"Taste of UND" Showcase set for March 19 in Minneapolis It will be "show and tell" higher education-style when the University of North Dakota takes its show on the road Wednesday, March 19, 6 to 9 p.m. at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The event is free and open to the public. The "show" is the "Taste of UND" Showcase, featuring exhibits from 16 of UND's best-known campus units. On display, for example, will be the CropCam, an example of the newest venture of the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences: Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The four-foot-long, eight-foot-wingspan, six-pound CropCam is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a digital camera mounted under the wing. It represents a new future for aviation, according to Robert Concannon, UAS course manager at UND's Odegard School. Although UAS have been used in military applications, their non-military use in the United States is essentially non-existent, in large part because they are restricted from U.S. airspace. UND has attracted significant funding in recent years to study the use of UAS, to work with the FAA to develop standards for safely flying UAS, and to study the psychological and behavioral factors of the personnel who operate UAS. Other UND departments and units showing their stuff include the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Engineering and Mines, College of Nursing, College of Business and Public Administration, College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English, College of Education and Human Development, School of Law, Division of Continuing Education, Enrollment Services, the Graduate School, UND Athletics, and the UND Alumni Association. The "tell" is President Charles Kupchella, Alumni Association Executive Vice President Tim O'Keefe, and others who will talk about the UND of today and tomorrow. The event is free and open to the public. "We're being proactive in telling our UND story. We have great things going on and we wanted to share that -- to bring a little bit of the UND experience to our many alumni and friends in the Twin Cities area and beyond. We want them to know where we are, and where we're going," said President Charles Kupchella. In his ninth year as UND's 10th president, Kupchella retires June 30. Kupchella said UND is in the third year of its second five-year strategic plan. He credited the plan, as well as UND's faculty, staff and supporters, for much of the growth that the University has achieved in the past six years. UND, for example, now has an annual economic impact of nearly $1 billion dollars. That includes a doubling in the past five years of the research and supported program dollars to more than $100 million in 2006-07, said Kupchella. The evening will include an opportunity for old friends to reconnect and to meet new friends, said Don Kojich, UND executive associate vice president for university relations.