research guide - UTEP Magazine - University of Texas at El Paso

FAST Center is Back
NASA spacecraft, unmanned aerial vehicles among new projects
UTEP’s Future Aerospace
and Technology (FAST) Center,
which was active from 1995
to 2001 under a U.S. Air Force
Office of Scientific Research
contract, is back in business
with several high-tech projects.
Lockheed Martin Space
Systems has tapped the center
for a project involving NASA’s
Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle,
a replacement for the agency’s
venerable Space Shuttle.
Boeing’s Space
Exploration division also is
working with the FAST Center
on project research for the
International Space Station,
including development of
software for the station’s
power system and a
simulation of walking and
running in zero gravity.
Other projects in the
pipeline include an unmanned
aerial vehicle test center, in
partnership with the Army
Research Laboratory and
White Sands Missile Range.
The Army’s Future Combat
Systems program at Fort Bliss
also is expected to lead to
research opportunities for the
center’s faculty and students.
“We’re right in the middle
of a big area in engineering,”
says Associate Professor
of Civil Engineering Cesar
Carrasco, Ph.D., director of
the FAST Center. “Aerospace
engineering is an area that’s
underrepresented in this area."
Cesar Carrasco, Ph.D.
“Our role as a university is to
prepare these students for future
careers in the industry.”
Research Assets
Center of Excellence for Border Security
and Immigration - www.utep.edu/osi
• Surveillance and tracking technologies
• Screening, scanning and inspection
processes
• Unconventional security assessments
• Migrant population flows and
determinants
Center for Defense Systems Research -
www.utep.edu/osi
• Functional advanced manufacturing
- Miniaturized 3-D embedded sensors
• Software systems engineering
- Improving dependability through
rigorous testing
- Visual sensing and image dissemination
system for monitoring
Future Aerospace and Technology (FAST)
Center
• Engineering research and test services
Investigative Interviewing Research
Laboratory - iilab.utep.edu
• Eyewitness memory
• Detecting deception
• Interrogations and confessions
Intelligence Community Center of
Academic Excellence -
www.organizations.utep.edu/iped
• Develops core skills in national security,
intelligence, foreign area studies,
language proficiency and geographical
expertise
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