Arikan awarded FMC Technologies fellowship

9/18/2015 Claire Hettinger, ECE ILLINOIS

FMC Technologies awarded Toros Arikan with a fellowship to support his research on high data-rate communication through water.

Written by Claire Hettinger, ECE ILLINOIS

FMC Technologies recently awarded graduate student Toros Arikan with a fellowship to support Arikan in his research endeavors.

Toros Arikan
Toros Arikan
Arikan (BSEE ’14) works with Professor Andrew Singer on signal processing, and wrote his undergraduate thesis on estimating the velocity of blood using ultrasound. He is now earning his master’s degree and is working as a research assistant at the Coordinated Science Lab.

With Singer, Arikan studies high data-rate communication through water. This research would enable video-capable underwater communications, which would be useful for FMC Technologies. The company is the global market leader in subsea systems and a leading provider of technologies and services to the oil and gas industry.

Chuck Heaton, human resources director for the Subsea Western Region at FMC Technologies, served on the selection committee for the fellowship. He said Arikan’s research is related to the robotic technology FMC Technologies uses.

“It was a direct connection between Arikan’s fellowship activities to the type of business we have related to remote operating vehicles underneath the ocean,” he said.

The technology opens up possibilities for marine research by enabling wireless control of deep-sea robots, which would be a great asset to the oil and gas industry, Arikan said. Along with being useful in the oil and gas industry, the technology can be used in the human body by connecting sensors with hospitals to transmit data remotely, another aspect of the research Arikan is interested in pursuing.

“FMC Technologies gave me the fellowship because this is exactly the sort of application they need, so it was a good match,” Arikan said.

FMC Technologies established the fellowship program in 1963 from a donation of Illinois alumnus Bert A. Gayman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1897. It provides funds for research, undergraduate scholarships, and graduate fellowships annually.

“We are also planning to use some of the endowment money for research (at Engineering at Illinois) related to the oil and gas industry,” Heaton said.

Heaton said FMC Technologies is trying to make a direct connection between student research and industry trends.

“We are trying to design, as we move forward, a direct connection with the company,” he said. “We want to present opportunities to students to do complete internships at FMC Technologies or to connect their studies to research we’re conducting.”

Heaton said FMC Technologies recently hired several Illinois graduates for its engineering rotational program and had a handful of Illinois interns this summer. FMC Technologies plans to keep career opportunities available for Illinois alumni.

“We are interested in students applying for internships and hopefully, future employment with the company,” Heaton said. 


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This story was published September 18, 2015.