FLORIDA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, Study notes of Engineering

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ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN

F LORIDA

P OLYTECHNIC

UNIVERSITY

BOT Approved 4/20/

Florida Polytechnic University

 - BOT Approved 4/20/ 

• INTRODUCTION Table of Contents
• STRATEGY
  • Mission Statement..........................................................................................
  • Statement of Strategy
  • Strengths, Opportunities & Challenges...........................................................
  • Three Key Initiatives & Investments
  • Graduation Rate Improvement Plan Update
  • Key Achievements for Last Year
  • Performance-Based Funding Goal Adjustments
• PERFORMANCE-BASED FUNDING METRICS
• KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS..................................................................
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Scholarship, Research & Innovation Metrics
  • Institution Specific Goals
• ENROLLMENT PLANNING
• ACADEMIC PROGRAM COORDINATION
• DEFINITIONS

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

STRATEGY

Mission Statement

Florida Polytechnic University’s mission as approved by its Board of Trustees is to “Serve students and industry through excellence in education, discovery, and application of engineering and applied sciences.”

Statement of Strategy

Florida Poly strives to be an Engineering University of Distinction ranked in the top 15 of engineering schools nationwide that do not offer a doctoral degree program. To become a top 15 engineering school requires focus and resources to produce improvement in three critical areas: student quality and growth, faculty quality and growth, and services to support student success.

The University must attract and retain the most highly distinguished high school graduates who are interested in and show facility with STEM disciplines. Our goal is to enroll students with average entering test scores that are competitive with the top-tier universities in the United States. By 2026, Florida Poly also plans to grow the student body to over 2,200 and graduate over 400 engineers and applied scientists per year to address workforce demand and grow Florida’s high-tech economy.

The best and brightest students are attracted to world-class faculty and programs. We are selectively hiring faculty and in the coming two years will add 25 highly qualified individuals in existing and new programs who will bring a broadened intellectual base to the University with experience in applied research. Top faculty seek the latest in research facilities and equipment, and the continued construction of the Applied Research Center will serve to improve our ability to recruit the best talent. New programs will continue to grow out of our existing undergraduate and graduate degree programs to serve emerging disciplines, with strong future job demand, in a cost-effective manner.

In the fall of 2021, Florida Poly will return to “normal” campus operations with a focus on both the instruction and campus life that a residential campus provides. Enhanced student services, policy changes, and scholarship programs continue to evolve to directly address retention and four-year graduation rates that are typically low in the STEM fields. This effort will lead to a larger percentage of students earning their degrees in a timely manner. Additionally, we continue to improve the curriculum and co-curricular activity to produce mature, industry-ready graduates. A part of this effort is to broaden our already robust experiential learning opportunities such as internships, entrepreneurship, and our year-long interdisciplinary, industry- sponsored senior capstone project course required of all majors. We are expanding our experiential learning programs with co-curricular certificates in leadership, programs in undergraduate research, educational outreach, and other opportunities for students to demonstrate unique career-oriented skills alongside their already rigorous degree program. These efforts align with our vision to produce students who are ready to enter the workforce and take on project leadership roles within a few months of graduation.

Finally, Florida Poly will host a SACSCOC reaffirmation bid with reports due in fall 2021 and site visit in spring 2022. The compliance certification process drives a hard look at areas where policy and process can be improved, efforts realigned with strategic metrics, and budgetary foresight used to more strongly drive initiatives critical to student growth, graduation, and industry alignment.

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

STRATEGY (cont.)

Strengths, Opportunities & Challenges

Florida Polytechnic University’s Greatest Strengths Include:

• A dedicated focus on the core STEM subjects offering a high-touch model with smaller classes.
• Positioned as the sole, 100% STEM public campus in the southeast, Florida Poly’s environment makes it accessible to a wide range of Floridians who would otherwise go out of state for this type of educational experience.
• Strategic location in Lakeland that provides close proximity (within 40 miles) to more than 11,000 high- tech firms. This clearly aligns with our commitment to build jobs for Florida.
• Continuously growing and enriching relationships with, and commitment to, nearly 200 Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in Florida.
• Organizational flexibility and nimble start-up culture with strong experience in both industry and higher education capable of rapid testing and evaluation of new strategies.

