California state Senator Ling Ling Chang visited Fullerton College’s Drone Lab to show her support towards the school’s strive for advancing technology on Friday, May 10.
Professor Jay Seidel, head of the Fullerton Drone Lab and department coordinator for journalism, welcomed Chang and her colleagues. Seidel began by introducing Chang to the various drones used by Fullerton College and all their possible applications.
The Fullerton Drone Lab is a new addition to Fullerton College’s Engineering and Technology Department. Drone courses allow students learn how to pilot an unmanned aerial vehicle as well as learn about safety restrictions and guidelines set by the Federal Aviation Administration.
From welding, search and rescue, to even agriculture, drones have endless applications to improve the efficiency of the work force.
Seidel also explained that one of his goals is to turn Fullerton College into a testing site for people to earn their drone license.
Professor Seidel showed footage from Kindercarminata 2019 on how he provided a short demo for over 1,500 elementary students who were eager to learn about drone technology.
Chang and Seidel both agreed that today’s youth is growing up with this technology and we need to be ready for them at the college level.
Several students from Seidel’s drone class showed up to give some of their testimonials about what they’ve gain from the class.
“Professor Seidel is really educating us on how to fly drones safely and helps us understand all the different rules and regulations set by the Federal Aviation Administration,” said Sean Semple, a FC welding student.
Senator Chang recently wrote a bill that states that any drone users that cause damage to someone’s property needs to leave a note with their information similar to a hit and run with a car.
The Senator was then introduced to the Fullerton Drone Lab command vehicle. The command vehicle was custom built by Flymotion to Seidel’s specifications. The vehicle is outfitted with monitors, servers, HDMI ports and can even do live broadcasting.
Seidel and his student then provided a quick demo on how the command vehicle operates as well as piloting a drone. Not having any experience, one of the Senator’s colleagues stepped up to the plate and was able to successfully fly a drone over the nearest parking lot.
Before leaving, Senator Chang presented a certificate of recognition to the Fullerton Drone Lab.
“I think it’s an amazing program. Technology is advancing so quickly we need students to be well versed, the future is now,” said Chang.
The Fullerton Drone Lab started this year with a single course with much success. Fullerton is going to be offering additional courses for novice, advanced and major specific flyers in Fall 2019.