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PVAMU Virtual Reality Research Team Awarded NSF GrantWednesday, November 04, 2009
This award titled "MRI: Acquisition of a PowerWall Virtual Reality System for Enabling Research/Teaching in Virtual Prototyping," will fund the acquisition of a PowerWall-Based Virtual Reality (VR) system to enable the research and teaching in virtual prototyping at Prairie View A&M. The VR system will be capable of providing life-size 3-D visualization of virtual objects enhanced by nonvisual display modalities, such as haptic feedback and motion tracker. The major component of the VR system is the PowerWall which is a flat, large-scale (10 foot by 7.5 foot) stereoscopic visualization system. The acquisition of the PowerWall system is expected to have significant impact on research, education and infrastructure building at PVAMU. The equipment will have a direct impact on six faculty members in three disciplines involved in researches, including Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Chemistry. The infrastructure will have profound impact on students at PVAMU, most of who are from underrepresented groups in research. Approximately 175 undergraduate and graduate students will have the opportunity to engage in research and training as a result of the award. The facilities and the related projects will be demonstrated to university students and K-12 students through summer programs, such as Engineering and Science Concepts Institute (ESCI) and Minority Introduction to Engineering (MITE) program. The research results will be disseminated via journal publications and conference presentations. Conventional virtual prototyping techniques face the challenges of revealing the depth information and the spatially complex structures of a virtual prototype due to the limitation of two-dimensional computer interface. The VR system at PVAMU will offer considerable benefits for researches in Virtual Prototyping by enabling an immersive understanding of a life-size 3-D virtual product, revealing the spatially complex structures of a virtual prototype and creating a virtual environment which is not possible within physical experimental setting. The PowerWall VR system will be utilized in four core research projects and three secondary research projects. The core research projects that will be enabled by the VR facility are: (1) Development of virtual sculpting system; (2) Heterogeneous material modeling; (3) Avatars impact on people’s behavior; and (4) Molecular modeling of the ligand interaction. The secondary research projects include: (1) Design optimization for propulsion components; (2) Development of carbon Nanotubes composites; and (3) Robust control of flexible arm robot. The VR system will also be integrated in the graduate and undergraduate curricula in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. About Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University was founded in 1876 and is the second-oldest public institution of higher education in Texas. With an established reputation for producing engineers, business leaders, nurses and educators, PVAMU offers baccalaureate degrees in 41 academic majors, 46 master’s degrees and four doctoral degree programs through eight colleges and schools. The university recently named its College of Engineering for PVAMU alumnus Roy G. Perry and the University’s marching band, The Marching Storm, was featured as the lead band in the 2009 Rose Parade. A member of The Texas A&M University System, the university is dedicated to fulfilling its land-grant mission of achieving excellence in teaching, research and service. During the university’s 132-year history, more than 51,500 academic degrees have been awarded. For more information regarding PVAMU, visit www.pvamu.edu. Featured in the spotlight above: |
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas--The National Science Foundation has awarded a prestigious grant to Xiaobo Peng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Prairie View A&M University. The grant provides Peng $216,779 over four years for his research and teaching in virtual prototyping. Peng will serve as the principal investigator for the award. Co-Principal Investigators for the award include Jianren Zhou, Ziaul Huque, Yonggao Yang and Hua-Jun Fan—all from PVAMU. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.