COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH PROJECT IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

In 2007, some students in the Master of Science in Wireless Communication (MSWC) program at National University observed and experienced a devastating wildfire that occurred in Southern California. This article describes how these students learned and applied their knowledge to a critical need and expressed their willingness to serve the community. The article also briefly investigates the structural relationships among the program's mission, program requirements, learning outcomes, assessment measures, and qualitative elements of the program by demonstrating students' work on a capstone project entitled "Wildfire Detection and Monitoring System." In this capstone project, students integrated hardware and software to develop an engineering product prototype to meet a pressing need. The project formal report, presentation, and prototype demonstration were evaluated by a judging panel consisting of two faculty and two professionals from the wireless industry. After careful review, the panel concluded not only that the student project was satisfactory to validate student mastery of the MSWC program, but it recommended that real world implementation of the project should be seriously considered with appropriate local governments.