Making the Connection

1959 – Harold Dibble and Jerry Keuper with BEC’s First Computer

Thirty years ago on Wednesday, November 2, 1988, Florida Tech activated its Class C IP address giving the university access to the Internet with a 56k link to the University of Florida. Michael Gallo, Muslim Gadiwalla, Dan Stack, and Dee Dee Pannell, director of the Academic Computing Center, huddled around an ancient VAX terminal in room Q-7 in the Quad. A handful of technical issues needed to be sorted out. The final step was programming the Proteon router correctly via a command text line. (Graphical user interfaces were not an option in 1988.) With fingers crossed, Dee Dee Pannell gave the order to make the connection. Here we are today.

Dee Dee Pannell Director of the Academic Computing Center 1980

The woman in charge of connecting the university to the Internet, Dee Dee Pannell, began her career at Florida Tech in 1966 as a part-time mathematics instructor. Fourteen years later John Miller named her director of the ACS.  Under her leadership, the ACS grew to include 7 full-time employees and as many as 15 student lab assistants. In 1987, Michael Gallo, now an full professor in the College of Aeronautics, went to work for Pannell. Gallo remembers that Pannell, Gadiwalla, Stack, and he struggled “to establish our connection to UF.” Resources were scarce. The break through came when “Dee Dee and I secured funding from the NSF to expand the university’s local area network as well as upgrade our link to UF via a T1 circuit.” A modest person, Pannell characterized her role as only “a facilitator” in the process. Pannell, however, had done much more than facilitate.  She had visited other universities and built a host of contacts both within and outside Florida Tech who supported the internet initiative. Countdown College owes much to Pannell.

Computing at Countdown College

Computing came to Florida Tech (BEC) in February 1959 when the college acquired a Royal-McBee Corporation LGP-30 computer. Seven months later David Howard offered Florida Tech’s first computer course (Logical Design of Digital Computers.) In 1961, Marybell Modell, who worked at Radiation, Inc., was named part-time director of college’s newly formed computing center. Four years later, Edward A. Robin, an IBM scientist at the Kennedy Space Center and BEC/Florida Tech professor, developed what was arguably the first undergraduate computer science major. By 1970 computer science ranked as one of the most popular majors in the university with 143 students in the program.

Computers played an ever-increasing role in the life of the university. In 1971, a computer program was used to match roommates. Six questions covering smoking, neatness, preferred sleeping time, introverted or extroverted, quiet or restless sleeper, type of study music preferred sorted the students. In 1975, a computer on the Melbourne campus was linked to a computer in Jensen Beach. In 1980, Florida Tech opened the Academic Computing Center in the Quad. The then state-of-the-art lab had 15 terminals. “Students,” Dee Dee Pannell explained, “take a seat in the center and actually interact with a DEC computer.” The center was open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays.

During these years, Florida Tech students and professors pioneered a number of innovative uses of computers. Michael Davis programmed a computer to read and write Hebrew in 1978. Soon after joining the university, Roger Manley, a business professor, assembled what many considered the largest computer database on the effect of alcoholism in the workplace. In the early 1980s, two students who worked under Dee Dee Pannell at the Academic Computing Center, explored the literary and artistic potential of the Center’s VAX computer. Scott Adams turned his interest in fantasy adventure stories into a lucrative enterprise while Ming Yi Chen programmed the machine to write Chinese characters.

A Very, Brief History of the Internet

Scott Adams Manufacturing Computer Fantasies

The history of the Internet is a complex story. In 1945 twelve years before Sputnik’s launch, Arthur C. Clark envisioned a communication network that would based on satellites. In 1969, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) succeeded in linking two computers at Stanford and UCLA via ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network). The next year ARPANET formulated the protocol for an “interface message processor” allowing multiple computers at remote sites to communicate with one another.

The first email was transmitted in 1971. Three years later planning began on creating a decentralized protocol, which would link discrete networks. This work led to the formulation of a Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which serves as the basis of the Internet we know today. In 1983, a domain name system (DNS) was agreed on which dramatically simplified the numerical based IP address system. By 1987, there were more than 30,000 hosts on the Internet. It was in this context that Florida Institute of Technology received its IP license in 1988. A year later, the Berlin Wall fell and Tim Berners-Lee floated the idea of the World Wide Web (WWW) in an article published in MacWorld.*

Happy Birthday IP 192.203.97.0

November 2 is an auspicious day in history. The American frontiersman, Daniel Boone (1734), and Harlow Shapley (1885), the astronomer who discovered the sun was not at the center of Milky Way, were born on this day. For Florida Tech, this day marked our university’s entry into a conversation that has both enriched and imperiled our lives. A half century ago a University of California student named Jack Weinberg offered some prescient advice that might just be kept in mind as we celebrate our IP address’s thirtieth birthday — “Don’t trust anybody over thirty.” Point taken.

Note: Professor Micheal Gallo has the distinction of having the first internet email address issued to Florida Tech. gallo@fit.edu. Email address were limited to a maximum of 8 characters in the early days of the internet. My email address, patterso@fit.edu, makes me part of Generation8.

*Brandon Engel’s article “The Story of the Internet and the Colleges that Built It,” EdTech Magazine, November 5, 2013 provides a concise summary of the growth of the Internet.     

It’s also the approach of the organizers of the inaugural Hack the Indian River Lagoon event, taking place this Friday through Sunday at Groundswell Startups, 2412 Irwin St. in downtown Melbourne.

The 36-hour event brings together students, academia, lagoon experts and technologists to collaborate and develop solutions to help fix the ailing Indian River Lagoon. The event starts Friday at 5 p.m. and ends Sunday at 1 p.m. and features workshops, expos, tech talks and a presentation from Jacob Waites, the visual and interaction design lead IDEO CoLab’s Cambridge Studio. There will also breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the event.

Registration closed Oct. 21. Admission to the event is free.

Florida Tech will be represented at the event, as the school’s hacking team, Team Zero, other students and Kelli Hunsucker, assistant professor of oceanography, will be in attendance. Hunsucker has signed up to be a mentor from 5:30-11 p.m. Friday.

Hunsucker sees the event as a chance for Brevard County’s diverse mix of scientists, engineers, environmental advocates and others to come together to develop solutions for restoring the Indian River Lagoon, nearly three quarters of which is within the county.

“Everyone has a different area and skillset,” Hunsucker said. “What I like about Hack the IRL is that it allows people with different skillsets who are working on the lagoon to try to develop a solution.”

Hunsucker was alerted to the event via Groundswell’s social media posts. She then reached out to the organization to see how she could be assist. CEO Micah Widen suggested she serve as a mentor.

The unpredictability of a first-time event can make for an exciting experience, as the opportunity to interact with individuals in sectors not their own can lead to a collaboration of ideas and processes. Hunsucker mentioned being interested in meeting professionals from different fields and seeing how they take the problem and develop a solution.

“My brain thinks as a scientist, but engineers can design things or computer scientists can do all this stuff on the computer that I have no idea how to do, so I’m really excited to work with other people and see their thought processes and some of the final projects that come out of this,” she said.

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For More Information:

• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

For More Information:

• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

Smart technology is everywhere, from our homes to our businesses and cars. While innovations in smart technology may make our lives easier, connected devices also come with their share of risk. Just like with computers or smartphones, hackers can potentially access the devices and their data, which can give them the information they could use to commit crimes.

Smart Sensors and Cybersecurity

Think about it—data collected by smart devices could reveal when you are at home and when you are not at home, giving the hackers an open invitation to break in when no one is likely to be around. It could also reveal items that might be worth stealing and their locations in the home in some cases, depending on the device hacked.

Another vulnerability of today’s smart sensor devices is that they could be hacked as a group and used to commit DDoS attacks (basically flooding a server with too much input and causing it to crash). DDoS attacks are a major concern in cybersecurity and smart cities. These attacks can be crippling and lead to widespread outages online or to the shutting down of major websites, which may not hurt you directly but could cause a great of pain and loss for a large number of people and businesses.

Cybersecurity for Smart Devices

Not all smart devices use encryption to protect the data gathered and deposited on the company’s server. Older devices, particularly, may not be protected, and may allow hackers to gain access. Devices that use the highest level of encryption available can prevent hackers from intruding, at least for now.

Other hacking attempts can find success when users don’t take precautions they should, such as changing default passwords or user codes for smart devices. Keeping track of many different passwords can be a difficult task for today’s homeowners, but new password management services are now being offered to do this for you if you struggle to remember which password goes with which device.

Keeping systems updated is another way users can prevent cyber attacks, since updates often have fixes for vulnerabilities that have been identified. Cybersecurity professionals are often tasked with finding fixes for vulnerabilities that were identified through a data breach or through in-house testing. These fixes can then lead to safer designs for future products.

Cloud-based security is also typically safer than other types, but newer AI-based systems could become the gold standard of security as smart devices become even more prevalent. Customized security information and event managers (SIEM) are devices that can recognize and assimilate patterns of smart device use and send alerts when those patterns are altered in ways that could indicate a cyber attack. Machine learning in cybersecurity will enable devices to work towards automating the security process and making smart homes and even smart cities a growing possibility.

While it will always remain a possibility for smart devices to be compromised, consumers don’t appear to be backing off their use. Increasing cybersecurity for these devices could prevent many problems and will be a necessity as their use becomes widespread. Cybersecurity concerns of driverless cars can be even more crucial because of the immediate danger caused by potential breaches.

Florida Tech offers cybersecurity degree programs that give IT professionals the top-notch skills and information they need to counter threats and keep smart devices safe. Learn more about our cybersecurity program and the advanced training it provides.

Research by Piff, Paul K., & Moskowitz, Jake P. (2017).

Written by Shannon Cantalupo, B.S.

We often see individuals, belonging to the rich social class, having fun and expressing positive emotions on social media.  But is this real? Do rich class individuals, defined as those with more income, display more positive emotions than those from “other” or middle and working social classes?

University of California Researchers tested whether a relationship exists between individuals in a rich social class and positive emotions.  Positive emotions included: amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, enthusiasm, love and pride. Each of 1,519 participants provided their household income, which defined their membership in a rich or other social class. And, each completed multiple surveys about their social class and positive emotions.

Results? Rich class individuals were more concerned with self-oriented emotions such as pride and contentment. They also showed more amusement in their everyday lives. However, “other” class individuals reported more feelings of care for others such as love and compassion. Other class individuals also reported feeling more awe than rich class individuals. Enthusiasm was the only positive emotion that did not differ between social classes.

So, if you are not wealthy, it seems your joy is from sharing with others. Isn’t that pretty high class anyway?

Reference:

Piff, P. K., & Moskowitz, J. P. (2017). Wealth, poverty, and happiness: Social class is differentially               associated with positive emotions. Emotions, 18(6), 902-905.

Such a scenario is not too far off in the future, and Florida Tech is developing the technology to allow it to happen. 

Florida Tech is developing new technology to assist astronauts in these situations and place them in the best position to complete tasks.

The proposal from a Florida Tech team titled “Mission Optimization Based on Crew Psychophysiological Fitness Monitoring and Adaptive Task Allocation” was recently selected for funding under NASA’s Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) Florida Space Research Program. The one-year grant includes $25,000 from the FSGC and a $25,000 match from the university.

The team is composed of Florida Tech Human-Centered Design assistant professor Lucas Stephane, Biomedical Engineering assistant professor Mehmet Kaya, and Stephane’s Ph.D. students Brandon Cuffie and Yash Mehta.

The grant will allow for a proof-of-concept prototype for wearable sensors (e.g. electro encephalography devices connected to a compression shirt which contains biomedical sensors that detect physiological and psychological data such as heartrate changes, skin temperature increase caused by stress, and oxygen saturation, as well as gravity variations that may affect consciousness) integrated with environmental sensors (e.g. an embedded smart health station). By tracking a crews’ psychophysiological info prior to space missions, the sensors can help analyze and provide recommendations for selecting the men and women best suited for specific tasks.

Continuous monitoring of physical conditions would also help keep the system updated and ensure that those selected for space missions are the best candidates. In the event a member of the crew has elevated vitals, the sensors could note these changes and allow for the crew to intervene.

The work involved in the compression shirt and embedded smart healthcare station involve much research and trial and error, as the specific sensors need to fit on designated areas of the suit, while also developing a system that properly evaluates the user and her or his biomedical makeup.

Cuffie’s ideas build on human-centered design research conducted since 2014 with Florida Tech affiliate Larsen Motorsports for heart rate variability in high-g scenarios, as well as with the student team supervised by Stephane and led by Tiziano Bernard in 2016 that worked on embedded wearable sensors for the Enhanced Space Navigation and Orientation Suit. The interdisciplinary team is currently developing prototypes of the suit and of the embedded smart health station, working with astronaut Winston Scott, Florida Tech’s senior advisor to the president.

“There’s always been some sort of interaction with the environment,” Cuffie said. “You interact with a car, you interact with a robot, you can interact with the garment. So it just came from that. How do we interact with it and why can’t we do that now?”

The proof-of-concept prototype also provides the opportunity to explore how it might be used in healthcare, smart homes and on the International Space Station.

“For example, in the space station, if the astronaut is wearing this garment, the sensors on the garment can transmit data to the embedded sensors on the space station,” Mehta said.

Florida Tech’s research in this technology could lead to more work. NASA recently released a solicitation for building a new research institute, with universities coming together to work on topics the institute will explore. One of the topics suggested was building smart habitats, which would include smart sensors.

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30 years ago, urban legends of a supernatural presence in the now bygone Roberts Hall Annex rattled the students that lived there and piqued the interest of the Melbourne Times.

The Woman in Black

The cat arched her back when she sensed the presence. Mike*, an F.I.T. student and member of the university’s crew team, had just gotten into bed. He was in his upstairs bedroom in the Roberts Hall Annex at the Anchorage. He had not locked the bedroom’s door. Later, Mike told Weona Cleveland, a reporter for the Melbourne Times, that the cat made a noise and when he looked at the animal, he saw the shimmering outline of a woman dressed in black sitting at the foot of his bed. Mike bolted. This was the first, but certainly not the last time that the woman in black made her presence known.

Things that go Bump in the Night

Florida Tech Crew Shell

These events took place more than thirty years ago when the Roberts Hall Annex served as a dormitory for eight members of Florida Tech’s crew team. Strange things had begun to happen. Initially, team members began to hear clunking sounds in the night. In the morning, they would awake to find that objects had been moved. Oars which had been securely attached to wall racks would mysteriously fall. Then, there was the woman’s voice which called out in the night. When Mike saw the woman in black, he sprinted down the stairs. He told the Times reporter that he was afraid to go back to his room and spent the night sleeping on the living room couch. A few weeks later he moved out.

Other members of the crew team reported inexplicable incidents. Dan*, another Florida Tech rower, moved into the upstairs bedroom after Mike left. Both men adamantly maintain they never discussed ghosts or the woman in black. Shortly after moving in, Dan recalls feeling the “presence” of something abnormal. During his two years at the Annex, Dan began to have unsettling dreams. He felt that something or someone was trying to communicate with him. “When you’re sleeping,” he explained, “you have sixth sense that someone is watching you sleep.” On several occasions as he awoke, Dan saw a shadow flit across the end of the bed. Like Mike, Dan began to sleep on the downstairs living room couch.

Rumors of Ghostly Intent

Robert’s Hall Annex Stairwell

Rumors, all unproven, abound about the haunting of Roberts Hall Annex. One account has it that a woman was found hanging in the Annex’s basement. An examination of newspaper clippings and police records contain no reports of an incident like this. The Annex, however, does have a basement where the reclusive owner kept the carcasses of animals that he had killed. Another story has it that the owners of the house constructed a crypt in the basement for their internment. No crypt has been found. Moreover, the owners left instructions in their will that they be cremated, and their ashes strewn over the Sebastian Inlet. Perhaps most fanciful of all is the story that across the street from the house was a notorious bordello where “unspeakable” acts of depravity occurred. The only verified fatality that happened near the Annex was the accidental drowning of a woman named Pennie Scott Hall in 1921. Could Pennie Hall be the “woman in black?”

A Brief History of the Annex

Roy Couch circa 1940

What is known is that a prominent Melbourne couple named Roy and Florence Couch built the house in 1940. At the time, the Melbourne Times reported that the construction cost was somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000. In February 1941, the Couch’s moved in. Roy Couch, the “inventive owner of the Couch Manufacturing Company in Grant,” died nine years later of a heart attack at Sebastian Inlet. Family members recall the Couch’s as “not very social people.” They had few visitors. They rarely entertained preferring to keep to themselves. The couple made it clear that they did not want children and left no descendants. Roy Couch liked to hunt and fish. That is why he had the basement cooling room. One thing was noteworthy. The Couch’s let it be known that they slept in separate bedrooms behind locked doors on the second floor. After husband’s death, Florence Couch invited her deaf-mute sister and husband (also a deaf-mute) to join her in the house. Florence Couch died on December 1, 1968. No record has been found of what became of her deaf-mute in-laws.

Florida Tech acquired the Couch house as part of the settlement of Florence Couch’s estate shortly after her death. A year earlier in February 1968, Jerry Keuper and Fred Roberts, a university trustee, announced that the college planned to launch an intercollegiate crew program. Roberts, who owned the boathouse and the property adjacent to the Couch House, volunteered the use of the boathouse to house the two eight-man shells that the university had purchased. Later that year Florida Tech fielded its first varsity eight crew team under the direction of Robert Dunlop. In 1969, Dunlop, who served as director of Florida Tech’s Marine Facilities, recruited a young Jacksonville college graduate and Melbourne native named Bill Jurgens to serve as the crew team’s coach. In the early 1970s, the Couch House was renamed Roberts Hall Annex in recognition of Fred Roberts’ contributions to the university and his leadership in winning the City of Melbourne’s approval of the construction of a seven-story dormitory on Country Club Road (Roberts Hall).

A Haunting Epoch comes to an End

Roberts Hall Annex was decommissioned as a dormitory in 1997. The official explanation was that NCAA rules prohibited dormitories which exclusively housed athletes. Bill Jurgens, who spent a year living in the Couch House, has no recollection of the “woman in black.” He heard no voices or clunking objects in the night. “I was working ninety hours a week,” Jurgens said with a laugh, “teaching school and up every morning at 5:30 am to coach the crew team. I was so tired that no ghost could wake me up!” It has been at least twenty-one years since anyone has reported a spectral sighting. Maybe the “woman in black” has moved on. Maybe not. If you should be taking a stroll along the boardwalk at the Melbourne Yacht Basin on a dark night, cast a glance in the direction of Roberts Hall Annex. Maybe you will see a bit of “High Tech with a Ghostly Touch.” Trick or Treat?

*Both students requested that their real names not be disclosed.

Note:  This installment of the Secret History was drawn from conversations with Weona Cleveland and her article “Students Live with ‘woman in black’” published in the Melbourne Times on July 18, 1984, 1B. My thanks to Bill Jurgens providing details on the history of Florida Tech’s crew team.

The following items were purchased in the last 3 years with patron support:

• Eastman EEP-421 Euphonium
• Eastman ETB-848 Bass Trombone
• Yamaha YBB-312WC Tuba
• Selmer AS42 Alto Sax
• H. Luger VB400 Double Bass
• H. Luger CC500 Cello
• Gliga Gloria 17″ Viola
• Choir Riser Safety Rails
• Sonor Bop Drum Kit
• Zildijan K Cymbals

The following instruments were acquired in the last 3 years as in kind gifts:

• Giardinelli Trumpet
• Baldwin Hamilton Upright Piano
• Musser 4-octave Marimba
• Ludwig Super Action Drum Kit

We invite all our patrons and supporters in the community to see these instruments in action at an upcoming concert!

For More Information:

• Give to the Music Program (select “Music Program” as Designation)
• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

Cybersecurity consulting is a growing field in cybersecurity. A major shortage in qualified cybersecurity personnel has made it difficult for companies to hire permanent help in this area. Add to that a preference of many millennials and others entering the workforce for a more flexible, self-determined work schedule, and working with a consultant seems like a logical choice for companies.

What Do Cybersecurity Consultants Do?

Evaluating an IT system from the outside of the company’s existing IT workforce can have its advantages. Consultants may be more objective about flaws in the system than the person or people who built the system, and may be able to catch vulnerabilities better. Just having a second perspective on the network’s vulnerabilities can be a positive thing when trying to figure out how a hacker could get in.

Evaluating the current system is the first step in cybersecurity consulting services. After identifying vulnerabilities or even discovering a breach that has already occurred, consultants may be tasked with building a secure system or making the current system more secure. Training existing personnel about risks, safe behaviors, and how to navigate the new system could also be a part of a cybersecurity consultant’s job.

A major shortage in qualified cybersecurity personnel has made it difficult for companies to hire permanent help in the cybersecurity area.

How Do Cybersecurity Consulting Jobs Work?

Some cybersecurity consultants are freelancers who work under contract for one or more clients, while others work for a cybersecurity firm and take on clients assigned to them. Assignments could be full- or part-time, and consultants could potentially be working for more than one company or organization at a time. Consulting could be a good fit for a knowledgeable cybersecurity professional who likes new challenges and doesn’t want to be tied down to one company indefinitely.

It’s important to know the latest developments in consulting and cybersecurity in order to properly discover and counter security threats. Advanced degrees and certifications, as well as some experience in the IT field, are usually expected. If a cybersecurity consultant is working freelance or has their own consulting company, payment is usually on a contract basis and includes few, if any, benefits. Those working with a firm may be paid a salary and benefits like any other full-time employee or be contracted through that firm.

Advantages of Cybersecurity Consulting Services

Cybersecurity consulting services could be advantageous for both sides of the equation. For companies, they can get cybersecurity help without hiring a full-time, permanent employee. They can also get an outside perspective, and it may be easier to hire a consultant than a regular employee when cybersecurity talent is scarce.

The consultants themselves can gain experience rapidly working for several companies at once, and income potential could be much higher if they are willing to work more hours. Alternatively, consultants could also work fewer hours if they have family responsibilities or other commitments that would prevent them from taking a full-time job.

Read on to see how cybersecurity and smart cities can present challenges to local governments. Learn more about our cybersecurity program to see how it can prepare you for a career in the demanding but rewarding field of cybersecurity.

The String Orchestra is bigger and mightier than ever before! It is only fitting to take on some of the amazing music written by Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish composers for this fantastic concert. Our centerpiece is the famous Holberg Suite by Edward Elgar. Most orchestras pick and choose a few movements of this work, but we are doing it from start to finish! You will also be dazzled by our gigantic cello section as they play a special arrangement for cellos only. We plan to blow away the audience with some fun viking themed pieces on our way to Valhalla.

For More Information:

• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

Carvalho is the principal investigator on a project at the Harris Institute for Assured Information that recently received a $1.6 million, three-year award from the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate.

The federated command and control infrastructure Carvalho has developed under prior DHS funding enables coordinated detection and response to cyber events across different organizations, and the new DHS contract will have Florida Tech developing a federated defense ecosystem to further test and refine this powerful and important capability.

“It is an honor and a vote of confidence in our work to receive new funding from the Department of Homeland Security,” Carvalho said. “I am proud of our groundbreaking research into this critical area of cyber defense, which I owe to the outstanding team of faculty and researchers we have at the Harris Institute for Assured Information.”

In addition to his responsibilities as the dean of the College of Engineering and Science, Carvalho also serves as executive director for the Harris Institute for Assured Information, which has been awarded over $6 million in new sponsored research projects this academic year.

This latest funding furthers the work Carvalho and the university started with a previous Homeland Security contract, now fulfilled, involving the design of new techniques and algorithms for the monitoring, control and coordination of cyber sensors and defenses across multiple domains and across administrative boundaries.

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This half of the Fall 2018 Band Concert will include jazz standards such as “Sing, Sing Sing,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” “Fly Me To The Moon,” “Good By Pork Pie Hat,” and “Straight No Chaser.”

*Jazz Band will perform immediately after the Concert Band, which starts at 7pm.

For More Information:

• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

For More Information:

• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

Consensus is a British song writer, mc, rapper, producer and poet who travels the world performing at universities as well as CERN and the FERMI lab.

Florida Tech is just one of two universities Consensus will be performing at in the U.S. Don’t miss this free opportunity to enjoy a unique collaboration of science and rap.

Friday, November 9,
8:00 p.m.
Florida Tech Panthereum
Free and open to the public

Listen to Consensus here:
https://consensus.avr-music.com/

Fall 2018 Discovery Day 
Saturday, Nov. 17
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

During Discovery Day you’ll get a better understanding the admission and financial aid processes, take a campus tour, meet with faculty members in your area of study, tour labs and facilities associated with your department, talk with currently enrolled students and experience our beautiful subtropical campus.

More specifically, Florida Tech Discovery Day is a structured, full-day, on-campus visit event directed toward students interested in attending Florida Tech for any of our world-class programs of study. Students, and their families, will have a chance to experience all that Florida Tech has to offer, including hearing from admission staff members, meeting current students and speaking with faculty while on campus.

Information regarding parking, directions and other pertinent information will be provided in a return email. Upon check-in, we will provide your specific itinerary, campus map, and important information about your visit. You’ll also have a chance to receive information about the university, program of interest, admissions and financial aid.

This half of the Fall 2018 Band Concert will include works by Rossano Galante, Jared Barnes, and Todd Stalter.

*Be sure to stick around to see the Jazz Band perform right after!

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For More Information:

• Complete Concert Listings
• Campus Map
• Call Us at 321-674-8082

Critical infrastructure includes the power grid, water distribution systems, cell phone networks and other communications, some manufacturing, national defense systems, emergency services, and traffic signals. These systems are critical to life as we know it and cause major problems when they don’t work as designed. Currently, all critical infrastructure depends to some extent on the internet, which makes it vulnerable to cyber attacks that could have a catastrophic effect on our society.

If the power grid goes down, for instance, it would quickly and dramatically lead to unsafe conditions and a massive shutdown of many vital functions. People would not be able to take money out of ATMs or pay with their credit cards, restaurants and grocery stores would shut down because they couldn’t keep food fresh, and pretty much all commerce would generally shut down.

Other critical infrastructures would have other negative impacts on society and individuals as well. Life without running water, fire and ambulance services, or basic items like food will be infinitely more difficult. And the basic safety of the nation could even be at risk if national defense systems can’t be accessed because of a virtual attack. Cybersecurity for critical infrastructures is vital to our nation’s continued prosperity and safety.

