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Matt Boutell Gets Fulbright Scholar Award to Teach & Expand International Experiences
July 8, 2011
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology computer science professor
Matt Boutell will spend the 2011-12 academic year expanding his
teaching and international educational experiences through the
Fulbright Scholarship program at Copperbelt University in
Zambia.
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Matt Boutell
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This opportunity is part of Rose-Hulman's educational initiative
to expand international experiences for students and faculty
members. He is the 13th Rose-Hulman professor to be named a
Fulbright Scholar.
Boutell will join approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and
professionals in travelling abroad in 2011-12 to increase mutual
understanding between people of America and the people of other
countries. It is the flagship international educational
program sponsored by the U.S. government.
"My biggest interest in this international teaching experience
is to become involved and immersed in another country's culture,"
said Boutell. He sought a Fulbright Scholarship after
learning the experiences of Rose-Hulman colleague David Mutchler as
a scholar in 2000-01 at Mauritius, an island off the southeast
coast of Africa.
At Copperbelt University, Boutell will teach advanced courses in
image recognition, cryptography and Android development, which will
culminate in directed study projects. He will assist faculty
to improve lecture skills and curriculum development, along with
assisting in applied research in software development. He
also hopes to open educational outreach projects between
Rose-Hulman and Copperbelt.
"Mentoring students in mobile phone development could have an
additional economic benefit for the people of Zambia," stated
Boutell. "If a student writes a single application that is
published either in the iPhone App Store or the Android Market, it
can easily bring in revenues of $200-$300 in U.S. dollars per
month. This would make a difference for a Zambian
entrepreneur. While software development can theoretically be
done anywhere, mentoring Zambians to develop software can only be
done in Zambia."
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| Love Of Teaching: Matt Boutell, associate professor of
computer science, is passionate about teaching Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology students about knowledge he has gained on
software development. He has also been a leader for starting
the college's robotics initiative. |
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Copperbelt University, one of three public universities in
Zambia, has approximately 5,100 students and 207 faculty
members. The college is located in Kitwe, Zambia, and was
established in 1987 by the government to educate residents in
business, technology and environmental sciences.
A former high-school computer science teacher, Boutell is
passionate about teaching what he has learned about software
development. His image recognition course at Rose-Hulman is
based on topics learned as a researcher at Eastman Kodak Company
and at the University of Rochester, where he completed his
doctorate degree in 2005. More recently, he has learned the
fundamentals of cryptography and mechatronics, and regularly
teaches courses on these topics as well. His technical
research interests include multimedia content understanding,
computer vision, machine learning, image databases and pattern
recognition. He is also interested in expanding robotics
education and computer science education.
"My application was certainly stronger because of work I've done
with other Rose-Hulman computer science faculty," said
Boutell. "The Fulbright Scholar offers a great opportunity
for me and my family. Hopefully, it will also pave the way
for greater educational options for Rose-Hulman students through
international projects or study-abroad programs."
Boutell will join his wife, Leah, and their five children in
leaving the U.S. in September. They are planning to stay in
Zambia through July, 2012.