Daruma Tech Academy and two- day digital design workshops, are educational initiatives for the Museum of Discovery and Science, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Both projects evolved from Daruma Tech’s longstanding partnership with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and the museum’s APP-titude program, in which students learn to create assets for the museum’s free mobile app, available for both Android and iPhone platforms. The APP-titude program provides students the opportunity to earn volunteer service hours, one unit of college credit, and a stipend through an immersion experience at the museum and participate in a three-week, dual-enrollment course in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at FAU. Second-year interns mentor the incoming students, continue working on app development, and introduce museum visitors to the apps. This unique internship, now entering its fifth year, is funded by United Way of Broward County and supported by a coalition of academic, commercial, and non-profit partners, including FAU and Daruma Tech.

Dioxide Materials and FAU’s Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering (I-SENSE) continue their partnership in the area of whole-building CO2 monitoring for whole-building CO2 sensing and demand control ventilation. The team submitted a joint proposal to the ARPA-E SENSOR program (Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition), and a subsequent concept paper to the ARPA-E OPEN program. Dioxide Materials additionally engaged the FAU team on an existing NOAA effort through a sub-award, focused on hardware support for a new version of Dioxide Material’s CO2 sensor for in-water applications.

Collaborative endeavors with Dr. Fred Steinberg, University MRI, have taken many dimensions over the years, and have been extremely fruitful, resulting in presentations, more than 40 published articles, student MA and Ph.D. theses, and funded grants totaling more than $3 million. Some of the projects undertaken include the investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying behavioral coordination and its breakdown; uncovering the neural circuits involved in human timing and quantifying their context dependence; investigating the neurophysiolgical and anatomical basis for cognitive deficits and recovery of function following from mild brain injury; and investigating neural mechanisms involved in learning disabilities.