Varying Security Protocols

It is the job of some cybersecurity specialists to identify threats to these systems and prevent attacks on critical infrastructure that could severely impact everyday life. One method used in infrastructure and cybersecurity is to continually change up security protocols like passwords or even the method of access so that hackers don’t have enough time to figure out how to access the system.

Updating security measures often and tracking attempts to access the system using old information are ways to keep critical infrastructure systems safer and reduce the chances of any successful hacking attempts. And while updates do cost money, simple efforts like changing passwords often will be low-cost and surprisingly effective.

Emergency personnel will not be able to help those who need it if this critical infrastructure is taken down by cybercriminals.

Risk Management

The whole idea behind risk management is to take steps to lower risks of data breaches or cyber attacks. A risk management framework like NIST has allowed organizations to follow best practices for reducing risks and prevent many attempted cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. NIST Has been used successfully for some time now, and it continues to be updated and improved to counter new threats.

Ongoing Infrastructure Protection

Cybersecurity will never be a once and done proposition. As long as cybercriminals continue to come up with new ways of compromising (or attempting to compromise) critical infrastructure as a way of attacking the United States, cybersecurity professionals will need to work continually to counter their attempts. The devastation that would be unleashed on society by a successful takedown of critical infrastructure would likely cause many deaths and the loss of billions of dollars in revenues to business owners, the government, and others in society. It would also cause great instability in society and would make the job of governing much harder to do effectively.

The next article in the series will discuss cybersecurity consulting services and the role they may play in protecting many businesses.

Florida Tech offers a cybersecurity degree program that prepares students to protect critical infrastructure and understand what might happen if an attack were ever successful. Learn more about our cybersecurity program to understand the risks posed by hackers and how computer science personnel may counter them.

Research by Vasiljevic, Milica., Couturier, Dominique-Laurent., Frings, Daniel., Moss, Antony. C., Albery, Ian. P., Marteau T. M. (2018)Vasiljevic, Milica., Couturier, Dominique-Laurent., Frings, Daniel., Moss, Antony. C., Albery, Ian. P., Marteau T. M. (2018)

Written by  Shannon Cantalupo, B.S. 

Have you ever looked at the label for alcohol content when deciding which alcoholic drink to take?  Or, calories? Oh, FDA doesn’t require calories on alcohol labels but alcohol can add significant weight gain.

United Kingdom researchers studied how labeling of wine and beer impacted how much an individual consumed. They hypothesized that the lower the alcohol content on the beverage label, the more the user would consume.

They split 264 weekly wine and beer drinkers into three groups, for the purpose of wine or beer taste testing. They gave Group 1 alcohol with a verbal description of “Super Low,” the lowest alcohol percentage (4% Alcohol by Volume for wine or 1% for beer. Group 2 with a verbal description of “Low,” (8%, 3%) and Group 3 Regular “alcohol” but no labeled alcohol percentage.

Results? The “Super Low” Group consumed more in total volume of the beverage than Regular “alcohol” Group, but neither of these groups differed from the “Low” labeled group.  Thus, labels of “Super Low” led to greater consumption of alcohol.

So, next time you wisely choose the lowest alcoholic content, remember your human inclination and not allow yourself to drink even more!

Reference:

Vasiljevic, M., Couturier, D., Frings, D., Moss, A. C., Albery, I. P., Marteau T. M. (2018) Impact of lower strength alcohol labeling on consumption: A randomized controlled trial. Health    Psychology, 37(7), 658-667.

Calories from alcohol may be calculated using specific Atwater factors as provided for in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(1)(i)(A). USDA Handbook No. 74 provides a specific food factor of 7.07 calories per gram of alcohol.

The use of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity has been developing over recent years in an attempt to automate the detection of malicious code and hacking attempts. Research and cybersecurity go hand-in-hand; as hackers continually develop new ways of exploiting vulnerabilities, cybersecurity professionals must do their best to stay one step ahead of them.

Current AI Is Really Machine Learning

The foundation of artificial intelligence is machine learning, which uses algorithms to analyze large amounts of data to find patterns that have some meaning for the IT team. While current machine learning requires the input of algorithms by programmers, future AI development may involve the machines themselves making or modifying the algorithms to achieve the outcome desired.

Current machine learning models have seen some success, but are a long way from self-teaching beyond how they are programmed. As algorithms get increasingly complex, however, the risk is that few people will be able to understand how they work or explain their findings. It is unclear whether these exceedingly complex algorithms will be of any use to cybersecurity if they can’t be explained and understood.

One current benefit of machine learning and algorithms, however, is that they go beyond the current strategy of many cybersecurity efforts, which is to detect known viruses, worms, and other malicious code. Since hackers are constantly coming up with new threats, machine learning’s ability to detect patterns that could indicate malicious code rather than actual, known malicious code is one step in the right direction toward better cybersecurity overall.

Hackers and cybercriminals need to be stopped, and AI may make stopping them easier.

Could AI Solve Cybersecurity Shortages?

AI is also seen as a possible solution to the severe understaffing and shortage problems plaguing the cybersecurity industry. If machines can be taught to detect patterns that could indicate cyberattacks, the reasoning goes, it stands to reason that they could do so faster and better than people could. Therefore, fewer people would be needed, and shortages would resolve themselves.

While AI may indeed help to resolve cybersecurity shortages, people will still be needed to make sense of the machines’ findings and to lead them in the right direction to find and neutralize threats. Today’s machine learning is not true AI, because it still must be programmed and fed algorithms at each step in order to work.

However, a few more decades of development may yield the true AI that could render people obsolete as programmers for machines. In that eventuality, cybersecurity professionals just have to hope that AI is on their side and not the other.

Today’s professionals may have opportunities to develop the AI technology that will be used in future cybersecurity for critical infrastructures. As machine learning evolves into machine intelligence, it remains to be seen how AI might be used to neutralize cybersecurity threats and prevent data breaches that currently cost companies billions of dollars each year.

Florida Tech offers an advanced cybersecurity degree program to teach cutting-edge techniques for protecting private information and systems from hacking. Learn more about our cybersecurity program to see how you can be part of much-needed cybersecurity solutions.

The marketing management class offered through Extended Studies challenges students to consult with real companies for real results.

Together with her team, Samantha Leap spent a semester consulting with the owner of Crazy for Ewe, Ellen Lewis.

Lewis was looking to market the joy of knitting to a younger demographic, and Leap and her team providing free marketing consultation services, all for course credit.

The team wanted to immersive themselves in the brand, and visited Lewis at her shop to get a feel for the place and identify any missed opportunities.

“The project became tangible in me touching the yarn within the store and understanding the story behind the quality of the product. In forming a relationship with the business owner, we developed a mutual trust, making me feel more responsible for the product I was turning in. The final grade wasn’t just for me; it was for a business owner who was taking serious consideration of what our team developed.”

After their initial meeting, the first idea that jumped off the table was to host a Knit-One-Sip-Two, a knitting experience where women could learn how to knit, make connections, and drink wine.

From there, the team started to percolate on the most strategic ways to launch the event, while also provided detailed approaches and plans that would further elevate Crazy for Ewe’s awareness in the community and to start tapping a new demographic.

“This project had so much more meaning because we were not simply given a company to research only to hand a final product to our professor. Our work, our recommendations, could have influence how a company operates.”

Most of the heavy lifting of the project included surveying young women to gauge their interest as well as provide other data points that would further enhance the team’s understanding of the demographics’ interests and needs and how Crazy for Ewe could meet them.

“We had to remain flexible and open to the data we acquired, allowing us to let the project evolve over time. After our data and recommendations were presented to Ms. Lewis, she considered changes for her company and implemented various aspects of our strategy into her business concerning social media and hosting the Knit-One-Sip-Two event.

Leap says that the project transcended the line between classroom by providing a tangible results.

“I was able to swing by the event, and noticed that the main demographic was younger and full of new knitters, where everyone was learning, sipping wine, and socializing! After the event I asked Ms. Lewis about changes she has noticed since we gave her the marketing strategy and she commented how online sales have increased, and considered hosting the event a success.”

The best part of the experience for Leap was finding out that Lewis actually implemented the strategies presented by the team and saw actual business results, including increased sales.

Learn more about Florida Tech’s Extended Studies location in Southern Maryland.

Steven Lazarus, professor of ocean engineering and sciences, discussed, “Publishing in the future under the paradigm of interactive notebooks and open data.” Lazarus spoke on the changing paradigm of the changing paper: For centuries, research has been published in a traditional, static method through research papers. Lazarus sees a transformation through digital notebooks from companies such as Jupyter.

“The web browser interface is awesome and dynamic. You can tell a story. It’s interactive,” he said. “Maybe in 40 years the scientific paper will be a different beast, finally, after 400 years.”

Keith Gallagher, associate professor of computer engineering and sciences, offered, “What will tomorrow’s errors look like? Are we safe from ourselves?” With software there are error recovery programs – a backup that can bring the entire program up to speed. However, with organization process to fix mistakes, human error can lead to character flaws in fixing the software.

“I think of the guy at the workstation, but it was a breakdown of that process, and that’s going to continue to happen because we’re humans,” Gallagher said. “I think the errors we’re going to make in 40 years are the same ones we’re making now.”

Joel Olson, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering and sciences, spoke about, “Moore’s Law and the Evolution of Computing Power and Nanotechnology in Medicine and Genetics Technologies (i.e. CRISPR).”

Moore’s Law was a 1965 observation from Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit chip doubles every year while the costs are halved. With that generally holding true, some are now predicting we are on the threshold of a fundamental size limit for computer processors.

“In theory, the smallest we could make a transistor-type device is about one nanometer in dimension, because if you go smaller than that, the electrons themselves can hop over whatever gap you have because their position is vague and spread out,” Olson said.

For nanotechnology for medical use, one example Olson referred to was taking gold nanoparticles and chemically tethering them to compounds that will activate receptor sites in a cancer tumor. With the tumor saturated with the nanoparticles, the pieces can be tuned with light that will heat up and kill the tumor cells.

Genetic technologies, specifically CRISPR, utilizes virus-like activity to insert generic code into existing cells, allowing for a level of direct control previously unseen. The coding has the potential to be a big step in the fight against cancer, by altering the code so the cells affected no longer carry the disease.

“Previously if you wanted some sort of genetic code, it had to exist already, but with these new CRISPR technologies, you can put whatever code you want into cells,” Olson said.

Hamid Rassoul, Distinguished University Professor of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences, discussed, “What is the Likely Future of Physics and Space, Specifically ‘Astroparticles,’ Extra Dimensions and Their Potential Impacts by 2058?” Rassoul addressed some of the currently unresolved turning-point questions in science, with a focus on promising avenues in our understanding of the nature of matter and energy, as well as needed technological advancements to investigate them.

Rassoul sees the future of astroparticles, a subatomic particle of a cosmic origin, relying heavily on three principles: The discovery of dark matter and measurement of its properties, understanding the asymmetry of particles and antiparticles, and understanding of quantum gravity and its implications in black holes.

Rassoul believes to better understand these properties, we may need new accelerators, quantum computers and superconducting magnets that could analyze particle physics energy past the current 13 teraelectron limit. With projects being discussed in Europe at CERN, which operates the Large Hadron Collider, and in China, Rassoul is optimistic about the future of these efforts.

“These projects would take 20 years to be designed and constructed and another 20 years to run and analyze the data, so it is feasible to think 40 years from now, we may know the answers to these fundamental questions,” he said.

###

Have you heard, or read any stories, about why the cybersecurity industry is failing government? The U.S. government has continually taken steps to protect itself from cyber criminals that may put government information and services in jeopardy. Cybersecurity breaches can be devastating to any organization, causing shutdowns or exposing private and personal information to the public.

The latest government strategy concerning cybersecurity released in May 2018 takes several important steps to scale up cybersecurity measures. Besides the typical steps like identifying risks, the government is also targeting transnational criminal organizations and cybercriminals capable of breaching government systems.

Another step taken through this strategy is to respond to and investigate cyber attacks to determine how and where they originated. Previously, the source of many breaches and attacks were never identified, which harms efforts to learn from these incidents and prevent future attacks.

The Dangers of Cyber Crime Against the Government

This strategy came through the Department of Homeland Security, which is the U.S. cabinet agency responsible for government cybersecurity. Cybersecurity fits well into the DHS’s responsibilities, which include anti-terrorism efforts, security of airports and other public places, and disaster preparedness. Cybersecurity is one of the most dangerous types of terrorism because of its possibility to disrupt basic systems like the electric power grid.

Continual advances in cybersecurity technology aim to keep the government and the people safe.

While government systems have the best encryption and protections available today, even a single computer genius could potentially take those systems down using the right know-how and skills. It is vital to stay at least one step ahead of hackers to protect the government.

The cybersecurity industry currently has shortages in personnel and often struggles to protect against high-level attacks that could threaten the government and private agencies. As the government investigates why the cybersecurity industry is failing government in some areas, the industry continues to give its best efforts to gain ground on hackers and cybercriminals.

While much of cybersecurity is focused on the protection of private companies, government and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly linked together because of government’s responsibility to do what it can to protect infrastructure and populations. Cybersecurity expertise is crucial to the government’s continued functioning and its ability to protect its people from the kind of harm that cyber attacks can bring.

Educating the Public About Cybersecurity

Another part of the government’s initiative, titled “Be Cyber Smart,” is focused on education of the general public to recognize and prevent cyber threats that could open up vulnerabilities and lead to data breaches. Information about how to browse safely online, use passwords, and recognize fraudulent emails and texts that may give hackers access to your personal information can help to prevent cybercrime that could spread to government systems in some instances.

Florida Tech offers advanced degrees in cybersecurity that prepare students for positions in government or private industry where they will be tasked with recognizing cybercrime when it happens and working to prevent it. Learn more about our cybersecurity program today. And if you’re interested in exploring how the government and businesses are using innovative technologies to prevent cyber attacks, read our blog on the use of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity.

Research by Fox, Jesse, and Rooney, Margaret C. (2015).

Written by Shannon Cantalupo, B.S.

Have you ever scrolled through Facebook and seen selfie after selfie of the same person and wondered, “What makes someone post so many pictures of themselves?”

Ohio State University researchers wanted to know what personality traits in men predicted their use of social networking and posting. They examined the traits of narcissism (or excessive self-interest), Machiavellianism (or cunning self-promotion), psychopathy (antisocial, lacking empathy, egotistical) and self-objectification (seeing themselves as objects as media portrays men) in relation to:

–           time spent on social networking.

–           posting “selfies”

–           using photo editing

A male, nationally representative sample, ages 18 – 40, completed a trait self-objectification questionnaire ranking their various body traits.   They also completed a combined personality measure of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, and reported the amount of time spent on social networking sites, the number of “selfies” posted and how often they edited photos.

Results? Those with excessive self-interest (or narcissism) and self-objectification traits spent more time on social networking sites and photo editing. Excessive self-interest and less consideration of others (psychopathy) predicted an increase in selfies posted.

So, the old saying may be true! A picture is worth 1000 words — about YOU!!

Reference:

Fox, J., and Rooney, M., C. (2015). The dark triad and trait self-objectification as predictors of men’s use and self-presentation behaviors on social networking sites. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 161-165.

The way the security industry deals with cybersecurity threats is evolving. Innovative approaches like biometric security are becoming more popular than traditional security solutions as threats become more prevalent.

What Is Biometric Security?

Biometric security uses unique physical characteristics to gain access to a protected system. Instead of a password that could be stolen or exposed, biometric security uses facial recognition, eye scans, fingerprint scan, or other methods to authenticate a person’s identity and control access to sensitive information. Since no two fingerprints, irises, or faces are exactly alike, biometric security can prevent anyone but the authorized user from accessing private information.

Is Biometric Security Necessary?

The most common type of biometric security in use today is the fingerprint scanner. Millions of smartphones, most notably iPhones, have contained fingerprint scanners for several years to enable users to get into their phones without typing in a password. While fingerprint scanners in smartphones have probably prevented some instances of unauthorized use, they are more for convenience in most cases. The newest iPhones now have facial recognition technology as well, but it has had some early glitches.

Companies that use biometric security may find it more necessary because they have sensitive information they want to protect from hackers that could easily steal a password and enter the system. It is much harder to bypass a fingerprint scan or facial recognition software than it is to get someone’s password. Biometric security adds another layer of protection so that those without permission can be more easily kept out of the system.

Facial recognition can be used to authenticate a person’s identity for access into a private system or area.

Is Biometric Security Safe?

One important thing to realize is that there are still ways to thwart biometric scans. Unlike a password, which is private until it is exposed, your fingerprints, eyes, face, and voice are out in public every day. Hackers have defeated biometric security with photos or impressions of fingerprints, a contact lens placed over a photo of an iris, or recording someone’s voice and playing it back for the voice recognition scanner. These and other failures may be why the cybersecurity industry is failing government, at least in some key areas.

And breaching biometrics is much more permanent than breaching a password. While you can change a password easily, it is impossible to change your fingerprint, iris, or voice. Furthermore, because biometrics are typically still used for only the most sensitive and important data, breaching them can have greater consequences—such as falsifying a passport, legal documents, or criminal records.

Safeguarding Biometric Security

Early biometric systems were more susceptible to hacking than more recent systems, which contain more safeguards and reject a perfect, 100 percent match that could be generated by a photo or other copy. It is becoming more difficult to hack today’s biometric scanners, and they are even more effective when used together with other methods of security instead of alone.

Companies that want to safeguard their personal information are increasingly turning to some form of biometrics to counter the increasing data breaches. While biometrics may not be 100 percent foolproof, they are more secure than many methods used today in the security industry and cybersecurity.

Florida Tech offers a cybersecurity degree that trains students to be experts in this important field that currently has major shortages of qualified personnel. Learn more about our cybersecurity program to see how you can help meet the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals.

Technology is now a part of nearly every business process, and project management is no exception. Using the right technologies can help improve your project processes significantly. Here are some ways embracing technology in project management can enhance project execution.

1. Instant communication.

Project management platforms like Trello and Clarizen make it possible to communicate with team members and clients instantly, which will allow for faster decision-making and project execution. When communication isn’t instant and through a dedicated system, people end up being stalled in their work while they wait for a response. Communication can often get lost in an email or voicemail inbox as well, which also cuts into productive time.

Instant communication through a planning or tracking tool is one of the most important aspects of technology in project management, and has, in fact, become essential for team members that aren’t on site.

2. Team member tracking.

Project management platforms allow the project manager and others on the team to know what each team member is working on (or not working on) at all times, which can be helpful for getting team members back on track or knowing which tasks have been completed without having to ask. Quick adjustments are even faster when you have an instant read on who’s doing what and can look at the big picture through the platform.

Technology tools can make project management easier to track and measure.

3. Collaboration enhancement.

Technology that facilitates collaboration will make the team more effective in the long run as team members get used to sharing thoughts and ideas at a distance as well as working together to complete tasks, even when they aren’t in the same place at the same time. Those who don’t telecommute, but may be more introverted, also find it more comfortable to collaborate via a technology tool than face-to-face at times.

4. Data management.

Data collected while completing a project can be analyzed and measured to foster future improvements in your process. A number of tools are made to collect project data and analyze it, even giving ways to improve the current project based on metrics so far. Data analysis can be complex and leave you wondering how to make sense of it all, but many data management tools are easy to use and break down the data in simple ways.

5. Workflow automation.

Workflow automation is all about reducing the need for repetitive tasks so your team can devote more of their time to advancing the project. Workflow automation tools have proliferated to dozens or hundreds at this point, so look at the particular experience you need to free up your team members to complete vital tasks.

Florida Tech’s project management degree program explores the role of technology in project management, making students aware of cutting-edge tools they can use in their own project leadership roles and setting a framework for project management.
Learn more about our project management degree program to get on the cutting edge of project management skills and technologies.

Some project teams are run in a very top-down, hierarchical fashion. The team leader assigns tasks to team members, they complete the tasks, and the project is done. On the other hand, collaborative teams work together to make decisions about tasks and complete them. Is the hierarchical method really a team? Many project management experts would say no. A true team works together and collaborates about every aspect of a project.

Here are some tips on how to foster effective teamwork to improve your team and streamline project delivery.

Fostering teamwork in project management can be challenging for the best project managers, who understand that no matter how much the team collaborates, their superiors will be looking to them if the project runs into problems or isn’t successful. It is sometimes scary to put your reputation as a project manager in the hands of your team. What if they make bad decisions? What if the whole project goes down the drain because of it?

Collaboration is modeled by the project manager when all ideas are valued and considered.

Building Trust on Your Team

It’s important to remember, however, that collaboration ends up being more successful than other project management methods. You have to trust the process and let it work. The first step is to build trust between your team members, including between you and the team. When you encourage everyone to contribute ideas, it will build trust if you are kind and accepting even if you don’t agree with what is offered.

Sometimes team members put themselves out there with an unusual idea, just to get shot down by the team leader or fellow team members. When you show that you value everyone’s ideas and work to implement them whenever you can, your team members will open up more, and you will get better ideas as a result.

When conflicts and criticism happen within the team, you can address them without coming down on anyone harshly, which will only erode trust. Over time, your team will begin to be more accepting and will learn to value everyone’s contributions.

Effective teamwork means an all-hands-on-deck approach to challenging projects.

Keeping the Lines of Communication Open

Having a communication portal for the team may enhance collaboration by making it more convenient and less tense. People are more likely to submit their ideas to the portal because it feels less stressful and they don’t have to fear an in-person negative reaction, particularly those who are introverts.

As the project manager and team leader, you should reward your team members for collaborative efforts. At the beginning of the team’s association, even unsuccessful attempts to collaborate can be rewarded to encourage the team to keep trying until it finds success. Rewards can be tailored to each team’s makeup—a special event in the office won’t work for a team where many of the members work remotely, for example.

Collaboration can be fun if you approach it in the right way. Some fun teambuilding activities can increase the trust within your team and make it more productive overall. Teambuilding is not a waste of time; it can boost collaboration by helping everyone get to know each other better.

Florida Tech offers a project management degree program that teaches leadership skills and all aspects of project management, including collaboration techniques and the role of technology in project management. Learn more about our project management degree program today!

Other festivities include games, food, music, candy, inflatables, arts and crafts and a costume contest.
http://resquad.wixsite.com/treatortreat

Saturday, October 27 | 2-6 p.m.
Florida Tech Residence Hall Quad
Free and Open to the Public

Research by Solomon, Stephen S. & King, James G. (1995).

Written by American Psychological Association, adapted by Juanita N Baker, Ph.D.

Why do some cities have red and others have lime-yellow fire trucks?  Human factors and ergonomics research showed that the color-transmitting cones in our eyes don’t work well in the dark. We are most sensitive to greenish-yellow colors under dim conditions, making lime shades easiest to see at night, dusk, and dawn. In a FEMA study, fluorescent colors, especially yellow-green and orange, are easiest to spot in daylight.

A four-year study involving nine cities and 750,000 fire vehicle trips found that lime-yellow fire trucks were half as likely as red trucks to be involved in intersection accidents. Another study confirmed that while fluorescent yellow-green and orange may increase vehicle visibility, the report also concluded that quick recognizability of the vehicle was more important than just paint color.

Researchers found that adding reflective striping significantly increases a vehicle’s nighttime visibility, distinctive pattern, and conspicuousness.  In 2012 motor vehicle accidents caused more than 10 percent of firefighter deaths plus injuring and killing civilians. Thus, using psychological research is essential so communities can optimize their emergency fleets, have fewer accidents, and save more lives. Let’s insure safety and maximize visibility. Paint all emergency vehicles lime-yellow and add fluorescent stripes.

Cited Research:

Federal Emergency Management Agency (2009). Emergency Vehicle Visibility and Conspicuity Study (FEMA Publication No. FA-323). Emmitsburg, Maryland.

One part of project management that managers often neglect is an evaluation after the project is over. Sometimes the next project starts immediately, and there isn’t time for evaluation in the project management environment. Maybe some team members move on to other positions within the company or transition to another company. Or maybe your company hasn’t done evaluations in the past, and no one realizes that it would be beneficial.

In reality, evaluation skills in project management are essential to the project management process if your team wants to improve for the next project and other future endeavors. If you don’t take a serious look at the details of your team’s performance on a project, you are leaving any improvement to chance.

The Benefits of Evaluation in Project Management

In any project, mistakes happen and things go wrong. Evaluating the project will help your team focus on where it made mistakes and on what went wrong, to learn from these situations and do better on the next project. As the team evaluates each project, it should be able to perform better each time.

Other aspects of the team’s performance can also be evaluated to show ways to improve, including how long each part or step of the project took and the costs of the project. The more efficiently projects can be completed, the better it will be for the company.

Assessments by team members and clients will reveal areas that can be improved.

Another way to evaluate the project is to ask the client to complete a post-project survey. It’s always good to get the client’s perspective on how things went, because it can be very different from yours and the team’s. And as the saying goes, the customer is always right. At the very least, their perspective will help you understand your team performance better and needs to be considered.

Project Leader Self-Evaluation

As a project leader, it is generally helpful to evaluate your own performance on the project, and see where you may be able to improve your skills in delegating tasks, communicating with team members, and other aspects of leading the project. Improving your own skills will improve the performance of the team overall. You may decide to make your self-evaluation part of the documentation of the overall project, or keep it to yourself, depending on how in-depth and personal it becomes.

Should Evaluation Be Independent?

Some companies hire or use an independent party to conduct the evaluation. An independent evaluation can be beneficial for forming an unbiased view of the team’s performance. Self-evaluation is valuable, but independent evaluation is also valuable in a different way.

Whichever forms of evaluation are used, there should be written documentation so that the team, as well as all pertinent supervisory staff, can have access to it. Evaluation can also help with how to foster effective teamwork in future projects.

Florida Tech offers project management degrees that train students to manage complex projects effectively. Learn more about our project management degree program and how it can help you become a top-notch project manager that can handle any project.

“There is something about STEM that empowers women, both emotionally and financially. That is something a lot of women can testify to,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed was very involved with girls-in-STEM, activities in high school and has continued her passion at Florida Tech. She fortuitously bumped into a nonprofit group that teaches coding skills to young women: Girls Who Code. Ahmed was immediately inspired.

“I’ve noticed a vacuum in inspiring young girls into STEM, especially coding environment, that this club would try to fill.”

