Public colleges and universities in Florida have received millions of dollars in grants to help enhance the programs that they offer in engineering, health and medicine. The money, provided as part of what's known as Scholars Boost Grants, Clustering Grants and R&D commercialization grants, were distributed in November by the New Florida Initiative, a program established to enhance science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, degree programs in the state. The New Florida Initiative is designed also to produce graduates who can further progress in business, health care and education and transform the state's economy to one that's considered sustainable.
The grant winners plan to put some of the grant money towards working together to establish "cluster industries" and recruiting and keeping teaching scholars. Florida Board of Governors Chair Ava L. Parker, citing modern day challenges in Florida, was quoted in an announcement. She suggested that the university system can't afford the state universities suffering financially by using up all their funding and resources. They are enormously important not only to the regions and communities they serve, but they have a great effect on the state's financial future. Following are some of the initiatives that the grants are to help fund:
An Orlando university, in addition to partnering with an institution in Tallahassee to establish an aerospace institute that might help NASA workers update their skills, is to spend part of its grant money on research towards developing engineering technologies such as wind tunnel technologies. As part of the wind technology program, the Orlando institution wants to sponsor a week long summer engineering camp for high school students interested in this field, information from the university shows.
An agricultural and mechanical university in Tallahassee received a grant to recruit a new professor of mechanical engineering, according to its university's blog. This university also received a grant that it intends to share with two other institutions to establish a Health Workers Research and Training Institute, the blog noted.
The university in Tallahassee that's teaming up with the Orlando institution for the aerospace institution plans to put additional grant money towards a team project involving its College of Medicine and a Gainesville institution. The project would involve creating a statewide network of university affiliates where people could connect professionals with research physicians and scientists on efforts such as monitoring the effects of a mild traumatic brain injury among youngsters in organized sports or looking at how information technology might help with monitoring diet, exercise and obesity related health risks in children and adolescents.
The Gainesville university itself received six other collaborative grants as well. With these grants, the institution and others throughout the state are to work together on studying climate change, addressing health care needs in rural and urban communities, enhancing supercomputing abilities throughout the state, plus developing a high-performance prosthesis. In Fort Myers, a grant provided to a university is to pay for a chair who, among other things, could help advance renewable energy research and help with the institution's plans for developing an innovation hub. The studying of renewable energies such as solar, wind and bio-fuel will take place at this 241-acre research park with a brand new 50,000 square-foot building.
A university in Miami plans to put its grant money towards hiring a biomedical engineering professor to lead a Department and Center for Adaptive Neural Systems at its College of Medicine, information on the New Florida Initiative website shows. A Palm Beach County-based university announced plans for recruiting a professor and chair for an ocean and mechanical engineering program where students, among other things, would work in areas such as ocean energy. This same institution is to put New Florida Initiative grant money towards establishing a neuroscience cluster with the Max Planck Institute, a non-profit research organization based in Germany and establishing a location in South Florida.
The Palm Beach County-based university and Max Planck, along with the Scripps Research Institute, are located in the same Jupiter, Fla., community. As Florida universities continue to receive grants and high-tech firms continue to establish themselves in the state, more of these firms might be located within research parks on state college and university campuses. Students who are interested in fields benefiting from these university program changes and enhancements should apply for scholarships and grants. Education Connection is a great tool for matching students with schools and merit awards as well as other forms of tuition assistance.
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