Strategic Initiatives
Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP)
The Louis Stokes-Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP) is one of more than 30 National Science Foundation (NSF) alliance programs nationwide. LS-LAMP is designed to increase substantially the number and quality of minority students receiving baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to increase the number of minority students earning graduate degrees in STEM fields supported by NSF, with emphasis on the philosophy doctorate (Ph.D.). The long-term goals of the LS-LAMP program are to double the number of Louisiana minority students receiving BS degrees in STEM disciplines (from 500 to 1000) and for at least 20% of these BS recipients to be accepted into STEM graduate school programs. The basic strategy of LS-LAMP, as per its proposal, is the statewide replication of the proven and US Presidential Award-winning, 10-Strand Systemic Mentoring model of the Timbuktu Academy at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge (SUBR). The referenced systemic mentoring activities, including financial support, scientific advisement, research participation, monitoring, and guidance to graduate school or the high technology industry, are carried out in the undergraduate STEM programs at the eleven (11) LS-LAMP institutions [i.e., Dillard University, Grambling State University, Louisiana State University, McNeese State University, Nunez Community College, Southern University and A&M College, Southern University at New Orleans, Southern University at Shreveport, Tulane University, the University of New Orleans, the University Louisiana at Lafayette, and Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON)]. The Louisiana Alliance is led by Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge (SUBR) with the active input and advice of an array of collaborating public and private sector entities including the LS-LAMP Governing Board, chaired by the Commissioner of Higher Education.
Southern University Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (SUBR LIGO) Project
Southern University and A&M College is key partner of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) Science Education Center (SEC) partnership. The partnership consists of three members: (1) the LIGO SEC, (2) Southern University and A&M College (SU - School of Education and the Department of Physics, Mathematics, and Science/Mathematics Education Doctoral Program-SMED) and (3) the San Francisco Exploratorium. The overall mission of this partnership is to create an exemplary statewide educational and informational resource to promote scientific learning and understanding in Louisiana and beyond. LIGO SEC partners have implemented initiatives and programs to achieve the following goals: (1) communicate LIGO-related science concepts to the public; (2) strengthen candidate and clinical educator science teaching; (3) reach a broad audience of students in Louisiana and the surrounding region; and (4) create a national model for ways in which scientists and educators in universities, systemic programs, school districts, and informal learning environments can work together to support inquiry-based teaching and learning. Combined efforts of a cutting-edge research laboratory, a historically black college and university (HBCU) under the auspices of the only HBCU system in the nation, and a leading museum that specializes in informal science education, have resulted in an effective center for teacher training, and student science education and community engagement, with a broad and growing effect on teaching and learning in Louisiana and beyond. Consistent with the initial mission of the LIGO SEC Partnership, it further develops a pipeline for under-represented audiences to engage in STEM activities.
Southern University students are afforded the opportunity to be exposed to the research of the LIGO Livingston Observatory. This observatory was designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. LIGO detected gravitational waves predicted by Einstein, and as a result, LIGO in Livingston was deemed an historic site by the American Physical Society (APS) in 2018. LIGO is the first site in the 21st century to receive such a designation by APS that are only awarded to sights that have made critical contributions to physics. LIGO’s multi-kilometer-scale gravitational wave detectors use laser interferometry to measure the minute ripples in space-time caused by passing gravitational waves from cataclysmic cosmic events such as colliding neutron stars or black holes, or by supernovae. LIGO consists of two widely-separated interferometers within the United States - one in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana - operated in unison to detect gravitational waves. The design and construction of LIGO were carried out by a team of scientists, engineers, and staff at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and collaborators from over 80 scientific institutions worldwide that are members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Southern University is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. LIGO and the LIGO SEC Partnership are funded by the National Science Foundation.
The research of LIGO has been extended to the community by way of the LIGO Science Education Center Partnership.