Inspired by Girls Who Code’s founder, Reshma Saujani, Ahmed is starting a free after-school program at Florida Tech for sixth- through 12th-grade girls.

“Girls Who Code is completely volunteer based, so it gets tricky. I was fortunate enough to find Rita Willcoxon, a retired NASA employee, who’s already doing STEM outreach programs with almost 17 schools here, in Brevard. With her help and experience, we’re trying to launch this club into different schools here.”

Ahmed knows Florida Tech would be a good place to foster the club because of its many engineering clubs and women pursuing STEM careers. She hopes the program will be up and running at the Evans Library by November.

If you are interested in volunteering or enrolling, please contact Anika Ahmed at anika2605@gmail.com.

Thursday, October 11, 2018
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT

Center for Aeronautics and Innovation
1050 W Nasa Blvd
Melbourne, FL 32901

Register Here

Embodying leadership in project management is important because the rest of your team will be looking to you for guidance and direction throughout a project’s duration. Effectively leading a team as a project manager requires that you develop certain skills. Here are some of the most important leadership skills for project managers.

1. Organization

It is nearly impossible to lead a group of people in completing a project in an organized manner if you are not organized yourself. While some people think organization is an innate skill, it can also be taught to those who don’t gravitate toward it naturally. Organization makes everything about project management run more smoothly and keeps the usual project chaos under better control.

2. Time Management

Being a project manager is a complex job with many components that all demand your time. Knowing how to manage your time is essential if you hope to get everything done on deadline and facilitate your team’s doing the same. How much time should you spend assigning tasks? Checking on their completion? Meeting with the client? Knowing what you need to get done and about how long it will take can help you decide how to manage your time in the best possible way.

3. Planning

The logistics of complex projects require careful planning skills. If you don’t do things in a particular order, you will end up wasting time and repeating things that you’ve already done, but which were undone when the next task was completed. Planning can ensure that you do things in the proper order so that you can avoid spending more time than you have to on each step. Planning can impact not only deadlines but cost as well. Time is money, after all.

Leadership is more than telling people what to do.

4. Negotiation

You want experts and top talent working on your project, but along with expertise comes the realization that you may be in charge, but you may not be the top authority on any given task. Negotiation comes in handy when you need to tap into the expertise of others and when your team members have definite ideas about how things need to be done—especially when those ideas conflict with yours.

5. Problem Solving

Problems are commonplace when managing a project, but they are not insurmountable. Being able to think of solutions to problems quickly is an invaluable skill for a project manager, and will go a long way in keeping the project on task and on your preferred timeline.

6. Risk Management

Many projects with a dedicated project manager involve large budgets, which means that risk will enter the picture. Managing risks involved with a project can save thousands of dollars in lost revenue by preventing costly problems or even the derailing of the entire project, which could be a fiscal disaster for your company.

Having excellent project management skills can make all the difference in the success of a project. Evaluation in the project management environment is another important aspect of project management training. Florida Tech offers a program designed to help project managers excel in their work. Learn more about our project management degree program to see how our expertise can become your expertise.

Allan Mense was at the heart of Florida Tech’s research expansion 30 years ago. As the first vice president for research at Florida Tech from April 1988 to March 1992, Mense initiated and executed programs that resulted in research funding increasing by 400 percent in less than three years. He negotiated agreements with research institutes and industry, federal and state laboratories and international organizations, and represented university interests in Washington, D.C. Seven major institutes and labs at Florida Tech, including the Space Research Institute and the Academic & Research Computer Center, reported to him.

As Florida Tech celebrates its 60^th anniversary, Ad Astra sat down with Mense to discuss what brought him to the university, the importance of research, and being a part of Florida Tech’s history.

In the time before you came to Florida Tech, you held some important jobs, including project manager and senior engineer at McDonnell Douglas and chief scientist at the Strategic Defense Initiative in the Department of Defense. How did you end up at Florida Tech?

Lynn Weaver. When I was an undergraduate at the University of Arizona and picked up my master’s degree in nuclear engineering there, Lynn was the department head. Over the years, we kept track of one another. When I was working as the chief scientist for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program, Lynn called me when he had accepted the presidency at Florida Tech. He was previously the dean of the engineering school at Auburn and once he was selected as president of Florida Tech, I was one of the people he called and asked if I’d be interested in coming down there and being the first vice president of research.

The SDI program was all about research, so I had a fairly broad and comprehensive knowledge on the military side of research activities. Lynn interviewed me and a couple of other candidates and brought me down. I got to Florida Tech from the Department of Defense.

You started as a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and were involved in research in one way or another for decades. How important is research at an institution?

It’s important in two or three ways. The ways that are obvious to others is that research is key to expanding knowledge in the world. For an engineering and science school, those areas were of direct practical interest.  I always indicated to faculty the need to be academically current on research in order to be better teachers and to convey the latest information to our students in an energetic way. Even if you’re teaching a freshman class in chemistry, the research examples you bring to class are the items that energize the students. Those examples, if they’re research you personally work on are typically with a lot more energy and insight than if you are just quoting from a textbook.

As we celebrate Florida Tech’s 60^th anniversary, what does it mean to you to have played a key role in the development of the university?

It’s very, very interesting to see the evolution of Florida Tech over the years, I think Lynn Weaver was really the spark plug that got the university moving in the research direction. Through bringing money in from the Olin Foundation, he also got it moving, in terms of improving the university’s physical plan and infrastructure. I changed jobs, he retired, so the rest has evolved under other presidents, but when I was back there a couple months ago, I’ve got to say the university, from a physical plan point of view, is just fantastic. Originally, we just had three or four small dormitories on one side of campus and now we’ve got these huge living facilities for students. The campus has really turned into what I would call a major college campus from what it was in the formative days. I’m certainly proud the university has gone forward like that.

For more on Allan Mense and research then, now and in the future at Florida Tech, check out the Fall edition of the university’s research magazine, Discovery, coming November.

Research by Puterman, E., Weiss, J., Beauchamp, M., R., Mogle, J., & Almedia, D., M. (2017).

Written by Shannon Cantalupo, B.S.

Ask any runner. They will tell you that running makes them feel better. But can exercise really help you deal with stress?

Human Development Researchers were interested in the following questions:

—Is a stressful event experienced less negatively if you exercise regularly?

—Would negative affect be alleviated on days that individuals exercise?

—Is negative affect less if you exercise right before the stressor?

For eight evenings in a row, researchers measured over 2,000 participants’ daily stressors, activity per day, activity status and negative mood. They considered participants active if exercising for 170 minutes or more per week.

Results indicated that regular exercisers showed a 14% reduction in negative mood reactivity on days they encountered stress.  All participants’ negative mood reactivity was 17% lower on active compared to inactive days. Lastly, researchers found that inactive participants reported less negative mood in response to a stressful situation when they had exercised right before they experienced it.

Handle life’s ups and downs. If you want to react better to stress, exercising 20 minutes a day might be the key! Anticipating an upcoming stressful experience? Then, just plan to do some physical activity beforehand!  When we feel strong we can handle the world!

Reference:

Puterman, E., Weiss, J., Beauchamp, M., R., Mogle, J., & Almedia, D., M. (2017). Physical activity and negative affective reactivity in daily life. Health Psychology, 36(12), 1186- 1194.

Scientists and researchers from around Florida examined the latest efforts to fix the ailing Indian River Lagoon as Florida Tech’s Indian River Lagoon Research Institute hosted the fourth annual Technical Conference on Coastal Water Quality Sept. 28.

Featuring keynote speakers, oral presentations and a posters reception, the daylong conference exploreed five themes: Combating coastal degradation; muck removal and control; novel approaches to water quality improvements; policy, permitting and planning, governance; and restoration techniques.

Presentations included innovative techniques to remove muck; methods to replace plastic utilized in oyster reef restoration; enhanced septic tank technologies; defining indicators for the health of the Indian River Lagoon; comparing hydrodynamic characteristics of oyster reefs of different ages; climate based vulnerability assessments; and septic policies for the Indian River Lagoon.

Tuesday marks the fifth annual News Engagement Day.  Sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the event highlights the importance of our participation in knowing what is happening in the world around us.

As I advocate for news engagement on my campus and in my community, I am aware of the hesitation of some who are wary of what they hear about fake news and media bias. While we lambast or ignore the news, we miss the opportunity to gain understanding about policies, events and decisions that impact our lives – and we sidestep our responsibility to be informed citizens.

By participating with media in the journalism process, we hold them accountable to us – the audience. Likewise, by paying attention we are better able to hold newsmakers – leaders, policymakers, advocates, demonstrators and the like – accountable for their words and actions.

We are partners in the news process, yet we are forfeiting our responsibility in that partnership by dismissing news as fake or biased. It is up to us to make it better by demanding accuracy, supporting those news outlets that follow ethical standards and practices, and calling out those outlets that violate our trust with unscrupulous reporting.

The challenge in holding news media accountable is that we must be informed. Just as poorly researched, single source journalism is unreliable, avoiding news or consuming from single outlets limits our perspectives and our credibility. Through ongoing engagement, we are better able to discern among responsible news outlets and those preying on our own biases or ignorance.

Let’s start Tuesday to build a habit of news engagement. Read, listen, respond. Go to your favorite news source, then look for the same stories in alternative outlets. Check the facts from one of the growing number of fact-checking sites that are taking the time to analyze statements made by journalists, newsmakers, politicians, bloggers, and others generating news stories.

News Engagement Day is a call to action for all of us – the public, journalists and community leaders – to re-establish our partnership in the news process. For more information and resources, go to www.newsengagement.org.

#NewsEngagementDay

Florida Tech’s communication programs include undergraduate degrees in Multiplatform Journalism and Strategic Communication and a master’s degree in Global Strategic Communication.

Dr. Heidi Hatfield Edwards is a professor of communication, and chair of communication programs in the School of Arts and Communication at Florida Institute of Technology.

Research by Reicher, Stephen D., & Haslam, S. Alexander. (2006). Haney, C., Banks, W. C., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1973).

Update by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

A previous PSM (#48) reviewed Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s 1973 famous Stanford Prison Study. In all sciences, studies are repeated to verify findings.

Zimbardo’s study created a mock prison, assigning 24 male students either to the role of prisoner or prison guard to learn how people interact.  Due to hostile and abusive behaviors by the guards toward the prisoners who became anxious, depressed and hopeless, the study was stopped in 6 days, not 2 weeks as designed. The researchers were surprised how quickly these new behaviors and identities emerged.

New information drastically changed the conclusions.  A 2006 UK study attempted to replicate aspects of the experiment but did not find similar results.  These researchers revised theories on unequal power relationships opposed to Zimbardo’s. A recent Journalist, retrospectively interviewed participants, concluding the experiment was manipulated differently from what was reported, thus did not have authentic results.  Digitized tapes reveal experimenters (the “Wardens”) modeled and encouraged aggression from the prison guards. Some prisoners reported acting the “role of a victim of abuse” versus responding naturally.

Psychology, like all science, is self-correcting. Psychological scientists strive to find inaccuracies in others’ studies and theories. They strive for the truth.

References:

Blum, B. (2018, June 7). The Lifespan of a Lie. In Medium. Retrieved August 15, 2018, from https://medium.com/s/trustissues/the-lifespan-of-a-lie-d869212b1f62

Haslam, S. Alexander, Reicher,  Stephen, & Van Bavel, Jay. (2018). Rethinking the ‘nature’ brutality: Uncovering the role of identity leadership in the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Haney, C., Banks, W. C., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1973). Interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison. International Journal of Criminology and Penology, 1, 69-97.

Reicher, Stephen, Haslam, S. Alexander and Bavel, Jay Van. (2018). Time to change the story.

http://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/time-change-story/

Reicher, S. D., & Haslam, S. A. (2006). Rethinking the psychology of tyranny: The BBC prison study. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 1–41

Prior to his enrollment at BEC, he joined RCA as a junior mathematician—even though his undergraduate degree was in social sciences, which he earned at the University of the Philippines while serving in Air Force intelligence. He soon learned senior scientists working at Cape Canaveral were setting up an engineering college offering graduate courses in the evening, and he enrolled in the applied mathematics master’s degree program in the fall of 1960. At the invitation of Ray Work, acting dean of BEC, Kaltman also taught a general college chemistry course at what was to become Florida Tech. He then went on to earn his doctorate in political science from George Washington University in 1970.

Kaltman’s diverse professional experience included systems design, programming and analysis for government agencies and private organizations. His work not only developed the search algorithm for the prototype of what became GPS, he also designed the first game analysis programs used by several NFL teams. Perhaps his wanderlust began when working on the search algorithm for GPS as Kaltman has traveled extensively. In this photo, he is exploring Cape Washington, Antarctica.

In 1998, with more than 30 years of practical management experience, Kaltman compiled foundational leadership lessons that are still relevant today in an easy-to-read book, Cigars, Whiskey & Winning: Leadership Lessons from General Ulysses S. Grant.

His career included stints as a senior executive vice president of MBNA, group vice president of GEICO Corporation, as well as president and CEO roles with two companies. Today, Kaltman volunteers to teach a course in leadership at George Washington University.

Excerpt from our upcoming 60th Anniversary publication,
60 for 60: Celebrating Sixty Years of Alumni at Florida Institute of Technology

Florida Institute of Technology’s Clinical Psychology Doctoral (Psy.D.) program is delighted to offer a Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) training program to clinical psychology doctoral students. The primary goal of this program, funded by a grant from the Health Resource Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is to increase the number of psychologists who are competent to provide evidence-based psychological care to culturally diverse vulnerable and underserved populations in integrated interprofessional health care settings.

A current project abstract can be accessed here

Program Benefits to GPE trainees:

• Experiential practicum training in interprofessional healthcare for vulnerable and underserved populations
• Stipend support ($12,500 per semester for 2 semesters)
• Conference travel support (American Psychological Association Convention and/or Collaborative Family Healthcare Conference)
• Opportunities to present to interprofessional audiences
• Exposure to expert outside speakers from the area of integrated primary care

Five of the seven trainees funded by this opportunity each semester will participate in 20 hours per week practicum at Brevard Health Alliance, the county’s only Federally Qualified Health Center, which serves the community’s uninsured and underserved individuals. Two additional students will train 20 hours per week at Parrish Medical Group – Titusville, a private practice in a medically underserved area.

Interested applicants should contact Dr. Kristi Van Sickle at kvansickle@fit.edu. Students from diverse or economically-disadvantaged backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply.

One often-overlooked piece of the project management process is documentation. After all, paperwork is known for being tedious, and it doesn’t feel like you are actually doing anything when you spend time filling out action logs and status reports.

Documentation does have a role to play in project managment, however. The reality is that documentation can save the day in many cases when a question or conflict arises during or even after the project’s completion. When something seems to be missing or undone, you will be glad you documented each action taken, by whom it was taken, and when it was taken to quickly evaluate what happened.

Phases of Documentation

The importance of documentation in project management cannot be overstated. Documentation starts before the project does, often with a feasibility report designed to explain how the project will work and whether it can meet cost, time and other requirements. If the project is deemed feasible, the next phase is an overview of the entire project that managers will often use to gain approval to proceed with the project.

A work plan and traceability matrix flesh out the middle phases of the project, while an issue tracker and change document are often needed as supplements to handle problems and difficulties that arise during the project’s execution. At the end of the project, a rollout document may detail how the client will take over management at completion, and contract closure is the final needed element to signify that everything has been completed as agreed upon.

It can be difficult to keep up with all the paperwork needed to manage a project, since it seems less urgent than other parts of the project. You may not even notice that documentation is missing until there’s some kind of problem. But problems do occur rather frequently, so if there’s no documentation when a problem does arise, it will only make things worse. Not to mention, some types of documentation are specifically for legal or tax reasons, so if they are not done properly, there will often be ramifications to deal with in the future. Paperwork diligence in project management is not only wise; in most cases, it is necessary.

When conflict arises, it passes quickly when documentation is presented.

Using Tools

Many project managers use templates and pre-made forms for documenting their projects, but the easiest and best way to document is with software made for that specific purpose. The advantages to using software (which could be online or an app) are several: ease of use, scalability for multiple projects, and the ability to analyze data collected and use it to improve your process in the future.

However you decide to document the projects you manage, finding the right balance between thorough and time-sucking is key to the process. A software solution will not be helpful if it is cumbersome to use and doesn’t actually save you time. And for some people, documenting by hand is the only way that makes sense, and their long experience with doing so makes it faster and easier for them.

Florida Tech offers a degree in project management that includes flexible scheduling and a thorough grounding in important leadership skills for project managers. Learn more about our project management degree program and what we have to offer you in this area.

Project management—the kind that works—really boils down to one essential thing. If you get this one thing right, you will be able to complete projects well, meet time deadlines, and make your clients very happy. If you don’t get this one thing right, your project is likely to fail.

What is the one thing you can’t afford to get wrong? Communication.

Effective communication in project management leads to a well-run team, and lack of communication leads to chaos and eventual ruin. Although the end result is simple and direct, communication is often anything but. Project managers may think they are being direct, but may be perceived as rude or uncaring. They may decide to express empathy with their team member’s situation, but have it taken as permission to slack off and miss deadlines.

Tips for Effective Communication in Project Management

One key to effective communication is to realize that 90 percent or more of your communication is nonverbal—or at least not about the words you actually say. If you say something with a dry or ironic tone of voice, your team may take your meaning to be the exact opposite of what you say. Gestures also play into how your communication is perceived.

The statement, “We need to complete this project on time or the client will be very unhappy” can have an entirely different meaning when a gesture like an eye roll or a nervous laugh accompanies the words. Having a trusted friend or colleague observe your communication with your team and give you feedback on how it came across may be an invaluable exercise and help you improve your future communication.

Communication doesn’t only have to be verbal, however. Using tools like group chat, shared calendars, and even interactive whiteboards can help to guide and direct your team, serving as valuable reminders of deadlines for tasks or a way to see progress without constant meetings that can get tiresome and repetitive at times.

Interactive whiteboards and group chat rooms online are some ways to keep communication going in your absence.

Theoretically, communication can be overdone and lead to micromanagement and fatigue on the part of team members, but most project managers err on the side of undercommunication rather than communicating too much. A Project Management Institute report suggested that 90 percent of a project manager’s time should be spent communicating. That’s a lot of communication!

You don’t need to repeat the same instructions over and over again to be effective. Asking pertinent questions about a team member’s progress can be enough to clarify the task and get your point across without being too demanding or being seen as a micromanager. Frequent communication with team members also gives them access to you so they can ask questions when they have them, rather than feeling left alone to deal with the situation.

Listening is just as important to communication as talking—some would say it is more important, even. Project managers will not know what is going on with their team unless they spend a significant amount of time listening to them.

The importance of documentation in project management is another aspect to consider. Florida Tech offers a project management degree program that prepares students to effectively communicate with their teams and addresses all aspects of the project management process.

As per the rules of the competition, the group prepared a three-course meal consisting of an appetizer of monkfish mousse with seared scallops, a main course of Tonkatsu-style pork tenderloin and a dessert of bing cherry mousse with chocolate genoise, as well as a buffet course of Moroccan-style braised chicken.

Competing against 14 other teams, the meal was critiqued by 12 judges, including four certified Master Chefs.

Teams were given a market basket containing a selection of materials then had one hour to submit a menu. Teams were allowed three hours of cooking time and 30 minutes to plate their dishes.

Clanging glory, the New York Stock Exchange bell rang on June 19, 2018, by the chief executive officer of Silicon Valley-based 8×8 Inc. and our next Jerome P. Keuper Award winner, Vikram Verma ’87. The 10 seconds of brassy tolling is an enduring symbol of America’s capital market. This historic day signals 8×8’s move from NASDAQ. It is almost an oxymoron that a simple brass bell is the opening of Wall Street in today’s environment of high-speed technology and competitive economy. In contrast to the sound of the bell clang, 8×8’s focus is on revolutionizing enterprise communications everywhere with groundbreaking unified communications and contact center technology. It is the world’s first communications cloud provider. How does one come to the honor of ringing the bell?

Vikram Verma’s formula for life is simple. The four-step process is (1) take a chance, (2) give your best, and the results will come, (3) be honest with yourself and know your limitations and (4) when you find your calling, go for it and don’t let go. This process derives from his life experience, specifically four defining moments which he eloquently shares in both personal encounters and large audiences alike.

Florida Tech is an integral part of his story and formula. Verma, who earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, says, “Florida Tech taught me the value of hard work, commitment and focusing on fundamentals. I’ve parlayed that into my company’s motto: ‘Use technology to solve real-world problems cost-effectively. The rest will take care of itself.”

Some may call him a disrupter—Verma’s passion is taking complex technology and translating it into products and services that create value for customers worldwide. In 1990, Verma started his career at Savi Technology as a design engineer while it was pre-revenue. In the early part of his career at Savi, his work on RFID (radio-frequency identification) and the Internet of Things is credited with revolutionizing the worldwide container tracking and security industry. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, recognized this breakthrough by naming him a 2003 Top 40 Technology Pioneer in the world. Verma grew Savi Technology, known as a pioneer in cloud-based managed service offerings in addition to the RFID tracking and security solutions, from a startup to a multimillion-dollar business. Verma led its acquisition by Texas Instruments. During his tenure, Verma served as Savi Technology’s engineering VP before becoming chief operations officer and later president and CEO. Interestingly, Verma later bought back Savi from Texas Instruments and eventually sold it to Lockheed Martin in 2006. At this point in his career, working as president of strategic venture for Lockheed Martin, Verma turned his attention to shifting the quintessential military technologies and programs at Lockheed to global commercial ventures ranging from seabed mining to nanomaterials.

Beyond his eight patents and distinguished 25-plus-year executive career with leading technology companies, Verma has led a remarkable educational path. Verma earned additional engineering degrees from the University of Michigan and Stanford University. He’s also completed graduate executive credentials from Stanford, Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley.

A dedicated Panther, Verma loyally supports his alma mater. His time as a member of the Florida Tech board of trustees from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2015 to present adds to transformational decisions at the university. In addition, Verma is the recipient of the Faculty Honors Award (co-valedictorian) Class of 1987, the 1987 Tau Beta Pi Williams Fellowship, the 1999 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award for the College of Engineering, and a commencement speaker in 2002 and 2018.

With Verma adding to the heralded previous winners—including business executive Jim Thomas, Major League Baseball pitcher Tim Wakefield, astronaut Sunita Williams, the army’s first female four-star general, Ann Dunwoody, retired Ford Motor Co. executive Robert Phebus Jr., attorney Dale Dettmer and Carmax President and CEO Thomas Folliard—it is easy to imagine Jerome P. Keuper smiling in his bow tie.

Learn more about Verma and 8×8

Behind a staff-only door in Evans Library, you will find a stack of rare books. To the side, an office of file folios with delicate papers and other odds and ends awaiting processing.

Erin Mahaney, university archivist for the Harry P. Weber University Archives, and fellow Evans Library staff are diligently arranging and describing these historical materials before they are carefully moved to their temperature- and humidity-controlled homes.

Driven by preservation, Mahaney collects, protects, preserves and fosters accessibility of Florida Tech’s archival treasures, some of which go beyond Florida Tech’s 1958 inception—think 10,000 years beyond.

Equipped with white gloves, Mahaney very cautiously pulls a few items from the sparkling glass shelves of the archives’ public display for a closer look.

Go back in time by scrolling through the photos above.

Dennis had an impressive start to the 2018-19 season this past weekend as she placed third overall at the Lady Falcon Invitational, which was hosted at LPGA International Golf Club’s par-72, 6,117-yard Hill’s Course. Dennis recorded six birdies over the three days and posted round scores of 76-74-74 to finish with a card of 8-over 224 for the tournament.

334-361 Sugar & Attention

Research by Giles, Grace E., Avanzato, Benjamin F., Mora, Belén, Jurdak, Nicole A. and Kanarek, Robin B. (2018).

Written by Shannon Cantalupo, B.S.

Can sugar help your attention or memory? What if you thought you were consuming sugar but really weren’t?

Many avoid soda because of health. Others drink soda to enhance their brain performance while studying or to feel energized.  Research on how sugar affects brain functioning is still inconsistent. Tufts University research psychologists evaluated how high-fructose corn syrup affects cognition, attention and mood. They compared 4 groups totaling 105 participants.  Two Groups drank soda with sugar. Group 1 knew it, Group 2 was told it was artificial sweetener, not sugar. Group 3 and 4 drank soda with artificial sweetener, Group 3 was told it was artificial sweetener. Group 4, told it was sugar. Afterwards, they gave cognitive tasks and mood questionnaires to all groups.

Only participants that consumed sugar showed an increase in sustained attention. Individuals who thought they were drinking soda with sugar when they were not reported feeling more tension than the other groups. This may be due to their negative perceptions of drinking an unhealthy drink. None of the groups improved their performance on any of the memory tasks.

So, drinking sugary soda, may enable you to study longer but it will not help you remember it!

Reference:

Giles, Grace E., Avanzato, Benjamin F., Mora, Belén, Jurdak, Nicole A. and Kanarek, Robin B. (2018). Sugar Intake and Expectation Effects on Cognition and Mood. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 26(3), 302–309.

Poorly understood, rumination begins in adolescence and, if it goes untreated, can lead to surgery later in life due to the stomach acid eating the lining of the esophagus.

A Florida Tech researcher is working to improve the understanding of this habit and determine ways to combat it.

David Wilder, a professor in the School of Behavior Analysis at the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts, through his extensive research with people with autism and intellectual disabilities, has started to develop behavior modifications that have shown some success in combating rumination.

His recent assessment and treatment of rumination in Hank, a 19-year-old with autism, was featured in, “Assessment and treatment of rumination in a young man with autism,” published earlier this year in the journal Behavioral Interventions. The article can be found here.

During baseline testing, Hank’s mean percentage of intervals with rumination was 68 percent. But when Wilder provided him a Ring Pop – one of his favorite treats – and coupled that with a reprimand, Hank’s percentage of intervals with rumination fell to 8 percent.

In this single-subject research effort, which Wilder believes may prompt others to do larger scale studies, Wilder and his staff first analyzed if the frequency of rumination was related to the taste of the food. In their study, Hank performed the action more after having preferred food, such as sweets.

