The Applied Research Center continues to assume its striking exterior features more than a year and a half after construction began, and Florida Poly officials are celebrating an infusion of state funding that will allow it to be completed on schedule.
The Florida Legislature included nearly $14.9 million for the project in the budget adopted this session, and Gov. Ron DeSantis refrained from vetoing the funding when he signed the budget on June 2. That action came as a relief to David Calhoun, Florida Polytechnic’s assistant vice president of facilities and safety services.
“I thought it was great news for Florida Poly,” Calhoun said. “We have more campus to build on than we have buildings built. We still have a lot of room for growth.”
The sensors allow the user to see the traffic at any point, giving traffic managers information to improve congestion issues and more effectively manage slowdowns caused by crashes and other incidents. Previously, traffic managers only had access to data from three sensors.
De Paula, an international student from Brazil, completed his studies remotely in his home country during the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked with an interdisciplinary team that included individuals from both Facens and Grupo Splice.
Reinaldo Sanchez-Arias, an assistant professor of data science and business analytics at Florida Poly, served as de Paula’s graduate advisor. Shahram Taj, chair of the Department of Data Science and Business Analytics, was also an advising member of de Paula’s graduate project committee.
The college is quickly running out of space inside its Joe K. & Alberta Blanton Nursing Building on Johnson Avenue. When the 8,600-square-foot building was constructed in 2008, Florida Southern didn t offer any graduate level nursing courses. Now, Dennis said the college has about 125 graduate students and offers four levels of courses. Our goal is to keep undergraduates near the middle of our campus, while moving the graduate program a little bit off, he said. We would have the room to properly expand both programs.
St. Joseph s Academy closed its doors in late May 2020. The Very Rev. Timothy LaBo told The Ledger the economic challenges of the pandemic left some parents unable to pay tuition, leading to a decline in re-enrollment. The decision was made to shutter the school and merge with existing schools in Polk County.
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Florida Southern College’s biology department will conduct student and faculty research on Florida’s stone crab fishery through a grant sponsored by the Tampa Bay Environmental Restoration Fund.
The study will determine how reductions in seawater acidity levels can affect the reproduction of stone crab populations in Tampa Bay, the school said in a news release. The research is a continuation of work led by Phil Gravinese, who applied for the grant while doing his post-doctoral fellowship at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota.