Senior Alan M. George won first place in the Undergraduate Student Research Contest for his project, titled "Using Only Bumper Sensors to Map and Navigate an Enviroment."

LAKELAND, Fla. (Nov. 17, 2008) — Florida Southern College senior Alan M. George won first place in the Undergraduate Student Research Contest of the 22nd Annual Southeastern Conference of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges.

His project, titled “Using Only Bumper Sensors to Map and Navigate an Environment,” is part of his senior thesis work, performed under the direction of Dr. Gwendolyn Walton, FSC professor of computer science.

The competition began in September, when students submitted extended abstracts of their research. Twelve students were invited to participate in the next phase of the competition by making a poster presentation at the CCSC-SE conference, held Nov. 7 and 8 at Augusta State University. Mr. George was among five finalists selected to give a full presentation of their work during the conference. The winners were announced in a ceremony at the conclusion of the conference.

“We are all very proud of Alan,” Dr. Walton said. “His robotics software research is excellent, and he gave a very professional presentation at the conference. It has been a privilege for me to direct Alan’s undergraduate research and to teach the Florida Southern College computer science students.”

Mr. George, who is majoring in computer science and mathematics, is the son of Donald and Diane George of Dover, N.H.