Saluting our Schools

Florida Tech faculty engage students in serious research

The student-faculty ratio is 9:1. Undergrads get a yearlong opportunity to unleash their imagination. Generals and astronauts are among Florida Tech's alumni

Tradition says that Florida Institute of Technology began with a discussion among missile scientists at the Pelican Lounge in Indian Harbour Beach in 1958 about how to provide training for engineers and scientists at Cape Canaveral. Today it's listed as one of the top engineering schools by U.S. News & World Report, Parade magazine, Forbes and others.

Total enrollment is just under 9,000 students, including over 4,000 online and 1,200 on extended campuses. That leaves fewer than 3,600 students on the Melbourne campus. Twenty percent are in the college of engineering, 8 percent in the college of science, and 4 percent in the college of aeronautics. With 224 fulltime and sixty-six part-time faculty members, the student-faculty ratio is 9:1.

"We're a small school compared to other universities that have comparable research programs," says Fredric Ham, dean of the college of engineering. "We can pay attention to every student on this campus."

Florida Tech has launched graduates into stellar careers, including a National Teacher of the Year recipient, the first female four-star general, two other four-star generals and nearly two dozen other generals. Florida Tech and the Kennedy Space Center maintain a close relationship. Not many schools can claim a director of a NASA center, five astronauts who have flown on the Space Shuttle and several astronaut candidates among their alumni.

Florida Tech builds on its origins
Part of Florida Tech's unusual history was its beginning as a graduate school, offering masters degrees in electrical engineering and applied mathematics, combined with a community college offering associate degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering.

The founders, who worked at the Cape Canaveral space center during the day and taught classes at night, wanted to supply the space program with engineers and technical support people. Major defense contractors at the space center agreed. RCA (New York, NY) was an early supporter, paying tuition for seventy-five of the first class of 154 students.

Over the years, Florida Tech has added liberal arts, business and psychology to its technology focus, and has become a full-fledged residential university.

Its nine engineering departments cover a range of engineering specialties. Graduate degrees through the doctorate are available in most fields. An undergraduate major in biomedical engineering will be available in 2012, with plans for a full graduate program to follow. A certificate is currently offered.

Students engage in research
The chemical engineering department is the fastest growing, increasing by 70 percent over the past five years to 111 students, graduating 45 percent women. Two of six faculty members are women. The department has distinguished the university by winning nearly two dozen national and regional awards in engineering competitions, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Chem-E-Car competition, National AIChE student research competitions, National Science Foundation undergraduate research awards and others.

"Our faculty are engaged in serious research," says Ham, who brought a graduate student along to Hawaii to assist in his own research on volcanoes in 2011. Another of his students was lead author on a paper. "It's part of our jobs as faculty members to engage students at that level."

Research teams get real-world experience
The annual Student Design Showcase gives undergraduates a yearlong opportunity to unleash their imaginations. In 2011, that resulted in prototypes like the Gannet Unmanned Submersible System, a combined aerial/underwater craft, and the Siren Wave Energy project, a green energy project producing electrical energy from the ocean.

Multidisciplinary teams, with students from aerospace, electrical, mechanical and ocean engineering, give students experience in real-world equivalent projects. Graduate students participate, gaining supervisory experience as team leaders.

"It's popular with faculty too," says Ham. "They turn student groups loose on research ideas."

CS students learn cutting-edge technology
Software is growing fastest of all STEM fields. Jobs will outpace the number of students graduating in the field by more than 100,000 in the coming decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov). Computer science department head William D. Shoaff is concerned about the implications for the field and for the nation, but it opens doors for talented students.

"I tell prospective students, if you have an interest, don't worry about a job," says Shoaff. "Jobs are going to be there."

The department's focus has changed as the computer science field has matured. Students develop algorithms, design architecture for large computer programs and study how to design, test and maintain electronic systems. Programming is necessary to construct the code, but it's not the main work of computer science engineers. "That's like teaching a civil engineer about how to lay concrete," Shoaff says.

Florida Tech's computer science students are working on projects in cloud computing, network science for complex networks of all sorts, software testing, web programming, bioinformatics and cybersecurity.

At least one faculty member has a law degree as well as computer science qualifications, helping address issues where technology and law overlap, like electronic voting, software warranties and social network privacy issues. Two new graduate fellowships were awarded in August by Harris IT Services (Dulles, VA) for research at the new Harris Center for Information Assurance.

"Electronic systems of government and business are being attacked every day," says Shoaff.

Quantum computing, in its infancy, gets attention at Florida Tech. Shoaff sees biological and quantum computers being developed in the future.

Florida Tech grads are in demand
Many major companies recruit at Florida Tech: NASA, Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, United Space Alliance, Westinghouse, Harris, Raytheon Systems, Siemens, Rockwell Collins and Ford Motor Company. Microsoft (Redmond, WA) recruits software testing grads at Florida Tech because of the school's excellent reputation in that field.

"Testing is important because there are no analytical models of software," says Shoaff. "You have to test it. There's always an infinite number of possible inputs, making it impossible to do complete tests and eliminate bugs. Most software ships with bugs, although the engineers like to call them 'features.'"

Diverse students are welcome
Like STEM fields in general, Florida Tech's engineering program seeks greater diversity. Asians are well represented, but African Americans, Hispanics and women are proportionally low. Numbers for students of color may be underreported, because many black students come from the Bahamas and are classified as international. Women are well represented in chemical engineering but underrepresented in other specialties. The campus has active NSBE and SWE chapters.

As a private school, costs are steep, but financial help is available in the form of scholarships, grants and teaching and research fellowships. Florida Tech's financial professionals are available to work with students who meet the school's high admission standards.

The setting is appealing
Outside classes, students enjoy outdoor activities. Nature is close by, in the headwaters of St. John's River, with recreational airboating and bird watching, as long as you avoid the alligators! And the ocean's close by for surfing. BoatUS magazine rates Florida Tech among the top twenty-five "boatiest" schools and Surfline put it among the top ten for surfing.

Downtown Melbourne offers lively after-hours entertainment and the attractions of Orlando, Daytona Beach and Palm Beach are only about an hour's drive.

"We're completely different from Miami," says Shoaff. "It's not rural, but away from the coast, it isn't built up at all."

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