Alumni Spotlight
- UF engineering students and alumni awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
Eleven students from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, as well as nine alumni, were selected to receive awards from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP).
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We are excited to announce that Iris Rivero, Ph.D. is the incoming Chair of @UFISE at @UFWertheim! Given her combination of professional & educational experience we know she’ll make an excellent addition to our #GatorEngineering team. We can’t wait for her arrival at @UF in 2024!
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A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the Fall 2023 ECE Florida Career Fair such a success. Recruiters, students, staff, ECE Ambassadors—y’all were amazing! It was great to be together in person again. More than 400 students attended. Can’t wait to do it again!
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A team of University of Florida researchers has partnered with campus police to test a newly developed mobile application—Virtual Traffic Stop, or VTS. The app is designed to ease tensions and prevent misunderstandings between drivers and law enforcement during traffic stops.![]()
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The free application allows officers to communicate with drivers through smartphone video before physically approaching the vehicle. The goal? To reduce any anxiety the stop may cause by having parties communicate through video first. This helps make the interaction safer for all involved.![]()
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“VTS empowers drivers and law enforcement to navigate traffic stops with ease and confidence by serving as an ice breaker that fosters an open dialogue between all involved,” said Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D., a UF Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering professor. “There are so many different ways where VTS can provide an opportunity to de-escalate a stressful situation, making traffic stops safer for everyone.”![]()
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For more information about the application, please visit news.ufl.edu/2023/08/virtual-traffic-stop/!
Kicking off our Educator Spotlight series this #HispanicHeritageMonth is Idalis Villanueva, Ph.D.! Villanueva is the Associate Chair of Research and Graduate Studies, as well as an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education.![]()
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She, as well as five other faculty members in UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering came together to write "Nuestro Impacto: An insider look into the connections between our past experiences and current teaching and mentoring practices." This paper serves to illustrate the experiences of Latiné/x educators and how their experiences influence how they interact with and teach students.![]()
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The six co-authors recognized that, though they were categorized under one Latino culture, they had different backgrounds and experiences. This is made clear throughout the paper.![]()
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This is not the only work for which Villanueva has to be proud, however. She was the one who introduced the idea of "hidden curriculum"—one of her research focuses—to engineering. Additionally, she has developed RITA, an institute designed to support faculty to leverage hidden curriculum in their teaching and to advocate for better working conditions.![]()
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Villanueva is also an educator who focuses on teaching and supporting her students in ways that best affect them. She prioritizes teaching in a way that helps students best express their abilities by utilizing creativity in assessing student knowledge.![]()
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When asked what she would tell her younger self, she said, "It's something that I would tell myself even now. You have a lot of strength in you that you didn't know you had. And I am here to support you."![]()
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Thank you for everything you do for the College, Dr. Villanueva!
We are thrilled to announce that Iris V. Rivero, Ph.D., will join our College as the Paul and Heidi Brown Preeminent Chair in Industrial and Systems Engineering and the next Chair of the Department of UF Industrial and Systems Engineering at the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, effective January 1, 2024! ![]()
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Having served as the Kate Gleason Professor and Department Head of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology and as the Director of Graduate Education and Associate Chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University, Rivero has supported the professional development of hundreds of students and faculty. ![]()
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She is a distinguished fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). She has also led numerous by federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and NASA, just to name a few. Given her combination of professional and educational experience, we know she will make an excellent addition to our #GatorEngineering team.![]()
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We look forward to sharing more information about her prior to her upcoming arrival at the University of Florida in January 2024!