Steven Sahyun awarded software grant for physics department
Released: September 28, 2006
National Instruments' Grant Program recently awarded University of Wisconsin-Whitewater assistant physics professor Steven Sahyun a departmental site license to LabVIEW software that will give students a step up on the competition in the physics and electronics field.
LabVIEW will be installed in all of Upham Hall's computer labs. The software is valued at $5,000 and will be used in several Physics courses, most notably the Intermediate Physics Laboratory course.
For the past two decades, LabVIEW has been widely considered the industry standard for experimental research and equipment monitoring involving all kinds of electrical devices. Engineers and scientists use LabVIEW as a quick and easy way to compute text code, which up until now has been tedious and time-consuming work.
LabVIEW is used for equipment modifications in electrical machinery, controlling robotic arms in production, as well as many other uses in the field of physics and electronics.
"By teaching LabVIEW, students are provided with a powerful software tool that makes them more marketable in the workplace and more efficient in research," Sahyun said. "LabVIEW is a 'real world' application that our graduates may encounter in their work environment."
In order for the LabVIEW software to benefit students, a matching grant from the College of Letters and Sciences Interim Dean Mary Pinkerton was provided to the physics department to purchase data acquisition units. These units make it possible for the program on the computer screen to be transferred to hands-on electronic experiments.
"This site license will allow students to learn and experiment with the program not only in class, but outside of class for assignments and other research activities," Sahyun said.- Mike Varga,vargama04@uww.edu
