Enhancing research capacity and developing wireless communications curriculum for students in computer science and engineering

Largely because of the complex nature of wireless communications research, academia has been slow to respond to strong industry and government demands for trained professionals to develop and apply novel wireless techniques to the rapidly-growing demand. There is a high demand for professionals with a background in wireless. Wireless engineers and scientists are needed to analyze, index, represent, model, simulate, and process large volumes of calls made everyday on wireless systems. The development of an undergraduate curriculum in Computer Science and Engineering is essential to meeting the future needs of the industry. This must be initiated immediately so that students can be a part of the basic research of this emerging field and immediately available to meet the workforce needs of the technology world. At the present time Virginia State University has no undergraduate and/or graduate program in wireless communications and it would be essential to initiate the development of such a program for the future. The faculties at the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science and Engineering and Technology have been closely collaborating in an effort to enhance their graduates through scientific cooperation to establish research, as well as a curricular option in wireless communications. The proposed changes will enhance and strengthen such collaboration with research capacity in the area of the wireless communications at VSU for faculty and students.