Florida Poly has named Robert I. MacCuspie, Ph.D. as the first faculty member hired after splitting from the University of South Florida in 2012. He will be joining the faculty full-time in October.
MacCuspie brings to Florida Poly more than seven years of national government lab experience, as well as holding positions at the Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As an assistant professor and director of Nanotechnology and Multifunctional Materials, administrators see MacCuspie as an important hire in the newly independent Florida Poly. He says he is excited to come back to Florida to teach.
“This is a great opportunity to be part of the founding team of a new university, especially a polytechnic university,” MacCuspie says, with its focus on science, engineering and applied research, research, and at the same time, leave a positive legacy on my home state by training the next generation of scientific leaders.”
According to a press release announcing MacCuspie’s hiring, The Winter Park native will be “instrumental in helping to develop curriculum and assisting Florida Poly achieve accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).”
MacCuspie says that he will focus on three goals:
- Developing a cutting-edge College of Engineering curriculum, with a track on Nanotechnology and Multifunctional Materials, to speed up accreditation
- Increasing partnerships with local companies and governmental agencies
- Offering high-quality education that relates to “real world” jobs
MacCuspie earned degrees in Chemistry and Molecular Biology and Microbiology from the University of Central Florida. He also earned a Ph.D. in Nanotechnology and Materials Chemistry from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
