Erin O'Malley

Erin O’Malley is a leadership advisor and communication specialist. She helps growth-minded leaders build cultures of connection to retain and inspire their teams and customers.

Ten years in hospitality leadership plus two years in the Peace Corps combined with fifteen years of facilitating workshops to thousands of participants in seven countries, if there’s one truth she’s discovered, it’s this: the more organizations, leaders, and frontline teams insist their problems are unique, the more evidence she discovers that the traits that connect us are universal. It all comes down to human connection.

Erin works with leaders and organizations, from the frontline to the C-Suite, teaching them to redefine perceived problems with leadership, engagement, and loyalty and focus on the real issue: connection.

She has worked with clients ranging from Delta Airlines to Dollar Tree, BMW North America to Goodwill Industries, and the Kennedy Center to Amgen Pharmaceuticals.

Online Water Course

Provides instruction in the fundamental principles involved in water treatment plant operation. Water treatment practices vary widely across the country; however, a number of distinct processes can usually be identified in any treatment plant. This course deals with both theoretical and practical aspects of these processes and is intended to provide the basic knowledge necessary for you to begin a career in the water treatment field. This course is recognized by Florida's Department of Environmental Protection as a prerequisite for taking the "C" and "B" level drinking water operator certification exams.

Required Text

Water Treatment Plant Operation, Volume 1
Water Treatment Plant Operation, Volume 2

Online Wastewater Course

Provides instruction in the fundamental principles involved in wastewater treatment plant operation. Wastewater treatment practices vary widely across the country; however, a number of distinct processes can usually be identified in any treatment plant. The course deals with both theoretical and practical aspects of these processes and is intended to provide the basic knowledge necessary for you to begin a career in the wastewater treatment field. 26 total lessons are broken into three volumes of course material that cover basic biology, chemistry, mathematics and various treatment processes that may be encountered at any wastewater treatment plant. The sequence in which each topic is addressed generally follows the sequence of processes used in a typical water treatment plant. This course is recognized by Florida's Department of Environmental Protection as a prerequisite for taking the "C" level wastewater operator certification exams.

Required Text

Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations: Class C Online Training Course

"Mendy" Elizabeth C. Dunn, MSN, RN

Mendy Dunn was appointed the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the University of Florida-Florida State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UF-FSU CTSI) in September 2023. In her immediately prior position she served as their Associate Director for Clinical Research overseeing the Cores and Service Centers supporting the clinical and translational science efforts at the University of Florida. Her training and career path have focused on clinical research practice and administration starting with an early career in fundamental science research and moving to bedside practice as an emergency/critical care nurse. She has led multiple clinical trials offices in a range of fields including neurological disorders, cardiology, infectious disease, and oncology. She has also served as the Administrative Director for Nursing Research at UF Health Shands Hospital, a Magnet-designated, academic health center, where she oversaw a program of nursing science and research translation.

Throughout her leadership positions in clinical research, Mendy has had the opportunity to develop investigator-initiated trials (IIT), coordinate trials from pilot stage to large multi-center designs, and manage diverse research teams implementing IITs, federally funded protocols, and many sponsored studies ranging from Phase 1 to Phase IV. In 2022, she was awarded a scholarship to attend University of Florida’s College of Nursing PhD program. She is currently in the second year of this program where she is studying clinical informatics and communication in clinical trial implementation.

Catherine L Striley, PhD, MSW, MPE

Dr. Striley is Deputy Director of HealthStreet, a Community Health Worker (CHW) powered research site. Dr. Striley has been very involved in training in ethical research conduct and accountability. She was funded by the Office of Research Integrity to plan and co-direct the First Biannual Responsible Conduct of Research Education Instruction and Training conference at Washington University and was funded by the ORI to run a regional conference on Mentoring for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

Les Jebson, MHA, FACHE, FACMPE

Les Jebson currently serves as a working healthcare executive.

Mr. Jebson is both certified and a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and was also licensed as a Risk Manager. Mr. Jebson is currently an adjunct faculty member at several graduate programs in health services management. In addition, he is also a national author and presenter in healthcare operations and improvement.

