The U.S. Department of
Transportation has named Boise State
 |
| Dr. Sin Ming Loo and 2007 DOT FAA Student of the Year
Arlen Planting |
University graduate student
Arlen Planting as the 2007 Federal Aviation Administration Air
Transportation Centers of Excellence Outstanding Student of the Year.
Planting was selected from among students at more than 60 top universities
from across the nation.
Planting, who is pursuing a master’s degree in electrical engineering at
Boise State, received the award in official ceremonies held Jan. 20 in
Washington, D.C. Planting was accompanied to the ceremony by Ambassador
Edward W. Stimpson, former U.S. representative to the Council of the
International Civil Aviation Organization. Stimpson and Planting were joined
by former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who received a
lifetime achievement award. Planting was also accompanied by Barry Scott,
Acting Director, FAA Office of Aviation Research, and Patricia Watts,
National Program Director for the FAA Air Transportation Centers of
Excellence.
Planting’s research is sponsored through the FAA Center of Excellence for
Airliner Cabin Environment Research by the FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine.
Planting
conducts research under the direction of Sin Ming Loo, a Boise State
electrical and computer engineering professor. Boise State’s part of
the project involves the development of sensors and instrumentation to
monitor air quality and detect contaminants.
 |
| Pictured are student awardees from U.S. DOT's University
Transportation Centers (UTC) program at the Annual Outstanding
Student of the Year Awards ceremony. With the students are Dan
Turner, University of Alabama, President, Council of University
Transportation Centers, Norman Y. Mineta, former US Secretary of
Transportation, and John Bobo, Administrator, US DOT Research and
Innovative Technology Administration |
Planting has played a pivotal role in the integration of hardware and
software design for a wireless sensor network that could be used to detect
and measure contaminants in airliner cabins, Loo said. The system would
include flexible circuitry that allows an interchangeable number and type of
sensors to be placed in the airliner cabins to measure contaminants such as
smoke, ozone, bacteria, noise level and carbon dioxide. Other sensors could
also be incorporated in the flexible circuitry if deemed necessary.
After completing
Boise State’s pre-engineering program in the 1970s, Planting earned a
bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Boise State and then took
post-baccalaureate courses in computer science at Oregon State University.
He has worked in various technical positions at Hewlett Packard, H&W
Computer Systems, the Oregon Department of Higher Education, and others for
more than a decade. His love for computer science and engineering and his
enthusiasm for research prompted him to enroll in Boise State’s master’s
program in electrical engineering in 2004.