With the intervention part of the study, the team provided Hank a competing behavior as they looked to decrease the frequency of rumination: gum. However, he didn’t have verbal or receptive skills, ultimately leading Hank to swallow the gum even after attempts to teach chewing it. The staff switched to a Ring Pop after meals, which decreased the rumination somewhat, but did not eliminate it.

The researchers then added a reprimand from an associate who had developed good instructional control with the subject. The reprimand brought the act down further, however, the staff wanted to ensure rumination would stop even if the staff member wasn’t available. The staff member started using a green piece of construction paper when reprimanding the subject. Soon the paper was synonymous with the reprimand.

“After repeatedly doing that, we gave the card to other staff members who also delivered the reprimand and in the presence of the card, that brought it down to very low levels,” Wilder said.

Wilder has done four previous studies on rumination, helping to provide critical information about a behavior that does not have reams of research behind it. In his previous research, Wilder and staff analyzed a correlation between ease of rumination and subjects having a liquid during meals. They also found that using dry items such as peanut butter and white bread, in addition to altering when liquid is served, may curtail subjects from ruminating.

In the future, Wilder will look at the motivations for rumination, such as avoidance. Due to the nature of the act, a person can smell bad, which can get them out of things they may not want to do, such as schooling or other instruction.

“I think in the future, on an individual basis, if you identify why, that will suggest specific intervention for that specific person,” Wilder said.

###

Thursday, October 11, 2018
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT

Center for Aeronautics and Innovation
1050 W Nasa Blvd
Melbourne, FL 32901

Register Here

East central Florida underwent a revolution in the 1950’s. The sleepy, fishing communities stretching from Titusville to Melbourne along the Atlantic Coast began to receive an influx of engineers, scientists and technicians. In 1948 the first wave of “Missilemen”* arrived. An army of 75,000 technicians, engineers and scientists followed in the next ten years. 1958 was a year of change. In January, the United States launched its first satellite into orbit. In July, President Eisenhower signed into law the bill creating NASA. A month later the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) called for the creation of a new super-rocket code-named Saturn. Less attention was given to a young RCA physicist’s announcement in May of the creation of Brevard Engineering Institute (BEI). When classes began in September the school’s name had changed to Brevard Engineering College (BEC). Eight years later in 1966, Florida’s Secretary of State approved BEC’s request to change its name to Florida Institute of Technology.

Russians Win Race to Launch Earth Satellite

New York Times Reports on Sputnik

The Soviet launch of Sputnik on 4 October 1957 sparked a heated debate in America and around the world. Within a month the Russians had a second Sputnik, weighing 1100 pounds and carrying a barking dog named Laika, in orbit. On December 6, 1958, the United States first effort to launch a four-pound satellite into orbit ended with an explosion on the launch pad. The next day London Daily Express ran the banner headline “U.S. Calls it Kaputnik.” Edward Teller warned that the US faced “technological Pearl Harbor.” In the twelve years since the end of World War II, American science and technology had lost its preeminent position. Commentators blamed American education. Thousands rushed to by a book which had appeared in 1955 entitled Why Johnny Can’t Read. Harvard’s President, Nathan Pusey, called for a higher percentage of the nation’s gross national product to be spent on education.

General Medaris Preparing for Launch of “Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958”

On January 31, 1958, 119 days after Sputnik’s launch, Explorer 1, America’s first satellite, lifted into orbit. Putting a satellite in orbit was only the beginning. The long-term success of America’s space program rested on the shoulders of the nation’s scientists and engineers. There were, however, disturbing trends. In 1958, the Engineering Manpower Commission reported that “freshman engineering registrations dropped 11 percent” against an over-all 7 percent increase in college enrollments. Fewer and fewer young people were choosing science and engineering as their majors in college. Perhaps worse still, the scientists, engineers, and technicians at the Cape lacked an opportunity to advance their education.

Keuper Leaves the Snow of the Northeast for Sunny Florida

Jerry Keuper had just crossed Florida state line driving a station wagon towing his 1952 MG when he heard Maj. Gen. John B. Medaris, commander of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), announce the successful launch of Explorer I. Keuper, his wife Natalie and their infant daughter Melanie were on their way to Melbourne, Florida where Keuper had accepted a position as a senior engineer in RCA’s Systems Analysis section of the Missile Test Project (MTP).

Keuper, a physicist with a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from Stanford, had spent the previous five years working for the Remington Arms Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1957, Keuper visited Jim Stoms in Florida. Stoms, chief engineer for the Martin Company, and Keuper grew up together in Kentucky on the Ohio River sharing their secrets and dreams. After World War II Keuper enrolled in MIT. He finished his undergraduate degree in 1948. During this period he persuaded Stoms who was about to be discharged from the Marine Corps to come to Boston. The two men stayed in contact during the next decade. Stoms encouraged Keuper to leave the Northeast. Exciting things were happening at the Cape. Florida was on the technological frontier. Keuper agreed to have a look. During his visit, Keuper was interviewed for a position with the RCA Missile Test Project.

The interview went well. Dr. Charles Carroll, head of RCA’s Systems Analysis Group, offered Keuper the job of senior engineer at RCA in his section. Keuper returned to Connecticut unconvinced. Fate intervened. On a wintry night Keuper and his wife, Natalie, were driving on an icy New England road. Blowing snow caused Keuper to lose sight of the road. The Keuper’s 1952 MG careened “over a stone wall and landed upside down.” “That did it!” Keuper recalled thinking, ” We’re going to Florida.”

Keuper Gains Experience in College Accreditation at Bridgeport Engineering Institute

During his five years working for Remington Arms in Connecticut, Jerry Keuper served as an instructor evenings at the Bridgeport Engineering Institute (BEI). Initially, he taught calculus. Arthur Keating, BEI’s founder and president, took a liking to the lanky physicist from Kentucky. Keating founded BEI in 1924 to meet the needs of individuals who wished to become engineers but were unable to enroll in a traditional university program. He named Keuper chairman of mathematics department. Keuper remembers discussing with Keating whether to move to Florida. One thing troubled him. He liked teaching and there were no near-by colleges or universities. Keuper asked Keating what he thought of the idea of starting a Florida branch of BEI. “No,” Keating barked, “start your own college.’

Keuper pondered the idea as he prepared to move. BEI was in the midst of preparing its application to Connecticut Department of Higher Education for a license to offer an associate degree in engineering. Keating had charged Keuper with organizing the accreditation process. As a hedge, Keuper made copies of all of the BEI accreditation documents. By the time he reached Melbourne, Keuper decided to follow Keating’s advice. His 1952 MG still had a BEI (Bridgeport Engineering Institute) parking decal on the window. Why not call the school Brevard Engineering Institute?

Four Friends Meet in a Bar + That Famous 37¢

Keuper weighed the possibilities for starting a college during his weeks as chief scientist in RCA’s Systems Analysis Group. The Systems Analysis Group was responsible for assuring the accuracy of the technical data that was supplied by the different sections of the Missile Test Project. The intense nature of the work made for quick friendships. Keuper shared his idea of starting a college with three members of the Systems Analysis team. After work George Peters, a mathematician, Robert Kelly, a computer scientist, and Donya Dixon, another mathematician, would meet Keuper at the Pelican Bar on A1A. Keuper believed that the position of Florida’s aerospace industry was analogous to the northeast’s smokestack industries at the turn-of-the century. A tradition of higher education existed in the Northeast, which supplied a pool of educated technicians and engineers. East central Florida was different. There were no technical and engineering schools near-by.

Peters, Kelly, and Dixon listened as Keuper outlined his plan. BEI would serve as their model. Classes would be offered in the evenings. The faculty would be drawn from the Missile Test Project. ‘Missilemen’ would be the students. The curriculum would be tailored to meet the needs of technicians and engineers who wished to advance. One day a bystander standing off to the side overheard the conversation and tossed thirty-seven cents of change from a long distance phone call on the bar with the quip “go start you college with this.”

Brevard Engineering Institute grew from these musings at the Pelican Bar. A young inertial guidance engineer named Harold Dibble joined the group in the early spring. Dibble, with a Ph.D. from Cornell and experience teaching in UCLA’s evening engineering program, brought valuable experience to the discussions. Responsibilities were distributed. Keuper was to be the school’s president. Dibble took the title of dean. Peters became the head of the mathematics department. Kelly agreed to serve as the school’s financial officer. Donya Dixon was named the organization’s secretary.

Designing a College IS Rocket Science

Over the next few weeks Keuper and his confederates drafted an outline of Brevard Engineering Institute. The group produced a four-page document, which listed seventeen items. Classes would be held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings between seven and ten. Students could pursue courses in mechanical and electrical engineering and “possibly business administration.” The undergraduate program would lead to an associate degree in three years. BEI would apply for regional accreditation as soon possible. Classes would be limited to “approximately fifteen students”. Admission was open to any individual with a high school diploma. Graduate courses would be added to the curriculum “once the mechanism of the school has been set in motion.” Faculty and administrators would consist of “professional men, regularly employed in local business and industry. In each case, men will be selected to teach in the subject area most related to their regular employment and where their college background shows academic strength.” There would be, however, “no full-time instructors, administrator, or employees (with the possible exception of a registrar).” A Board of Directors would be chosen from local leaders “scientific, industrial, and civic leaders.” Keuper shared responsibility for the school’s day-to-day administration with Dibble, Kelly, Peters, and Dixon.

In the spring, Keuper made his first foray into winning local support for the college. He asked the Brevard Joint Chamber of Commerce to give its endorsement to the school. Norman Lund, Sr., chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, was enthusiastic. Lund had come to Melbourne in 1923 to build U.S. 1. Later he became the business manager for Melbourne Village. Despite Lund’s support, the Chamber gave Keuper a luke-warm reception. They tabled the motion and told Keuper they would give him their decision at their next meeting. Later Keuper learned that the Chamber “had turned down my request and [had]voted to invite the University of Miami to come to Brevard County and set up a similar educational program.” Keuper recalls being “disheartened” by the episode until he learned that the dean of engineering at the University of Miami had rebuffed the Chamber’s overture saying, “Let Keuper do it, he is on the scene and probably can [sic]a better job than we could.”

The Engineer’s “Cotillion”???

Trade Winds Club

Fueled with enthusiasm, Keuper’s “administration” spent April and May working out the details for BEI. The Brevard County Schools agreed rent three classrooms at Eau Gallie Junior High School (now Westshore Junior Senior High School) to BEI. In May the Melbourne Daily Times reported that Keuper and his confederates were organizing an Engineer’s Cotillion, a semi-formal dance, to raise money for the college. The Cotillion would be held on Friday, June 6, 1958 at the Trade Winds Club in Indialantic.

The Engineer’s Cotillion was nearly a disaster. The plan was to have a posh dinner dance complete with orchestra and entertainment. Natalie Keuper and Mary Hayward, formerly a Broadway musical star, would sing. Lilo Williamson agreed to perform Hawaiian dances. A barber shop quartet was added to round out the evening. Louie Camp, the principle of Indialantic Elementary School, served as the evening’s master of ceremonies. Keuper hoped to use the Cotillion to inform the public about the Institute and to raise money for the publication of the BEI’s initial course offering. Tom Doherty, the owner of the Trade Winds Club, catered the event. The evening started on a sour note when Keuper complained about the hors d’oeuvres. Doherty disagreed. The men argued as the guests arrived. Eventually, Keuper “invited Doherty to step outside and settle the matter.” As they were preparing to leave one of the guests whispered to Keuper that Doherty was a champion amateur boxer. Keuper suggested that they move on to the evening’s planned entertainment.

Brevard Engineering College Announces Classes

The Cotillion raised enough money to print a catalog for the fall semester. A few days later Harold Dibble announced that registration for classes would be held at the Country Club college office of the University of Melbourne. A secretary would take registrations Monday through Friday from nine until one. Registering students presented Keuper with a surprise. The would-be students made it clear that they did not want to attend an “institute.” They wanted to go to college. Keuper agreed and overnight BEI became BEC (Brevard Engineering College). With a razor he removed the “I” from the BEI parking decal and pasted in a “C.” All great universities have parking decals. BEC was off to a great start.

Our First Course Schedule

The course catalog appeared in July. Nine classes were listed. They included:

• Advanced Calculus
• Transients in Linear Systems
• Statistics and Probability Theory I
• Modern Algebra
• Advanced Circuitry Analysis
• Servomechanisms
• Electromagnetic Fields
• Transistor Theory I
• Numerical Analysis

Tuition for one course was $35; $68 for two; and $96 for three. Classes were scheduled to begin on September 22. Moreover, Dibble announced that the school intended to offer graduate courses leading to a master’s degree in electrical engineering and applied mathematics. Dibble explained that the “basic philosophy of the graduate division” of BEC was to offer courses which were designed around the special expertise of the individuals working at the Cape. “The men who are doing the teaching,” Keuper added, “are practicing what they teach in the day time.” He cited as an example of this a course on rocket propulsion taught by Sebastian J. D’Alli. D”Alli, a member of a local engineering firm, had extensive knowledge of rocket engines. BEC’s course was designed to take advantage of D’Alli’s unique experience.

MIT Understood Our Vision and Lends a Helping Hand

Alten Thresher, who served as Dean of Admissions at MIT, gave BEC an unexpected boost. Keuper had met Dean Thresher during his undergraduate years at MIT. Earlier in the summer, Keuper had written to Thresher outlining his plan to model BEC on Bridgeport Engineering Institute. “I have always felt,” Dean Thresher replied, “that the Bridgeport [Conn.} Engineering Institute represented a very sound and viable educational effort, and it is good to know that the pattern is now being reproduced in Florida. We are entirely willing to consider for possible credit here subjects given at Brevard which are substantially equivalent in content.” Thresher had visited Melbourne in 1957 and knew about the educational “problems in that area.” Brevard Engineering College, Thresher concluded “seems to be an excellent solution to some of them.”

The First Faculty Meeting

By early September 154 students had registered for classes. There were 114 undergraduate and 40 graduate applicants. The average age of the applicants was thirty-three. Six women were among the first students. These figures were announced at BEC’s first faculty meeting which was held at Hensel’s Red Rooster Restaurant in Eau Gallie on September 18. Forty-five prospective faculty members attended the dinner meeting. Keuper explained to the group that the purpose of BEC was to “train men and women who might not otherwise gain such an education in engineering, the sciences, and business administration.”

The rest of the first faculty meeting consisted of Dean Dibble and the school’s treasurer, Robert Kelly, described school’s procedures. Dibble outlined the teaching assignments, how tests were to be administered, and his own philosophy of teaching. Kelly summarized the school’s financial situation and told the faculty that an agreement had been reached with the National Bank of Cocoa to help students finance their tuition.

The next night a “mass meeting” of the students and faculty of BEC was held at 7:00 PM at Eau Gallie Junior High School. Students purchased their books and course materials in the school’s foyer. George Peters chaired the meeting. When Peters introduced Keuper as the school’s president one student called out, “Hey, he is the guy who sold me the pencils.” Selling pencils was simple. Arranging with publishers to ship books was more difficult. One of the publishers sent their books C.O.D. to the Eau Gallie post office. Keuper and Kelly managed the book sale in such a way that they were able to “collect enough money from the sale of other books to bail out the rest of them.”

The Missilemen Go to College

Money was to remain a perennial problem. There was, however, no shortage of enthusiasm. BEC’s first students and faculty were hard workers. “I’ve only been fishing once in the last five weeks,” Missileman Arthur Penfield reported. “I haven’t got time…and I’m a rabid fisherman.” Penfield was a typical BEC student. Penfield, a forty-year old retired Navy chief warrant officer, worked at the Cape as a computer specialist. The navy trained him to be a technician “who can get by” on what he knows. He wanted, however, to be an engineer. BEC gave him an opportunity for advancement.

This was the same reason that Glenn Routh, a thirty-two year old Boeing technician working on the Bomarc missile, was going back to school. BEC was his last chance to become an engineer. RCA and the other base contractors faced the constant threat of losing their best technicians because of the lack of educational opportunities. “Engineers like to continue studying,” John Wright observed. “That’s why places like Boston with MIT, and Chicago and Los Angeles are so appealing. Brevard College will help us keep engineers in the area.” At the Cape, Wright led a team of twelve engineers charged with devising firing mechanisms. Wright enrolled in BEC to earn a degree in space technology.

Five weeks into the first semester the faculty met at the Red Rooster Restaurant to compare notes on their classes. “I’ve never seen students slave like this,” one faculty member observed. Eight of the twenty-three faculty members held Ph.Ds. Like their students, most of the faculty were employed by private contractors at the Cape. Keuper and Dibble had recruited seventy-five students from their fellow RCA workers. Additional students came from contractors such as General Electric, Aerojet, Convair, and Radiation, Inc.

National Recognition for “Countdown College”

Midway into its first semester BEC won national recognition when both Newsweek and Time Magazines sent reporters to cover the college. Newsweek praised the determination of both the faculty and students. “While technicians at Cape Canaveral prepared for the Army’s first attempt to raise a rocket to the moon,” the Newsweek reporter declared, “a project to raise the educational level of the base’s personnel moved smoothly into orbit last week.” Ad Astra per scientia.

*Both men and women working at the Missile Test Project were called “Missilemen.”

Video of Original Explore 1 Launch in 1958

Research by Senn, Charlene. Y., Eliasziw, Misha., Barata, Paula. C., Thurston, Wilfreda. E., Newby-Clark, Ian. R., Radtke, Lorraine., & Hobden, Karen. L. (2015).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Female college students are at significant risk for being sexually assaulted. How can women reduce their risk?

Over 900 first-year female students at three Canadian universities completed one of two groups. In the Assess, Acknowledge, Act sexual assault resistance group, the participants were taught and practiced skills to recognize danger and engage in effective verbal and physical self-defense. There were four classes of 3 hours. The second group consisted of the common university practice of one group session on sexual assault education with brochures and university policy discussion.

At one-year follow-up, all participants completed a survey regarding sexual victimization. The 1-year risk of completed rape was significantly lower in the resistance group (5%) than in the education and policy group (10%), meaning a 46% relative risk reduction. Also, their attempted rape was significantly lower (3% vs. 9%).

A rigorous sexual assault resistance program was successful in decreasing the occurrence of college female sexual victimization, suggesting the importance of a more extensive course in preparing them mentally and physically to defend themselves and recognize dangerous situations. Let’s stop rape and sexual assault! In all schools implement a thorough sexual assault prevention course with knowledge, skills, and practice.

Reference:

Senn, C. Y., Eliasziw, M., Barata, P. C., Thurston, W. E., Newby-Clark, I. R., Radtke, L., & Hobden, K. L. (2015). Efficacy of a Sexual Assault Resistance Program for University Women. The New England Journal of Medicine, 372, 2326-2335.

Setting goals in project management can help you assess how your team is doing, what’s working, and what needs improvement. Without goals, your team could flounder and lose valuable time on projects. Here are some best practices for project management goal setting.

1. Start with where you are and where you want to be.

The first step to setting effective goals is to assess where you currently stand with the project. Next, you need to figure out where you want to be. Both of these are necessary to set effective goals and should be considered as goals are set.

2. Break goals down into smaller parts.

Large goals are difficult to attain because they tend to be vague and not easily understood. Team members will find it hard to decide how to approach large goals. Breaking them down into steps that are easy to follow and show a clear path toward the eventual goal will help things stay on track.

3. Make goals specific and measurable.

In addition to breaking goals down into smaller parts, they should be specific, giving a clear picture of what reaching each goal looks like. Instead of “provide excellent customer service to the client,” for example, a specific and measurable goal would be “resolving 100 percent of client concerns and complaints within three interactions.”

4. Match goals to team members’ strengths.

Project managers who set goals have happier, more successful teams.

Goals that match team members’ strengths will come easier to the team and be attained more successfully. Team members will prefer to work from their strengths and will achieve more in this way than they would when not matched with their strengths.

5. Focus on learning as well as accomplishment.

Goals typically focus on accomplishments, but learning is another worthy aspect of goal setting and can help your team grow and develop over time. Setting goals that involve learning takes a long-term approach to project management that will prove its effectiveness over time.

6. Show relevance of goals to keep the team motivated.

Goals should always be relevant to the team as a whole, but will the team see the relevance? Showing the relevance of each goal will help the team maintain its motivation over the long haul of a project because they can see how goals are related and how they contribute to the end result of a successfully completed project.

7. Agree on what goals mean.

Goals can be detailed and complex, which means that they could be misunderstood by both team members and leaders or clients. Everyone doesn’t have to understand or agree about each specific detail of a goal, but if all parties can agree on what goals mean, they can move forward in a unified fashion. Using effective project management communication skills can help everyone understand and agree on goals.

Florida Tech offers several degrees with a project management focus that can give you the high-level project management skills you need to become a leader in your industry. Learn more about our project management degree program and other opportunities in this popular career path.

Being a project manager isn’t easy. Managing the work of others has the potential for as many different problems as there are people, and ultimately, the project manager is the one responsible for the project’s successful completion.

There are many skills involved in being a project manager, but delegating is one of the most important. While it may seem to make more sense to handle all the important tasks yourself when overseeing a project, this will cause stress and burn out, which can lead to critical mistakes in judgment and execution of the work. Successful delegation in project management helps keep projects running smoothly and maximizes employee productivity.

First Step to Delegating: Know Your Team

Delegating tasks in project management can be successful when you know your team members well. If you can choose your team, you want to select personnel with the specific strengths you need for the work at hand. If your team is assigned to you, learning about each member’s strengths and weaknesses will help you decide how to delegate tasks. Delegating should not be done in an offhand way or by casual observation, but ideally with intention by observing team members over a period of time or talking to their supervisors about their strengths and weaknesses.

Preparing the Team

Once you have decided which tasks to delegate to which team members, you should prepare each member of the team for their duties by explaining in detail what you need them to do. Providing guidelines and requirements in writing, preferably online through a project management tool, will help everyone to be clear on what they need to do as well as deadlines that will enable the project to move forward in a timely way. It’s important that team members don’t become confused about what they’re being asked to do, since that will lead to wasted time and lost productivity.

Delegating tasks to team members allows everyone to contribute to a project’s success.

Letting Them Loose

One risk of project management is to hover over team members to make sure they do their assignments acceptably and the “right” way, but project management training will tell you that this is a mistake for several reasons. First, such micromanagement is likely to cause resentment among team members, which will hamper both morale and productivity. Second, when you’re micromanaging, you’re not getting any of your own tasks done, and are probably spending as much time overseeing as you would if you had done the task yourself.

You need to trust your own judgment—you assigned these tasks to your team for a reason. Ask for periodic updates for reassurance that team members are on track, and then trust your team to do their assigned tasks.

Managing for Growth

The last and possibly best reason not to micromanage your employees is because you want them to grow through each project, learning new skills and figuring out how to manage what they’ve been asked to do. Putting yourself forward as a coach and support person who will help when needed but will not interfere with their efforts otherwise (unless you see the project going off the rails) will encourage your team to work to the best of each person’s abilities. Project management goal setting in the area of growth will lead to progress over time, but only if you avoid micromanaging your team.

Learn more about our project management degree program and see how a Florida Tech degree can give you the skills for leadership in your workplace.

332-359 Cue Creativity

Research by Green, Adam. E., Cohen, Michael. S., Kim, Joseph. U., & Gray, Jeremy. R. (2012).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Is creativity a stable personality trait an individual possesses or does it depend on a state of mind?

Psychological researchers sought to identify whether performance on a task requiring creative thinking could be improved when directly attempting to be creative. First, 40 undergraduate students viewed four sets of words and indicated whether or not they found the word pairs to be acceptably similar. Next, word pairings were placed in colored lettering.  Participants were instructed to think more creatively when seeing word pairs in green writing versus purple writing when deciding whether the words were similar or not.

Researchers found that when they asked participants to think creatively, they were more likely to label highly creative word pairs correctly and did not identify false comparisons as valid. These results indicate that people are better able to reason with higher level thinking as well as enhance their performance when instructed to think more creatively.

Although this study does not cover all aspects of creativity, findings can be usefully applied in education and learning. Challenge students to use their creative mind to assist in developing their abilities to learn new concepts.  And remind yourself to be creative!

Reference:

Green, A. E., Cohen, M. S., Kim, J. U., & Gray, J. R. (2012). An explicit cue improves creative analogical reasoning. Intelligence, 40, 598-603.

The current warming from climate change may drive an equally dramatic change in vegetation within the next 100 to 150 years unless greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced, the team, led by researchers at the University of Arizona, wrote in the paper, “Past and future global transformation of terrestrial ecosystems under climate change,” published today in the journal Science.

“We found that ecosystems all over the globe experienced big changes,” said Connor Nolan, a doctoral candidate in the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences. “About 70 percent of those sites experienced large changes in the species that were there and what the vegetation looked like.”

The changes were especially pronounced in the mid-to-high latitudes in North America, Europe and Patagonia — regions that were most heavily glaciated and therefore had warmed the most since the ice ages.

The analysis required synthesizing information from published reports for 594 sites covering every continent except Antarctica. Nolan said the study is the most comprehensive compilation of vegetation and other ecological data covering the period from the height of the ice ages 21,000 years ago to the pre-industrial era.

Knowing the relationship between temperature change and the degree of vegetation change allowed the researchers to determine how ecosystems might change under various greenhouse-gas emissions models.

“We find that as temperatures rise there are bigger and bigger risks for more ecosystem change,” Nolan said.

Co-author Stephen Jackson, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, added, “Under the business-as-usual scenario of greenhouse-gas emissions there’s a very high likelihood of large changes across all the vegetated continents.”

The profound vegetation changes this study revealed took place as Earth warmed 7-13 degrees Fahrenheit (4-7 degrees Celsius) since the last ice age. Climate change projections indicate the world will warm about that much “in the next 100-150 years if greenhouse-gas emissions are not reduced substantially,” the authors write.

One of the regions that changed the least was Amazonian rainforest, home to the greatest wealth of biodiversity on the planet. Mark Bush, professor of biology at Florida Tech, who evaluated the study’s data for Amazonia, says that does not bode well for the forecasted temperature rise: Amazonia is projected to warm an unprecedented 4-9 degrees Fahrenheit (2-5 degrees Celsius) in just the next 100 years.

“This system changed relatively little in the past with the result that plants and animals have not evolved adaptations allowing them to survive novel conditions,” Bush said. “This could be devastating to Earth’s gene pool.”