Timbuktu Academy
The Timbuktu Academy is an umbrella recruitment, advisement, mentoring, support, guidance, and research participation program for undergraduate and pre-college scholars. It is primarily focused in the Department of Physics but includes the Departments of Engineering, Chemistry, and Mathematics. The academy was established in 1990-91 with funding from the National Science Foundation and Louisiana Stimulus for Excellence in Research (LaSER). Major funding from the Department of Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR), in the fall of 1993, was pivotal in strengthening the academy and its expansion to engineering, chemistry, and mathematics.
The objectives of the Timbuktu Academy are to produce well-trained science, engineering, and mathematics graduates; guide these graduates to Ph.D. degree programs; and produce new professional and educational services to local and national communities, in general, and pre-college students in particular.
Selected Research Laboratories
(Colleges of Sciences and Engineering)
The College of Sciences and Engineering operates and maintains several computer laboratories for research activities. The following applications are installed in all computer laboratories: Windows 2000, Office XP Suite, Publisher XP, I-deas 7, Matlab R12, Algor, Adams, AutoCAD 2002 Suite, SPSS 10.1, Acrobat Reader 5.1, Internet Explorer 6, QuickTime 6, PSpice 9.2.3, FEMap 8.1, Xilinx 5.1i Suite, Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition 7.6, Direct X 9, Visual Studio.Net Suite and Windows Media Player 9. These are:
Advanced Computing Laboratory. The College has a state-of-the-art workstation laboratory which contains 20 Dell Precision 530 workstations with 1.8GHz CPUs, DUAL 19” digital flat panel monitors and Wildcat 6110 digital video cards. The Wildcat 6110 digital video cards have a total of 206MB RAM to quickly solve complicated graphic problems. An HP Design jet 5000PS 42-inch plotter is used to print CAD drawings, posters, and other, large format output. Two Thermo jet 3D printers are available that allow to print 3D physical representations of their models. The thermoplastic, used in the Thermo jet 3D printers as a building material to construct objects, is very durable. The SLA 250 model Thermojet is a stereolithography solid object printer that uses a liquid polymer resin, in conjunction with a laser, to produce 3D objects.
CAD Laboratories. The College has two CAD laboratories which contain a total of 60 computers (30 in each lab). One CAD lab contains Dell Optiplex GX240 computers which include 1.8GHz CPUs, 40GB hard drives, 512MB RAM, and 19” monitors. The other CAD lab has Dell Precision 530 workstations with 1.8GHz CPUs, 19” digital flat panel monitors, and Wildcat 6110 digital video cards. The Wildcat 6110 digital video cards have a total of 206MB RAM to quickly solve complicated graphic problems.
CAVE. The College has a Computer Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). The CAVE is the most widely used walk-in visualization environment in the world. Southern University is the first in the state to provide such a useful and powerful tool. What makes this CAVE even more unique is the fact that it is a Windows 2000 based CAVE. Most CAVEs are Linux based systems that are often difficult for inexperienced end-users to use. The Windows 2000 interface provides drag and drop capability and a much smaller learning curve for users. Data from any of our engineering programs (I-DEAS Master Series, Matlab, Fluent, AutoCAD, Algor, Adams, etc.) can be viewed in the CAVE. Faculty and students can visually interact with their data in real time 3D by wearing stereo glasses and using interactive gloves while viewing the data.
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is the home of the Samuel Massie Chair of Excellence and the Safety of Dams Training programs. These programs create a model research atmosphere in the field of Environmental Engineering and water resources to complement the academic program in Civil Engineering and to promote scholarly advancement through research and publications. The Department has a state-of-art environmental laboratory to perform air, soil, and water analyses for both organic and inorganic compounds on a wide range of materials. In addition, the environmental laboratory can support research in water and wastewater analysis, solid and hazardous waste, air quality and bioremediation. The Department has the necessary equipment and the laboratory space to perform most fundamental laboratory experiments in construction materials, environmental, hydraulics, soil mechanics, and surveying.