Kaitlyn Grange, MS, RDN

Kaitlyn Grange is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian who earned her bachelor's degree at East Carolina University and master's degrees in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida. Currently, she is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Miami in Applied Learning Sciences and Instructional Design. With a passion for promoting health and well-being through nutrition, she brings a wealth of knowledge and practical experience to the course.

In her free time, you'll find Kaitlyn doing CrossFit workouts or enjoying moments with her Aussiedoodle,

Erica Blake, RD

Erica Blake is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian having received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida. She worked for many years in restaurant management and catering. She has extensive experience as a clinical dietitian having worked in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. She currently works as a renal dietitian and has been an online instructor for the Nutrition and Food Service Professional Training Program since 2010.

Pastor Gerard Duncan

Gerard Duncan is Senior Pastor of Prayers By Faith Ministries in Gainesville, FL and President of Innovative Dads, Inc. For over the past 20yrs Pastor Duncan has served as a community engagement liaison for the University of Fl admin, faculty, staff, and students, through research and community engagement  initiatives. Most recently, Pastor Duncan has been a community health champion for assisting with the COVID-19 testing, vaccine clinics and community townhalls efforts, in which he has been greatly connecting, the health department and UF Health, screen, test and protect with local churches to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines in the most vulnerable and hesitant communities. Pastor Duncan  also serves as  the community lead with Project Continuity, a UF Health Cancer Center Office of Community Outreach and Engagement initiative, where he helps with community canvassing and  event planning.  Pastor Duncan is a member of the Governor's Faith-based State and Community-Based Advisory Council, board member of the Gainesville Thrives, former member of United Way of North Central, FL, and a past Chair of the Family/Jobs Committee Gainesville 4All. In addition, he is a member of UF/IFAS Extension Alachua County Advisory Committee, the UF Strategic Jury Award Committee, City of Gainesville Strategic Planning Committee, the Department of Juvenile Justice Faith Network, Santa Fe College Community Advisory Board.

Diego Alvarado, Instructional Assistant Professor

Diego Alvarado is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at the University of Florida. He obtained his M.Eng. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University and his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. His research interests involve engineering education research for video development to increase engagement and methods to teach artificial intelligence and machine learning in higher education.

David Gray Grant, Ph.D.

Dr. Grant is an assistant professor of Philosophy at the University of Florida. His research focuses on ethical challenges that arise when organizations use automated systems to make high-stakes decisions. Dr. Grant was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, where he helped found the Embedded EthiCS @ Harvard program. Embedded EthiCS @ Harvard is a joint effort between philosophy and computer science that develops ethics modules for courses across the computer science curriculum. He completed his Ph.D. in philosophy at MIT.

Lyndal Grant, Ph.D.

Dr. Grant earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at MIT and was a graduate fellow with the Embedded EthiCS program at Harvard. She worked on ethics, metaethics, and philosophy of mind (and especially on problems that span all three). Her research focuses on desires: their content, their role in motivation, and their theoretical role in ethics. Dr. Grant is presently a lecturer in the Philosophy Department at the University of Florida.

Rodrigo Borges, Ph.D.

Dr. Borges is a lecturer in philosophy. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rutgers University. He works mainly in epistemology, but also has interests in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and in the history of philosophy (especially Plato and Descartes). Dr. Borges is currently pursuing the research project Knowledge and Reasoning. The goal is to produce new insights into the role of knowledge in theoretical reasoning. The project is ambitious and it involves traditional and formal epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and psychology.

Molly Gardner, Ph.D.

Dr. Gardner is an assistant professor of philosophy. She specializes in ethics and has written extensively about issues involving harm, including what it means to harm someone and which considerations affect the strength of the reason against harming. She regularly teaches classes on bioethics, normative ethics, and related topics.

Culinary Scholarship Interest Form

Duncan Purves, Ph.D.

Dr. Purves is an assistant professor of philosophy. He specializes in ethics, especially ethical issues concerning artificial intelligence and the treatment of non-human animals. His past work was on ethical issues related to so-called 'autonomous weapons systems,' weapons that can target enemies without human oversight. He now has an NSF grant to investigate the ethical dimensions of predictive policing algorithms, which are being used to identify places and people at the highest risk of crime. Some of the ethical concerns he is looking at include discriminatory impacts and community distrust. He also has significant work on theoretical issues related to the nature and normative significance of harm.