It is the speed of warming projected for the 21st century and beyond that is of as much concern as the amount of warming. “We’re talking about the same amount of change in 10 to 20 thousand years that’s going to be crammed into a century or two,” Jackson continued. “Ecosystems are going to be scrambling to catch up.”

The changes would threaten global biodiversity and derail vital services that nature provides to humanity, such as water security, carbon storage and recreation, according to study co-author Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan.

The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of the Interior Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research funded the research.

The Science article can be found at http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6405/920.

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Dr. Lindeman shares how to make your lawn “Lagoon-friendly.”

Project management is a highly developed process that facilitates the completion of business projects in the most effective way possible, according to defined goals and requirements. Project management training has evolved and now involves various levels of certification that demonstrate learned skills.

One aspect of setting a framework for project management is a detail-oriented approach that is essential for numerous reasons. The main reason for the importance of being detail-oriented for project management is that it ensures accuracy as the team plans and completes the project. Being detail-oriented and accurate go hand-in-hand when it comes to project management.

Details Needed From Conception to Completion

When the idea for a project is first conceived, details are important in order for the project manager to direct and develop the concept in accordance with existing company goals and objectives. An ill-conceived, vague project idea does not have much chance of becoming an effective project that benefits the company and satisfies customers or company leaders.

Projects that are planned haphazardly and without attention to detail may have parts and pieces that fall through the cracks and aren’t addressed in a timely fashion. Project managers that aren’t detail-oriented are likely to experience a multitude of delays from poor planning and logistics that could even have a significant negative impact on the project or even derail it if the customer becomes unhappy.

During the execution phase, handling the details in project management is similarly important so that each team member knows what to do and has guidelines for how to do it effectively. Productivity will suffer when employees don’t know what they are supposed to do or have to constantly ask the team leader what their next task will be.

Setting a framework for project management involves attention to many different details.

It’s also important to keep track of details as the project progresses to monitor what has been done and what still needs to be addressed. Being detail-oriented also helps the team make sure that all essential tasks get completed at the right time and in the correct order to ensure that everything goes more smoothly.

Can Project Managers Be Too Detail-Oriented?

When studying project management, professionals may wonder if there’s such a thing as being too detail-oriented. And while a high level of detail is desirable for project management, it is possible that an extreme level of attention to detail, like most extremes, could be counterproductive.

Micromanaging team members does not typically yield positive results, for example, and is likely to backfire and lower productivity rather than increase it. It is also possible to get too caught up in the details of various tasks and spend too much time on them, which will not move the project forward according to the prescribed schedule.

But while extreme attention to detail may not work out well for project management, most project managers do benefit from a fairly high level of detail as part of their best practices. Successful delegation in project management can be a way to encourage attention to detail without getting too extreme about it.

Florida Tech offers many programs for project management training, including certifications through the Project Management Institute, a Master’s in Project Management and an MBA with a Project Management concentration.  Apply now to start earning your project management credential or degree to demonstrate your leadership skills in the workplace.

This new discovery is a big step forward in the quest to understand how the Higgs enables fundamental particles to acquire mass.

After several years of refining their techniques and gradually incorporating more data, both the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Collider finally saw evidence of the Higgs decaying to bottom quarks that exceeds the 5-sigma threshold of statistical significance typically required to claim a discovery. Both teams found their results were consistent with predictions based on the Standard Model.

“The more precisely we can nail down how the Higgs decays into all the known particles, the better our chances to catch any glimpse of a potential Higgs decay into a new, unknown particle, for example a dark matter particle,” said Marcus Hohlmann, a Florida Tech physicist who is working on the CMS, or Compact Muon Solenoid, experiment. “A direct measurement of the most common decay into bottom and anti-bottom quarks is very important in that context because you need to understand the decays that occur frequently as precisely as possible before you can have any hope to look for the rare decays. To use an overused metaphor, you need to understand the hay before you can look for the needle.”

To spot this process, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations each combined data from the first and second runs of the LHC and then applied complex analysis methods to the data.

“One of the key components of this analysis is the identification of bottom quarks, a process which uses sophisticated algorithms based on neural networks and deep learning methods,” said Francisco Yumiceva, a physicist at Florida Tech and a member of the CMS experiment who has played a key role in developing these tools.

Even though this decay is the most probable path, spotting it in the experimental data was not easy. Every proton-proton collision produces a splattering of subatomic by-products, one of the most common being bottom quarks. These bottom quarks then quickly decay into other kinds of particles, leaving behind vast showers of particles in the detectors. Tracing these particle showers back to two bottom quarks (and then figuring out which ones came from a Higgs boson) is extremely delicate and complicated work.

Higgs bosons are only produced in roughly one out of a billion LHC collisions and live only one-septillionth of a second before their energy is converted into a cascade of other particles. Because it’s impossible to see Higgs bosons directly, scientists use these secondary particles to study the Higgs’ properties. Since the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012, scientists have been able to identify only about 30 percent of all the predicted Higgs boson decays. 

The Higgs field is theorized to interact with all massive particles in the Standard Model, the best theory scientists have to explain the behavior of subatomic particles. But many scientists suspect that the Higgs could also interact with massive particles outside the Standard Model, such as dark matter. By finding and mapping the Higgs bosons’ interactions with known particles, scientists can simultaneously probe for new phenomena.

The next step is to increase the precision of these measurements so that scientists can study this decay mode with a much greater resolution and explore what secrets the Higgs boson might be hiding.

Hohlmann is planning to search for Higgs boson decays into dark matter particles that in turn decay into pairs of muons far away from the original proton-proton collision. Muon detectors that are tailored for detecting such a “displaced-muon signature” are currently being built and tested at Florida Tech to upgrade the broader CMS experiment in Switzerland in 2019.

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In the HR field, predictive analytics have become an effective way to manage employees, making decisions based on the actions data tells HR professionals they are likely to take. Using analytics for continuous improvement in hiring and other HR functions can give companies an edge over their competition and help them acquire and retain the best possible talent.

Using Predictive HR Analytics in Recruiting

One way HR professionals can use predictive analytics is in the recruiting process, to identify which candidates are most likely to perform well and be retained the longest. Culture surveys can also be used to gather data that can gauge how candidates will fit into the existing company culture.

Workforce planning is another area where predictive analytics can be useful in recruiting, revealing where gaps in the workforce are likely to appear in the future so that recruiting efforts can be maximized in those areas. Turnover modeling and rate of expansion are some of the data used in workforce planning analytics. Predicting the potential for advancement can also be an important factor in accurate workforce planning as well.

Predictive analytics can even be used to see the expected response rate for different job postings and advertisements, which can help HR professionals know which methods of advertising will be most worthwhile. In these ways, predictive analytics can lower the cost of recruiting and hiring while simultaneously finding better candidates.

Accurate data is needed to use predictive HR analytics well.

Predictive Analytics for Other HR Functions

Once employees are hired, predictive analytics can be used to measure various other HR metrics that lead to better retention and also dovetail with workforce planning in some ways. Measuring employee satisfaction predicts retention, and employee engagement is another measure that can let employers know whether they need to improve in order to retain employees.

Risks and Pitfalls of Predictive Analytics

While predictive analytics can be highly useful–even integral–to maximizing performance, its usefulness depends on the same thing that determines the quality of research studies: good data. Unfortunately, there is plenty of iffy to bad data out there that doesn’t accurately reflect trends or behaviors. Not only do HR professionals need to use predictive analytics as part of their HR best practices, but they also need to evaluate the data being used to create those analytics to ensure that it will give accurate results.

When companies are making management and executive decisions based on predictive analytics, it shouldn’t involve blind faith that will take it wherever the data leads. Using evaluation skills to determine whether the data is sound will keep the company from veering off course and following a false path.

For more information about advanced HR technologies, see the related article that discusses “why is diversity important in the workplace?”

Florida Tech offers advanced degrees in human resource management to prepare HR professionals to help companies improve their hiring and management processes. Learn more about our master’s program in human resource management to see if it can help you reach your career goals in the HR field.

STS-41 Launch

Florida Tech – 1997

The stench from the red tide on the Indian River in late August 1984 was overpowering. Crossing the tarmac at the Melbourne airport, a Delta Airlines passenger named Anita Weaver was heard to exclaim to her husband, Lynn, “my God, what a smell.” Fighting back the urge to hold her nose, Anita Weaver added “I couldn’t live here!” The Weavers had arrived in Melbourne to watch the Space Shuttle Discovery’s maiden voyage. Weaver, dean of Auburn University’s Ginn College of Engineering, had been invited to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) because of Auburn’s prominent role in the STS 41-D mission. Richard C. Smith, an Auburn graduate, was KSC’s director, and Henry “Hank” Hartsfield, another Auburn alumnus, was the Discovery’s commander. Discovery lifted off from KSC at 8:41 am on August 30, 1984, carrying a payload consisting of three communication satellites, an experimental solar array, an IMAX motion picture camera, and a collection of student experiments. Six days and fifty-six minutes later, STS 41-DTS, touched down on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. By then, the Weavers had returned home to a markedly less odiferous Alabama.

STS-41 Mission Insignia

Three years later, in 1987, Lynn Edward Weaver returned to Melbourne to meet with the trustees of Florida Institute of Technology. Jerry Keuper’s announcement in 1985 of his retirement opened a two year presidential search. John Miller, who served for twenty years as Countdown College’s executive vice president, agreed to serve as the university’s second president while the Board of Trustees searched for a long-term successor. In August 1986, Florida Tech’s Board of Trustees announced that Donald Glower, dean of Ohio State’s College of Engineering (1976-1990), would become Countdown College’s third president. Two months later, a routine physical examination revealed health concerns which compelled Glower to withdraw his acceptance. Florida Tech’s trustees hastily formed a new presidential search committee. Six months later the college’s committee invited Lynn Weaver to come to Melbourne.

Jack Hartley

The meetings went well. Before leaving Melbourne, Weaver met privately with Jack Hartley, CEO of the Harris Corporation and an F.I.T. trustee. Hartley, who had served on Auburn’s faculty before joining Harris in 1956 , and Weaver had gotten to know one another after Weaver’s appointment as Auburn’s engineering dean in 1982. The men had a cordial, candid relationship. Weaver minced no words. He told Hartley that he would take the job if Hartley could assure him of Harris Corporation’s commitment to the university. A handshake followed. On June 22, 1987, Florida Institute of Technology announced that Lynn Weaver would become the university’s third president.

Countdown College had reached a turning point. Between 1980 and 1987 the university suffered a series of financial setbacks. Programs were cut; salaries frozen; the Jensen Beach campus closed; and, infrastructure needs were not addressed. Keuper’s decision in 1981 to acquire Nathaniel Hawthorne College had proved a disaster. In four years the New Hampshire based college had cost Florida Tech millions of dollars. The financial problems came to a head in 1985. Reluctantly, Jerry Keuper agreed that the time had come for him to step down as the college’s president. The university needed new blood at the top.

On Monday, August 10, 1987, Lynn Weaver arrived on campus. He radiated energy and determination. Weaver, who had not been given access to the university’s financial records during the interview process, was shocked as he scanned the college’s financial statement. His first order of business was to meet with Countdown College’s faculty and staff. He made clear his intention to bring radical changes in the university. “We will develop,” he revealed in an interview with an Orlando Sentinel reporter, “[a]the long –range plan while we’re planning the development campaign. I want to do this because I don’t want to wait. Time is important.” Weaver’s marching orders were clear. The university must wean itself from its reliance on student tuition. An endowment must be built. Funded research was essential. Within five years, Weaver promised, the university should double, no, triple its research grants and contracts. New buildings and laboratories were desperately needed. In the fall, Weaver announced the university would launch a capital campaign seeking donations from industry, alumni, and private individuals.

Bill Potter

Behind the scenes, Weaver met with Jack Hartley and Bill Potter. Hartley and Potter, a prominent local attorney, led the effort to reconstitute the university’s board of trustees and mobilize support for the university. Bill Potter, Weaver recalled, was “a real asset to the university.” Whatever the job, Weaver added, Potter was always willing to take on the challenge. Jack Hartley’s support was critical. Within weeks of Weaver’s arrival, Hartley went to the Harris Corporation’s board of directors and secured the first of two five million dollar grants to Florida Tech. The challenges facing Countdown College, however, were formidable. The Harris Corporation’s generosity gave Weaver time to develop a long-range plan.

Convair B-36 Peacemaker

Lynn Weaver had no patience for persiflage. Born in 1930 in St. Louis, Weaver embodied the “Show-Me” state’s skepticism of fancy talkers and snake-oil salesmen. Weaver earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri before serving in the Air Force as an electronics officer. After leaving the service, Weaver worked for McDonnell Douglas. Later he joined the B-36 strategic bomber and the highly classified X-6 experimental project at Convair Corporation. Work on the X-6, a proposed nuclear powered aircraft, took Weaver to Oakridge where he discovered his passion for nuclear engineering. During the middle 1950s, Weaver earned his master’s degree in EE from Southern Methodist University and went on to pursue his doctorate at Purdue in electrical engineering with a minor in nuclear physics.

Triga Reactor at University of Arizona

In 1958, the newly minted Ph.D. joined the faculty of the University of Arizona (UA). The university had recently acquired General Atomics Triga reactor. Weaver had been in Tucson for only a few days before being summoned to Tom Martin’s office. Martin,UA’s dean of engineering, told Weaver that he knew next to nothing about nuclear reactors. “I want you,” Martin declared, “to take it [the reactor]over” and organize a nuclear engineering program. In an instant the twenty-nine year old became a full professor and department head. “I was,” Weaver observed, “in the right place at the right time.”

Weaver remained in Arizona until 1969 before accepting an appointment as the associate dean of the University of Oklahoma’s engineering college. Three years later Tom Stelson, Georgia Tech’s engineering dean, persuaded Weaver to move to Atlanta and become the director of the university’s School of Nuclear Engineering and Health Physics. Weaver remained at Georgia Tech for a decade before being recruited by Auburn to become the university’s engineering dean.

Weaver was a talented administrator. The presidency of Countdown College offered Weaver a marvelous opportunity to prove his mettle. “I don’t think I’m smart enough to make a difference in science and technology,” Weaver observed years after coming to Melbourne. But,” Weaver paused to add emphasis, “I can apply my skills to building an institution.” Florida Tech offered him the chance to become an agent of change. He set himself the goal of making F.I.T. one of the premier scientific and technological universities in the Southeast.

Money was the problem. There was never enough. The Harris Corporation’s 1987 five million dollar gift gave Weaver time to develop a long-range plan. Shortly after his arrival, he hired a Dallas consulting company to help formulate a capital campaign. The Texans told him that he would be lucky to raise six million dollars. Weaver discounted their advice and set a goal of twenty-five million dollars. When completed, the campaign raised twenty-six million.

Despite his success in his first foray into fund raising, problems grew. Weaver persuaded one of his former students, Allan Mense, who served as the acting chief scientist for the Reagan administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), to serve as Countdown College’s vice president for research. Mense angered many established members of the faculty with his abrasive tone and what most considered unrealistic goals.

While the faculty grumbled about vice-president Mense, Lynn Weaver had quietly begun to cultivate a relationship with the directors of the F.W. Olin Foundation. In 1990, Weaver submitted a proposal to the Olin Foundation for a new engineering building. F.I.T. was one of the three finalists. The Olin Foundation gave the university a $100,000 consolation prize. When Weaver asked for an explanation for why the application had not been approved, the Olin Foundation’s directors told Weaver they were not sure that Countdown College would survive. “You may not,” they explained, “be around. That’s why you [F.I.T.] did not get the grant.”

Lary Milas, Lynn Weaver and Jack Hartley

Discontent grew. Morale plummeted when it was learned that the university was running a deficit. Rumors of possible lay-offs swept across campus in May 1991. In June, Tom Adams, Jerry Keuper’s friend and the university’s vice president for development, launched a carefully planned coup d’état against Weaver. Claiming to represent an anonymous “University Survey Committee,” Adams mailed a “survey” to Countdown College’s 630 faculty members. “There are a lot of people who have worked hard at F.I.T. and now” Adams told an Orlando Sentinel reporter in a thinly veiled reference to Lynn Weaver, “in the last three years; it’s on the verge of going down the tubes.” The seventy-four year old Adams, whose position was scheduled to be eliminated on June 30, asserted that a sizeable number of the university’s trustees and faculty had lost confidence in Weaver. The politically savvy Adams had misjudged the situation. The attempt to unseat Weaver ended in Adams’ dismissal. Confidence in Weaver’s leadership, however, was shaken.

Weaver remained resolute. Tenacity was his strong point. In the next three years, he kept in contact with the Olin Foundation. By 1994, Weaver was ready to submit a second application to Foundation. This time he sought funding for a biology building. A few days after mailing in the proposal, Larry Milas, the Foundation’s lead director, phoned Weaver asking if he” had any plans to be in New York anytime soon.” “No,” Weaver answered, “but I can be in New York whenever you want.” Milas said that was not necessary. He would be in Florida in a few weeks visiting his vacation home on Longboat Key. Perhaps, Milas added, Weaver could meet him there. Weaver countered with an invitation for Larry Milas and his wife to come to dinner at the Weaver’s house on Merritt Island. “Anita,” Weaver added, “is a good cook.” Milas agreed, telling Weaver that their meeting must remain strictly confidential.

Jack and Martha Hartley

Weaver invited Jack Hartley and his wife, Martha, to join the dinner party. Milas arrived with his wife and William Schmidt, one of the other Olin directors, who was accompanied by his wife. The evening went well. Weaver had not exaggerated. Anita Weaver had prepared a marvelous meal featuring a succulent tenderloin. After dinner the three couples adjourned to the Weaver’s porch. It was a lovely January night. A gentle breeze wafted across the Banana Rive as the moon rose over the horizon. Weaver poured another round of drinks. Out of the blue Larry Milas asked: “What would you do if you had some money?” Weaver answered with a question, “How much?” Milas paused, as if picking a figure out of the air, and answered “say, a $100 million.” Then, almost as if it had only then occurred to him, Milas added “would you put a proposal together?” A few minutes later the Milases and Schmidts left for their hotel. As their car pulled away a wide-eyed Weaver looked at Hartley and asked, “Jack, did you hear the same thing that I did?” The next day Weaver set to work formulating what would grow to a $125 million proposal for the Olin Foundatio

At the time, Weaver was unaware of two things. First, the Olin Foundation directors had decided to go out of business. Second, the four directors were divided in what they wished to do with the foundation’s assets. Larry Milas wanted the money to go towards creating a new engineering college that would be associated with Babson College in Boston. Milas was a Babson alumnus and one of college’s trustees. Two directors of the foundation’s directors disagreed. They were impressed with Weaver’s vision and determination. They became Countdown College’s advocates.

Two years of proposals and counterproposals ensued. Weaver’s quiet resolve and patience paid off. In June 1997 the Olin Foundation announced their decision to award Florida Institute of Technology a $50 million dollar grant. The Olin Foundation described Countdown College as “a diamond in the rough.” “We identified the school,” Larry Milas explained, “as a center of academic excellence. As we looked recently at our grant objectives, it seemed the most outstanding nationally for this grant. It’s the largest gift the foundation has bestowed.”* $50 million dollars would go a long way in polishing the stone.

Gordon Patterson and Lynn Weaver

Securing the gift was a momentous first step. Much work, however, remained. The terms of the agreement required the Olin Foundation’s approval of the grant’s utilization. The stipulation that the contracts for the Olin Engineering Complex and the Olin Life Sciences Building must be awarded to the lowest bidder produced numerous problems. Lynn Weaver, who retired as Florida Tech’s third president in 2002, devoted the next five years organizing the transformation of what had begun as a night-time, after-work college for “Missilemen” into a world-class university. Ever modest, Lynn Weaver gave credit to the trustees, faculty, students, and alumni for his accomplishments.

Postscript:

Kenneth Burke (1897-1993), the American philosopher and literary critic, described overhearing a heated discussion between Lincoln Steffens (a well-known American journalist 1866-1936) and a friend walking down 42^nd Street in New York City. This fanciful exchange bears some relevance to Countdown College’s relationship with the Olin Foundation. In Burke’s imaginary conversation, Steffens’ friend announced that he had formulated a plan “that would resolve all of humanity’s outstanding problems.” As the men turned onto Fifth Avenue, Steffens noticed a stranger who was following them.

“You seem interested in my friend’s plan,” Steffens observed.

The stranger, who was in fact, the Devil, responded “Decidedly!”

Steffens: “What do you think of it?”

The Devil: “I think it is an excellent plan.”

Steffens: “You mean to say you think it would work?”

The Devil: “Oh, yes. It would certainly work.”

Steffens: “But in that case, how about you? Wouldn’t you be out of a job?”

The Devil: “Not in the least. I’ll organize it.”

As with all things concerning human affairs in general and the history of Countdown College in particular, Lynn Weaver would, I think, agree — the devil lies in the details.

*The Olin Foundation Grant came with a long list of stipulations covering the dispersal of the funds. $25 million would come as a direct cash gift. The second $25 million would be released on a dollar for dollar match for funds raised by the university. Funds from the initial $25 million went to the construction of the Olin Engineering Complex and the Olin Life Sciences Building. The Olin Foundation maintained a close oversight of the details of the buildings’ construction. The Olin Foundation provided additional funds outside the original grant for the completion of the Charles and Ruth Clemente Center for Sports and Recreation and in 2005 a matching grant for the F.W. Olin Physical Science Center.

Note: Matthew Ruane, Florida Tech professor and winner of the 2018 Kerry Clark Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching, has written an insightful account of the complex, nuanced story of the Olin Foundation’s relationship with Countdown College in his 2014 dissertation: Transforming a University? A Qualitative Analysis of the Grantee-Grantor Relationship Between Florida Institute of Technology and the F.W. Olin Foundation.

Working with faculty advisor Debbie Carstens, graduate student team members Erin Egoroff, Abdullah “Barry” Bouran and Bhoomin Chauhan designed a system using LiDAR and pressure plates to alert air traffic controllers of impending runway incursions. They took first place in the Runway Safety/Runway Incursions/Runway Excursions challenge area. This project was part of a semester-long class project for Human Performance 1.

The full design may be found here.

The competition encourages students to design innovative and practical solutions to challenges at our nation’s airports. Students were invited to propose innovations in any of four technical challenge areas: Airport Operation and Maintenance, Runway Safety/Runway Incursions/Runway Excursions, Airport Environmental Interactions, and Airport Management and Planning. The competition required that students work with a faculty adviser and that they reach out to airport operators and industry experts to obtain advice and assess the practicality of their proposed design solutions.

Volunteer panels of airport industry and academic practitioners as well as FAA representatives selected the winning submissions from among the proposals submitted by 25 student teams.

“The review panel felt that the team submitted a well-written proposal with an interesting concept in involving LiDAR that was easy to read and understand,” Lawrence Goldstein, senior program officer of Cooperative Research Programs, wrote to Carstens announcing the team’s first-place award. “They commended the team for doing a great job on its cost benefit analysis.”

First-place teams received their awards and presented their work July 25 at the National Academies’ Keck Center in Washington, D.C. The students each won a $1,000. The Transportation Research Board also provided an additional $3,000 to help defray travel expenses for the awards ceremony. Furthermore, two team members will also have all expenses paid to attend the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) Runway Safety Summit held in December in Irvine, California, to present their work.

Among the congratulatory notes for the wining Florida Tech team was one from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

331-358 Time & Close Friendship

Research by Hall, Jeffrey. A. (2018).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Having friends predicts happiness and life satisfaction. How long does it take to make a new friend?

A University of Kansas scientist examined over 450 participants across two studies who had recently relocated to a new residence. In study one, participants completed a questionnaire regarding a person they had just met. In study two, students wrote on what they talked about.

Overall, hours spent with another was associated with having closer friendships. In study one, the time spent engaging in leisure activities also predicted closeness. Results indicate that the chance of developing a casual friend versus an acquaintance is doubled when spending about 43 hours together in the first 3 weeks after meeting. In study two, the type of discussion people had (joking, sharing, and catching up) predicted their level of closeness. Furthermore, those who remained only acquaintances rarely spent more than 30 hours together in over 9 weeks. Overall, it takes 40 to 60 hours to move from acquaintanceship to casual friendship.

It takes time to make a new friend. But think what value your social life plays in your happiness.  Make meaningful conversation. Invest in time with others.  Now that’s how you make a friend!

Reference:

Hall, J. A. (2018). How many hours does it take to make a friend? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1-19

Thursday, September 13, 2018
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT

Center for Aeronautics and Innovation
1050 W Nasa Blvd
Melbourne, FL 32901

Register Here

It used to be that companies mostly provided health insurance for full-time employees but otherwise weren’t too involved in health and wellness in the workplace. As time went on, however, HR professionals found out that there were things they might be able to do that would help their employees be healthier, which would have an impact on the cost of providing health insurance as well as boost overall productivity and well-being.

Using predictive HR analytics as they became available, HR staff were able to determine which actions they could take and decide on health and wellness programs to put in place that would have the most positive impact. The beginning of health and wellness programs included discounts and vouchers for gym memberships and covering yearly well visits to promote preventive care, but recent years have seen even more steps taken to encourage and contribute to employee health and wellness.

On-Site Fitness Programs

Instead of giving vouchers or discounts for gym memberships, some companies have decided to combat 8 hours a day of sitting with on-site fitness classes during breaks or after work, while others have spearheaded the forming of after work walking groups by employees themselves. Employees often enjoy spending time together outside of their work duties and are more likely to stick with a fitness regimen when they have others encouraging them and holding them accountable.

Expanded Healthy Eating Options

In many companies with health and wellness in the workplace programs, on-site cafeterias have evolved into upscale eateries that offer organic food and other healthy choices to support those who want to eat healthier. In addition to providing healthy food, some employers have begun to conduct weight loss challenges to encourage healthy habits both in and out of the office.

On-Site Health Care

Larger companies may even bring a health clinic on site to provide routine health care like flu shots as well as other types of health care. Employees appreciate not needing to leave work to see a doctor and tend to follow through on care better when it’s right there on site. If an everyday health clinic isn’t feasible, one-time or yearly clinics for flu shots or other preventive care may be offered.

Choosing what to include in a company’s health and wellness plan can be challenging when resources are limited, but HR analytics can provide information about your employees’ health and what they want in order to determine where to allocate those resources.

Promoting new health and wellness programs will lead to increased productivity, less sick time, and greater employee satisfaction. Retention will likely be improved as well, meaning that several major HR goals can be met by making employee health and wellness a priority.

