Incoming graduate student Eldridge Alcantara has been awarded the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship. The five year award covers full tuition, $1300 book allowance per year, and a $38K annual stipend.
Established by the Department of Defense (DoD), the SMART Scholarship for Service Program supports undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The program aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at DoD laboratories. For the past four years, Eldridge has been employed as a civilian at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific), a Navy research lab in San Diego, CA. SSC Pacific is the sponsoring agency of Eldridge’s SMART Scholarship.
Eldridge’s research focus will be in the area of communications and networking. His research interests include software-defined radios, digital signal processing for communication systems, and underwater acoustic communications and networking and their applications to Navy systems. Starting fall 2013, Eldridge will be working on the Ocean-TUNE project with professors Payman Arabshahi and Sumit Roy.