Engineering Technology faculty mark accomplishments

Two Engineering Technology faculty recently marked accomplishments in entrepreneurship and scholarly works.


Dr. Ronald Eaglin



Pyramath, the brainchild of Ronald Eaglin, associate vice president of Daytona State’s College of Technology, recently was named among 2011’s best educational products for mathematics by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Homeschool Crew, a magazine and blog dedicated to home school education. Pyramath was among 80 vendor products reviewed by the Homeschool Crew and rated tops among 11 vendors nominated in the Best Math Product category.

“Children have fun when they play Pyramath, and when kids have fun, it has a great influence on the learning process,” Eaglin said. “The game offers a comprehensive arithmetic lesson that gives children unlimited practice at their individual level. “

The one- or two-player card game - which sells for $6.95 and also features an online version - is designed to help children learn math basics along with language skills as they work to complete a pyramid with their cards by solving simple equations. Each of the game’s 56 cards displays four basic mathematical symbols on the back, and the number along with English, Spanish, Chinese, Roman, French and Arabic translations and symbols on the front. Players identify the numbers on their cards and add, subtract, multiply and divide to finish their pyramid.

Eaglin invented the game several years ago and started I See Cards, Inc. to sell and market the product. Since then, more than 10,000 units have been sold.

More from the School of Engineering Technology and Occupational Programs

Dr. Eduardo Divo

Associate Professor and Assistant Chair Eduardo Divo co-organized and co-chaired three international conferences recently hosted at the University of Central Florida. These were the 7^th International Conference on Inverse Problems in Engineering held May 4-6; the 6^th International Conference on Fluid Structure Interaction held May 9-11; and the 2^nd International Conference on Disaster Management and Human Health Risk held May 11-13. He also co-edited the three corresponding books of proceedings of these conferences and published them under the name of Daytona State College. 

Surfers earn scholarships

Even before they finish competing in the National Scholastic Surfing Association’s National Interscholastic Championships being held this week in Dana Point, Calif., two members of the Daytona State College Surf Club are already bringing home top honors in the form of academic scholarships.

Team Captain Gerald Onesky and member Matt Turner were each named 2011 NSSA Surfer Scholars in recognition of their academic performance.  Onesky is maintaining a 4.0 GPA, while Turner holds a 3.5 GPA.

“One of the primary goals of the NSSA is to emphasize and encourage the academic achievement of its membership,” according to a statement posted to the organization’s website. “The Surfer Scholar list serves to recognize NSSA student surfers who have a passion for learning and have excelled scholastically. We are proud to honor these outstanding student athletes!”

Matt Turner

The surfing competition, which gets under way today and runs through Saturday, will be aired on June 25 at 2 p.m. and June 26 at 3 p.m. as part of a new CBS show called "The Alt Games College Action Sports Championships."

In total, 16 teams will be competing for the championship, 11 from California. The Daytona State Surf Club is among five teams competing from Florida. The club finished the regular season this year ranked number four overall in the southeast region. In addition to Onesky and Turner, competing club members are Robert Burns, Patrick Gingras, Eric Lomax, Priscilla Turzyn, Eric Wilson and Sarah Rodriguez.

Bruce Cook, assistant dean of co-curricular activities, is the surf club’s advisor. For more information, please call him at (386) 506-4417, or email cookb@DaytonaState.edu.

Find us on Facebook!

Daytona State College has moved full bore into the world of social media.

The College’s Facebook page, originally started several years ago as a novelty by Marketing Manager Alison Ryan and IT Project and Web Coordinator Jane Davis, has become a key tool for communicating news and information to Daytona State’s rapidly growing Facebook constituency or fans, as they are called in social media lingo.

“We started early when no one was really even paying attention to Facebook as a marketing tool,” Ryan said. “It has taken a while, but it is really becoming a valuable asset in our marketing toolbox.”

The College’s use of social media allows stakeholders to publicly share its many qualities and strengths, as well as to advance the institution and build relationships with important constituencies such as prospective and current students, donors, alumni and corporate partners. The institution also uses other social media channels such as Twitter, I-Tunes University and YouTube.

