Fueling Florida’s Economy: 10 Engineering Colleges Partner to Demonstrate Strength and Scope of State’s High-Tech Talent Pipeline

The deans of 10 engineering colleges throughout Florida have formed a first-of-its-kind partnership in an effort to collaboratively demonstrate the impact their colleges have on the state’s and the nation’s innovation economy by producing a large, highly sought-after skilled workforce of engineers and computer scientists.

The deans lead the engineering and computer science colleges at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona); Florida A&M-Florida State University (Tallahassee); Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton); Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne); Florida International University (Miami); University of Central Florida (Orlando); University of Florida (Gainesville); University of Miami (Miami); University of North Florida (Jacksonville); and University of South Florida (Tampa).

Together these colleges produce more than 5,000 engineers and computer scientists annually, helping to fill an industry need of 65,000 high-tech jobs available in Florida alone. The state’s top industries include modeling and simulation, aviation, aerospace and defense, turbomachinery, agriculture, renewable energy, biomedical engineering, advanced manufacturing, entertainment and hospitality.

To showcase this talent, UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science hosted the Inaugural Florida-Wide Student Engineering Design Showcase on Thursday, April 19. Each partner institution showcased several of their graduating seniors’ capstone projects, many of which are sponsored by industry such as Lockheed Martin and Harris Corporation.

 “There is sheer talent in engineering and computer science colleges across the state, and this is what we witnessed at the 2018 Senior Design Showcase,” said Stella Batalama, Ph.D., dean of FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Engineers and computer scientists drive the economy across the nation, and improve the human condition through innovation and technology advancements. Our FAU engineering and computer science students belong to this elite group.”

FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science showcased the following three student projects at the event:

• Oceanus Vi: Micro Hydro-Electric Kinetic Power System: This personal-use turbine converts the mechanical energy of moving water into electricity, stores the power and dissipates it when needed.
• Little Havana Mixed-Use Development: This is an innovative design to produce an affordable, healthy environment while optimizing energy usage. It was designed according to the “Miami of the 21^st Century” approach to land use, which also implemented environmental aspects of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
• Nearby Robotic Delivery Service (NeRD): This is an autonomous robotic platform designed to assist with the delivery of mail and food across a college campus. NeRD is a full ordering system that allows customers to place orders on a website or mobile app.

Photo l-r: Alexander Roscoe, Roberto Sanchez-Giron and Michael Padron