IGERT: Optical Commuications and Networking

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The University of Central Florida will establish an IGERT program with a multidisciplinary research theme in Optical Communications and Networking to train 30 Ph.D. students over the next five years. This program is a joint effort of twenty scientists, engineers and educators from the Departments/Schools of Mathematics, Statistics, Optics, Physics, Material science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Education at UCF. Optical communications and networking is a particularly well-suited IGERT theme because the diverse multidisciplinary technologies that need to be developed to enable next-generation information infrastructure. Major research efforts are grouped in four areas: advanced components, transport, switching, and networking and network management. Each IGERT thesis project is designed to build upon expertise from at least two different groups in realizing an enhanced functionality that is greater than the sum of the parts, over and above what the two groups would pursue independently. The advising team of each IGERT student, consisting of two or more faculty members from different departments, an industrial advisor and a non-technical advisor, is designed to ensure the successful integration of education, research and training. Industry, the users of technology considered in this effort, will be involved at the onset of the thesis research for each student. The research framework is complemented by the existing multidisciplinary courses, new courses in optical communications and networking to be developed under this IGERT program and being developed under an existing NSF CRCD grant, on-site training on state-of-the-art equipment at UCF, off-site training in industry, and non-technical training including business, communication/ interpersonal skills and ethics. The objective of this IGERT program is not only to train the participating Ph.D. students to become leaders in industry and/or academia but also for this program to serve as a national model for training scientists and engineers in today's globally competitive and technology-driven market economy. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing new, innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fourth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-two institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. The intellectual foci of this specific award reside in the Directorates for Engineering; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and Education and Human Resources.