Nearly 70 percent of the college’s Facebook fan base is 18-34 year olds, but all told, their ages range from 13 to over 55, accounting for a total of 4,148 fans as of today. Those fans – and non-fans – are viewing news and other postings fed through the Facebook page approximately 70,000 times and more per month, according to Facebook's analytics system.

Dozens of college departments have started their own individual Facebook pages, including the Daytona State College Foundation, the Office of Admissions, Athletics, the Environmental Club, Southeast Museum of Photography and WDSC TV-15, just to name a few. Each is able to target its own narrow audience with focused messages.

Expanding Daytona State’s social media engagement is an opportunity to build on what the institution has learned and to take advantage of its assets in Web and marketing support. The media are still relatively new and in a constant state of evolution, but recent trends have shown that social media will be part of the marketing and communication landscape for the foreseeable future.

Want more information? Find us on Facebook!

Irish students widening their horizons once again at Daytona State College

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (June 7, 2011) – Nineteen students participating in Ireland’s Wider Horizons program have returned to Daytona State College this month for the eighth consecutive year to learn the intricacies of television production. But their visit here, which began in April and runs through late June, has been greeted by an added twist in an academic experience that only a native son can bring them.

Instructor Pat Murphy (right) poses with student participants
in Ireland’s Wider Horizons program.

Their instructor, Pat Murphy, is an award-winning videographer and former WDSC producer/director who recently retired as a lecturer in the communicating arts department at the State University of New York College at Oneonta. He is a dual U.S.-Irish citizen and has traveled the emerald isle extensively, most recently filming a documentary about the ongoing peace process in the northern part of the country. 

He knows well about the environment and culture of Northern Ireland, where the students attending Daytona State through a grant from the country’s Tyrone-Donegal Partnership live.

“These kids come from a place that is not only struggling economically, but also culturally and politically,” he said. “The issues of Northern Ireland span generations and are not easily resolved.”

Murphy’s documentary focuses on how art can drive a wedge through the conflict between Protestants and Catholics that has been waged since the early 20^th Century. “Its premise is that the conflict can be resolved by uniting people through art,” he said.

The Tyrone-Donegal Partnership works to improve employment opportunities for local young people by providing access to training, work placement and personal development programs. Founded in 1994, the partnership identifies, develops and implements cross-border initiatives for the rural Irish northern communities of West Tyrone and Donegal by sending selected students to host institutions in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Each institution features an academic focus that immerses participating students in career-specific skills training in line with their individual interests.

The students here, age 18 – 24, are studying television production and Photoshop, receiving intensive exposure in the real-world setting of the college’s television station, WDSC TV. “The curriculum is more rigorous than in past years due to the Tyrone-Donegal Partnership’s recent accreditation, which will allow it to award the students credentials when they complete the program here and return to Ireland,” said Frank Mercer, director of Daytona State’s Center for Business and Industry, who is coordinating the initiative.

Murphy’s perspective as a documentary filmmaker adds to the secondary focus of the program – promoting a greater understanding between the two traditions of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with hope of fostering peace and reconciliation through mutual understanding. “The students here are a mix of Protestants and Catholics. This blend of participants is critical to the development of better understanding and appreciation for other backgrounds in their own communities,” Murphy said.  “It also paves the way for the students to challenge their own long-standing values and preconceptions when they experience new cultures.”

WDSC General Manager Robert Williams said, “Initiatives such as this one help us demonstrate how the principles of the Daytona State College mission can enhance people’s lives, not only here at home, but the world over.”

The program concludes on June 24, and the students will return to Ireland soon after. Don Matthews, the college’s director of planning, who originally spearheaded the Tyrone Donegal - Daytona State initiative in 2004, said the experience for the students here is one that cannot be matched in their home country. “At home, these students don’t have access to the hands-on training they are getting here,” he said. “That’s why the Tyrone Donegal Partnership has continued its relationship with us through the years. Because of the experience they gain here, these students are getting a jumpstart on their careers. And that’s the difference.”