Professor Receives Grant for Remote Sensing and Robotic Studies

– Dr. Charles Bostater, Florida Tech associate professor of physical oceanography and environmental sciences, and director of the university’s
Environmental Optics Laboratory and Remote Sensing Center, has received an $85,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education. The grant is from the
department’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

The grant supports a cooperative international effort to develop international, interdisciplinary curriculum that directly focuses on remote sensing
systems, moving robotic (mechatronic) platforms and the system risks or uncertainties associated with the detection of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and
humanitarian de-mining. The technology to detect these materials are also used to detect materials in marine and coastal environments.

“No open curriculum exists anywhere in the world today to provide the necessary training,” said Bostater.

The six international faculty involved in this two-year project are from institutions of higher education in Hungary, Belgium and the United Kingdom as
well as the United States, including Cornell and the University of Michigan.

The goals are course material development as well as the development of methods for possible credit exchanges among the universities and an open degree
offering for U.S. and international students. The project will also involve seeking financial support for students interested in this career path.

“The project will help to develop the necessary international and interdisciplinary talent that is necessary today and in the future to meet the needs of
securing sustainable safe environments,” said Bostater.