Q U I C K V I E WSummer 2015

Fast FactsRankingsPoints of Pride& Latest News

Saving agricultural fields using dogs and drones

Top of the classU.S. News & World Report placed the College of Business at No.15 among the top business schools for the International MBA in its 2016 edition of the Best Graduate Schools.

The College of Business’ Online Corporate MBA program ranked No. 14 in the Financial Times 2015 edition of the Online MBA Rankings.

FIU ranked 64th on Forbes’ list of America’s Best Employers, third among the 19 Florida-based employers recognized, and ninth in the education category.

Washington Monthly ranked FIU 24th out of 277 higher education institutions in terms of engagement and contributions to its community.

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President Obama addresses FIU community during nationally televised town hall on immigrationPresident Barack Obama participated in an immigration town hall meeting at Modesto A. Maidique Campus Feb. 25. The town hall was organized by MSNBC and Telemundo and host-ed by anchor Jose Diaz Balart.

FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg opened the event saying Miami – and FIU – were the most appropriate places to host a discussion. “This is the place that has discussed and debated immigration more than any other… and we are thrilled to be a part of this conversation with the president of the United States, Barack Obama.’’

FIU is the largest Hispanic-serving university in the nation and the largest producer of Hispanic graduates in the country.

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Breakthrough technology holds potential for treating brain disorders

FIU professor Sakhrat Khizroev and his team’s scientific breakthrough could lead to the noninvasive treatment of Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The researchers remotely manipulated the electric waves that naturally exist in the brains of mice, a feat that has far-reaching implications for medicine.

Khizroev, a professor with dual appointments in the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the College of Engineering & Computing, began by intravenously administering magneto-electric nanoparticles, or MENs, in mice. With a magnet placed over the head of each subject animal, the particles were pulled through the blood-brain barrier, where they “coupled” the externally created magnetic field with the brain’s intrinsic electric field. This enabled researchers to wirelessly connect their computers and electronics to neurons deep within the brain.

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For the first time in FIU’s history, the university’s astrophysicists have a permanent home on campus for observing beyond Earth’s sky. FIU opened the Stocker AstroScience Center, a fully equipped, modern observatory and research center.

In November of 2014, the AstroScience Center debuted a new 24-inch telescope, South Florida’s only research-grade telescope complete with accessories needed for research and teaching. The facility, whose construction has been a 20-year endeavor for physics professor James Webb, was made possible by a gift from retired educator Carl Stocker.

The four-story building features classrooms and research labs, along with its signature silver dome housing the main telescope. The control room’s design is inspired by the popular TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Stocker AstroScience Center opens new space frontier

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All-stars

Coach of the yearAnother historic moment was made on May 2 at the AVCA National Championships as FIU sand volleyball head coach Rita Buck-Crockett was named the 2015 American Volleyball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year.

Conference USA ChampsFIU Swimming and Diving made history in February, becoming the first Athletics program to win a Conference USA championship since the university joined the conference in 2013.

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The FIU baseball team is the 2015 Conference USA champions. The Panthers defeated University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers on May 24 to claim the title. FIU is the first No. 8 seed to ever win the C-USA championship tournament.

Coach of the yearAnother historic moment was made on May 2 at the AVCA National Championships as FIU sand volleyball head coach Rita Buck-Crockett was named the 2015 American Volleyball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year.

Model UN team No. 4 in the countryFIU has made a name for itself in past years in the Model United Nations circuit. The FIU team ranked fifth “Best Delegation” in North America by BestDelegate.com in its Spring 2015 college rankings, making it the top team from the state of Florida.

The team had impressive showings at National Collegiate Security Conference, where they tied with West Point for third overall delegation points; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Conference, where they won Outstanding Large Delegation, and Columbia University’s CMUNNY, where they won Best Small Delegation. In addition, the team finished top four overall at the Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference and defended their Outstanding Large Delegation award at Harvard National Model United Nations in February.

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Redbay ambrosia beetles are a major concern for Florida’s multimillion dollar avocado industry. FIU researchers believe a combination of drones and dogs could be game-changers in the fight to stop a deadly fungus spread by these invasive pests.

Diseased trees can begin to wilt within two weeks after infection, and by the time symptoms are visible, the fungus has likely spread to nearby trees via root grafting. FIU Provost and Executive Vice President Kenneth G. Furton, a chemist by trade, and Biological Sciences Professor DeEtta Mills together have developed a detection program. Drones are deployed to isolate areas of concern, providing manageable areas for trained dogs to search.

During a recent field test, all deployed dogs alerted to the same three trees in the commercial grove. Students from Mills’ lab confirmed the trees were infected, meaning the dogs detected the pathogen much earlier than any other method available.

Dogs, drones battle deadly avocado fungus

Tracking the origin of Alzheimer’sFIU professor of biomedical engineering Chenzhong Li – in collaboration with John Cirrito, associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – has made significant advances in the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.

For nearly a decade, Cirrito and his team at the Washington University Memory and Aging Project were studying how the brain regulates the release of the Abeta peptide and how this normally healthy pattern is disrupted when Alzheimer’s sets in. He was limited, however, to measuring this phenomenon only once per hour. Li and his revolutionary biosensing technology can monitor “minute-by-minute” responses in the brain as humans engage in different activities such as communication, reading or writing.

Li and Cirrito have received a $900,000, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to further understand how the Abeta protein is cleared from the brain.

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FIU showcases tech innovations at eMerge Americas 2015 Dozens of FIU researchers were on hand at eMerge Americas May 1-5, 2015, to showcase the latest technology developed at the university, including some that promise to change the way health care is delivered. The goal was to connect with industry leaders and bring FIU’s scientific discoveries to market.

There were more than 10,000 attendees and tech industry leaders at the annual conference held at Miami Beach Convention Center.

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54,500 2015 enrollment

100,000 Students will graduate from FIU in the next decade

125,000 Alumni who live and work in South Florida

180 Bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs

96 Percent of faculty hold doctoral degrees or highest degree attainable in their field

12 Colleges and schools including Medicine, Law and Architecture

18 Division 1A sports teams, including football

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FIU Division of External RelationsModesto A. Maidique Campus, PC 515Miami, FL 33199

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