The Department of Electrical Engineering has fifteen (15) instructional and research laboratories. The labs are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation. They are Telecommunication and Information Technology, Computer Network and Wireless Data communication and Interfacing program, mechatronics, automation and control of computer integrated manufacturing tools. A telecommunication lab contains modular communications components from which students currently build and study IS & FM transmitters and receivers and data modems. Oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, and other test equipment provide the capability to measure performance and signal characteristics. The lab also houses Analog/Digital conversion hardware and a set of workstations running Digital Signal Processing software for modeling and study of digital filtering techniques. Solid-state Devices and VLSI Laboratory houses equipment such as a water probing station and a transistor parametric tester. They are used for characterization and testing of devices and integrated circuits. A High-Performance Computing Multi-Media Laboratory is used extensively in government and industry-supported research of high- speed data interfaces and protocols.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering has eighteen (18) instructional and research laboratories. The labs are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation. The department’s material testing capabilities in the area of materials science and engineering consist of an Instron 1230, a 55 kips rated MTS 810 Servo-hydraulic Universal Testing Machine equipped with numerical controlled hardware and software for mechanical testing up to 1000∞ C, a Dynatup Model 8250HV High Velocity Impact equipment integrated with an environment conditioning system for testing temperature range of -50∞ to 175∞ C and fully computer control and data acquisition system, a multi-specimen fatigue machine, Solartron SI 1280 electro-chemical measurement equipment and corrosion monitoring interface, an in-house microscopic image processor, and a Scanning Electron Microscope (Hitachi S-2460N) for fractography and microstructure analysis. Also, a complete set of equipment for light microscopy and metallography is available. In design and manufacturing area a CAD/CAM laboratory, coupled with a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) laboratory, provide hands-on experience and an understanding of the design to manufacturing concept. The department’s model shop is used by the students to construct their design prototypes or prepare experimental research setups. The aerodynamic and fluid mechanics laboratories with a 0-140 fps wind tunnel, a water tunnel, and a 3-D Laser Doppler Anemometer provide research and instructional capabilities.
The Department of Biology has several laboratories that are equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and animal quarters for health and biological science research. A new two-story building with five additional research labs was recently built for biological and biochemical research. A transmission electron microscope and a biotechnology lab are the latest addition.
The Department of Chemistry houses nine research laboratories, three instrumentation laboratories, three service storerooms, and other support services. The laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art instruments which include a Mass Spectrometer, two Atomic Absorption spectrometers, a scintillation counter, several gas chromatographs, an HPCL FT/NMR (400 MHz) AC, a total carbon analyzer, an ultracentrifuge, an automatic titrator, and several infrared, ultraviolet, and visible spectrometers.
The Department of Computer Science houses seven computer laboratories and the Southern University Industrial Applications Center (SU/IAC) with access to nearly 500 computerized databases including Scientific and Technological Databases, the Commerce Business Daily, Business and Industry Databases, and the Database of Databases. Some of the equipment includes DEC VAX 8200 Raytheon data system, PTS/1200, seven AT&T 3B2/300’s linked by STARLAN, AT&T 3B2/400, DEC PDP 11/70, seven AT&T UNIX 7300 PC’s, a teaching laboratory with 25IBM PS/2’s liked by a Token Ring, and other pieces of equipment. These Local Area Networks (LANs) are connected to a campus network of mainframe computers, including IBM ES 9000 and IBM 4341.
The Department of Physics houses 11 instructional laboratories and four (4) research laboratories, including the Particle Detector and High Energy lab and the High-Tech Superconductivity Study and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Lab. Instrumentation includes a Fourier Transform IR Spectrophotometer, a CAMAC Based Data Acquisition System, a SunSpace Station, 35 IBM computers, 15 MacIntosh computers, a Digital Computer Vax Station, four Gateway 2000 XL computers, and other equipment.