Electrical engineering graduate Brian Thibodeau has been named a 2014/2015 Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholar.

The SMART Scholarship for Service Program is a highly competitive award established by the Department of Defense (DoD) to encourage the pursuit of STEM degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level and to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at DoD research facilities. Recipients earn full tuition, a stipend and a book allowance for up to five years of undergraduate and graduate education, along with summer research internships at DoD research facilities and employment opportunities following graduation. Temple has not had a SMART Scholar since 2008.

Brian Thibodeau served for four years in the United States Air Force as an Electronic Warfare technician. He started his Bachelors of Science while still serving, and transferred to Temple University after leaving active duty to complete a BS in Electrical Engineering. As a sophomore, he was hired by Dr. Li Bai to participate in research under an Office of Naval Research grant, presenting on his work at the 6th annual International Symposium on Resilient Control Systems in San Francisco. His research focused on distributed algorithm design for intelligent decision making in uncertain environments.

With the support of SMART, Brian will pursue a Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering here at Temple under the mentorship of Dr. Bai. He interned this summer at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base working on digital signal processing with applications to GPS/Navigation and will intern at the Eglin Air Force Base the following summer working on complex control systems and embedded systems design. Following graduation, Brian will fulfill the service obligation that attends SMART funding at Eglin where he will work on the design of instrumentation panels that allow for data collection and analysis of electro-mechanical systems during flight testing.

For more information on SMART: http://smart.asee.org/.