A guest walks up the amphitheater staircase of UTSA's new San Pedro I facility in downtown San Antonio.
FEBRUARY 2, 2023 — From exploring what’s possible with artificial intelligence to uncovering how data science can identify vulnerabilities in a smart home, there’s plenty going on at San Pedro I, the newest addition to UTSA’s campus in downtown San Antonio.
The new high-tech facility, which opened earlier this month, houses the School of Data Science, the first of its kind in Texas, and the National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC), the state’s largest hub for government, academia and industry partners in national security. The facility houses programs in computer science, artificial intelligence, data science, data analytics and statistics as well as 16 UTSA research centers, institutes and labs including the MATRIX: AI Consortium for Human Well-being and the Open Cloud Institute.
Other lab spaces make room for research and teaching in bioinformatics, cyber-informed engineering, data engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, smart transportation and more.
Here are eight unique projects underway at San Pedro I.
SAY HOLA TO YOUR NEW LANGUAGE TEACHER
Carry on a conversation in Spanish using the VR/AI Language Learning App developed in collaboration between the NSCC, Leidos Inc. and the Sixteenth Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The app, whose software was developed by a UTSA computer science student, is designed to help military service members brush up on their linguistic skills during training without an instructor present. The app also helps tackle the issue of cybersickness when using virtual reality.
CAN YOU TRUST YOUR SMARTWATCH?
Researchers in the UTSA SPriTELab (Security, Privacy, Trust & Ethics in Computing) are studying how sensors on consumer electronic devices can be exploited to capture sensitive and personal information about users.
ROBOTIC TEAMWORK
Researchers are working to control thousands of robots simultaneously, known as swarm robotics, to preform complicated tasks that could benefit different areas in the community from law enforcement to drone deliveries.
DISCOVER AN ANCIENT CIVILIZATION
Visiting one of Peru’s oldest temples and walking through a museum of Andean artifacts is all possible with digital anthropology. UTSA researchers are using virtual and augmented reality to enrich our understanding of ancient societies.
HOW SECURE IS YOUR SMART HOME?
As homes become smarter, researchers in the Internet of Things (loT) and Digital Forensics lab are conducting vulnerability analyses and digital forensic analyses on smart home and commercial security devices.
WHEN BIOLOGY AND COMPUTER SCIENCE MEET
UTSA researchers in Computational Biology are exploring how complex, massive biological data sets are being converted into discoveries and improved cancer outcomes.
BECOME A HACKER TO BEAT A HACKER
To protect computing and manufacturing devices, researchers in the UTSA Cloud Lab for Applied Engineering are first learning how to attack or hack them.
CYBERSECURITY PROBLEM SOLVERS
How do Texas non-profit organizations protect themselves and their donors from ransomware and cyber-theft? The NSCC National Security Collaboration Center in coordination with MITRE and the UTSA Department of Computer Science have created a unique academia-public-private program called Project Xander for San Antonio to address threats against non-profits, including youth and faith-based organizations. The initiative is giving UTSA students hands-on learning experience to make them more competitive job candidates for employers.
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Come celebrate the doctoral students graduating this commencement season.
H-E-B Student Union Ballrooms, UTSA Main CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of the graduates of the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St, San Antonio, TX 78203Celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates of the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St, San Antonio, TX 78203First Friday Stargazing gives anyone free access to the night sky using university telescopes and teaching equipment. Weather permitting, experienced astronomers will provide a handful of telescopes of varying designs, give training on how each operates, and point to various astronomical objects that may appear in the sky for that given time of the year. If you have a telescope and do not know how to operate it, feel free to bring it and get instructions on its use.
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