Dr. Randy K. Avent is the founding president of Florida Polytechnic University, Florida's newest state university and the only one solely dedicated to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Dr. Avent officially joined Florida Polytechnic on July 7, 2014 after being confirmed by the Florida Board of Governors. He brings a wealth of experience as an administrator, scientist, scholar, professor and researcher whose background includes serving in leadership roles at some of the nation’s top research universities and at the U.S. Department of Defense. Prior to coming to Florida Poly, he was the Associate Vice Chancellor of Research and a Professor of Computer Science at North Carolina State University.  There, he was responsible for growing the research program and serving as Principal Investigator on the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences. Previously, Dr. Avent worked as the Chief Scientist in the Defense Department’s Office of Basic Research, where he set DoD’s research strategy and led a national “Data-to-Decisions” analytics program. He also worked for over two decades at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, leading and conducting technology research in diverse areas that included machine learning and signal processing. Dr. Avent served as Associate Chief Technology Officer at MIT’s Lincoln Lab, among other roles. He holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in Biomedical Mathematics and Engineering from the University of North Carolina. He has a second master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State. His bachelor’s degree is in Zoology from the University of North Carolina. Dr. Avent is a 2005 graduate of MIT’s Greater Boston Executive Program. He and his wife, Terri, have three sons.

This talk discusses the role of technology and innovation in economic development and probes the relationships between innovation and research.  As the founding President of Florida’s first state university dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), I often think about these topics as I build a modern university with a unique mission that focuses on growing and supporting industry relationships.  For inspiration, I draw upon the research paradigm known as “Pasteur’s Quadrant” proposed by Donald Stokes in 1997 to describe what is now called use-inspired basic research.  This talk will review these concepts and use them as a launching point to describe the role of innovation in economic development.