Amber Ross Ph.D.

Dr. Ross is an assistant professor of philosophy. Her research focuses on the philosophy and ethics of AI, including issues in the philosophy of mind and consciousness that pertain to humans, non-human animals, and artificial systems. She works on ethical issues both inherent to AI itself and specific to current applications of AI. Regarding current applications of AI algorithms, Dr. Ross is investigating the role AI plays in generating personalized media feeds for individual consumers and the threats that increasing personalization pose to a well-functioning democracy.

Elizabeth Palmer, Ph.D.

Dr. Palmer received her doctorate in philosophy with a minor in linguistics from Indiana University in 2013. A specialist in epistemology, she has regularly taught the course “Ethics and Innovation” for students in the University of Florida’s Innovation Academy.

Paul Gader, Ph.D.

Dr. Gader’s research has ranged from Mathematics to Operational Machine Learning Algorithms beginning with the development of algorithms for detecting bridges in FLIR imagery in 1984. He has been a Senior Research Scientist at Honeywell’s Systems and Research Center; Research Engineer and Manager at the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM); and on the faculties of the Universities of Wisconson-Oshkosh, Missouri (ECE), CS, and Florida (CISE), EESIE. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Grenoble Institute of Technology in France and at the University of California – Santa Barbara (CS), Viper Lab.

A leading figure in handwriting recognition and landmine detection, he led the development of a 5th ranked handwritten character recognizer and a top-ranked handwritten word recognizer in two National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) competitions. He led teams that devised and implemented Hidden Markov Model and Possibilistic detectors in real-time on a Husky-Mounted Mine Detection System fielded in Afghanistan. The systems with his team’s algorithms are featured in a National Geographic television program: “Bomb Hunters: Afghanistan.”

He has been researching hyperspectral algorithms, or algorithms for imaging spectroscopy, initially working on land-mine detection using LWIR hyperspectral; planning and conducting multiple VIS/NIR/SWIR and LiDAR airborne data collections. His research has focused on unmixing, dimensionality reduction, material detection, and classification, using both physics-based and data-driven nonlinear models.

Catia Silva, Ph.D.

Dr. Silva is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department , focusing her expertise on machine learning, data science and engineering education research.

Before coming to UF, Dr. Silva earned her B.S. in applied mathematics from the University of Porto in 2010. She then completed her M.S. in biomedical engineering at the University of Porto in 2012, which allowed her to applied her rigorous training in biomedical applications. Her Master’s thesis integrated principles of data science and machine learning to perform feature extraction and classification of dermoscopic images.

She worked as a research scientist at INESC TEC, Portugal, in the Power and Energy Systems Unit, where she worked on wind and solar energy power forecasting. Her work focused on the foundational development of machine learning tools for energy forecasting. She participated in an international collaborative project with the Argonne National Laboratory.

Dr. Silva moved to Gainesville in 2013 and received her Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida in 2018 under the mentorship of the distinguished professor Dr. Jose C. Principe in the Computational NeuralEngineering Laboratory (CNEL). She developed a system to quantify spatiotemporal neural activity. Before returning to UF as a faculty member in the Fall 2019, Dr. Silva was a research scientist at Aventusoft, a startup company in south Florida, working on an automatic cardiovascular assessment system.

Jason Harrington

Dr. Harrington is a lecturer at the UF Department of Mathematics. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Western Kentucky University (2004), Master of Science from the University of Florida (2006), and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Florida (2010).

His research interests are centered primarily around dynamical systems and topology.

Zhihua (Sophia) Su

Dr. Su is an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics. She earned B.S. in Mathematics in 2006 from Fudan University and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Minnesota in 2012.

Her main research interests are in the areas of multivariate analysis, dimension reduction, and model selection.

Farid AitSahlia, Ph.D.

Farid AitSahlia is a Clinical Assistant Professor and James G. Richardson Faculty Fellow in the finance department of the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University. Farid is the editor-in-chief of The Journal of Risk and serves on the editorial board of the book series Modern Trends in Financial Engineering for World Scientific.