Florida Tech offers human resource management degrees that train HR professionals in best practices such as starting, administering, and improving health and wellness programs. Learn more about our off-site programs and the ways that our flexible programs can give you the training you need.

Florida Tech students and faculty have returned from the inaugural Sino-U.S. Space Policy Research Center summer study program in Beijing with a better understanding of how space policy touches a variety of academic disciplines.

Aldrin Space Institute Director Andy Aldrin led the trip that included clinical psychology doctoral candidate Emily Birch, aviation human factors and safety master’s student Alex Coultrup, global management and finance undergraduate Tereza Sedlakova and aviation sciences doctoral candidate Shayan Shirshekar.

The program, which ran July 30 to Aug. 3, was just the start of ongoing collaboration between Florida Tech and the host institution, Beijing Institute of Technology.

“This summer experience was an important first step in our space policy partnership,” said Florida Tech President Dwayne McCay. “We look forward to future collaborations.”

One of the proposed areas of future partnership would involve student workshops alternating between campuses. Next summer, students from BIT and other campuses in Beijing will send a group of 10-15 students to Florida Tech for a space policy workshop lasting up to 10 days.

The second area includes an annual professional workshop of 15-20 specialists from the U.S. and China over 2-3 days. Similar to the proposed student workshops, the sites would alternate. The workshops would focus on commercial space activities. McCay will meet with BIT this fall to further discuss plans.

The summer study provided great professional experience for the students on this year’s trip. Emily Burch noted the program represented her first and only opportunity to get exposed to the realm of space psychology.

“This field is hugely important to space science as a whole, particularly as we move towards long-term spaceflight such as potential missions to Mars,” Burch said. “I was able not only to learn about space psychology, team building, and remote behavioral healthcare, but to add a unique perspective to each discussion as someone coming from the field of mental healthcare.”

Florida Tech students were able to gain cultural experience on the trip as well, visiting The Great Wall of China, China Aerospace Museum and the new space firm called Commsat which is operating a cubesat for education and is looking at larger satellite constellations in the future.

“Although I’m well-traveled and have lived a pretty nomadic life, I’ve never visited China,” Shayan Shirshekar said. “I really enjoyed exploring and understanding the similarities and differences among North American and Chinese culture.”

For Alex Coultrup, the trip meant an opportunity to gain new perspectives. Now that it’s over, she wants to continue building that context.

“In the future, I would like to hear from some more industry voices in addition to academic ones,” she said. “I think it’s important to blend the two perspectives for a more holistic picture.”

The Sino-U.S. Space Policy Research Center summer study program is the beginning of work between Florida Tech and Beijing Institute of Technology, as well as an expansion of Florida Tech’s reach internationally, a source of pride among the students involved.

“Now that we have initiated some type of network between our schools and countries it is our task to work on bettering and strengthening these relationships,” Tereza Sedlakova said. “Also, I hope this was a great way to show students that their hard work and involvement pay off.”

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On-demand training is a fairly new trend in the workplace over the last few decades as technologies–audio, video, and software–have advanced. Employees can now access this type of training, where it is available, from anywhere, at any time they want. Here are some of the benefits for companies of delivering on-demand training for their employees.

1. Convenience leads to compliance.

The 24/7 availability of on-demand training means that employees are more likely to comply with training requirements and not need to be reminded or censured for failing to complete them in a timely manner. Delivering on-demand training is also convenient for the employer or manager, who doesn’t have to lose an entire team or department at once or try to coordinate diverse schedules to get everyone together for a traditional training with an instructor.

2. Consistency of quality.

The quality of a training program has a lot to do with the instructor, which means training outcomes with different instructors may vary greatly. On-demand training will have the same presenter and therefore the same quality – companies just need to make sure they choose the right presenter.

3. Easy updating.

Being able to update once and have it updated for all participants going forward is much easier than retraining multiple instructors and rewriting materials. Everything comes from a single source, rather than from disparate ones that must be tracked down and notified.

On-demand training has many benefits for workers and managers.

4. Lower cost.

The up-front cost of software and production for the training may be higher, but once it is put together, it will not cost more than a few pennies for electricity and possibly some work time in order to train an unlimited number of employees.

5. Fosters independence.

Many people now prefer to learn independently, and on-demand training allows that independence while still making sure employees are given the right information. And for those who prefer to train separately, on-demand training options could gain the company goodwill by allowing this.  If you want to stress health and wellness in the workplace, this is one benefit you can provide.

6. Allows partnerships with experts.

An in-person training will be limited to the best expert who either lives in the area or can travel to your location (which is very expensive). But you can get a national expert to instruct a video training once and use it in any location around the world as many times as you have a need. Partnerships with local universities can also up your expertise factor for your on-demand training programs while keeping costs low.

7. Improved data collection.

If your training is set up the right way, you can use interactive features to collect data that will help you analyze how the training is being received and how employees are participating. Data can show engagement and measure whether participants are able to answer questions about the material with accuracy.

Florida Tech offers human resource management degrees that will prepare students to lead HR departments at medium and large companies that have complex needs for recruiting, training, and administration. Learn more about our off-site programs to see how our advanced degrees can improve your job prospects.

330-357 Self-Affirmation & Self Control

Research by  Burson, Aleah., Crocker, Jennifer., & Mischkowski, Dominik. (2012)

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

When we feel excluded, this is a threat to our self-esteem. Self-Affirmation theory suggests that focusing on values helps us handle threats to our self-esteem. Which values help us feel better?

Psychology researchers examined 92 student participants who had either been “chosen” to be a partner, “excluded” (not chosen) or “accidentally excluded” (left alone to work) and placed them in one of three groups to write 10 minutes:

¨ the self-enhancement group wrote about values related to them personally- like, wealth, success, and influence,

¨ the thinking of others group wrote about values applicable to the greater good- like, honesty, compassion, forgiveness, and protecting the environment,

¨ the no value group wrote about their daily routine, not about their values.

Participants who wrote about values that enhance others had more self-control than the self-enhancement group writing about just their personal values, and much more than the no value group. We need not focus only on our own skills and success to effectively avoid threats and boost our self-esteem and self-control.

Remember to affirm yourself, affirm your values. Take action. Focus on the greater good related to benefiting others, the world, to best boost your own self-esteem!

Reference:

Burson, A., Crocker, J., & Mischkowski, D. (2012). Two types of value-affirmation: Implications for self-control following social exclusion. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(4), 510-516.

Friday, September 28
9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Hartley Room | Student Union Building

Click here to learn more and register

Technology is becoming a part of just about every aspect of most companies, and human resources is no exception. From applicant tracking software that scans resumes to online assessments and data analysis, technology has made its way into HR processes from the beginning of the recruiting process to the end of employment.

One way HR professionals are leveraging technology is during the onboarding process. Traditional onboarding has involved having the new hire come into the office or job site and fill out large amounts of paperwork, then have a supervisor and/or HR staff person conduct training on the new job duties, individually or with a group of other new hires.

The Impact of Technology in Human Resources

Technology is transforming onboarding with new software tools that make the process easier and less tiresome for everyone involved. New hires can often input the information through an online portal that used to be in the form of tedious paperwork, allowing them to complete this step in the comfort of their own homes and when they have free time.

New onboarding and training programs can be completed online in many cases.

New online formats for training can present information new hires need to get started in their jobs in an interactive, interesting way at each employee’s pace. Gamification can provide an element of friendly competition in completing onboarding tasks, and make them more interesting at the same time. Cutting edge AI tools are even beginning to present solutions like providing answers to questions new hires are likely to have so that info is readily available for them.

Technology can also be used to introduce new employees to cultural norms that govern their new place of employment and will help them get acclimated to the company and their job faster. Online employee handbooks are beginning to replace printed versions. These online handbooks are more easily accessible for the typical employee, who will tend to put the printed handbook in a “safe” place and promptly lose track of it.

Another great use of technology for onboarding is to provide video introductions of colleagues and superiors (management and supervisors). Video introductions allow new hires to look at people’s faces and names as many times as they want to, which may help them avoid the awkwardness of not remembering names the first (or second or third) time.

Collecting Data About Onboarding

Another use of technology for onboarding at HR professionals’ disposal is data collection and analysis tools that can be used to evaluate the process in order to find areas of improvement. Data can also be used to evaluate new hire performance in order to identify the best practices for onboarding and other HR processes. Data can come from new hire feedback and information from personnel files.

Florida Tech offers human resources management degrees with cutting-edge teaching that incorporates cutting age technologies for onboarding and other HR processes. Learn more about our master’s program in human resource management and how it can prepare you for an HR career. For more information about how technology is impacting human resources training, view our blog on the benefits of on-demand training.

A study by Intuit, which owns TurboTax, estimated in 2017 that 34 percent of the workforce was made up of gig workers. These numbers were expected to grow to 43 percent by the year 2020. While Intuit’s definition of the “gig workforce” was a broad one that included plumbers and electricians that owned their own businesses, there is little doubt that the number of freelancers, temporary workers and the like are growing.

Some of the largest employers now use contract workers for a significant number of positions, and some like Uber and Lyft use only gig workers—Lyft alone has 700,000 drivers. Whether a company is entirely comprised of gig workers or is more traditional but incorporates some contractors and freelancers, the gig workforce presents unique challenges for HR staff as they seek to find workers for open positions.

Advantages of Gig Workers

For employers, gig workers have many advantages, including less office space and equipment, and fewer, if any, benefits. There are also tax advantages to utilizing gig workers, including the fact that they pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare taxes. HR administration is far less for gig workers because of working off-site and not having benefits. Finally, it’s easier to end a contract with a freelancer than it is to fire a full-time worker.

And while many people still want a full-time job for stability and benefits, gig work is preferred by many others who need or want a more flexible work schedule and location, such as parents of young children and those who deal with physical or other disabilities.

Many workers find participation in the gig workforce fits better with their lifestyle and goals.

The Gig Economy Effect on HR

One of the biggest HR challenges in hiring gig workers is how to source them. Many gig workers operate through online platforms that traditional employers don’t have the desire to access or the know-how to determine necessary quality. And because of gig workers’ remote work locations, it is difficult to know how to contact them.

Determining pay and work requirements for contract workers is also a very different process from the salary and benefits structure for full-time employees. Typically, contract workers may be paid more on an hourly basis than traditional full-time workers because they have to pay some of their own taxes, provide their own equipment and work space, and don’t receive other benefits like paid vacation or health insurance.

Part of the HR professional’s job may include running cost-benefit analyses to determine whether gig workers will save the company money and how much the company can afford to pay.

Gig workers will continue to be a part of a vibrant and competitive workforce that can adapt to changing workplace needs and conditions, and HR professionals committed to embracing the gig workforce are needed as well.

Florida Tech provides top-notch degree programs that will prepare HR professionals to hire the best workers for all positions, including contract positions as part of the gig economy. Learn more about our master’s program in human resource management today! And if you’re interested in learning more about human resources trends and innovations, read our blog on the impact of technology in human resources.

Unlike the lightning itself, the results of these strikes last longer than the blink of an eye: $4 billion to $5 billion in damages and work losses nationwide.

Yet much about lightning remains a mystery. So seeking to learn more with an eye toward reducing this pervasive threat, Florida Tech faculty in collaboration with their students and colleagues from other institutions are measuring and analyzing lightning signatures. The ultimate goal of their research is to protect operations, communications, assets and personnel from the danger of lightning strikes by better understanding this powerful natural phenomenon.

(In the last two decades, the team has made six fundamental discoveries in understanding the mysteries of lightning. Using various remote sensing techniques and sensors, they determined that lightning emits bright bursts of X-rays; thunderstorms emit bright bursts of gamma-rays; and thunderstorms are capable of generating “dark lightning” – a new form of atmospheric electrical discharge. They also determined thunderstorms can eject beams of high energy electrons/positrons into space; a single thunderstorm is capable of making multiple forms of upward lightning discharges; and laboratory sparks emit X-rays similar to those from lightning.)

Since 2017, they focused on in-situ measurements of the radiation, particles and fields within thunderclouds by launching instrumented balloons into Florida thunderstorms in a project formally known as the “Balloon Observations of Gamma-Ray Glows from Thunderstorms.” With Distinguished University Professor Hamid Rassoul as the head of this initiative at Florida Tech, and former Florida Tech professor Joe Dwyer, now at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) leading the UNH team, the hope is to shed light on the “energization” region of lightning discharges within thunderstorms. The other scientists assisting with this effort are Amitabh Nag, Steven Lazarus and Michael Splitt from Florida Tech, Ningyu Liu from UNH (formerly at Florida Tech), and Shahab Arabshahi from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. The graduate students involved are Mahdi Bagheri and Christopher Sterpka from UNH, and Matthew Austin, Mathieu Plaisir and Jason Chiappa from Florida Tech.

Launching instrumented weather balloons into active thunderstorms has several challenges.

The payload must be waterproof and electromagnetically shielded from unwanted interference. Its weight and size have to comply with Federal Aviation Administration regulations. The balloon must not float into stratospheric heights where it can impede commercial planes flying over the thunderstorms. The ascending and descending rates have to be adjusted so the payload spends maximum amount of time within a thunderstorm but not so long as to be drifted far into the sea where its retrieval would be challenging and costly. Over land, the parachuted payload has to touch down away from main highways and residential areas. Its location coordinates must be reported to the local airport authorities during a flight.

Needless to say, much planning goes into each launch. The staff only sends the balloon and payload into large and intense thunderstorms with extensive electrical charge reservoirs, which is determined by the radar and remote electromagnetic field observations. Once the right cloud system has been selected, the team uses their landing predictor model to predict the balloon’s path and the point where the balloon will burst – each mission ends with a popped balloon – and gives the possible landing spot for the payload. If the payload is predicted to fall in a safe spot, then the supervising faculty will issue a green light for the launch. The balloons must be released, with a predetermined ascending rate, before the thunderclouds reach the launch point so the balloon can pierce the cloud base at the right time to enter the electrically active regions. 

The team has almost perfected the art of launching thunderstorm balloons. So far, they have launched 13 balloons and have recovered 11 of payloads, with two to the sea. Their last lost payload, launched two weeks ago, is now drifting swiftly northward with the Gulf Stream.   

“Better forecast of lightning requires us to have a better understanding of the fundamental physics of its initiation, propagation, and attachment processes,” Rassoul said. “It is painstaking research, but we are not afraid of storms, for we are learning to sail our ship. The promised discoveries are very rewarding.”

###

329-356 Values & Defensiveness

Researched by Crocker, Jennifer., Niiya, Yu., & Mischkowski, Dominik. (2008).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Defensiveness to avoid criticism can be an obstacle in communicating effectively. Past research indicates that reflecting on an important value can reduce defensiveness.

To understand why, psychological researchers did two studies. Participants (about 250 undergraduates) ranked six values in order of personal importance. For 10 minutes, one group wrote about their most important value, the other wrote about their least important value. Then answered questions about their feelings when writing.

Results indicated that participants who discussed important values reported more positive feelings of love and connection, than those who wrote about an unimportant value. The second study, replicated this effect, but to elicit defensiveness they also reviewed information on unhealthy outcomes of smoking. Results showed smokers who wrote about a value that resulted in feelings of love and affection, were more likely to accept the article’s harmful findings compared with smokers who wrote about an unimportant value (thus, were more defensive). Love explained the relationship between values affirmation and acceptance of threatening information for smokers, but not for nonsmokers.

To help reduce defensiveness and increase concern for others outside ourselves, remember what is important, our values, rather than temporary self-threat and protecting ourselves.

Reference:

Crocker, J., Niiya, Y., & Mischkowski, D. (2008). Why does writing about important values reduce defensiveness? Self-affirmation and the role of positive, other-directed feelings. Psychological Science, 19, 740-747.

Armadillo

The nine-banded, long nosed armadillo paused when it sensed the movement. Eleanor Storrs and James MacArthur froze. This was the critical moment. Since coming to F.I.T. in 1978, Storrs, had captured hundreds of armadillos in the course of assembling the world’s largest colony of Dasypus novemcinctus (armadillos). This colony was the critical element in a leprosy research project sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Storrs, a research biologist at F.I.T.’s Medical Research Institute (MRI) had attracted international attention. An article published in 1982 in National Geographic had sparked the interest of the producer for a television program called the Scheme of Things which aired on the Disney Network. A year later in March 1983, Disney Studios dispatched a film crew and the program’s moderator, James MacArthur, to Countdown College. Two days were budgeted for the shoot. On the first day the director wanted to film Storrs and MacArthur catching an armadillo in the wild. On the second day the director planned to bring the shoot to Storrs’ laboratory at F.I.T.

Eleanor Storrs with an Armadillo

Eleanor Storrs became one of the world’s leading experts on armadillos by a circuitous path. Born in 1926, Storrs graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1948 with a degree in botany. A decade later she earned a master’s degree from NYU. During these years she met her husband, Harry Burchfield, a renowned biochemist, who worked at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Yonkers, New York. With her husband’s encouragement, Storrs, a mother of two small children, decided to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Texas. A few weeks after her 41^st birthday, she was awarded her doctorate with a dissertation on the North American armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus.

Storrs became fascinated with armadillos early in her doctoral studies. This small, armored, none-too-clever animal spends its days sleeping and rooting for insects. When caught off guard, it has the tendency of jumping which often leads to armadillo fatalities caused by passing cars. In Central and South America, armadillos are considered a gastronomic treat*. It was, however, the armadillos’ extraordinary reproductive practices which drew Storrs’ attention. Armadillos are unique in their propensity to give birth to quadruplets. Moreover, pregnant armadillos have the ability to delay giving birth when held in captivity. Storrs dissertation, Individuality in Monozygotic Quadruplets of the Armadillo,” offered a detailed examination of the animal’s exotic reproductive repertoire.

Chance plays a crucial role in most human endeavors. After completing her doctorate, Storrs and her husband joined the Gulf South Research Institute in New Iberia, Louisiana. In 1971, Storrs happened to overhear the conversation of a group of leprosy researchers working at a near-by U.S. Public Health Service Hospital. They were lamenting the absence of any animal model that could be used for leprosy studies. Storrs broke into their conversation. “I asked them,” she recalled, “if anybody had ever tried to inoculate an armadillo with leprosy because their body temperature is 90 to 92 degrees. They laughed at me. I mean it must have sounded strange — an armadillo.”

Newspaper Article with Eleanor Storrs and an Armadillo

Stranger things do happen. In the weeks following that conversation, Storrs discovered that one of the wild armadillos she had captured in Louisiana had leprosy. Further research demonstrated that armadillo blood which had been frozen a decade earlier contained evidence of the bacteria. Storrs became convinced that armadillos do develop leprosy and was an ideal animal source for tissue studies of Mycobacterium leprae, the bacillus that causes leprosy.

Leprosy, or more properly, Hansen’s Disease, is one of the most misunderstood of human diseases. Once thought to be highly contagious, lepers were scorned and driven from their homes. “Anyone with such a defiling disease,” Moses wrote in Leviticus (13:45), “must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!.’” Today it is known that the disease is caused by a bacillus which attacks nerves in cooler body extremities such as in arms, legs, and hands. In humans, the bacillus can remain dormant for a decade. Untreated, Hansen’s Disease can lead to terrible disfigurement, multiple amputations, and death caused by secondary infections. Fortunately, the great majority of humans (estimated to be 95%) are resistant to the bacteria. For those millions who are not, contracting the disease is horrific.

Between 1971 and 1978 Eleanor Storrs fought against an entrenched medical establishment which discounted her experiments. What did a woman, let alone a biologist who studied armadillos’ procreative peculiarities, know about Hansen’s Disease? “This is [was]a very closed group of people,” Storrs explained. “they were disturbed and upset that something was jeopardizing their program. They didn’t like our research.” Storrs and her husband soldiered on. In 1974, their path breaking work was recognized in a lead article in the prestigious journal Science. Subsequently, the WHO and NIH awarded Storrs a series of contracts to provide armadillo tissue with leprosy for studies seeking for a vaccine against the disease.

Medical Research Institute (MRI)

Four years later Storrs accepted a research professorship at Countdown College. Storrs brought her armadillo research on leprosy to Florida Tech’s Medical Research Institute (MRI). The MRI was the brainchild of Ronald Jones, a garrulous University of Georgia educated biologist who was working at the University of Michigan. In 1971, four days after his marriage, Jones and his wife, Alice, who had a Ph.D. in immunology arrived in Melbourne. John Thomas, a chemist, and his wife, Betty, joined the Joneses in launching Countdown College’s foray into biomedical research.

The MRI was housed in a ramshackle building three miles west of the Country Club campus on US 192 which Jerry Keuper had acquired from Cecil Platt, a local cattle baron. Jones envisioned the MRI as having a compliment of thirty researchers. That would have to wait. The immediate task facing the couples was refurbishing a vandalized, broken down building, clearing out the vermin that had taken up residence, and finding a roofer. Jones quickly learned that at Countdown College all things were possible so long as you went out and found the money to pay for it.

Ronald Jones Aims at Syphilis Cure

Jerry Keuper and John Miller had high hopes for MRI. Keuper believed Jones’ claim that he was close to discovering a vaccine for syphilis. “I think there is a real possibility,” Keuper exuded, “that in the years ahead he [Jones] will win a Nobel Prize for Medicine through his research and that of his colleagues.” Twelve months later, John Miller was equally effusive when he learned that Jones had secured a research grant for his quest for a syphilis vaccine. “I feel like I should be in the middle of a Chicago stadium surrounded by 100,000 people,” Miller exclaimed, “this is such an important announcement.” Years passed. Nothing came of Jones’ blustery claims for his syphilis initiative. The money dried up. Jones, however, remained undaunted. Between 1971 and 1987 Jones came up with an array exotic proposals ranging from a “telemetric” tooth implant, homeopathic treatments for a variety of life threatening diseases, to a scheme for utilizing ram semen in pursuit of a male contraceptive.

Professors Storrs and Dhople

Convincing Eleanor Storrs to come to Florida Tech was Jones’ singular accomplishment. Storrs research brought credibility and international recognition to Countdown College’s fledgling medical research. Two years later, Storrs was joined by Arvind Dhople, a University of Bombay educated infectious disease expert. In India, Dhople had become absorbed in finding a vaccine and cure for leprosy. Storrs and Dhople formed a strong working relationship. During the next thirteen years they conducted a wide ranging series of experiments on leprosy and other infectious diseases. In 1993, Professor Storrs announced her retirement. Professor Dhople maintained the armadillo project for six months before arranging the program’s transfer to the National Hansen’s Disease Program based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

John Thomas Fights Tooth Decay

By the time of her retirement, the MRI was long gone. In 1987, Lynn Weaver, shortly after becoming Florida Tech’s third president, closed the MRI. The disparity between Ron Jones claims and what the MRI had accomplished was apparent. Weaver encouraged Jones to seek new horizons for his unorthodox medical initiatives. Lynn Weaver, however, recognized the value of Eleanor Storrs and Arvind Dhople’s work. Both remained respected research professors in the biology department.

It was the nine-banded, long nosed, leprosy-bearing armadillo that brought Disney to Countdown College. This is why Eleanor Storrs and James MacArthur stood frozen in the Florida scrub on a March day in 1983. MacArthur, who played “Danno” in 259 episodes of the CBS television drama Hawaii Five-O, and Storrs held their breath as they waited for the armadillo to return to rooting for grubs. Patience was essential. Capturing an armadillo was never easy. Trapping an armadillo with an accompanying Disney film crew was daunting. It was over in an instant. Storrs had the armadillo by its tail. The animal was caught. Someone mumbled “Book’em, Danno.”**

James MacArthur Carrying Captured Armadillo

At his retirement, Jerry Keuper paid tribute to Professor Storrs. In a newspaper interview, he described her work as one of Countdown College’s crown jewels. Looking back his career as a physicist and his twenty-eight years as the university’s president, Keuper declared with pride that “F.I.T. is the world’s largest supplier of leprosy-infected armadillo tissue. We ship it all over the world. We also supply sperm from sheep for reproductive biology all over the world.” Yes, Keuper added, “I’m proud of that.”

On May 20, 2018, Eleanor Storrs died after a brief illness. “Polly”, as her friends and colleagues called her, never lost her passion for science and love of armadillos. There was, she acknowledged a certain irony in the lodging of the world’s largest armadillo colony at Florida Tech. It is widely accepted that armadillos were introduced into Florida in the 1920s when four armadillos escaped from a roadside menagerie located in Cocoa, Florida.

Lights, Camera, Action – Professor Storrs and Disney –

Note: In 1983, the year of Disney’s visit, Countdown College adopted “The Panthers” as the university’s mascot. When the university launched its athletic program in 1964 the universities athletes were known as the battling “Engineers.” Professor Storrs and Dhople’s pioneering research lends credence to the notion that Countdown College’s unique élan might best be embodied in an armored rodent: Go Armadillos!

Ad Astra per Dasypus novemcinctus

*Aficionados claim it tastes like chicken.

**James MacArthur played Detective “Danny Williams” on Hawaii-Five O from 1969-1979. Typically, the program ended with Detective Captain Steve McGarrett’s (Jack Lord) catchphrase, “Book’em, Danno.”

Diversity in the workplace can seem like a trend or a buzzword, but recent studies have shown that companies with greater diversity perform better and show higher profits than those with less diversity. The term ‘diversity’ is usually taken to mean that companies have more women and racial minorities working for them, but in actuality, diversity refers to any significant differences between employees.

Diverse teams can be more innovative than ones that are less diverse.

The Benefits of a Diverse Work Environment

One of the biggest benefits of a diverse work environment is heightened innovation that can lead to new breakthroughs for a company. When you have people with different viewpoints working together to solve problems and figure out the best ways of conducting business, new ideas are sure to result.

It can be a challenge to manage and lead diverse teams because of their different ways of thinking, but it is more than worthwhile to figure out how to do so in positive and affirming ways so that new ideas can rise to the surface and be incorporated into the company’s methods when appropriate.

Another benefit of a diverse work environment is that global opportunities may be opened up as a result of connection and a higher comfort level with that culture and language. The global corporate culture can feel uncomfortably foreign to those who don’t have experience with cultures outside their own, but having a diverse workforce can increase the experience and comfort level of all employees to embrace these opportunities.

