FAU Receives $2.1M for U.S. Air Force Center of Excellence

I am proud to share that Florida Atlantic has been awarded a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Air Force Research Laboratory to establish the FAU Center of Excellence for Research and Education in Programmable Wireless Networks. This center will advance Florida Atlantic’s position as a leader in secure, adaptive wireless communication systems — technologies that are critical to the future of national defense.

The project will be led by College of Engineering and Computer Science faculty members Dimitris Pados, Ph.D., director of Florida Atlantic’s Center for Connected Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (CA-AI); and George Sklivanitis, Ph.D., research associate professor in the CA-AI. They will collaborate with the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, in a mission to transform the way our military communicates. Through this partnership, we will help move the Department of Defense from legacy systems to innovative solutions that are agile, adaptive and secure.

The center also will focus on research, development and education to produce advanced technologies and address the gap of skilled professionals required to design and deploy these technologies in real-world scenarios.

The FAU Center of Excellence for Research and Education in Programmable Wireless Networks reflects the kind of innovation that has propelled Florida Atlantic to Carnegie R1 status and continues to accelerate the University’s position as a trailblazer in emerging fields. I want to thank Dr. Pados, Dr. Sklivanitis and College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Stella Batalama for their dynamic leadership and vision. Their work exemplifies the importance of aligning cutting-edge research with strategic priorities, and I look forward to the transformational impact the center will have in strengthening our national defense.