Florida Tech Launches Florida Tech Research Institute

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Tech is establishing a specialized research institute that will substantially enhance the university’s capacity to conduct applied research for the Department of Defense and the defense industrial base sector.

The Florida Tech Research Institute, or FTRI, will be an independent, nonprofit entity, fully owned by the university, which features its own board of directors, its own networks and far more stringent security than the rest of the school. Marco Carvalho, executive director of the L3Harris Institute for Assured Information and professor and L3Harris Chair for Assured Information, will serve as executive director, reporting to FTRI’s board of directors.

While Florida Tech faculty have long been involved in multiple research efforts for the Department of Defense, the establishment of FTRI will create a better support system and enable them to carry out more of that type of work in facilities separate from Florida Tech’s operations that meet federal requirements for handling controlled information, including physical access, network security and other safeguards.

“FTRI will help us build a more effective bridge from our applied research to the defense industrial base sector with all the controls and all the support necessary to serve that sector,” Carvalho said.

Keeping FTRI and its research portfolio separate also means the university’s overarching mission to prepare students from around the world for success and excellence will properly benefit from an increase in Defense Department or defense industry base research activities

It also will benefit faculty, who will now have the support infrastructure FTRI provides to engage in controlled research even as they carry out their more traditional basic and applied research.

“This initiative will enable our faculty and research staff to better serve and contribute to sensitive research activities that are critical for our nation and our defense industry base,” Carvalho said. “And it will help us provide new, unique education and training experiences to our students, supporting the university mission to create an open forum for discussions, scholarship and academic contributions.”

The establishment of FTRI brings Florida Tech in line with other top schools that feature similar facilities, including Georgia Tech (Georgia Tech Research Institute), Carnegie Mellon (Software Engineering Institute), Johns Hopkins (Applied Physics Laboratory) and MIT (Lincoln Laboratory.)

“The Florida Tech Research Institute will put us in a much more competitive footing as a university to serve the defense industrial base,” said President John Nicklow. “We are excited to unleash our amazing faculty in this particular environment as we continue to conduct research that makes a difference in our lives and in our world.”