Florida Tech President Announces Enhancements to Boost Research with New Guidelines and Programs

Research expenditure is estimated at $15 million per year over the past three years

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech President John Nicklow told hundreds of faculty and staff gathered Wednesday for his fall State of the University address that the Office of Sponsored Research, a critical hub for university research, will benefit from a range of new programs, tools and leadership.

Research expenditures at Florida Tech have hovered around $15 million annually for the past three years. It is expected that strengthening the research agency will help increase this result.

Hamid Rassoul will serve as senior associate provost for research and lead the research office, Nicklow said at his speech, his third State of the University presentation since starting as president in July 2023. A renowned expert on lightning, Rassoul is a distinguished university professor of physics and space sciences and is a former dean of Florida Tech’s College of Science.

Rassoul will have a host of new programs, information and improvements to work with, Nicklow said. These improvements focus on both the operation of office activities and its staff:

■ Benchmarking with comparable and ambitious institutions and conducting mutual visits with other university research agencies. This will help identify best practices for process improvements at Florida Tech.

■ Streamlining submission and proposal processes to improve efficiency and shorten response times. The cornerstone of this effort is a $200,000 research administration system, which will help alleviate the burden of time-consuming proposal preparation and electronic proposal submission for faculty and staff during the course of the research project.

■ Adding new development programs for research firm staff and prioritizing salary adjustments, training, professional growth opportunities and more.

■ Improving communication protocols and providing regular updates to university leadership on research proposal submissions and grants awarded.

■ Promoting transparency and data-driven decision-making to guide strategic choices in the field of sustainable research initiatives.
“We are moving in the right direction with these improvements and look forward to expanding our research,” said Nicklow. “Onwards and upwards!”

Other topics covered during the State of the University presentation:

Enrollment: Fall 2024 total enrollment of 9,863 increased 2.1%, or 207 students, from fall 2023, Nicklow said. The record number of First Time in College (FTIC) students increased from 914 in fall 2023 to 957, an increase of almost 5%. “This goes against the national trend,” Nicklow said, showing that the number of first-year students has fallen by more than 5% nationally.

President’s Ambassadors: Nicklow launched a President’s Ambassadors program during his freshman year to provide participating students with unique, leadership-building experiences, and he announced the first cohort of 15 ambassadors at his commencement address. Many were on site for the address, assisting guests.

“These students are leaders among leaders,” Nicklow said. They were selected for this one-year experience from 63 qualified applicants because of their “leadership experience, dedication to Florida Tech, passion for promoting change, desire to learn and grow, campus experiences and involvement, and ability to mentor or inspire others ‘. he said.

A few quick hits of the address:

■ University endowment increased 20% year over year to $112 million. Its growth remains a top priority, Nicklow says.

■ Work on the master plan continues. Working with an outside firm, Florida Tech completed four town halls that generated input from more than 100 students, faculty and staff. The community input process is nearly complete and the project is expected to be completed in early spring.

■ Nicklow has approved a space use committee to develop policy and review applications for space on campus. This is the first time that such a committee has been used. “We are aligning our decisions with our strategic planning and our future master plan,” he said.

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