Mathletes Summer Camp

Dr. Villiers is an Associate Professor in the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering (WCOE) at Florida Gulf Coast University. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Materials and Construction from the University of Florida in 2004. Dr. Villiers’ areas of principal research interest are Civil Engineering Materials and Asphalt Technology, Highway and Pavement Design, Transportation, Specifications and Construction Variability of Pavement Materials, Quality Control/Quality Assurance, Pavement Management and Rehabilitation, and Statistics related to Pavement Materials.
In the past, Dr. Villiers worked on several projects sponsored by various agencies including the Florida Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, and University Transportation Research Center Region-II. Some of his most recently completed and on-going work include the use of driving simulator to investigate patterns of drivers’ behavior during various rainfall event using different roadway geometries. Deliverables from this project may help Florida Department of Transportation and other agencies with future decision making, such as variable message signs, determining appropriate corrective measures on existing roadway sections, and/or designing future roadway sections to reduce hydroplaning. He is a Co-PI for the grant submitted to NSF to allow Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) be a member of the Florida – Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP). This program is committed to substantially increasing the number of degrees awarded to underrepresented populations within STEM areas. For the last three years, Dr. Villiers in collaboration with the Director of the Office of Community Outreach Programs, Associate Provost at FGCU along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People successfully initiated and completed a successful Pre-Collegiate Summer Camp to engage high school students from underrepresented groups in research and STEM activities. Dr. Villiers is also the founding faculty advisor for the American Society of Civil Engineers and National Society of Black Engineers in WCOE at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Dr. Heather Walsh-Haney is an associate professor and program leader for the Department of Justice Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. She is the consulting forensic anthropologist for eight (8) Florida Medical Examiner Districts. Heather has supervised 22 graduate students (over the span of 8 years) and been the principle investigator for over 500 forensic anthropology cases. Dr. Walsh-Haney is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2010 FGCU Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Emerging Forensic Scientist Award and the Ruth O. McQuown Fellowship. She has published, presented her work and testified in criminal prosecutions in the United States, Canada, Guatemala, and Bermuda.

Dr. Jeff Hutchinson was born and raised in Edmonds, Washington, in the suburbs of Seattle where the verdant mountainous beauty is provided by nearly continuous rain, sometimes literally for months at a time. He graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington where he received his B.A. in Physics and he spent his free time studying classical fencing. In 2007 he moved down to Davis, California where he received his Ph.D in Physics from the University of California, Davis, under the mentorship of Dr. Markus Luty. There he found his love for board games and, more importantly, his wife, Emily. In 2014, he moved to Fort Myers, Florida to join the faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University and start a family. Now he spends his free time playing dinosaurs with his 3 year old daughter, Penny, watching his favorite shows with Emily, and playing board games with his friends. He also loves to teach physics and mentor undergraduate researchers simulating dark matter signals at particle colliders.