Diversity is still a new enough thing that corporations are eligible for grants and tax advantages when they commit to fostering diversity in their workforce. These financial benefits can help companies expand into new markets and grow so that they can hire more workers.

Going Beyond Gender and Race

Aspects of diversity other than gender and race can include age, socioeconomic status, religion, marital status, and sexual orientation, among many other possibilities. The more types of diversity employed by company leaders, the greater the benefits to the company in increased innovation, new markets, and a general reputation for being a fair and equitable place to work.

It’s important for HR professionals to understand the scope of diversity in their hiring. Different groups tend to have different preferences for things like working hours, benefits, and other working conditions, but it’s always important to realize that not everyone fits into the same mold and that individual differences are just as much a part of diversity as group ones.

Diversity can broaden the horizons of everyone in the workplace.

Florida Tech offers a master’s degree in Human Resources Management that will allow for HR leadership in a variety of contexts from non-profits to corporate environments where diversity is an important consideration. Learn more about our master’s program in human resource management to see all the flexible options for completing your degree. And if you’re interested in current HR trends, read our blog on the gig economy’s effect on HR.

Take in the splendor of our beautiful sub-tropical campus during a campus tour. While on campus, you will meet with faculty members, explore our labs, ask questions of our admissions and financial aid staff, enjoy a tasty lunch at Panther Dining Hall.

Schedule (subject to change) 

8:30 AM   – Check-in begins

9:00 AM   – Admission & Financial Aid Overview

10:00 AM  – Campus Tours (Student-led walking tour)

11:30 AM – Academic Department Meetings

11:30 AM  – Olin Engineering Experience Tour

12:00 PM – Lunch with students

1:15 PM  – Academic Department Meetings

2:00 PM   – Airport Flight Line Tour (students interested in flight training)

Admission Counselors are available from 11:30 to 4:00 pm for questions or guidance.

Learn More and Register

328-355 Active Listening & Communication

Researched by Weger, Harry., Castle Bell, Gina., Minei, Elizabeth. M., & Robinson, Melissa. C. (2014). 

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Communication is a key skill in workplaces and in relationships. One communication skill is  “active listening” where you  fully concentrate on what your conversational partner is saying, make eye contact, ask questions, and periodically express what you understand the other is saying and feeling.

Researchers set out to compare using active listening, with unsolicited advice and simple acknowledgements in partner communication. Researchers trained 10 student confederates to use these three different modes of responding with 115 undergraduates in conversation for approximately 5 minutes.  Afterwards, the participants reported on whether they felt understood, their satisfaction with the communication, and their degree of social attraction.

Results? When trained students utilized active listening, their partners reported feeling more understood than when their partners gave advice or merely acknowledged their story. Both active listening and advice giving resulted in higher conversational satisfaction and feeling more social attraction.

Think of how good it feels to be heard by another. Be responsive in your conversations. Prevent miscommunication. Actively listen to others, tell them what you understand that they mean, so they know you understand. When appropriate, offer advice that can assist others.  Tune into others. Being heard and understood is powerful!

Reference:

Weger, H., Castle Bell, G., Minei, E. M., & Robinson, M. C. (2014). The relative effectiveness of active listening in initial interactions. International Journal of Listening, 28(1), 13-31.

It is well known that conducting research you’re a student can lead to better jobs after graduation. To take things a step further, one of the best ways to jump-start your chemical engineering career is to publish chemical engineering research papers in a peer-reviewed journal during your time of study.

Publishing research as a student can lead to a more lucrative chemical engineering career.

Across the scientific spectrum, publishing the results of the research you conduct is considered the most important way of making your research and its results known to the greater scientific community. It isn’t enough to do great research: making that research public is a key way to make a mark on your field.

“Without publishing, [it is as if]you haven’t done anything, because scientific articles are the most important measure of scientific achievement,” former editor-in-chief of the Croatian Medical Journal and president of the Council of Science Editors Ana Marušić said in Science Magazine. “We don’t measure ourselves by how efficient and skilled we are in the lab but by the number and quality of articles we publish in scientific journals.”

In the Journal of Research and Medical Sciences, Seeman Rawat and Sanjay Meena write, “Frequent publication is one of the few powerful methods at scholar’s disposal to demonstrate academic talent to peers,” adding that publishing is also a pathway to grants and funding for new research projects that may not be able to happen without such funding.

Publish or Perish

The phrase “publish or perish” has been floating around the scientific community for decades, but is it true that all chemical engineers need to get published in order to benefit their careers? According to the website Smart Science Career, publishing the results of your research is most important if you want to become a professor and join the faculty of a higher learning institution.

The site notes, however, that 90 percent of science graduates don’t become professors, even though many more want to do so. For research careers, publishing is also important because it shows that you can finish projects you start and that you can develop high levels of expertise in a subject. These skills are valuable in research fields.

Having published research as a student will give you a tremendous advantage over other candidates for chemical engineering careers and will show that you can continue to publish as your research expertise grows. Attending a school that offers advanced research opportunities and partnerships with professors and employers can position you to publish results early in your career, even before graduation.

The network of contacts and colleagues you will build as you conduct research, publish, and possibly present your published research at an industry conference can be invaluable as you enter the job search and look for your first position after graduation. The more people you know, the better your chances of finding work that you will enjoy and that will challenge you as you enter the field of chemical engineering.

Collaborating with other scientists to publish research papers as a student can propel your career.

Florida Tech offers a master’s degree in chemical engineering that offers significant research opportunities that could lead to publication and future career options. Learn more about our chemical engineering degree program and the opportunities it provides.

Part of getting a master’s degree in chemical engineering involves choosing a specialty. Many chemical engineering opportunities exist for students in a variety of specialties as students discover particular areas in which they want to focus their studies and become a specialist.

Chemical engineers may work in the oil and gas industry to develop safer and more environmentally friendly processes.

Chemical Engineering Specialties to Consider

Materials Processing

This specialty deals with the behaviors of various materials and how they can be used to make things safer or more efficient. Problem-solving is a huge component of materials processing as chemical engineers work to come up with safe ways to separate or transport chemicals including hazardous materials, oil or gas. Knowing the properties of a number of different substances and how they behave is key to this specialty.

Materials Synthesis

Creating new materials out of chemical components is the work of specialists in materials synthesis, and includes plastic and metal as well as other polymers now being created. This specialty is actually quite vast, encompassing everything from nanoparticles to ceramics to biomaterials. The main goal of materials synthesis is to improve on existing ways of doing things, which may save lives or save businesses money, or both.

Environmental Engineering

This specialty in chemical engineering involves using chemicals and their components to improve or sustain a natural environment. Environmental engineers address pollution control, reducing or eliminating the use of hazardous materials, and sustainability—including the reusing of chemical components that may otherwise cause pollution or negatively impact the environment.

Alternative Energies

As part of sustainability, this specialty looks at renewable energy sources like biofuels, batteries, and solar and wind energy. Professionals who specialize in alternative energies see how they can be improved or further developed and how chemistry can be a part of that development.

New technologies are being designed in chemical engineering all the time, like these robots that test the amount of pesticide spray on farm crops.

Biomedical Chemical Engineering

Biomaterials and engineered tissue have chemical components to them, and there is considerable overlap between the biomedical science and chemical engineering fields. The use of chemical stimulation to provoke a desired physical response in a biological organism is the main focus of this specialty.

Food Engineering

The process of chemically improving food through processing and additives is an ongoing one that has opened up many chemical engineering opportunities. Food engineering is used to increase food output so that growing populations can be fed. The goal is also to improve health by adding beneficial substances to food. While this field is often maligned by those who think only natural foods can be of a high quality, it has been possible to improve and enrich many foods to provide health benefits.

Engineering Design

Using technologies like computer-aided design (CAD) to theorize new designs and processes in all areas of chemical engineering can be a career in itself, with other chemical engineers building and testing the designs that seem most promising. CAD models can help chemical engineers understand how systems and processes work, and reduce the complexity of a system so it can be better broken down into components.

Florida Tech offers chemical engineering master’s degrees that can lead to a specialty as students conduct research. Learn more about graduate admissions to see how a Florida Tech degree can benefit your career. And for more information on how research can propel your career in this field, read our blog on publishing chemical engineering research papers.

Research and development in chemical engineering for healthcare is an area of growing need. Advances in chemical engineering in the healthcare field show promise for improving the lives of many who are dealing with serious or chronic conditions and diseases. Here are some of the trends impacting chemical R&D careers in healthcare.

Chemical engineering careers in healthcare are usually related to developing pharmaceutical drugs.

1. Deep learning can cut costs and improve efficiency.

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning focused on predicting reactions between chemicals and suggesting ways to synthesize molecules, which can lead to new advances in how chemicals are used in healthcare. Deep learning makes it more cost-effective for healthcare companies to have in-house R&D staff and also speeds up the research process at the same time.

While deep learning shows great promise for chemical R&D careers in healthcare, most companies don’t have the sophisticated data these models require, and only 13 percent of chemists polled in one study thought machine learning was important to the future of chemical R&D. Still, deep learning is expected to become more important to chemical R&D as its processes are further refined and as companies become more aware of its benefits.

2. Precision medicine tailors treatments to each patient’s biomarkers rather than one-size-fits-all treatment.

Pharmaceutical R&D has begun to shift from discovering the next great mass-produced drug to a more tailored approach that uses new information about each patient’s biomarkers to pinpoint their exact pharmaceutical needs.

Precision medicine takes into account the fact that the same medication will impact people with different genetics in a completely different way, something researchers have long known but have not been able to address. Advances in genetic testing and the identifying of biomarkers have made it possible to develop precision medicine treatments. However, methods of using precision medicine on a large scale are still in development as healthcare leaders try to figure out the best ways to implement individualized approaches.

R&D careers in chemical engineering may look at particular genetic markers to determine treatment.

3. Sustainable drug development will bring drug prices down so more people can afford treatment.

As R&D at major pharmaceutical companies continues to evolve, it seems that fewer new drugs are brought to the market and the ones that are available are higher-priced, making them impossible for the average person to afford. One way to make drugs less expensive and more sustainable is to make R&D a more public and open source process, with non-profit organizations and educational institutions taking on a larger role in developing new drugs for consumer use.

Reforming the patent and regulatory systems can also have positive impacts on the sustainability of drugs. It can also make them more affordable for those who need them while still allowing the drug companies that invested in them to make a profit. To become an R&D expert as you build your chemical engineering career, consider participating in open source projects rather than finding a company to pay you exclusively and then use your research for their own benefit.

Florida Tech offers degrees that can jump-start students’ careers and open up many chemical engineering opportunities. Learn more about our chemical engineering degree program to see how we can help you meet your career goals.

Researched by Pennebaker, James. W., Kiecolt-Glaser, Janice. K., & Glaser, Ronald. (1988).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

We usually keep our deepest feelings about traumatic events inside. What is the impact of writing down our feelings?

Researchers separated 50 undergraduates into two groups. For four days, one group wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic and upsetting experiences of their lives.  The other group did not share their thoughts or feelings but instead described assigned events or objects in detail.  Before and after their sharing, researchers tested participants’ immune functioning, blood pressure, heart rate and skin response.  Additionally, students completed questionnaires before and after to assess their mood and experienced symptoms. After 6 weeks students returned for follow up physiological and questionnaire assessments.

Writing about traumatic experiences, resulted in both positive physiological effects and less psychological distress after six weeks compared to individuals who did not. However, immediately after trauma writing, they exhibited more symptoms and negative mood. Thus, it is not easy to confront one’s difficult issues, but doing so brings longer term relief.

Keeping difficult experiences inside actually hurts you emotionally and physically.  To help understand a traumatic experience, try writing down your feelings and thoughts about it and it is likely to result in some relief from your distress and physical symptoms.

Reference:

Pennebaker, J. W., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., & Glaser, R. (1988). Disclosure of Traumas and Immune Function: Health Implications for Psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(2), 239-245.

Is getting a master’s in chemical engineering worth it? If you are entering the field of chemical engineering as an undergraduate student or a recent bachelor’s level graduate, you may wonder whether getting a master’s degree in chemical engineering is worth the time, expense, and effort. After all, the average salary for people with a bachelor of science in chemical engineering is already $80,000 a year, according to Payscale. Is getting a master’s in chemical engineering worth it?

An advanced degree can offer more opportunities in the chemical engineering field.

Advanced Degrees Open Doors

While there are plenty of well-paying, challenging jobs for bachelor’s level chemical engineers, getting an advanced degree will open doors to jobs that would be otherwise unattainable. Some high-profile organizations like NASA and Kraft may require master’s degrees for their positions, and most jobs involving management will also require an advanced degree.

Not only does an advanced degree signify a deeper knowledge base in your field or industry, it also means you have more chemical engineering research expertise than someone with only a bachelor’s degree, all other things being equal. A master’s degree in chemical engineering could lead to the development of expertise in a particular subject area that could also qualify you for more advanced positions in that area. It may be time to get serious about graduate school and find those open doors.

Salary Potential With a Master’s Degree

While chemical engineering is a field that pays well no matter the level of education, the salary potential for master’s level chemical engineers stretches into six figures, according to PayScale. Experience will only increase the salary potential from there, making a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more during your career.

While it can be expensive to continue your schooling, there are ways to lessen the cost of an advanced degree, such as paid internships, teaching assistantships, and grants for those who qualify. Earning your degree part time while you work full time is another option that can allow you to pay as you go and avoid further debt. Even if you have to take out student loans to cover the cost, they will more than pay for themselves in increased salary potential compared with a bachelor’s degree.

Chemical engineers with a master’s degree can become leaders in their industry.

Employer Preference: Bachelor’s or Master’s?

While entry-level jobs in chemical engineering aren’t scarce, there are several reasons why many employers may prefer candidates with master’s degrees. Besides the much larger knowledge base, employers know that master’s level graduates will have greater leadership potential and will have learned about project management and heading up a team as part of their advanced degree.

Furthermore, many master’s level graduates also have work experience that they obtained while earning their advanced degree. Even just a few years of work experience can make a big difference in experience levels and what candidates are able to accomplish on the job. Although some employers may prefer paying a lower salary for a bachelor’s level employee, many job listings show an openness to master’s level chemical engineers even for entry-level positions.

Florida Tech offers master’s degrees in chemical engineering that will help build and advance your career. Learn more about graduate admissions and start earning your advanced degree today.

Florida Tech, Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and Ohio State University are convening for the five-day gathering, which will feature faculty and student policy discussions on topics ranging from the management of space flight projects to the future of global space exploration. There will also be hands-on activities for students, such as role-playing exercises involving international space cooperation negotiations.

Florida Tech’s role in the creation of this program was finalized in April, when President Dwayne McCay met with BIT leaders and signed an agreement to collaborate on space policy research. The meeting followed a December visit from BIT officials to the Florida Tech campus.

The Florida Tech students attending are clinical psychology doctoral candidate Emily Birch, aviation human factors and safety master’s student Alex Coultrup, global management and finance major Tereza Sedlakova, an undergraduate, and aviation sciences doctoral candidate Shayan Shirshekar.

The decision to have a group of students from multiple disciplines was a conscious choice, Aldrin said.

“We really wanted to get people from a variety of educational areas because we’re trying to build a broad community of interest in space policy,” he said.

What the students hope to get out of the program reflects how multifaceted space policy and this program truly are.

With interest in the broad spectrum of spaceflight, such as human factors policy and tourism, Shirshekar hopes to network and learn from the many professionals expected to attend.

“There are individuals who will be going there with very excellent resumes and backgrounds, so it’s an opportunity to interact and communicate with individuals that might open up some paths for me in terms of my dissertation or directions and where to go,” he said.

Birch plans to be a space psychologist, merging her passion for psychology with a fondness for space nurtured on the Space Coast. Like Shirshekar, she is preparing for a deluge of information and insight.

“It’s kind of overwhelming seeing how many different kinds of lectures by experts in the field we’re going to attend,” she said.

Coultrup is hoping to learn about future space policy and how resources could – and should – be regulated.

“As much as generating capital and creating income through entrepreneurship is important for being able to go to space, I want to make sure there is policy and law in place to prevent the equivalent of crony capitalism,” she said.

Sedlakova hopes to use the trip to learn more about space policy from a global management and pre-law aspect, which is one of her double-minor areas.

“I think this can be a good experience both ways,” she said.

Aldrin will use this trip to sit down with BIT leadership to discuss future plans for the program, which may include bilateral or multilateral partnerships with commercial components.

“What I believe we need to look at as a research agenda is to focus on the things that we could really do together with China that will make a difference in space,” he said.

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Chemical engineers can work in the pharmaceutical industry researching and developing new medications.

Chemical engineers use principles from the fields of chemistry, biology, physics, and math to design and produce chemicals, fuel, drugs, food, and many other products as well as figuring out new uses for existing products. Chemical engineering career paths exist in many different industries. Here’s a look at some compelling options:

Healthcare

A chemical engineer may work toward advances in genetic testing and gene therapy procedures by studying and applying chemical principles to these methods. Chemical engineers in medicine could also engineer organisms and microorganisms that can be used in applications like degrading wastes and converting chemicals into more useful ones.

A related part of the healthcare field is the pharmaceutical industry, where chemical engineers might create new medicines, synthetic versions of existing medicines, or use bacteria, animal, and plant cells to help them understand diseases, disease pathways, and human responses to drugs.

Food and Food Processing

Chemical engineers can work in the food industry to improve methods of processing foods, come up with better and safer food additives, and develop safer fertilizers and herbicides or pesticides that won’t cause some of the harmful effects observed with existing products. The net effect of chemical engineering on the food industry is to produce more food while spending less money to do so.

Manufacturing is another area where chemical engineers are often needed.

Energy Industry

Chemical engineers can work in the energy industry to find better ways to refine oil and petroleum products to make them more efficient and affordable for consumers. They may also work to develop alternative fuels or hybrid fuels that offer greater efficiency, or to mitigate or reverse pollution generated by the energy industry, either when accidents occur or just in the normal course of generating energy.

Environmental Science

The more general environmental science field also needs chemical engineers to study the impact of various chemicals on the environment and to figure out how to fix chemical damage to the environment through chemical spills, pollution or other chemical exposure.

Manufacturing

Chemicals are often used in the manufacturing process, and chemical engineers can work to improve those processes and create new ones that work better than existing ones, saving companies money. The manufacturing process often creates waste products that can cause pollution to the local environment, and chemical engineers can work to prevent this pollution or reduce it.

Because many different industries have a need for chemical engineers, there are many possible career paths graduates can pursue. Thinking about what kind of chemical engineering you most want to do can help you find an industry that appeals to you and get the right training for that path.

Florida Tech offers chemical engineering degrees that combine foundational training with hands-on opportunities in a variety of different industries. Learn more about our chemical engineering degree program to see how it can help you get started in a career in chemical engineering. If you’re interested in learning about an advanced degree in this field, watch for our upcoming blog which addresses the burning question: Is getting a masters in chemical engineering worth it?

The two naked men were moving fast when they passed in front of the Denius Student Union on Tuesday, March 5, 1974. One had a towel wrapped around his head; the other wore a Groucho Marx mask and a backpack. A student wondered as “Groucho” passed “why the back-pack.” Perhaps it was because finals were approaching. At Countdown College even buck-naked students were serious about their studies. “It was,” Doug Zinn, a freshman living in Wood Hall declared, “a good streak. They [sic]were making a good pace.” Two hours later a third streaker dashed from Wood Cafeteria to Shaw Hall. The next day a reporter quizzed Dale Simcox, F.I.T.’s facilities superintendent who bore responsibility for campus security, for details on what was Brevard County’s first streak. “There is no report,” Simcox answered, “of that whatsoever…That wouldn’t happen here.” The next seventy-two hours would prove Simcox wrong. The national “streaking” craze had come to Florida Institute of Technology.

The history of American college students dashing in the nude dates from the early 19^th century. In 1804, George Crump, a student at Washington College and later a U.S. Congressman, removed his clothes and ran through Lexington, Virginia, before being apprehended by the local police. Sixty years later Robert E. Lee, who served as the college’s eleventh president made it known that he considered such promenades a right-of-passage. “We have one rule here,” Lee explained, “and it is that every student be a gentleman.” The former Confederate General found no contradiction between being a “gentleman” and his students’ proclivity to saunter forth unclothed.

A century later the fad of students running naked through public places swept across college campuses. The modern usage of the word “streaking” was coined in 1973 when a Newsweek Magazine reporter observed a group of University of Maryland naked students “streaking past him right now.” A year later streaking fever raged on college campuses. Students at Countdown College were determined not to be left behind.

Within hours of the Denius Student Union “incident” a whispering campaign began rallying support for a mass campus streak. The plan was for students to gather at the Crawford Science Building at 10:00 pm on Thursday, March 7. The university’s response was muted. John Miller, academic vice president, considered it a harmless lark. “I think,” Miller chortled, “that everyone will treat it as a joke…We’re no different than any other university in that respect and these fads come and go.” Robert Cotron, Melbourne’s Chief of Police, agreed saying that the police had no intention of getting involved. “If the school doesn’t care,” he explained to a newspaper reporter, “we don’t care.” Behind the scenes a handful of Countdown College’s professors quietly supported the students. One professor under the veil of anonymity said that he would take part if he wouldn’t get fired. Another observed that if Countdown College did not have a football team at least students could be part of a “streaking team.”

Excitement grew as news of the planned streak was reported by the local press. Sporadic streaks took place on the Melbourne and Jensen Beach campuses on Wednesday and Thursday in the hours leading up to the mass streak. Late on Thursday afternoon more than 50 Jensen Beach students arrived to lend their support to their Melbourne brethren. One professor recalled that he was surprised how many of his students showed up for early evening classes wearing raincoats. It had rained earlier in the day. The rain, however, had stopped. Even more curious, the professor noted, was that the students declined to remove their raincoats for the entire class period. By nine o’clock a crowd of nearly 1,000 people had gathered. Police Chief Cotron ordered 15 police officers to maintain a perimeter along Country Club Drive to insure the streakers remained on course.

At ten o’clock a bugle sounded and close to six hundred students, who had gathered at the Crawford Science Building, removed their raincoats and broke into a run. Shouting “We’re Number One” the naked throng raced past the president’s office through the dorm quad and on to Roberts Hall. Some of the students sported bow ties as a salute to Jerry Keuper who always wore a bow tie. Others displayed their filiality by carrying signs saying “Hi Mom” and “Hi Pop.” One of the estimated fifteen co-eds who joined in the sprint wore bunny ears. A male student followed wearing a sombrero. A team of naked streakers pulled a chariot. One streaker rode a bicycle while another arrived on a motorcycle. The streak was over in a matter of minutes. It was estimated that 55% of F.I.T.’s student body had participated in the streak. By midnight the Jensen Beach streakers were on their way home, and the Melbourne students were back in their dorm rooms.

A backlash against the night’s “lamentable happenings” at Countdown College grew in the two weeks following the streak. One middle-aged resident who was a member of the 1,000 spectators who lined Country Club Drive complained of the students’ “disgusting” behavior. Two Melbourne city councilmen protested the city’s inaction. The complaints led Police Chief Cotron to reconsider his initial unwillingness to take action. “It is neglect of duty,” Cotron declared, “if we don’t do something.” Cotron told reporters that he had contacted Abbot Herring, the state attorney, and requested his office to issue “John Doe” warrants for the streak’s participants. Harry Stein, the chief attorney in Herring’s office assigned to the case promised “we’ll do what’s necessary after we see what we get from the police.”

Chief Cotron believed that indictments were imminent. During the streak his deputies had confiscated a roll of film containing pictures of the streakers from a student photographer for the Crimson. “We got between 50 and 70 pictures,” Cotron told an Orlando Sentinel Star reporter. “I’ve assigned two, two-man teams to go to FIT,” he added, “and try to identify as many of the streakers as possible. Then I’m going to turn it all over to the state attorney, and he can do what he wants to do.” Nothing came from the Melbourne detectives’ suggestion that the school should post the pictures on school bulletin board and invite parents to come and identify their wayward children.

Edward Thompson, pastor of the First Assembly of God and head of the Brevard Ministerial Association, led the charge calling for action against the streakers. In a letter to Jerry Keuper, Thompson accused Countdown College’s administration with fostering a “permissive attitude” that encouraged the student’s errant behavior. “Many persons,” Thompson declared, “have chosen Melbourne as their residence because of its high spiritual and moral standards.” Thompson demanded Keuper “make every effort to not only maintain but strengthen the moral, social, and cultural environment.” Keuper did not reply.

The police’s confiscation of the student photographer’s film provoked outrage on campus. Citing the Bill of Right guarantee of the freedom of the press, Kerry Clark, a respected member of the university’s biology department, demanded that the photographs be returned to the Crimson. The film was returned and the idea of displaying the photographs on a campus bulletin board was dropped. No legal action was taken against any of the streak’s participants.

Pastor Thompson responded with a call for prayer. “God himself was first to clothe man,” Thompson declared. “Man’s need to wear clothes dates from the Garden of Eden…Since God was the first one to clothe man in public, man should therefore heed this. Undressing is reserved for the private places between a husband and wife.” Countdown College’s faculty and students must repent. “Some people,” Thompson declared in a pointed reference to F.I.T.’s administration, “take this streaking lightly, as funny or a joke. Disobedience to God’s commands is not a joke. It is evidence of a sick society.”

Not all religious authorities shared Thompson’s concerns. A reporter for the Disciples of Christ’s magazine The Christian Century characterized streaking as a bold existentialist statement. Streaking was described as an instance of “Kierkegaard’s leap of faith.” Students who removed their clothes were demonstrating “the courage to be.” The theological debate remained unsettled. In Melbourne, F.I.T. students returned to their books to prepare for finals. The streaking fad ended.

The polyester 1970s were rich in eccentricities. This decade brought us 8-Track tape players, EST therapy, platform shoes, disco, and the mantra “do your own thing.” It was also a decade that brought profound change. This was a decade that began with the Beatles’ breakup and ended with a nation locked in the throes of hyper-inflation. In the intervening years Americans endured the OPEC oil embargo, Watergate, the fall of Saigon, the Iran hostage crisis, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In retrospect, the great Florida Tech streak is a reminder of a gentler, “laid back”, moment in a turbulent era. John Miller was right. Fads come and go. Streaking at Florida Tech was superseded in 1975 when students adopted the decade’s next craze: pet rocks.

