be designated as a CAE-IAE.

“President Obama has acknowledged on many occasions that there is a critical shortage of professionals with these skills.”

Chatmon also stated there are other benefits for FAMU by being designated as a CAE-IAE such as the following:

• It will provide a higher degree of participation in IA by a historically black college and university (HBCU).  Statistics show that minorities are underrepresented.
• The designation positions FAMU to compete for funds to financially support students and to expand Information Assurance (IA) research at the University.  Students attending designated schools are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program and the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program.

The goal of this program is to reduce vulnerability in the national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in Information Assurance Education.  NSA and DHS want to produce a growing number of professionals with IA expertise in various disciplines.

IA is one of the fastest growing areas of information technology.  It addresses concerns ranging from individual privacy and information protection in commerce, entertainment and social interaction to national security.  This field has become one of the most popular tracks of study in the Department of CIS at FAMU.  Since CIS launched its IA program in 2004, nearly 70 students have completed the IA certificate program and received professional certificates by the NSA and the Committee for National Security Systems (CNSS).  Numerous CIS graduates who have completed the IA Certificate Program are employed in the intelligence community.

In a letter congratulating FAMU, Neal L. Ziring, information assurance technical director, stated that the Department of CIS’s “ability to meet the increasing demands of the program criteria will serve the nation well in contributing to the protection of the National Information Infrastructure.”  In addition, one reviewer remarked that FAMU’s submission, “demonstrated ongoing outreach, an excellent range of Information Assurance research topics and solid IA courses.”  FAMU was also recognized for submitting an “exemplary application.”

Other faculty members in the Department of CIS that worked with Chatmon were Edward Jones, professor and chair, Hongmei Chi, assistant professor and Deidre Evans, associate professor.  They will be in attendance for the formal announcement on June 11, 2012 in Orlando at the 16th Annual Conference of the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education.

Beginning its fourth year of existence, the multi-university Center of Excellence is unique in its use of the once rare practice of sharing knowledge and resources. Rather than problem solving in isolation, as is commonplace in competitive industries, FCAAP brings together aerospace and aviation experts from four leading Florida universities to research solutions as a collective mind.

Equally important, it also provides a direct connection between industry and university resources. Given the present state of affairs, this approach couldn’t have come at a more pivotal moment, according to Kirby Kemper, Florida State’s vice president for Research.

“The loss of the shuttle program, combined with a generation of aerospace engineers and scientists closing in on retirement, means big challenges for the nation’s future air and space travel capabilities,” Kemper said. “FCAAP addresses those challenges by focusing the combined aerospace and aviation expertise in our state on a common purpose, resulting in a Center that not only thinks about problems but actually jumps in the trenches to work on solutions.”

United under FCAAP’s shared knowledge approach, aerospace and aviation leaders from around the globe descended on the Florida State campus this week for FCAAP’s Third Annual Symposium andExhibition.

Their goal was simple, but critical: have a candid conversation about some of the challenges faced by the industry and find solutions to overcome them. One of the most prevalent topics was the loss of the shuttle program and the resulting economic impact on both Florida and the nation.

“With a statewide economic impact rising into the tens of billions and surpassing a trillion dollars nationally, it is easy to see why aerospace and aviation is important to Florida’s future prosperity,” said Frank T. Brogan, chancellor of the State University System of Florida. “FCAAP is a great example of the type of opportunities we must pursue if we want to continue to deliver the research, talent and commercialization that will keep this great nation ahead of the global competition.”

While the economics of shuttle retirements and aging engineers was a chief topic of concern, significant attention also fell on the environmental impacts of the U.S. air transportation system. Expected to expand significantly over the next two decades, technological breakthroughs will be needed to neutralize or reduce the negative impacts on the environment.

“Asour air transportation system continues to grow, we are collaborating with U.S. industry, academia, and other government agencies to mitigate the environmental impact of aviation on our communities, providing viable concepts for reducing noise and carbon footprints,” said Fayette Collier, project manager for NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project. “FCAAP provides a fantastic forum for aerospace and aviation experts to collaborate on these types of issues through a unique shared knowledge approach.”

Reflecting FCAAP’s broad support base, the annual gathering also served as the official dedication event for its new research headquarters. Housed on Florida State University’s campus, the brand-new Aero-Propulsion, Mechatronics and Energy Building features 60,000 square feet of state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories designed to support cutting-edge research in aerospace, aviation, robotics and sustainable-energy engineering — a key feature of the new building is a polysonic wind tunnel that will enable aerodynamic testing and fundamental studies of aircraft subsystems at air speeds of up to Mach 5.

Established in 2008 by the Florida Legislature, FCAAP’s central feature is the partnership between Florida State University, the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Through the partnership, each university contributes its particular aerospace and aviation expertise to the larger research effort, creating a one-stop-shop for aerospace stakeholders — industry and government agencies, looking for solutions to technical or scientific problems. Equally important, the shared expertise approach pulls double-duty by creating interdisciplinary learning environments that churn out highly trained scientists and engineers.