Farid’s research focus has been in the area of computational methods for pricing and hedging financial derivatives, risk-return tradeoff in the context of investments retirement, and market microstructure. He teaches courses on asset pricing, corporate finance, investments, and derivatives in the Ph.D., MBA, and MSF programs.

Prior to joining UF, Farid spent a significant part of his career in Silicon Valley, working for Hewlett-Packard and two start-ups, Financial Engines, a pioneer in algorithmic investment allocation in retirement accounts, and DemandTec, an early developer of data-intensive approaches to optimize retail pricing and product promotion. Both firms have become major companies in their spaces, Financial Engines merging with Edelman to become the largest independent financial advisor in the U.S., and DemandTec being acquired by IBM into its Analytics group.

Jim Hoover, Ph.D., MBA

Jim Hoover is a Clinical Professor with an extensive commercial background in operations research and business analytics. He serves as the Director of the Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Center at the University of Florida. He received his Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Florida. He has published in numerous journals, but much of his research has been in Forecasting with business and supply chain applications. Jim also currently serves as the Chair of the Foresight Advisory Board overseeing the reach of this journal in the forecasting practitioner community.

Jim’s teaching efforts have been focused on the application of business analytics and artificial intelligence to solve critical tasks across business domains. He teaches an analytics practicum series of courses where student teams receive real world business problems from partner companies and develop analytics, AI and ML solutions to those problems. Then the student teams develop presentations for company leadership to brief their model results and recommend implementation approaches. In addition to the practicum curriculum, Jim also teaches marketing analytics courses for graduate students at the Warrington College of Business at UF.

Prior to joining the faculty at UF, Jim spent 25 years in the U.S. Navy working in Supply Chain Management and Operations Research. Then, he joined the international management and IT consulting firm Accenture where he was a Managing Director and Client Account Lead. During his 10 years at Accenture, Jim also served as the head of the Federal Analytics practice where he was responsible for the development of the practice, hiring and training of data scientists, and quality assurance of analytics projects.

Anuj Kumar, Ph.D.

Anuj Kumar is an Associate Professor and Matherly Professor of Information Systems at the Warrington College of Business, University of Florida. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Heinz School of Information Systems and Management, Carnegie Mellon University. He also has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Thermal Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, India, and a Master’s degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management, India.

Anuj's research focuses on understanding how information technology affects organizations, individuals, and the interactions between them. Specifically, his research has examined the role of information technology in three areas: (1) omnichannel customer behavior in technology-mediated multi-channel operations, such as retail of traditional goods (apparel and home goods), digital goods (digital movies and music), and after-sales services in the insurance sector; (2) the economic value of online product recommendation networks in e-commerce, and (3) how technology shapes our society, such as remedying education with the use of technologies. Professor Kumar has designed natural, quasi-natural, and large-scale randomized experiments in real-life field settings to answer these questions.

Anuj has been awarded the ISS Sandra A. Slaughter INFORMS Early Career Award in 2018 for his research in Information Systems. His research has also received several competitive research grants from the Marketing Science Institute and Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative. His papers have received best paper awards from INFORMS-Industries Association awards and Workshop of Information Systems and Economics. His research has been mentioned in popular media outlets such as The New York Times,74 million.org, and Total Retail. Professor Kumar gave a TEDx talk in Boston Bio hub on online school ratings and segregation in America. His research has been published in top-tier journals like Management Science, Information Systems Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Management Information Systems Quarterly.

Asoo J. Vakharia, Ph.D.

Asoo J. Vakharia is the McClatchy Professor and Director of the Center for Supply Chain Management in the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida. He has a Ph.D. in Operations Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Asoo is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute, and the Production & Operations Management Society. He is also the recipient of the DSI Grawoig Distinguished Service Award.
Asoo’s current research focuses on sustainability, IOT, and 3-D printing. Over and above publishing his research in leading academic journals, he has also served as the editor of the Decision Sciences Journal (2010-2014) and currently is the department editor for both the Production and Operations Management Journal and Management and Business Review.