Thursday, August 23
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Center for Aeronautics and Innovation
1050 W Nasa Blvd.
Melbourne, FL 32901

Register Here 

Hosted by Dr. Debbie Carstens

Thursday, August 9
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Center for Aeronautics and Innovation
Melbourne, FL 32901

Register Here

Researched by Milulincer, Mario., Shaver, Phillip. R., Gillath, Omri., & Nitzberg, Rachel. A. (2005).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Bowlby, a noted psychologist, proposes a theory of attachment that suggests that a person’s temperament and attachment is related to helping and compassion for others.

To test this theory, researchers conducted a series of 5 stress-inducing experiments in both Israel and the U.S. to see if increasing a person’s security and feelings of attachment to others, would increase their compassion and altruistic behaviors. Researchers elicited attachment security by showing participants names of people previously identified as those who provide a safe haven or secure base for them; in the nonattachment condition, participants were presented random stranger names.

When participants felt secure, they took on extra work to help someone needy, and demonstrated greater compassion and helpfulness even when they experienced neither material nor emotional benefit. They also expressed willingness to help both their families as well as acquaintances. In all experiments, avoiding or having anxiety about attachment was related to distress and to not helping others.

Overall, creating feelings of attachment and security led people to greater compassion and willingness to help those in distress. Let’s help all children and peoples around the world and here at home feel safe and secure to create world peace, altruism, and cooperativeness.

Reference:

Milulincer, M., Shaver, P. R., Gillath, O., & Nitzberg, R. A. (2005). Attachment, Caregiving, and Altruism: Boosting Attachment

The NSF initiative, known fully as the Faculty Early Career Development Program, is among the agency’s most competitive awards. It is given annually to just a handful of early-career faculty “who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization,” according to the NSF.

The grant will fund Perez’s work on the theoretical understanding of solar wind turbulence near the Sun, a topic that will be in the spotlight soon with the Parker Solar Probe mission to be launched from Kennedy Space Center in August.

The probe will, on its final three orbits, fly to within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface – about seven times closer than the current record-holder, the Helios 2 spacecraft, which came within 27 million miles in 1976, according to NASA. Protected by a 4.5-inch thick carbon-composite shield, the craft is expected to survive temperatures approaching 1,400-degrees Celsius (2,552 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Parker Solar Probe will carry four instrument suites designed to study electromagnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and close-up images of the Sun and its corona – and Perez is looking forward to studying the data it will produce and comparing them to models and state-of-the-art numerical simulations from his team and collaborators.

His work involves understanding the role plasma turbulence has in the heating of the solar corona, which is the 12,000-mile-high ring of superhot plasma that comprises the upper solar atmosphere. The corona is intriguing because it is far hotter, at about 1 milion degrees Celsius (1.8 million Fahrenheit), than the 5,000-degree Celsius (9,032 Fahrenheit) surface of the Sun.

It is a decades-old puzzle as to why the temperature rises so dramatically from the surface of the Sun to the corona, and why at the same time the density drops dramatically. And then there is the solar wind. The hot corona gives rise to this flow of ionized gases from the Sun that streams past Earth at speeds of more than 500 km per second (about a million miles per hour) but that is so tenuous it would not toussle your hair if you were able to stand in its path.

Perez’s NSF-funded research – to understand the role plasma turbulence plays in the heating of the corona and acceleration of solar wind – will be greatly aided by data from the Parker Solar Probe.

“We are aiming to close the theoretical gap that we have in understanding turbulence in this area,” he said.

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New technologies are impacting what designers do today and in the future. 3D manufacturing is a technology that uses 3D printing to create objects rather than using molds or other traditional manufacturing processes. A 3D printer can create items made of metal, plastic, and other materials, and some 3D printers are even beginning to create human tissues and parts of organs, with the eventual goal of developing replacement organs that can be used in transplants and eradicate the long waiting lists that lead to many deaths in the U.S. today.

Engineers often work with 3D printers to create items and designs.

How Additive 3D Manufacturing Works

What is 3D manufacturing and how does it work? 3D printers work by putting many thin layers of materials together to form the desired item. There are various processes by which this is accomplished. Photopolymerisation is used with plastics and involves exposing droplets of melted plastic to ultraviolet light to harden them. This process is used in stereolithography and digital laser projection, two common types of 3D printing in both commercial applications and private ones.

Sintering is another 3D printing technique in which metals or plastics are heated almost to melting and then allowed to harden. Fully melting materials in order to form them is also used in some cases.

Designing for 3D Manufacturing

Anything that is printed on a 3D printer must first be designed on a computer using software or code. There are a variety of programs that can design objects for printing, but it can be as simple as designing with CAD and then using software to translate the design into commands that a 3D printer can interpret and use.

Items that have been printed on 3D printers include models, car parts, guns, and even jet engines. Sometimes the parts are printed and then assembled, but many 3D printers can also print items with several working parts that are already assembled at the time of printing.

While not all items that are 3D printed are as high quality as traditionally manufactured ones, better quality 3D printers can approach the same quality as other manufacturing processes. The quality of the design is also a factor in the quality of the finished product as well.

There are many different processes used in 3D printing.

Making Mass Customization Possible

The genius behind the concept of 3D printing is to make mass customization possible—to give consumers exactly what they want and need, one item at a time. This defies the traditional model of mass-production where items are sent to stores for consumers to buy.

One day in the future, trucks may not be needed to carry mass-produced items from warehouses to stores, or to deliver items ordered online. If these practices aren’t eliminated altogether, they may be greatly reduced as people rely on 3D-printed items rather than mass-produced ones.

Much like the internet and smartphones, 3D printing could change the way we live in major ways over the coming decades. Today’s designers will have a hand in constructing how future 3D printers will work and fleshing out the possibilities of the medium.

Florida Tech helps designers get going in careers, including designers who work with 3D printer technology.  Learn more about our software engineering program and other options that could train you for a career in 3D printer design.

Researched by Kuo, Ming. (2015).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

How exactly does nature promote our health?

To identify the underlying causal mechanism, Dr. Ming Kuo reviewed approximately 80 cognitive science research studies examining the multiple ways in which contact with nature promotes health.

She found 21 connections between nature and health These included results indicating environmental sights and sounds provide deep relaxation, attention restoration, impulse control, and better sleep which is important to psychological and physical wellbeing. Additional psychological and physiological benefits from contract with nature include decreases in diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, as well as a boost in the body’s ability to fight infections. Being out in nature generates phytoncides and mycobacterium in the body which largely enhance immune system functioning. The research results show that the immune system, is one of the central links between nature and the nurturance of human health and wellbeing.

Let’s create healthy natural habitats near our living spaces with plants, moving water, soil, and trees to inspire awe, deep relaxation, and vital physical movement. By nurturing nature, we will nurture ourselves!

Reference:

Kuo, M. (2015). How might contact with nature promote human health? Promising mechanisms and a possible central pathway. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1-8.

Fondly labeled the “Shark Lady,” Clark, who founded Mote Marine Laboratory and continued studying fishes until she passed away in 2015 at age 92, will now be recognized with another distinction: namesake of a newly discovered species of dogfish shark.

The species, named Squalus clarkae, also known as Genie’s Dogfish, was identified from the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic Ocean. The confirmation of this new species was reported this month in the journal Zootaxa. The article can be found here.

Florida Institute of Technology assistant professor and shark biologist Toby Daly-Engel was among the paper’s four authors, along with marine scientists Mariah Pfleger of Oceana, the lead author and Daly-Engel’s former graduate student, and Florida State University’s Dean Grubbs and Chip Cotton.

Before their findings, researchers labeled this species of dogfish shark Squalus mitsukurii. However, using new genetic testing and morphology, the study of an organism through physical appearance, they discovered and classified Genie’s Dogfish as a new species.

“Deep-sea sharks are all shaped by similar evolutionary pressure, so they end up looking a lot alike,” Daly-Engel said. “So we rely on DNA to tell us how long a species has been on its own, evolutionarily, and how different it is.”

“This type of research is essential to the conservation and management of sharks, which currently face a multitude of threats, from overfishing and bycatch, to the global shark fin trade,” added Pfleger, marine scientist for the responsible fishing and sharks campaigns at Oceana. “Many fisheries around the world are starting to fish in deeper and deeper waters and unfortunately, much less is known about many of the creatures that live in the deep. The first step to successfully conserving these species that live in deeper waters, like Genie’s Dogfish, is finding out what is down there in the first place.”

For Daly-Engel, the discovery goes beyond science.

At an early age, she was drawn to Clark and her books. As Daly-Engel advanced in her career, she saw Clark’s impact as one of the early members of the American Elasmobranch Society, a group Daly-Engel later joined and through which she met Clark.

“She is the mother of us all,” Daly-Engel said. “She was not just the first female shark biologist, she was one of the first people to study sharks.”

The feeling rings true for Pfleger, as well. “Dr. Clark was a trailblazer for women in shark biology. Her work showed me that it was possible to make my mark in a male-dominated field. This paper is a perfect example of how her career has influenced multiple generations of women in science: the first author is a woman who graduated from a woman-led lab.”

“Genie was aptly nicknamed the ‘Shark Lady’ because her shark research was so innovative and she was dedicated to teaching the truth about sharks,” said Robert Hueter, Ph.D., director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote. “Not only was she responsible for establishing Mote’s legacy of more than 60 years in shark research, but also, her discoveries inspired people around the world to develop a sense of eagerness and passion for understanding and ultimately protecting these fascinating animals.”

As founding director of Mote Marine Laboratory, Clark was very familiar with the Gulf of Mexico. For a trailblazer in the world of shark biology, it is fitting that the new species of shark would be named after her, Daly-Engel said.

“Genie established Mote and she lived on the Gulf of Mexico coast,” she said. “She did a lot to advance our understanding of marine biodiversity there. So naming the dogfish shark from the Gulf of Mexico after her is the most appropriate thing in the world.”

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How to design for the virtual world? The development of virtual reality only really started a few years ago, and it’s still in the process of being developed today. Designing virtual reality experiences is difficult and involves several layers of the design process.

Virtual reality technologies can open users to new experiences.

How to Design for the Virtual World

The foundation of the virtual world is a three-dimensional, immersive experience that makes users feel like they are in the environment being depicted. Many VR experiences are interactive, so users not only enter the virtual reality world but can also interact and even change the environment.

The frameworks most commonly used to design VR software are Mozilla A-Frame, Daydream VR and Unity VR. But just knowing how to use one or more of the frameworks to design VR is not enough—designers also need to come up with creative and different ideas for virtual environments that haven’t been done before. Users always want new and better experiences that will take their VR viewing and game playing to the next level.

VR games and apps are the most common uses of the technology today, but VR is also being developed for many other applications including movies, sporting events, concerts, travel, and even healthcare diagnostics and therapy sessions. Each of these different uses for VR technology will require unique design skills and approaches. Still, there are commonalities.

Designing virtual reality technologies involves many aspects of design.

Designing New Worlds

While some designers find pen and paper to be their initial tools of choice when coming up with a new VR design, others may use design software or tools, of which there are many. As you design, the user experience is paramount and must always be considered at all stages of the design process. After all, VR technology is nothing if the user experience isn’t satisfactory or, even better, blow-your-mind awesome.

Some of the unique considerations of VR designers involve ensuring that the game or app doesn’t cause headaches to users or lead to motion sickness. Moving characters or objects within the software is another challenge to be solved. Testing designs is a big part of any UX effort but is particularly important to VR design.

While some VR users will invest time in figuring out how to use games or apps, others will give up quickly if the design doesn’t include a high level of playability—which means that it’s easy to figure out how to play or use the app and doesn’t require a lot of effort on the user’s part.

Designing for the Virtual World of the Future

These considerations apply to the design of today’s VR technology, but other factors may come into play as VR advances into the future, so continuing education will be necessary for VR designers in order to keep up with future features of the software. You could also be on the cutting edge of new developments and be responsible for developing future generations of VR technology.

Florida Tech offers paths to a VR design career including computer engineering, student design and research, and human-centered design courses. Learn more about undergraduate admissions to see what we can offer to those interested in developing virtual reality technology. If you’re interested in learning more about designing for the future, watch for our next blog, What Is 3D Manufacturing?

Under his guidance, a team of oceanography and ocean engineering students, with occasional help from aquaculture and marine biology students, maintain the tank.

This spring, the main 8-foot tank was replaced and the entire system revitalized—adding more hard coral and new fish.

The effort took a month in planning and a full day to implement. More than a dozen students studying marine biology, environmental science, oceanography and ocean engineering participated in the project—keeping the livestock stress-free and correctly timing the seawater delivery with the mounting of the new aquarium.

The aquascape is comprised of approximately 240 lbs. of sand and 250 lbs. of rock—much of it generously donated by CaribSea, a leading aquarium supply company.

The fish and invertebrates eat a conglomerate of copepods and other zooplankton, mysid shrimp, flake foods and seaweed or romaine lettuce for the omnivores.

Maintaining the PDH aquarium takes a great deal of patience and hard work. The staff works Monday through Friday with the occasional weekend shift to clean the tank, feed the fish and invertebrates, monitor the water quality and keep health records on the inhabitants.

Thank you to all our aquarium student-staffers who keep our reef healthy.

• Abbey Gering, Oceanography
• Julia Martinus, Oceanography
• Jonathan Steffano, Ocean Engineering
• Connor Wong, Oceanography
• Shannon O’Neil, Ocean Engineering
• Matthew Schelhorn Ocean Engineering

Additional volunteers for the revitalization project:
Xiao Ma, Nayan Mallick, Sean Crowley, Sarah Johnson, Lily Johnson, Austen Zugelter and Melissa Rivera

“This aquarium is a beacon of what Florida Tech is all about—bringing scientists and engineers from all backgrounds together to tackle big projects.”

—Connor Wong, lead aquarist

When people make a decision that goes against their self-interests, we classify that as a bad decision. We make these types of decisions for many reasons, including simply making mistakes. However, other types of ‘bad decisions’ seem to be more systematic in humans.

One such systematic bias can be illustrated by a simple economic game. Imagine a researcher walks into a room with two people. The research gives the first person $100 and the second person $1. How would you feel if you were the second person? You would likely be upset and feel you were being treated unfairly. You might even refuse the dollar because of your strong feelings. This is really quite irrational from an economic perspective. A dollar is more than you had before, so why would you turn down free money?

To really understand this bad decision, we need to determine why we evolved to have this bias. To do that, we conduct similar research with our nonhuman primate relatives to see whether or not they share the bias. If they do, then it suggests there was an adaptive reason why we evolved this way. If not, then it may be a quirk of human behavior.

It turns out that when we conduct the same experiment above with monkeys (using food, not money), they behave the same way. Some monkeys even throw the lower value food back at the researcher in a clear sign of displeasure. This tendency to compare your outcomes with the outcomes of others and to protest when you get less is called inequity aversion.

We think inequity aversion coevolved with cooperation. When we cooperate, we need to monitor what other individuals get to make sure they aren’t cheating. If someone cheats, then you should stop cooperating with them. Thus, we tend to see inequity aversion in cooperative species, like humans and capuchin monkeys.

So, the reason we make some bad decisions is that throughout our evolutionary history they were actually good decisions. However, when they are taken out of that evolutionary context and placed in the modern world, they look like bad decisions. Because we are a highly cooperative species, it makes sense to object when we get less than someone else, even if that sometimes means turning down free money.

Darby Proctor is an assistant professor of psychology and program coordinator for the animal behavior concentration in undergraduate psychology. She studies nonhuman primate decision-making, focusing on chimpanzees, spider monkeys and lemurs. She currently collaborates with Brevard Zoo to study its animals.

In addition to managing overall airport operations and the customer experience, Lawrence is leading an ambitious 10-year, $11.6 billion redevelopment initiative aimed at modernizing airport facilities and keeping pace with projected passenger growth in the coming decades. This work includes the $2.72 billion Terminal One Redevelopment Program at Newark Airport, the $8 billion complete renovation of LaGuardia Airport and the JFK Airport Vision Plan. With an additional $10 billion in private sector investment, the capital plan totals more than $20 billion.

Each project is a complex, multiphase endeavor designed to enhance the passenger experience through improved functionality, aesthetics, sustainability and usability. It includes the construction of new terminals, new parking garages, new electrical and fueling infrastructure, repaving runways and addressing airport access.

“The Port Authority’s airport system is one of the region’s greatest economic engines and continues to experience robust and sustained growth,” he said. “Underscoring the importance of the agency’s goals of developing world-class airports, our agency’s $32.2 billion 2017–2026 capital plan sets aside 36 percent in total spending for modernizing and upgrading our facilities.”

Lawrence is well-suited for this challenge. A 32-year veteran of the Port Authority, he started his career as an intern in the aviation department right out of high school. After earning his degree in aviation management from Florida Tech, he returned to the Port Authority, ascending through positions of increasing responsibility before being named deputy director of aviation and, ultimately, director of aviation in 2017.

“I’ve had the good fortune to work at all three of our major airports—JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia—in nearly every division, including operations, security, properties and customer service. Along the way, I’ve gained valuable insights about what works and what’s important, and how best to meet our objectives,” he said.

Lawrence’s interest in aviation started at a young age. He attended the aviation program offered at his elementary school and was able to complete pilot ground school as part of his high school curriculum. At Florida Tech, his interest in management and leadership was sparked.

“There was this whole emerging field in the late ’70s and early ’80s to develop careers in airport management, and I was intrigued by that,” he explained. “You deal with a broad range of issues—legal, commercial, financial. It really runs the gamut. In effect, you’re running an important business enterprise for the benefit of the public.”

He says he appreciates the technical foundation he received at Florida Tech as well as the larger understanding of management, leadership, transportation and intermodalism he gained—skills he continues to use today.

And, his affinity for his alma mater has remained strong.

“If I’m close by, even in Orlando, I like to sneak a peek of campus,” he said, noting the transformation of south campus, where he used to conduct Army ROTC drills on the pistol range and rappelling tower located there, and the WFIT studio, which was in the basement of Roberts Hall when he hosted a weekly radio program as a student.

At Homecoming 2017, Lawrence received the George M. Skurla Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Aeronautics.

“I am quite humbled by the honor in receiving the Skurla Award,” he said. “I’ve always tried to provide value in every role that I’ve held.”

It’s this value mindset as well as his management expertise and institutional knowledge that distinguish Lawrence’s leadership during this transformational time for the Port Authority.

“Large organizations are tough. Bureaucracy can be frustrating; but at the end of the day, you eventually get it done. I have high expectations for myself and my team, because our customers expect a lot of us,” he said. “Seeing today where we’ve got a lot of support from our board and our governors to rebuild our airports—that really inspires me.”

“We took a family vacation to Wisconsin and flew there,” Avedisian said. “It kind of blew my mind. I really couldn’t wrap my head around it at 7 years old, but I thought it was the coolest thing that we’d gone so far so fast. So I was hooked with the aviation bug early.”

He went on to earn his private pilot’s certificate at 17, by 19 had a commercial certificate with instrument and multiengine ratings and Certified Flight Instructor certificate, and graduated from Florida Tech in just three years with a degree in air commerce/flight technology. Although he never worked as a commercial pilot—too much autopilot for his tastes—he did remain in the transportation field. After graduation, Avedisian spent 13 weeks bicycling through Europe, before starting a managerial job at a courier business in California. He then went on to become a dock supervisor for a national trucking company and eventually worked with consultants involved in San Francisco’s city planning. When he decided to go to law school, Avedisian began to work with judges at the National Transportation Safety Board who decided enforcement actions brought by the FAA against pilots.

Now, an attorney in Manhattan, he primarily deals with real estate and commercial cases. However, he uses one of the largest mass transit systems in the world on a daily basis—an aging subway system that struggles to keep up with ever-increasing demand in a booming population. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) needed innovative solutions for some large problems on a tight budget, so New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, a global competition.

With Avedisian’s background in transportation, and his knowledge of the New York City system, it’s no surprise he jumped at the chance to put in his two cents. What is surprising is that he won.

High Capacity

The MTA received 438 submissions from 23 countries, most of which were supplied by large transportation industry conglomerates, not individuals. The task was daunting. There were three phases to the competition, each one narrowing down entries and requiring more submissions.

“Once I made it past Phase One, I had a fair amount of confidence in the idea,” Avedisian said. “If I can prove this works, it can win. All I really didn’t know was what I didn’t know, which can actually be an asset, as people in the industry can often be ‘too close’ to a problem.”

Avedisian’s idea helps increase capacity, without spending a lot of extra money or upgrading with expensive technology. All you have to do is add cars, while stopping those cars at the front and rear of the train at alternating platforms. For example: On a 14-car train, the first four cars and the last four cars take turns stopping at alternating platforms, while the center six cars stop at every platform. Essentially, overshooting and undershooting every stop. Passengers know which cars to board by standing at color-coded areas of the platform. The center cars serve all stations for anyone who prefers or needs that service.

“As I thought more about the idea itself, I realized how huge the increase in capacity was,” Avedisian said. “I figured out there was a compounding effect of using more modern rail cars that increased the capacity as high as 65 percent, instead of just 40–50 percent.”

It all seems so simple, but the process to arrive at such a streamlined result took months of research, phone calls to England and Finland to learn more about their systems and technology, multiple drafts of a 30-page proposal and an interview before the panel of judges for the challenge.

“When I went into that interview, my first goal was not to embarrass myself,” Avedisian said. “As an outsider, I thought ‘I just want to perform at a [reasonable]level. If I give an average performance for somebody who’s in the industry, I’m going to be happy.’ Of course, I wanted to do better than that, and aimed to do better, but that was the minimum I wanted to achieve. I prepared for three days for that interview.

“I’ll quote Bruce Springsteen: ‘You need confidence, but you need fear too.’ It sounds bizarre, but it’s true. You had to have confidence to enter this contest, but fear is a real driver. It’s an engine. You can’t let it overwhelm you or you lose the confidence, but some amount of fear is healthy. I did not want to screw this up.”

Certified Genius

Avedisian had just the right amount of fear and preparation. He was announced as a winner on March 9, eight months since the start of the challenge.

“I’m not running around like a lottery winner even today,” Avedisian said. “I think the idea is incredibly powerful. The idea is roughly 12–13 times more cost-effective than building new subway lines to expand capacity. There’s just nothing that competes with that.”

More than anything else, Avedisian credits his success with the transportation knowledge and experience he has gained over the last 30 years, beginning with Florida Tech.

“My first sense of how to be a professional came at Florida Tech with the pilot training, because it is life and death up there,” Avedisian said. “Aviation concepts are not all that different. Transportation concepts are transportation concepts. I think every job I ever had mattered. I know I had subjective thoughts about virtually every one of them. The law is about persuasion. Scheduling is a big deal with aviation, and it’s an even bigger deal with trains. It all mattered.”

Although a copy of the $330,000 award check will be framed and hung proudly on his wall, this was never about the money. It was about what the check represents.

“If the day comes when I step onto a platform and my idea is implemented, and these giant, 85,000-pound subway cars are doing something different because of my idea, I think that will be the single-most satisfying moment,” Avedisian said.

Next Stop

This is not the last stop on Avedisian’s journey that began on that family vacation to Wisconsin. He will continue to follow an often unknown route from “Point A” to “Point B,” allowing his curiosity and love for transportation to take him to his next destination.

“What I’m most excited about is that I have some other ideas,” Avedisian said. “I might start doing a little transportation consulting too. That is where my heart is.”

Craig Avedisian’s Award-Winning, Capacity-Expanding MTA Genius Transit Challenge Idea

Say an average subway platform can accommodate a 10-car train. Avedisian’s concept allows for the addition of more cars without changing current infrastructure. The extra cars simply don’t offer passenger access at every platform.

For example, on a 14-car train, the first four cars and the last four cars take turns stopping at alternating platforms, while the center six cars stop at every platform. Essentially, overshooting and undershooting the platform at every stop.

Passengers know which cars to board by standing at color-coded areas of the platform. The center cars serve all stations.

Assistant professor Shermineh Rostami Fairchild’s proposal, “Free-space optical communication in plasma waveguides,” has been selected for funding by the U.S. Army Research Office. This award is part of the competitive Young Investigator Program that provides seed money for full-time young faculty to start their research. The award is for a total of $360,000 over three years.

Fairchild said she is proud of the honor, given what the prestigious award represents for young faculty and the work involved in winning the grant.

Fairchild is one a few specialists in laser filamentation in the United States. This phenomenon consists of laser beams propagating with low losses and minimal diffraction over kilometers. Filament-induced plasma channels could be engineered into free-space waveguides to propagate optical information more efficiently. 

This could lead to a new paradigm in free-space, long-distance optical communication.

By the end of the project, Fairchild will apply the concept developed in the lab to real-life conditions for the first time. For that, she will use a high-power mobile laser at the Townes Institute Science and Technology Experimentation Facility, managed by the University of Central Florida at Kennedy Space Center.

In her short time at Florida Tech, Fairchild has not hesitated to actively bring together the expertise of faculty and students from different areas and to collaborate with them as she looks to improve laser-based communication. She has come to appreciate the variety of fields offered to the students at FIT.

“Laser and space…what’s cooler than that?” she said. “We combine the two coolest things and provide our students with expertise in both fields.”

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Researched by Anderson, Craig. A., Carnagey, Nicholas. L., & Eubanks, Janie. (2003).

Written by Bethany Wellman, M.S.

Do violent music lyrics help vent powerful feelings or increase aggressive thoughts and emotions?

Psychology researchers completed five experiments to examine effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and hostile feelings. More than 500 Midwestern college students listened to both violent songs, referencing aggression and acts of violence, and nonviolent songs. Word-association tasks tested whether the students linked more non-aggressive words with aggressive words or filled incomplete words with vowels to make aggressive words. After hearing the songs, they reported their feelings of hostility and ranked sentences based on their emotions.

Results demonstrated that students who heard a violent song felt more hostile than those who heard a similar but nonviolent song. These effects were replicated across songs and song types with an overall increase of aggressive thoughts when listening to any type of music inferring violence. The findings were true despite the listeners’ gender and personality differences, as well as their reactions to the different performing artists and musical styles. This research indicates that listening to violent and angry songs does not “vent” powerful feelings but likely brings up angrier thoughts and emotions.

Be aware of the dangers of listening to angry lyrics. Find alternative ways to resolve anger.

Reference:

Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L., & Eubanks, J. (2003). Exposure to Violent Media: The Effects of Songs With Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(5), 960-971.