The Bear Ledger

Michelle Enfinger, Ben Tackett, John White
and Kyle Eichelberger

Faculty, staff, students and media representatives cheered for Team Bears Unlimited at one of their final rehearsal sessions before the team departed for the Imagine Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia. The team departed on Saturday, July 6.  Imagine Cup winners will be announced live on July 11 at 8:30 a.m. at www.imaginecup.com.

The Imagine Cup is an international technology competition hosted by Microsoft. The four-member team, John White, Ben Tackett, Kyle Eichelberger and Michelle Enfinger, represent the United States against 35 other teams in the World Citizenship category of the competition. “No US team has ever won the Imagine Cup in the 11 years that it’s been going until this year when we win,” Kyle Eichelberger told the crowd.

The computer science students developed the Bear Claw System. This is a glove outfitted with sensors to assist physical and occupational therapy patients at the hand, wrist, and forearm. The system uses a motion glove that communicates through a connected Windows smart phone.

If Team Bears Unlimited wins, the team will earn a $50,000 prize. More importantly, the Bear Claw System could potentially help thousands of physical and occupational therapy patients. Faculty mentors, Dr. Sinan Kockara and Dr. Tansel Halic, are accompanying the team in Russia.

To see more on the presentation or the team, please see some of the local media coverage they have received:

Log Cabin Democrat http://thecabin.net/latest-news/2013-07-02/uca-students-representing-us-worldwide-tech-competition
Arkansas Democrat Gazette http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/jul/03/team-going-russia-glove-20130703/
KTHV http://www.thv11.com/news/article/270360/2/UCA-team-develops-glove-to-help-therapy-patients-recover
Arkansas Business http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/93347/uca-team-headed-to-russia-for-microsoft-imagine-cup-finals

Dr. R. W. (Bob) Reising’s, evening supervisor, Academic Success Center, review of JIM THORPE: A BIOGRAPHY, by William Cook, published by McFarland  in 2011, has appeared in the University of California, Los Angeles’s AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL.

Ellen Epping, clinical instructor II and coordinator of the athletic training education program, was selected by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) Site Visitor Ad Hoc committee for site visit training for 2014. She will be involved with training sessions from 2013-2014. Site Visitors receive formal and organized training through workshops of various lengths conducted by CAATE Commissioners.

Some of the critical attributes that CAATE is looking for are listed on their website. They state that “effective Site Visitors demonstrate maturity, objectivity, diplomacy and dedication. They project an image of professionalism both in behavior and in appearance. Site Visitors appreciate the confidential nature of the task and understand the need for self-initiative, for a cooperative attitude, for an analytic approach to the task, and for necessary degrees of flexibility.”

Epping came to UCA in the fall of 2001 to coordinate the operation of the Athletic Training Education Program. With her leadership, the program first received accreditation in 2004. In 2010, the program completed a comprehensive accreditation review and demonstrated compliance with the nationally established Standards of CAATE and was accredited for a 10-year period. During her time in the program, it has evolved from four faculty and six students to eight faculty members and twenty-five to thirty students a year. Fifty-Seven UCA athletic training graduates have become certified athletic trainers since the year 2005. Under her guidance, the students have been above the national average for first time pass rate on the BOC exam.

There are currently 12 UCA graduates serving as athletic trainers in Arkansas in secondary schools, colleges, universities and graduate assistantships.

Computer science student Erica Sheff presented her research at the Posters on the Hill Conference, which was hosted by the Council on Undergraduate Research in April.

Sheff was selected from a field of 800 national applicants. Her presentation was one of 60 selected and the only one from Arkansas.

The annual event invites students from all disciplines, spanning from the arts to the sciences, to demonstrate the importance of undergraduate research to U.S. congressional members and others who support and fund these programs.

Sheff’s research project, mentored by Professor Paul Young, focuses on healthcare system interoperability. Due to the large number of incompatible computing systems within the healthcare industry, software system interoperability poses a major problem. Sheff’s work was centered on validating a component of Dr. Young’s Object-Oriented Method for Interoperability, which, when fully implemented, will enable independently developed systems to share information and cooperatively work together.

Dr. Young accompanied Sheff on her first visit to Washington D.C, where they met with Arkansas Congressman Tim Griffin.

Acxiom Corporation made a $5,000 contribution to the Computer Science Female Scholarship program. The program was started in 2012 with an initial $10,000 grant from the National Center for Women & Information technology (NCWIT). Led by Karen Thessing, a computer science instructor, the department is striving to create a more female-friendly environment to bridge the gender gap. Female students formed a student chapter of ACM-W, a professional organization for women in computing. The department awarded eleven $500 scholarships to female students in fall 2012 and spring 2013.