in the College of Engineering. “We’ve been hoping for more projects that bring students together from the different departments, but what we’ve discovered is many of the projects are really single discipline,” he says.
the company’s policies, practices, and rules. And the faculty get to know the company. It has opened up new research projects for me because I’ve gotten to know the details of what they do and the problems they face.” Stefan Hordeyczuk, a 2001 USF College of Engineering graduate who now works for Syniverse, has met with the students twice a week to discuss their project, which involves building a data map that can precisely show where its customers — Verizon, AT&T, and other major mobile carriers — are experiencing large volumes of dropped calls. The students will make a presentation to Syniverse’s top executives on their project and their findings in May. “This project encompassed quite a lot of things,” Hordeyczuk says. “They had to know the database and then build a data map. They had to load data and understand the data, as well as what kind of significance it has. They have to go out and determine: What’s the best solution. They get a lot of exposure to the different pieces of our work.”
BEST Projects Four BEST projects were completed in 2013-14 (this was the first year for the BEST program) and seven are taking place during this academic year. Christensen says he hopes 20 to 30 percent of the college’s students eventually have a chance to participate; the total now is less than five percent. The key, he says, is continuing to build awareness about the program. The BEST program is an outcome from the emphasis on experiential learning from the College’s Advisory Board. Christensen says that he thanks the Advisory Board for their continued support of the BEST program and the benefits it brings students
The project with Harris Corp., for example, is “purely mechanical engineering,” Pyrtle says. “This was something Harris had assigned its engineers to at previous times, but they did not come up with something that’s acceptable,” Pyrtle says. “It wasn’t a high priority for them, so they did not put the resources into research and development. Through the academic partnership, they’ve been able to get some work done and there’s been further development of the idea via the student input. So it’s been a good project for everyone concerned.” Hordeyczuk says the Syniverse project “broadens the students’ horizons and gives them exposure to a lot of different things that they will use going forward in their careers.” He says he wishes the BEST program had existed while he was at USF because it “would have given me a head start when I needed it.” “We had a lot more interaction with this group than I did when I was working on my senior project, and that’s invaluable for these students,” he says. “They see how businesses run, working in teams with different dynamics. These are opportunities that don’t present themselves that often when they’re going through their regular undergraduate studies.” Novak calls the project “an interesting mix of fun and frustration.” And that is part of the point of BEST, to show students what life in the real world will look like. “I’ve learned so much about what I do know and what I don’t know as I get ready to graduate,” says Novak, who plans to remain in the Tampa area after graduation. “There’s only so much your program can do for you in the classroom, and this really taught me to accept the fact that I’m going to have some gaps and weaknesses when I’m fresh out of school. But because of this, I can get a head start on ways to overcome them.”
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