Elizabeth City State University (ECSU)

Year Two Report Summary (2001-2002)

Objective

The Objective of the ECSU NRTS is to establish a Regional Network Resource and Training Site at Elizabeth City State University to serve the Northeastern North Carolina Region and the Eastern Virginia Region. The NRTS at ECSU will provide training in remote sensing and to facilitate HBCU/MI network opportunities in research and education for Math, Science, Engineering and Technology (MSET) faculty and students; and for the teachers of predominantly minority-attended elementary and secondary schools in ECSU's region. It is the intent of this NRTS project to develop innovative and relevant research and education collaborations focused on coastal, ocean, and wetlands research.

Research Activity

ECSU conducted several collaborating research activities relevant to the NASA Strategic Enterprises for the years of 2001 and 2002. They incorporated a Remote Sensing Research activity which included twenty undergraduates and three faculty members; a Microgravity Research activity which included two undergraduates and two faculty members; a Administrator's Fellows activity which included four faculty members; a International Space Station activity which included seventy undergraduates and twenty faculty members; a Faculty Award for Research activity which included three faculty members, a PAIR Awards Ceremony which included two faculty members; a NASA Satellite Direct Readout Conference which included three faculty/staff members; and a NASA Pair Summit which included one faculty member and a TeraScan Satellite Data Users Conference which included two staff members. Twenty-nine ECSU students facilitated research publications for Student conference papers, six faculty members for the Faculty conference papers and six students for the Tennessee State University Research Conference. Four NRTS research activities were conducted. These activities were the AVHRR-Sea Surface Temperature in which twenty students participated, URE in Ocean/Marine Science - twelve students participated, Microgravity Research - two students participated and the Remote Sensing Research with the participation of ten students.

The following details the activities of the SCSU NRTS project as it relates to research, education, and technology:

Educational Activities

Throughout the academic year, ECSU executed four educational activities relevant to the NASA Strategic Enterprises. Two - Satellite Imagery (CERSER, YBTS) activities were conducted, six Earth Science Education activities, two Coalition for Earth Science Education Meetings, and two Off to a Flying Start activities were conducted. Earth Science Education received three awards, NOVA (HU, ECSU, FSU, Bennett) received four awards, IGES (HU, ECSU) received two awards and the Department of Education ATOM PROJECT received one award. Additionally, ECSU facilitated an IGARSS Conference Proceedings, which included fifteen students, a NTA conference proceedings which included four students, a NTA 2002 Journal in which one student was involved, a Masters Thesis which one student was involved and a SOARS Conference proceedings in which twenty five students participated. ECSU pre-service and in-service teachers were impacted by various education activities. Twenty in-service teachers participated in the Earth Science Academy, twelve in the YBTS Program, six in-service and four pre-service in the MGDS Program, one graduate student in the Masters thesis in education, twelve in-service in the GET Online course, fifteen pre-service in the GLOBE Hydrology Training and twelve in-service teachers participate in the Satellites in Our Every Day Lives Conference. To support the NRTS in their collaboration education efforts, the Technology Application and Remote Sensing Department held thirty-two workshops. A GLOBE Train-the-Trainer Workshop was also held and four staff members attended.

In response to a NASA education announcement, ECSU submitted two Earth Science Center of Excellence CAN proposals. ECSU systematically implemented several NASA Enterprise Education Office products. Three Earth Science Education Products were submitted, one Earth Science Education Product was approved and two Earth Science Education Products are under development. In total, seven universities and forty-five K-12 schools participated in NRTS education collaborations. Leveraged funding received for NRTS education related activities included $9000.000 (three awards) for Earth Science Education, $90,000 (two awards) for CET Online Courses (ECSU, Hampton University), $30,000 (one award) for NOVA, $460,000 (one award) for ATOM-Dept. of education, and $1,295,000 (one award) for NAVY Coastal Ocean Observations-AVHRR SST.

Technology Activity

Seven HBCU/MIs: ECSU, Bennett College, FSU, UNCP, NSU, VSU; twelve K-12; and twenty Community Technology Centers participated in technology workshops. Six electronic networks were leveraged to support these and other research and education related activities. The network includes ECSU, Bennett College, FSU, UNCP, NSU, and VSU.

Two video conferencing, two web casts, five phone conferences, daily usage of email and daily usage of websites supported the 2001-2002 collaboration efforts for research and education. Remote Sensing Data (ECSU, NSU, CSU) and Microgravity (ECSU, VSU) were new technology deployed in region to support research activities. Remote Sensing Data (ECSU, NSU, CSU) was the new technology deployed in region to support educational activities. Computer Science (NSU, ECSU, HU), Biology (ECSU, FSU), Physics (UNCP, ECSU, NSU, HU, VSU), Mathematics (NCAT, ECSU), Chemistry (Bennett) and Geoscience (ECSU) were the different departments in the region participating in the support of NRTS research or education technology requirements. Twenty-five students from Computer Science (NSU, ECSU, HU), three from Biology (ECSU, FSU), eight from Physics (UNCP, ECSU, NSU), six from Mathematics (NCAT, ECSU), three from Chemistry (Bennett) and four students from Geoscience (ECSU) participated in research, education or collaboration technology efforts. The amount of leveraged funding received for improving technology infrastructure from NRTS activities was $1,295,000, one award from the NAVY Coastal Ocean Observations AVHRR SST.

Future Activities

Future activities for the ECSU NRTS include developing innovative and relevant research and education collaborations focused on coastal, ocean, and wetlands research. Future activities also include implementation of the training Memorandum of Agreement with Pixoneer Geomatics to provide remote sensing training for HBCU partners and implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement with SeaSpace, Inc. to serve as their customer east coast training facility. The NRTS will also conduct a MU-SPIN Distinguised Lecture Series and an IEEE-Geoscience Remote Sensing Society Distinguished Lecture Series wtih associated webcast.