Contact:
Mohamed Jamshidi
(505) 277-5538
Chris Burroughs
(505) 277-1816
January 30, 1997
NASA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTERS' CONFERENCE SET FOR FEB. 16-19
The latest in fuzzy logic, intelligent systems, remote sensing, global positioning systems, robotic space exploration and other technologies developed for use in future space missions will be the focus of the 1997 NASA University Research Centers' Technical Conference on Education, Aeronautics, Space, Autonomy, Earth and Environment scheduled for Feb. 16-19 at the Sheraton Uptown in Albuquerque.
The conference is coordinated by the NASA-funded Autonomous Control Engineering (ACE) Center at the University of New Mexico School of Engineering. Conference co-chairs are Mohamed Jamshidi, ACE director and UNM engineering professor, and George Reese, acting NASA associate administrator.
ACE, 13 other NASA centers located at universities nationwide, nine NASA research institutes and a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will showcase their space technology during the four-day event. Some 300 scientists and engineers are expected to attend the conference.
All the university-affiliated NASA centers are at high minority institutions. As part of NASA sponsorship, each school must strive to increase the number of minority students graduating with advanced degrees, while doing complicated research in cost- effective control technology to support NASA's strategic needs.
Conference honorary co-chairs are Daniel Golden, NASA administrator, and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici. They will open the meeting officially on Monday, Feb. 17 at 8 a.m. at the meeting site.
Among the top scientists and engineers from around the country serving as keynote speakers and special panelists are Ellen Ochoa, NASA astronaut from Johnson Space Center; Julian Earls, deputy director of NASA; Lewis Whitehead, NASA associate administrator for aeronautics; Fred Gregory, NASA associate administrator for Mission Assurance and Safety; and Larry Dumas, deputy director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Thirteen "tutorial" sessions, which are three-hour lectures in the field, will be held on Sunday, Feb. 16 prior to the start of the conferenc.
On February 17 from 9-10 a.m. ACE is planning to present a live demonstration of a robot, moving through commands given on a computer. The commands will be issued on a computer at the hotel, and observers at the hotel will be able to see the robot respond at a laboratory at UNM via a camera. ACE will also be demonstrating newly developed autonomous vehicles as well as a new ACE fuzzy logic VLSI chips.
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