Leveraging core strengths in data analytics, sensors, networking and cybersecurity with cross-campus disciplines \u2013 like transportation and healthcare \u2013 that are fundamental to the growing Internet of Things, or \u201cIoT,\u201d the University of Florida has just announced a new resource for the design, development and testing of state-of-the-art IoT systems: The Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor our students, this institute will open up opportunities for hands-on learning in a field many are calling the next industrial revolution,\u201d said UF President W. Kent Fuchs. \u201cFor the rest of the world, the research and technology transfer we\u2019re focusing on will help to create a more secure and connected future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new institute is named in honor of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) alumnus Warren B. Nelms, a New Engineer who built his own solar \u201csmart\u201d house where he raised his children \u2013 who both went on to become UF engineers as well. His son and daughter-in-law, David and Daryl Nelms, have honored him by generously investing $5M to help create this institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The institute will work closely with industry, as well as with resident expert faculty in the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research (FICS Research) to integrate comprehensive security considerations into all design efforts. Additional faculty in ECE along with other engineering departments will contribute their established leadership in IoT research and enabling technologies, including those in the Multi-Functional Integrated System Technology Center (MIST), and Collaboration to Enable Transnational Cyberinfrastructure Applications (CENTRA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are many examples of IoT devices being hacked, and that\u2019s a huge problem,\u201d said John Harris, professor and chair of ECE. \u201cWe believe we can help with every aspect \u2013 from the sensors, the communication systems, processing in the cloud, machine learning and more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ECE faculty member Daniela Oliveira will receive a term professorship within the institute, as will Yier Jin, known for his work exposing vulnerabilities in \u201csmart\u201d thermostats and over 100 other commercial IoT devices, who will join the department in July. A $1.5 million gift from Dr. Sachio Semmoto, Japanese telecommunications mogul and ECE alumnus, has established a professorship for the institute director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy vision for the Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World is that UF will become one of the leading places anywhere for educating the best and brightest engineers to securely connect all the world\u2019s devices,\u201d said David Nelms, chairman and CEO of Discover Financial Services and a mechanical engineering alumnus. \u201cUF will become a magnet for attracting people like my dad, engineers who can dream big and create a future that most people can\u2019t imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are enormously grateful for this generous gift from the Nelms family, and what it will mean for future generations,\u201d said Cammy Abernathy, dean of UF\u2019s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. \u201cA number of universities are working with IoT, but I believe we will be among the first with an institute dedicated to the connected world in all of its forms, including the security of the Internet of Things and the safety of future technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UF’s new Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World will focus on security and the Internet of Things, or \u201cIoT.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"off","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15,35,61,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ece","category-featured","category-research-innovation","category-security"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21687"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42993,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21687\/revisions\/42993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}