An Engineering Research Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems - CenSSIS

地下传感和成像系统工程研究中心（ERC）旨在彻底改变我们检测和成像地下，水下或嵌入人体的物体或条件的能力。 东北大学与波士顿大学、伦斯勒理工学院、波多黎各大学马亚圭斯分校以及四家附属医院和研究机构建立了伙伴关系（马萨诸塞州总医院、布里格姆妇女医院、劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室、和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所）该中心将集中研究传感和成像方面的困难和棘手的问题，包括检测、定位和识别覆盖介质下被遮蔽的物体。 映射地下羽流，检测皮肤下的肿瘤，并确定胚胎内部的发育缺陷，所有共享的问题，区分分散，扩散和吸收介质的效果与所需的表面结构和功能的细节。 无论波是电磁波还是声波，无论介质是土壤还是组织，无论目标是地雷还是肿瘤，问题都是相似的。 为了解决这些研究障碍，该中心将把跨学科的研究重点放在地下传感和建模，基于物理的信号处理和图像理解，以及数据和图像信息管理上。 系统测试平台将用于实现广泛的下一代传感和成像系统。该中心将为学生创造一个新的基于团队的学习环境，并在行业中进行研究实习。 ERC将为每个相关校园开发新的基于发现的教育实验室，在本科生接受教育的早期将现代成像技术交给他们，以解决真实的开放式问题。 ERC将开发传感和成像系统的本科教育模块，以及来自ERC研究的跨学科、团队授课的研究生课程和研讨会。 ERC将通过传感和成像系统设计竞赛以及暑期工程预科课程对中学生产生影响。工业合作计划的目标是获得对研究挑战的行业洞察力，加速技术向行业的转移，并帮助中心毕业的工程师和科学家熟悉技术和工业实践，该奖项通过为期五年的合作协议，为NSF支持ERC的第一年提供260万美元，该协议可在第三年和第六年续签。

The Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems seeks to revolutionize our ability to detect and image objects or conditions that are underground, underwater, or embedded in the human body. Northeastern University has formed a partnership between with Boston University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and four affiliated hospitals and research institutions (Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute).The center will focus on difficult and intractable problems in sensing and imaging involving detecting and locating and identifying objects that are obscured beneath covering media. Mapping plumes underground, detecting a tumor under the skin, and identifying developmental defects in the interior of an embryo all share the problem of distinguishing the effect of a dispersive, diffusive, and absorptive medium from the desired details of the sursurface structure and functionality. The problem is similar whether the wave problem is electromagnetic or acoustic, whether the medium is soil or tissue, or whether the target is a land mine or a tumor. To address these research barriers the center will focus its interdisciplinary research thrusts on Subsurface Sensing and Modeling, Physics-based Signal Processing and Image Understanding, and Data and Image Information management. Systems testbeds will be used to enable a wide range of next-generation sensing and imaging systems.The Center will create a new team-based learning environment for students, with research internship experiences in industry. The ERC will develop new discovery-based, educational laboratories for each campus involved, putting modern imaging technology in the hands of undergraduates early in their education to solve real, open-ended problems. The ERC will develop undergraduate educational modules in sensing and imaging systems and interdisciplinary, team-taught graduate courses and seminars derived from the ERC's research. Middle and high school students will be impacted by the ERC through design competitions in sensing and imaging systems and summer pre-engineering programs.The goals of the industrial partnership program are to gain industrial insight into the research challenges, to speed technology transfer to industry, and to help the center graduate engineers and scientists who are familiar with technology and industrial practice, better prepare to be successful in industry and academe.This award provides $2.6 million for the first year of NSF support to the ERC through a five-year cooperative agreement, which is renewable in year three and in year six.