His teaching interests are primarily in Operations Management and he has taught courses in Planning and Control, Operations Strategy, International Logistics, Transportation and Logistics Systems, and MPC/ERP Systems Integration. He is involved in extensive Executive Teaching in the UFMBA programs, and has taught industry-specific Managerial Decision Analysis, Quality Analysis/Statistical Methods, Operations/Financial Analysis, and Supply Chain Analytics.
In addition to his academic experience, Asoo has been an entrepreneur and a management consultant. After joining academia, he has worked with several companies including AT&T Solutions Customer Care, e-Diets.com, Golden Eagle Distributors, Garrett Air Research, Motorola, Sweetheart Cups, Inc., University of Arizona Medical Center, and Vistakon, Inc.

Medicaid Basics

Upon completion of the Medicaid Basics course students will be able to:

• Guide their clients through the Medicaid process (forms/paperwork and eligibility requirements).
• Assist Medicaid individuals in managing their health by sharing health resources and information, promoting compliance with appointments, screenings, treatment and medications.

TeleHealth

Upon successful completion of the Telehealth course:

• Students will be able to understand the legal requirements for providing healthcare advocacy and assistance with remote care modalities.
• They will demonstrate understanding of different classes of remote patient care tools, including remote patient monitoring devices and synchronous and asynchronous telehealth devices.
• After completion of this course, students will be able to facilitate synchronous and asynchronous telehealth encounters and relay clinical information between patients and providers.

Psychological First Aid (PFA)

Upon completion of the Psychological First Aid program students will:

• Be able to provide practical and emotional support to people affected by emergencies or crisis situations.
• Teach people them how to identify those in distress and provide support to help them feel safe, connected, calm and able to take steps to help themselves during critical situations.

Community Health Worker Foundations

Upon successful completion of the Community Health Worker course, students should be able to:

• Present a brief history and description of Community Health Workers and the research that supports their work to help promote the health of individuals and communities.
• Describe common infectious and chronic health problems in US communities and some methods of prevention, intervention and management of these problems.
• Characterize common Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and methods for reducing their impact on the health of specific people and communities.
• Describe communication tools and relationship skills CHW use in their daily practice for behavior change, health promotion, and health literacy.
• Differentiate between effective outreach strategies for community work and individual recruiting.
• Display skills in choice of and deployment of assessment skills (community needs assessment, resource identification and mapping, and documentation) by population group, including special populations.
• Demonstrate skills in planning and documenting interventions to improve the health of individuals and communities through barrier reduction, education, information, navigation, referral and coordination.
• Analyze community and individual efforts for sustainability, capacity building and ethical conduct.

Essential Skills for Workplace Success

Upon Successful completion of the Essential Skills for the Workplace course student will:

• Learn about conflict management and discover how to manage emotions in the workplace.
• Understand the importance of time management and recognize the benefits of managing time.
• Learn what good customer service looks like and how to provide it.
• Learn about emotional intelligence and the role it plays in maintaining good working relationships.
• Understand the different elements of career development and be able to list the key employability skills.
• Learn how to become more adept in giving and receiving feedback.
• Understand how to create a productive workplace and recognize the benefits of workplace productivity.
• Learn their role in team development and recognize different strategies for building effective teams.

Gene Witmer Ph.D.

Dr. Witmer is an associate professor of philosophy. His research focuses on metaphysics and philosophy of mind, with a special focus on physicalism. He has worked on such topics as the nature of intrinsic properties, metaphysical grounding, mental causation, functionalism, conceptual analysis, and a priori knowledge. His interests extend as well to meta-ethics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion.

Marc Arenas, MD

With over 10 years of caring for Geriatric Patients, Marc Arenas, MD is a passionate advocate of high quality care for everyone. It's too often that those who have the most difficulty interacting with the healthcare system are asked to do the most.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dr Arenas attended Columbia University, obtaining a degree in Neuroscience and Behavior. He graduated from Universidad Central del Caribe with a Medical Degree, and completed his Family Medicine residency and Geriatrics fellowship training at Mercy Health St Mary's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There he was able to obtain strong mentorship from renown specialists in aging, home-based medical care, treatment of complex illnesses, and dementia.

