UWF and IHMC partner to launch new robotics research doctorate program

Graduate students looking to go into robotics research will soon be able to add the University of West Florida to their list of potential schools, thanks to a new partnership with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

UWF announced this morning it was partnering with IHMC to develop a doctoral program in intelligent systems and robotics after the Florida Board of Governors approved the creation of the program at its meeting Thursday.

The program will be the first robotics doctorate program offered at any university in Florida, and nationwide, the program is only offered at universities like Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"It brings us into an arena that we really think is the future for our region and state and maybe country — and that's robotics," said Martha Saunders, UWF president.

Saunders said today's announcement was at least three years in the making and was a "game changer" for UWF.

"When we put together our strategic plan, we did so with the clear understanding that we are going to build on our strengths and leverage the resources of the region," Saunders said. "And so, this doctoral program is a good example of that. It builds on the strength of our engineering and robotics program, and then a world-class and world-recognized research institute right here in our hometown."

Julie Sheppard, executive vice president at IHMC, said she is excited the nonprofit research institute was partnering with UWF for the program.

"We felt like both the university and IHMC had some strengths and that there wasn't a similar program in Florida," Sheppard said. "We thought it would be a nice way to give them a really unique PhD program."

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Additionally, Sheppard said she hopes the program will attract entrepreneurial-driven people who will use their knowledge to start technology companies in the region.

The field of robotics is a growing one and has drawn the interest of students at UWF, with 66 percent of 149 engineering and computer science students responding to a survey that they would be interested in the program.

"The national demand for experts in intelligent systems and robotics is large, yet universities and technology firms such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon struggle to find people with the expertise and skills their organizations need," said Mohamed Khabou, interim program director, in a press release.

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Not only is the program a first of its kind in Florida, it's a first for UWF as it will be the first doctorate program at the university. The university has had an education doctorate program for years, known as an Ed.D.

"The students will go directly to work in the labs of IHMC researchers," Saunders said. "There's a very small core, so they won't have to sit in class for two years before they can get to work on their research."

Sheppard said IHMC researchers will serve as mentors for the students and give them real-world research opportunities from day one.

UWF will implement the program in the fall 2019 semester, according to documents from the Florida Board of Governors.

The program will be modeled after doctorate programs in Europe, where the work will be tailored to the student and the researcher with whom the student will be working at IHMC.

"We call it the European model because it's much more similar to the kinds of doctorates you see at Oxford and Cambridge than it is to, I guess, what you'd call the typical U.S. doctorate," Saunders said. "That adds a dimension that we think is on the front end, and will serve as a model for others to come in the state."

Although the program will remain small with perhaps about 25 students a year, Saunders said it could lead to new partnerships with the Department of Defense and other organizations with which IHMC routinely does work.

"The ripple effect will be exponential as we bring in more high-quality faculty to teach the program," Saunders said. "They're going to bring with them levels of experience and grants that are going to inspire new things at UWF that we haven't even thought about yet."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.