Bassem Alhalabi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, FAU

Dr. Bassem Alhalabi area of expertise is Embedded, IoT, and Smart Control Systems, covering consumer, industrial, educational, environmental and medical applications. Currently, he is developing healthcare devices to improve healthy living for elderly people and autistic children. Dr. Alhalabi has conducted sponsored research and has 80+ publications. He has guided 16 Ph.D. and Master’s students. Dr. Alhalabi has helped 50+ inventors develop their dream ideas from patents to prototypes through his consulting company. He has received 23 academic and special recognition awards, the latest 2018 National Distinguished Engineering Educator Achievement Award, from ASEE Engineers’ Council. Dr. Alhalabi is a member of 15 professional and honor societies including IEEE, ASEE, NEA, ACM, and UFF.

Lofton Bullard, Ph.D.
University Instructor
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, FAU

Lofton Bullard is a native from Miami, FL. He is currently a Senior Instructor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Associate Director of the CAPTURE Program at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Bullard has helped students achieve their academic and professional goals for more than 29 years through mentoring, advising, and teaching. Each semester, he uses his skills in software engineering methods to help students develop software solutions for real life problems. He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. His research interests include data mining, machine learning and online STEM instruction.

Virginia Carneiro de Paula, Ph.D.
Professor
Computer Science, Palm Beach State College

Dr. Carneiro de Paula earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brasil, and in 2019 she earned her Higher Education Teaching Certificate from Harvard University.

Scott Hammond, M.B.A.
Associate Professor, and CCE Cluster Chair
Computer Information Systems and Computer Systems, Palm Beach State College

Prof. Scott Hammond, is a native of Palm Beach County and holds a MBA from Saint Leo University and is a Doctoral Student in the Information Systems Program at Nova Southeastern University. He holds various Microsoft Professional Certifications and became a Microsoft Certified Trainer in 1999. He has served domestically as well as internationally in public and private education for nearly two decades. Much of his work in recent years has focused on curriculum design and program development. Prof. Hammond also has over 30 years of business and leadership experience where he owned and operated privately held software development ventures, conducted corporate training, and practiced IT consulting. His areas of academic interest include Solution Development, Workforce Education and Project Management’s role in the success of organizations.

Carlos Lollett Hernandez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Computer Science, BC Central Campus

Carlos Lollett Hernandez is a professor in the Computer Science and Information Technology Department of Broward College. He got his Electrical Engineering Master and Doctorate in Computer Science from University at Buffalo, where he focused in artificial intelligence, dealing with belief representation and reinforcement learning in information fusion. He had a teaching position for 3 years in the electronics department and worked with a bioengineering research group at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. He has been working in Broward College since 2014 teaching introductory courses in computer science and engineering.

Maria Larrondo Petrie, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, FAU

Dr. Larrondo Petrie is Executive Director of LACCEI (Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions). She is Vice Chair of Engineering for the Americas, headquartered at the Organization of American States. She serves on the boards of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), ASIBEI (Asociación Iberoamericana de Instituciones de Enseñanza de Ingeniería) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) International Division, Women in Engineering Division, and Minorities in Engineering Division. Her research interests focus on security, modeling of complex systems, and global engineering education. She has more than 200 refereed publications with over 100 citations and has been awarded more than three million in grants.

Tami Sorgente, M.S.C.S.
Senior Instructor
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, FAU

Since 2005 Tami Sorgente has been teaching, advising, and mentoring undergraduate students at FAU. Her teaching has included entry level programming courses, senior level core courses, online course development, and elective courses. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at FAU and returned to earn a Master of Science in Computer Science. Using her art and computer science backgrounds she developed a course on Computer Animation for CS and CE students. In addition to teaching she is the Online Program Coordinator for the fully online Computer Science, B.S. degree program.

Mary Taboada-Gonzalez, M.S.
Assistant Professor
Computer Science and IT, BC Central Campus

Mary Taboada-Gonzalez has been teaching computer science, software development and computer programming courses for over ten years at Broward College. She has been involved in curriculum development and online course design. Through coaching and advising, Mary has been supporting students as they pursue their academic goals. She receive a Bachelor of Computer Engineering degree from the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela, and a Master of Science in Information and Computer Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Mary is passionate about women’s issues and as a member of the National Center for Women in Technology, is actively involved in initiatives that support the advancement of women in the fields of engineering and technology.

Yuri Villanueva, M.S.
Assistant Professor
Computer Science and IT, BC Central Campus

Yuri Villanueva teaches the Engineering, CAD, and Computer Networking courses at BC Central Campus. He received a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Mathematics at FAU. He joined the BC Central Campus’s CSIT department in 2000.

• Ian Burres, Professor, Computer Science, PBSC
• John Hadley, Associate Professor, Computer Science, PBSC
• Michelle McRae, Associate Professor, Computer Science, PBSC