Dr Arenas has been in Ponte Vedra, FL since 2018, and apart from owning and operating a facilitated telehealth service and medical group, helps organizations develop healthcare delivery programs for older adults with multiple chronic diseases and complex needs. With a prior career as an IT consultant in New York City, Dr Arenas strives to merge the state of the art with the human touch to create delivery models that provide better care for everyone.

Acadia Jacob

Acadia Jacob is the Advocacy Director of Florida Voices for Health. She is a public health advocate with a commitment to working at the nexus policy, research, and praxis to advance access and equity. Acadia completed her Masters of Public Health at the University of Florida, where she concentrated in Public Health Management & Policy and minored in Organizational Leadership for Nonprofits. Prior to joining Florida Voices for Health, Acadia led domestic violence initiatives at the community and state-level in Florida.

Scott Darius

Scott Darius is the Executive Director of Florida Voices for Health. Scott graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in May of 2013. He also completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida with a major in political science in 2010. As a law student, he focused on health policy, insurance law and social justice issues. He began his career in health advocacy in 2012 when he joined Florida CHAIN where he eventually helped to coordinate the statewide campaign for Medicaid expansion. Scott has always had a passion for health care issues and hopes to be engaged in the process until quality affordable health care is truly available for everyone.

Meggen Tucker Sixbey, Ph.D., LMHC, LMFT

Assistant Director, University of Florida Police Department, Behavioral Services Division | Licensed Mental Health Counselor | Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Dr. Meggen Tucker Sixbey is the Assistant Director at the University of Florida’s Police Department, overseeing the Behavioral Services Division which includes a mental health support team of clinicians who respond with law enforcement officers to calls that are determined to present as mental health related. Additionally, she is a lead member on UF’s multidisciplinary threat assessment team where she offers mental health consultation regarding individuals who pose potential safety risks to the campus community. Prior to receiving her doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Florida in, with a specialization in crisis intervention and suicide prevention in 2005, she began studying crisis intervention and suicide prevention with the Alachua County Crisis Center in 1998. Dr. Sixbey has provided local, state and national trainings related to suicide prevention and intervention, psychological first aid, threat assessment, and assisting with traumatic events. Additionally, she has provided national on-site response for man-made and natural disasters including violent deaths, shootings, hurricanes, and wildfires. Her clinical and research interests include post-trauma recovery through a trauma informed lens, suicide intervention, and interpersonal relationship dynamics. She has written on topics such as: help seeking behaviors, family resilience factors after a trauma as well as the implications for therapists’ when working with individuals in crises. Dr. Sixbey is also an affiliate faculty member in the College of Education where she teaches graduate counseling courses in areas such as Trauma and Crisis Intervention, Professional Identity and Ethics, and Introduction to Counseling.

Bryan Kolaczkowski, Ph.D.

Dr. Kolaczkowski completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon under an NSF fellowship in Evolution, Development, and Genomics. He completed postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College. Dr. Kolaczkowski is presently running a lab at the University of Florida that uses cutting-edge techniques to examine important research questions across the biological sciences. His research focuses on mining existing evolutionary-functional genomic information to learn about human disease and identify potential new drug targets.

Tie Lui Ph.D.

Dr. Liu is an Assistant Professor at the Horticultural Sciences Department/IFAS, University of Florida. He uses genetics, genomics, and systems biology tools to explore the mechanisms on how transcriptional regulators integrate environmental cues and interact with signaling pathways to modulate plant growth. His research focus is on the study of postharvest biology of broccoli senescence and potato tuber dormancy for the improvement of agronomic properties.

Denis Valle, Ph.D.

Dr. Valle is an Assistant Professor of Ecological Statistics and Environmental Health. He joined the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences in 2013. He previously worked as an Assistant Researcher at the Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente (IMAZON) and as a consultant for the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). His research covers environmental health, plant demography, tropical forest management, simulation models, and Bayesian statistical models.

Amr Adb-Elrahman, Ph.D.

Dr. Abd-Elrahman joined the Geomatics program in April 2007. He is a School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences faculty and the Geomatics program adviser in the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (Plant City). Dr. Abd-Elrahman’s research focuses on utilizing remote sensing techniques to provide the information needed in natural resources management/monitoring and precision agriculture applications. The research program involves multispectral and hyperspectral image classification, lidar data processing, and geospatial analysis.

