Even though classes aren’t in session, W&L CS students and faculty will be collaborating on several projects.
Daniel Thornton ’10 will be working with Dr. Simon Levy on a custom-built robot platform to implement the visual map-seeking circuit (MSC) algorithm for real-time robot navigation. This is the first time that anyone has attempted to apply the MSC algorithm to this task, so it looks Daniel has a challenging summer ahead!
Will Richardson ’11 will be working under the direction of ProfessorsTom Whaley and Frank Settle to develop a searchable website that indexes online resources on nuclear energy. This website will be an important component of the National Energy Education Development project headed by Dr. Frank Settle of Washington and Lee and Dr. Charles Ferguson of the Council on Foreign Relations and funded by Mr. Gerry Lenfest. The website will be used by middle school, high school, and college educators as well as the general public. Will’s work will include design and implementation of a database for the backend of the system as well as the user interface and search engine. This work will be done with input from educators from the target audience. Last summer Will developed a prototype that was well received and led to the current project.
Camille Cobb ’12 and Carrie Hopkins ’12 will be working with Dr. Sara Sprenkle on automating the web application testing process. To supplement their R.E. Lee Scholarships, Carrie and Camille were selected to participate in the CRA-W‘s Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. Camille, Carrie, and Prof Sprenkle will be traveling to the University of Delaware to collaborate with Dr. Lori Pollock on their research.
In addition, Camille was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Science Research Fellowship from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges