The Engineering Innovation Institute is proud to introduce Tom Waters, our new corporate engagement director for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. With a wealth of experience in industry partnerships and fostering innovative collaborations, Waters will lead our efforts to align the college’s academic strengths with industry needs and establish meaningful engagement between students, faculty, and corporate partners. He looks forward to connecting with faculty and staff and exploring ways to advance shared goals and drive impact in engineering education and research.
Waters spent 10 years in BASF Corporation’s R&D department before joining the CIA after the 9/11 attacks. Serving undercover on the Economic Security Team, he advised U.S. companies who were targets of trade-secret theft by foreign governments. He is an inventor with over a dozen patents in biometrics and encryption technologies.
He previously served in corporate strategy for Jabil and was most recently the assistant director for Startups at the University of South Florida. He is the author of business books on innovation (Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks) and market strategy (Hyperformance). Waters has a bachelor’s from UT-Chattanooga and an MBA from Wake Forest. He completed the Board of Directors College at Stanford Law School and is a registered patent agent.