Won Suk (Daniel) Lee Ph.D.

Dr. Lee is a professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Florida. He is working on developing sensing systems for specialty crops for precision agriculture in Florida. His areas of specialization include: sensing systems, precision agriculture, farm automation, Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), image processing, machine vision, yield monitoring/mapping, variable rate fertilizer application, instrumentation, machinery, and agricultural mechanization. He draws from all these areas to develop solutions for a wide range of agricultural problems.

Matias Kirst Ph.D.

Dr. Kirst is an Associate Professor of Forest Resources and Conservation. He is also a member of the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program (PMCB) and the University of Florida Genetics Institute (UFGI). His group in Quantitative Genomics Research is part of the Forest Genomics Laboratory. His research is focused in three areas: (1) Fundamental Genomic Research in the genetic regulation of gene expression and gene expression networks; (2) Applied Genomic Research for the discovery of genes, metabolic and regulatory networks that control variation in wood quality, growth and other important traits for the forestry and agronomic industry; and (3) Technology and genomic tool development.

Jacob Simmons

I was born and raised in the Gainesville area and graduated from the University of Florida. Prior to graduation I became a bondsman and have been involved in this business for 11 years, managing offices in 3 Florida counties. Now that I am an instructor I want each of my students to know that I am here for you and look forward to teaching you about bail.

William (Bill) East, PhD, PE, F.ASCE

Dr. Bill East is a serial innovator, whose 2007 invention, COBie, went from concept to international use in under a decade. As Director, COBie Academy™, Bill delivers courses helping owners, designers, and contractors implement Lean Handover™ processes. Bill led buildingSMART international (bSI) projects to develop the COBie Educational Curriculum from which the international COBie Certified Professional™ and national Foundation - COBie exams are based. Bill is also leading the bSI project that will create a truly international handover standard based on bSI's 2009 ISO-based Model View Definition. Bill is a former American Society of Civil Engineers, Government Engineer of the Year, and the recipient of awards and recognitions from FIATECH, CII, bSI, NIBS, and Government Executive Magazine. Bill's Civil Engineering degrees are from VA Tech (BS) and University of Illinois (MS and PhD). Contact Bill at bill.east@prairieskyconsulting.com.

Marc Arenas, MD

With over 10 years of caring for Geriatric Patients, Marc Arenas, MD is a passionate advocate of high quality care for everyone. It's too often that those who have the most difficulty interacting with the healthcare system are asked to do the most.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dr Arenas attended Columbia University, obtaining a degree in Neuroscience and Behavior. He graduated from Universidad Central del Caribe with a Medical Degree, and completed his Family Medicine residency and Geriatrics fellowship training at Mercy Health St Mary's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There he was able to obtain strong mentorship from renown specialists in aging, home-based medical care, treatment of complex illnesses, and dementia.

Dr Arenas has been in Ponte Vedra, FL since 2018, and apart from owning and operating a facilitated telehealth service and medical group, helps organizations develop healthcare delivery programs for older adults with multiple chronic diseases and complex needs. With a prior career as an IT consultant in New York City, Dr Arenas strives to merge the state of the art with the human touch to create delivery models that provide better care for everyone.

Jennifer Webb

Jennifer Webb is a passionate people engager, saving companies millions by helping employees stay engaged and regain their energy, purpose and drive. She is a keynote speaker, NLP coach, has authored three books on human potential and founded her company, Magic Communications, 23 years ago in Manhattan. Her credentials include an undergraduate and graduate degree in psychology and a master certification in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).

Jennifer has also had the good fortune to work with many organizations like NASA, Apple, Microsoft, the CIA, the Navy, the Air Force and Ernst & Young and has been a member of the prestigious National Speaker’s Association for more than 25 years. She has spoken in every state except North Dakota and Hawaii and hopes to add those to her list sometime soon.

She is the proud founder of a 501 (c) (3) Shakespeare Animal Fund, founded in 2004, which pays for emergency veterinary care for people whose animals are suffering or dying and that can’t afford the care. The organization has raised well over a million dollars and has dreams of eventually going nationwide.