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October 2003

Mayo, Siemens form research partnership with UNF

By AMY PARMELEE
Staff Writer

Dr. Yap Chua, back row from left, Dr. Behooz Seyed-Abbassi, Dr. Charles Winton, Linjun Xu, sitting, from left, and Eric Young are working on projects involving Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and Siemens Medical Solutions USA.

It took about 18 months to hammer out the details, but Computer and Information Sciences is beginning this fall a three-year program with Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and Siemens Medical Solutions USA for graduate research.

The agreement brings $50,000 each year to UNF for two students to work on thesis projects of interest to Mayo and Siemens. The projects will be related to the management of digital data from medical imaging, said Dr. Charles Winton, graduate director and professor in CIS.

Siemens Medical Solutions is an industrial partner of Mayo and produces medical diagnostic equipment and software. Siemens is interested in turning Mayo's clinical experience with information technology into future product development, with UNF pioneering the research as an academic partner.

CIS graduate students must apply to the program and have an interest in computer graphics, database systems and software engineering. The two students involved in the project each year will be in their last year and still will have to conform to UNF's standards for a thesis. A representative for Mayo and Siemens also will consult with the thesis committee on how the work is developing.

Winton said Mayo and Siemens had a list of topics to choose from, and the final topics are based on the "best fit of the topic, student and faculty." The selected students will receive nationally competitive fellowships, and their advisers will receive a stipend.

Winton said the money underscores the importance of the work being done by the students and advisers. Dr. Jim Collom of the Division of Sponsored Research and Training, who worked on the contractual arrangements for the project, said the money also helps to serve another purpose.

"(This project) enables UNF to compete for high-quality students," he said.
This year, Eric Young and Linjun Xu, who both received bachelor's at UNF, will work with Dr. Yap Chua and Dr. Behrooz Seyed-Abbassi.

Seyed-Abbassi expects the experience of working with Mayo and Siemens to be a "priceless" one for students.

"Participating in this research affiliation presents an exciting and challenging opportunity for the faculty and the students to be involved in leading-edge areas of computer technology," he said.

While Collom said having three groups in the agreement is a little unusual, the project itself is not. Winton said the work involves ideas the companies would like to work on themselves but lack the personnel or time to do so.

"Graduate students are always looking for opportunities," said Young, "especially ones which provide work around a thesis topic."

Students in the project take three hours of thesis work and six other credit hours, ideally in courses related to their thesis topics.

Xu said he did not mind choosing a topic from a list.

Young said the process could be limiting to some students, but it has worked well for him so far.

Both students expect the project to help them gain experience that will help them after graduation.

"Through this fellowship program, graduate students will be able to practically utilize the knowledge learned through their studies at UNF in a research-oriented work environment," Seyed-Abbassi said.

Chua said the projects are in the early stages, but he said the department is excited by the possibilities the agreement with Mayo and Siemens presents.

"The Mayo/Siemens fellowships allow us to support exceptional CIS graduate students during their final year of graduate studies at UNF," he said. "Research topics are selected based on academic value as well as possible applicability in the health care field."

Collom and Winton said no other programs on campus are at the level of the Mayo/Siemens project, although Mayo does work with other departments on campus. Winton said he would like the project to be a model for other programs. He also would like to see the Mayo/Siemens agreement renewed.

"If they see a return on investment, I'm sure they will want to (renew)," he said.
The project also may signal a change within the graduate program, which now offers only master's degrees.

"I view this as an opening toward moving toward a Ph.D program, and it gives the faculty a chance to do something outside the box," Winton said.