UNT engineer earns prestigious National Science Foundation award

Monday, April 27, 2015 - 18:27

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Yan Wan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering in the University of North Texas College of Engineering, has earned a National Science Foundation CAREER award. The CAREER awards are the NSF's most prestigious awards supporting junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.

Over the next five years Wan will receive $442,000 from the NSF to develop an innovative theoretical framework for cyber-physical systems (CPS) to enable airborne networking, which utilizes direct flight-to-flight communication for flexible information sharing and safe maneuvering and coordination of time-critical missions.

"I am thrilled to receive the CAREER award from the NSF CPS program. CPS is a very interdisciplinary area with broad applications, such as smart power grids, smart transportation systems, and smart health. The award provides me the opportunity to contribute to the core science of controlling CPS in a highly uncertain and varying environment," Wan said. "It also allows me to develop a fun and intuition-oriented educational approach to prepare and inspire CPS workforces coming from diverse backgrounds."

Wan joined UNT's College of Engineering in 2009. She is the ninth UNT researcher to earn an NSF CAREER award. Recently, Wan worked with Shengli Fu, associate professor and interim department chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering, to create drones capable of providing Wi-Fi signals during disasters. She presented the work in Washington, D.C. Click here to download a photo of one of the Wi-Fi drones.

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