U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering

Dean Kagdi meets with Sheriff's Office to work on Public Safety

August 04, 2023 / Alex Subbert

Dean Kagdi and Professor Tsegaye from WCE had the excellent opportunity to visit Major Mark Shelly and his team at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, FL. They toured the impressive facility and engaged in potential collaborations on enhancing and, in some cases, transforming public safety with capacity-building on advanced software engineering and modern technology in our region. We are excited about the prospect of experiential learning and research projects coming to our students, faculty, and other stakeholders, and making our communities safer is noteworthy! Thank you, Major Shelly, for the invite and for presenting us with the sheriff’s badge

Microsoft Techspark Grant spurs Collaboration with Southwest Florida Partners

August 04, 2023

We are so proud to announce that we are beginning to work with Microsoft TechSpark to foster inclusive economic opportunity, job creation, and innovation in Southwest Florida 🙌 This collaboration with Microsoft, The Immokalee Foundation, and The Collier Industrial Development Authority, named TechSpark Immokalee, is funded by a Microsoft grant and is the first of its kind in Florida. This will be a two-year pilot program aimed at bridging the gap between youth education and digital skills needed for success in the modern workforce. Thanks to matching funds provided by Collier County Industrial Authority Collier EDO, 157 Immokalee Foundation middle school students will attend a four-week program at Immokalee Middle School and Immokalee Community School where they will follow a curriculum based on building digital skills that impact future jobs. This includes data processing, virtual and augmented reality, robotics, and generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT.

WCE Visits Universities in Ethiopia

June 28, 2023 / Alex Subbert

Dr. Seneshaw Tsegaye and Dean Kagdi of WCE had a wonderful opportunity to take FGCU’s message on the road. They recently travelled to Africa and visited three exceptional public universities in Ethiopia: Bonga University, Bahir Dar University, and Addis Ababa University. Bonga University is young and rapidly advancing, and it has close resemblance to FGCU’s story. Bahir Dar University and Addis Ababa University (flagship) are considered to be top-tier institutions of higher education in Ethiopia. They met with university presidents, high-ranking university officials, community and political leaders, faculty, students, and staff. We share the common values of academic excellence, student success, and community engagement. The discussions led to identifying areas of collaboration in academic programs, sharing expertise and experience, and capacity building. Implementation plans were sketched out to move to the next stage of our mutually beneficial partnerships. We are grateful for their generous hospitality in hosting us. Stay tuned for more!