On March 9, UCF selected its fifth president, Dr. Dale Whittaker, its current provost. The selection process was an open and transparent procedure, and the the candidates were extremely competitive. At the end of the day, Dr. Whittaker was selected and will take over as the next president mid-summer. As provost, Dr. Whittaker oversaw the hiring of more than 200 additional, new … [Read more...]
STEM Focus: The State of Innovation
Bloomberg recently released its 2018 Innovation Index on the most innovative countries in the world. The United States dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in the index’s six-year history. A deeper dive into the index’s metrics highlight that the U.S. has fallen behind on key measures such as R&D (research and development) investment as a percentage of GDP (gross … [Read more...]
STEM Focus: Industrial Engineering
In prior articles, we’ve discussed a number of STEM careers in the aerospace industry as well as the impact UCF’s outgoing president, John Hitt, has had on a number of regional STEM-related industries. In this article, we will discuss the discipline of industrial engineering, what it is, what industrial engineers do, what industries they’re typically employed by, and their … [Read more...]
STEM Focus: The Path Required for a STEM Career
The purpose of this column is to discuss STEM careers; specifically, the academic path required to obtain a STEM career and motivating our youth to pursue these lucrative and wildly in-demand careers. But for this month’s column, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight some big news that has significant impact on STEM in the Central Florida area, and that is the … [Read more...]
STEM Focus: Moonshots, and How To Get There
On Sept. 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy’s declaration, “We’re going to the moon,” inspired an entire country and an entire generation of aspiring young engineers and scientists in the aerospace industry. A few years later, when we did, in fact, land on the moon, millions of families watched the moon landing together from their living rooms, and again, this inspired an … [Read more...]