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LA NAVIDI urve in experts y," said rt with t office. ount of s make partner test-fly passed tration ked the ons to drones ws only remote VEGAS INC UNLV's new education dean sets sights on raising college's profile STEVE MARCUS MID FLIGHT: A Hexacopter drone shows off during the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International convention at Mandalay Bay. The $6,500 system offers filmmakers the ability to record video from unique angles. control or someone sitting in the cockpit. Unmanned drones, which are preprogrammed with flight plans, are banned. Integrating autonomous drones into airspace already brimming with military, commercial, passenger and small aircraft is a delicate matter for the safety-conscious FAA. To avoid head-on collisions, pilots are taught to break right when faced with an oncoming plane. How will unmanned drones react? The issue, known as deconfliction in the industry, will require extensive testing of UAVs' "sense and avoid" capabilities. Drones must be able to sense other aircraft and avoid collisions if the FAA is going to allow them to take to the sky. Another concern is drones' ability to communicate securely with human handlers and other drones. The FAA worries about drone hijackings and communication problems. To test commercial drones and develop new regulations, the FAA wants to open six drone test sites across the country. Nevada is one of 37 states vying for the designation. Nevada's application identified four places where the FAA and state officials could fly drones: Desert Rock Airport near Mercury; an old airport near Fallon; Stead Airport near Reno; and the old Boulder City Airport. If chosen as a test site, Nevada would gain a leg up in attracting drone-related businesses to the state. Major aerospace companies, such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, could expand their footprint in the state and entrepreneurs could move here to set up new companies. To prepare for the industry, UNLV is expanding its research into drones | 12 AUGUST 2013 20130812_VI01_F.indd 15 | and developing new courses. UNR also is launching a minor degree program, starting this fall. Even if Nevada fails to win FAA approval, UNLV and UNR still plan to offer drone studies in preparation for the wider adoption of drones when airspace is opened in 2015. UNLV's drone program will be part of the school's engineering college and will pull together existing coursework in aerodynamics, computer science and engineering. UNLV also wants to apply for a piece of the state's $10 million "Knowledge Fund," earmarked to develop innovative businesses and technologies. "We want to be proactive," Piechota said. "We want to be ready. This is something that students are going to need to know about for them to get jobs here and in other places. They need to be introduced to this." UNLV won't be starting from scratch. The university has been studying drones for seven years, amassing a small fleet of unmanned planes and "quadcopters," tiny helicopters with four propellers. Bill Culbreth, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, specializes in unmanned drone research. He has been working with other science faculty to try to answer some of the questions associated with UAVs. Culbreth hopes the new drone minor will spark students' interest in the science field. State and university officials for years have mulled over ways to encourage more students to participate in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. "We need ways to excite these kids at the high school and college levels," Culbreth said. "I've found students are fascinated by (drones). They're just fun to fly." By Paul Takahashi staff writer Kim Metcalf has big plans for UNLV's College of Education. The new education dean wants the university to maintain its standing as the top producer of teachers in Nevada and continue building its reputation as a solid teaching preparation program. Metcalf also believes UNLV should become the place where state leaders turn for credible information about Nevada's schools and education policies. "It's not enough to take care of our college or CCSD," Metcalf said. "We have the capacity and responsibility to contribute to the broader dialogues about teaching practices and policies. We have the potential to influence educational policy and practice — not just in Southern Nevada, but nationwide." Research topics, some of which already are being pursued by professors, could include teacher preparation and evaluation, schoolchoice policies and technology in the classroom. Metcalf comes to UNLV with a wealth of knowledge about school-choice initiatives, such as voucher programs and charter schools. Nevada, with its libertarian leanings, has a burgeoning school-choice movement and leads the nation in charter school enrollment growth. The topic is hotly-debated nationwide. Proponents argue parents should have the right to decide the best education for their children. Critics argue alternative schools siphon much-needed taxpayer money away from traditional public schools. Metcalf hopes UNLV faculty can earn the credibility of both sides of the debate with its research. "My responsibility is to try to build the trust of the governor and policymakers who might worry about what our ideological agenda might be," Metcalf said. "If we can find ways to communicate with them so they can trust us to not be promoting our own ideology, I think we can provide a real service." ••• As former director of Indiana University's Center for Evaluation, Metcalf spearheaded a seven-year, multimillion-dollar study of schoolvoucher programs and charter schools in Cleveland that examined why parents opted against public schools and how their children fared in nontraditional schools. Metcalf found few parents exercised their school-choice options, but parents who did generally were more satisfied with their children's education than parents who didn't, regardless of how well the school did academically. Parents generally chose their children's schools based not on their academic records but their reputation and the socio-economic status of their student bodies. Metcalf hopes to encourage UNLV faculty to conduct similar research on Nevada's charter schools. He also would like to evaluate Gov. Brian Sandoval's school voucher proposal if it passes the 2015 legislative session. The research could have serious implications, Metcalf said. "Parental choice in whatever form it takes is going to continue to increase," he said. "If it's done well, I think the notion of giving families more voice in how their children are educated could probably be a good thing. If the policy itself isn't structured properly, it can exacerbate differences in the haves and have-nots. My fear is if we don't do these things well, we could end up creating a system that completely neglects a segment of the population who won't have the capacity to do any better." ••• Beyond school choice, Metcalf hopes to reconstruct UNLV's Englishlanguage teaching program, which was decimated by budget cuts, so graduates can better engage the state's 55,000 English-language learners. Metcalf also hopes UNLV can work with the school district to study whether technology initiatives, such as the iPad program, help students academically. "There's real need for research in that realm," Metcalf said. "In fact, the research is lagging behind the available technology." Metcalf also would like to emphasize research on teacher preparation in light of a recent report that found that the state's preparation programs were severely lacking. Metcalf criticized the study but said it reopened the debate about what good teacher training models should look like and how UNLV's College of Education can improve. "It's an exciting time to be in education," Metcalf said. "It's a little frightening, but this uncertainty and dynamism give us the opportunity to try some very unique things." 15 8/8/13 2:11:15 PM