To learn more about FCAAP and the Third Annual FCAAP Symposium and Exhibition, click here.

“I am very proud of the work the students did for this competition,” said Allen, associate professor for the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and advisor for the team. “Each member of the team played a vital role.”

NASA’s USLI is a competition that challenges university-level students to design, build and launch a reusable rocket with a scientific or engineering payload to one mile above ground level, or AGL. The project engages students in scientific research and real-world engineering processes with NASA engineers.

In addition to designing, building and testing the rocket, the students also developed an Android App to communicate with the rocket while it is in flight. The App could query the in-flight rocket from the ground for information such as velocity, temperature, pressure, and humidity. The rocket’s onboard computer was programmed to send the information back to the App.

Members of the Diamond Backs Rocket Team were Ronald Benson, Jazzmine Bess, Marlena Ivory, Rodney Wilson, Anderson Louis and Dion Paul. Faculty Advisors were Clement Allen and Stacy Tinner.  Terry Zimmerman served as the rocket mentor.

“I believe the team and I learned that hard work, commitment and perseverance can produce results that are beyond not only what others expect of you, but even what you expect of yourself,” said Benson.

The forum features opening speaker Jay Smith, Diplomat-in-Residence at Florida A&M University, and will be held at the  TCC Capitol Center, 300 W. Pensacola Street, from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. with lunch provided. The cost is free, but seating is limited. Register HERE.

FSU-Teach, an innovative program that enables mathematics and science majors at Florida State to explore new career possibilities in the teaching profession, received a $50,000, targeted donation from banking giant JP Morgan Chase. With the money, FSU-Teach will establish an “induction” program to provide continued mentoring and other support for its new graduates as they pursue their teaching careers.

“A chronic problem in the education field is that young teachers aren’t retained; an alarming number leave the profession before they’ve had five years in the classroom,” said FSU-Teach co-director Ellen Granger, a faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences. “However, educational research has shown that continued support for new teachers, both in the classroom and outside it, during their first three years not only helps improve their teaching skills but also helps keep them in the profession.

“That’s what makes this donation so critical to the success of our program,” Granger said.

College of Education Dean Marcy Driscoll was joined by JP Morgan Chase executives Daniel McNamara and Richard Mahler during an announcement of the gift at a reception for graduating FSU-Teach students April 26. Joining them was Lynn Gibson, a representative of the National Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit organization that has played a critical role in the establishment of FSU-Teach and programs like it at universities around the country.

“We’re very excited and we’re very thankful to JP Morgan Chase for all of your support, and to NMSI for all of your support,” Driscoll told her guests.

McNamara expressed his excitement at the accomplishments already being seen by FSU-Teach.

“It’s a thrill for me, with children of my own, to come to Florida State and see the work that the Chase dollars really are able to do with NMSI,” he said, adding that the company has long viewed education as a top priority. Chase has made more than $300 million in charitable contributions since 1985 in the field of education, so we certainly understand and appreciate the importance of education to our nation’s success.”

This is the fourth year of FSU-Teach’sexistence, which began with freshman courses and has added an additional year of courses annually since then. Thus, some of FSU-Teach’s first students to participate in the program from start to finish received their diplomas during the university’s spring commencement ceremonies. They were on hand during the gift presentation at the FSU Alumni Center.

Ashley Lui, a senior from Kissimmee, Fla., was one of the graduating students, having earned a double major in biochemistry and the FSU-Teach degree program. She credited the program with helping her to identify a profession that would be a good fit for her.

“I didn’t really think about what career I wanted to pursue until my sophomore year,” Lui said. “I probably wouldn’t have become a teacher had the program not existed — I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do.”

“The great thing about FSU-Teach was that they helped to ‘mold’ me — to prepare me for a career as a science teacher — but they also gave me the freedom to develop my own teaching style and find out what works best for me.”

Another graduating student, Suzanna Lawson, also found the program valuable in helping her reach her goals.

“I knew I wanted to be a teacher since I was 12 years old,” said Lawson, a math major from Merritt Island, Fla. “But FSU-Teach made it much easier to achieve my goal. Without it, the process of becoming certified to teach would have been a lot more difficult. At the same time, FSU-Teach helped me improve my math skills because the academic requirements are very rigorous.”

This year, the program produced its first graduates — 26 of them — said FSU-Teach co-director Sherry Southerland, a faculty member in the College of Education. Next year, FSU-Teach is expected to produce between 35 and 40 graduates.

“This will almost double what our former science and mathematics education courses graduated each year,” Southerland said. “If we count the number of unique students in the program — meaning each student is counted only once, no matter how many FSU-Teach courses he or she is currently enrolled in — we are right at about 200 students. So we’re really starting to see some tangible results of our efforts to produce more math and science teachers as well as ensuring that these teachers are better prepared for the realities of the classroom.”

The program will make an enormous contribution to the state, said NMSI’s Gibson.

“The math and science teachers that FSU-Teach helps place in Florida classrooms will support the math and science learning of thousands of students for many years to come,” she said.