Opportunities Include:

• Enrollment: The University must continue to grow. This fall, we will offer yet another new program— Cybersecurity Engineering—that leverages curricular efficiencies and will attract new students at low cost to the institution. We have opened new admissions programs to enhance diversity and jump-start students’ workplace readiness for our required internship program and, of course, employment beyond graduation. These programs stimulate student interest in the University and demonstrate to students that we are serious about our institutional commitment to high-tech employment and economic growth. Our efforts continue to deliver results in admissions where we again see a significant increase in the number of applications over previous years despite a declining national trend. Despite the question marks raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, our efforts in remote learning will accelerate new pathways for differentiated delivery and previously planned efforts toward online delivery for key course groupings in targeted programs. We continue to explore new academic progress, concentrations, and delivery methods to grow our market and compete with the best STEM universities in the country.
• Academic Progress Rate: The University will undergo its SACSCOC reaffirmation in 2022 (site visit and decision) and as part of its reaffirmation is developing a Quality Enhancement Plan designed to move the needle on the University’s Academic Progress Rate. The program leverages student peer expertise in several ways as means to stimulating academic success, maturing campus academic culture, and focusing faculty on critical learning experiences and students’ methods of learning.
• Time to Degree: We continue with Complete College America’s 15 to Finish drive and have realigned our summer offerings around getting students back on track. We continue to press on critical curricular pathways to ensure that prerequisites are appropriate and not unnecessary or incidental blockers to progression. We’re implementing a multi-year course rotation and consistently manage academic schedules by student-curricular demand to facilitate on-track progress.
• Degrees Awarded: Our mission culminates in graduating highly skilled technology leaders. All our initiatives—emphasis on enrollment, increased transfer agreements, industry-relevant curriculum, and enhanced student services—drive toward growth in degrees awarded and economic impact.
• Senior Capstone Showcase: Our unique, multidisciplinary senior capstone sequence provides students with an industry-sponsored project in which they work closely with the client on requirements,

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

Three Key Initiatives & Investments

Enrollment and Institutional Growth

A key investment for the University lies in expanding enrollment growth and paths toward raising the number of graduates in Florida with degrees in core STEM programs. Via stronger and more targeted recruitment efforts of FTICs, meaningful entry-level programs that prepare students for future success, broadening transfer options, and growth at the graduate level, the University is pressing forward both in terms of student inflow and offerings to drive a high-tech Florida economy.

Florida Poly recognizes that a critical component for growth is student success and retention.

Faculty and Research

Critical investments include increasing our faculty numbers to support new programs and program growth, as well as increasing our research capacity. The construction that is underway (but not fully funded) of the Applied Research Center, which will add 95,000 square feet of research, classroom, and faculty office space to the campus as well as student project space for senior capstone courses, club competitions, and other faculty-student collaborative projects, is a strong boost to our campus.

The Advanced Mobility Institute (AMI) continues to develop and focuses on actual testing and testing protocols of autonomous vehicle technologies in collaboration with FDOT, Suntrax, and a range of other private and public entities. The institute has garnered an NSF Major Research Infrastructure award, which is currently under development. The institute ties into our curriculum across several academic programs providing a range of student opportunities with direct experience in research and innovation.

The expansion of research within the Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute (FIPR) continues with a diversification of its traditional phosphate research to new areas critical to delivering Florida Poly’s mission and Florida’s economy. As a founding member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute, FIPR has significant efforts focused on using material streams from phosphate mining as a source for rare earths, which are critical to the nation. In addition, FIPR is partnering with the new Environmental Engineering program to develop strong research capacity in water, especially as it relates to water usage and cleanup for the phosphate industry.

Administrative Efficiency

One of the four pillars of the University’s strategic plan is administrative efficiency, and as we enter fiscal year 2022, we are poised to take a hard look at our budget allocations across the entire institution, evaluate our critical priorities in terms of revenue and performance-critical areas, and the systems that are essential to delivering those core-mission activities. As with all institutions, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unanticipated challenges and opportunities and forced organizational changes to meet these challenges. While the cause may be short-term, hopefully, the lessons learned will not be.

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

Research Partners on Campus One of the primary expectations underlying the creation of Florida Poly is that it would attract high-tech companies to Florida and lead to expansion of high-tech companies that are already in the state. With that in mind the University has begun working to establish a research park immediately adjacent to the campus. The most difficult component of establishing a successful research park is attracting the first industry partner. At the time of this report, Florida Poly has issued an Intent to Award a contract to International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) with a ground lease on the campus for them to fund, construct, operate and maintain a global research center. The facility is expected to be 30,000 to 35,000 square feet and will house cutting-edge research activity. Most important about this partnership is the nature and level of collaboration that will exist between the University and IFF. The collaboration will include student internships and jobs, joint research with Florida Poly faculty, engagement in academic instruction, funding of capstone projects and faculty research and more. In addition, IFF clients, partners and visitors will come to the facility on the Florida Poly campus and will impact the local and state economies.

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

Scheduling

5. “Gateway” courses are provided off-cycle to allow students a chance to recover from class withdrawals and failures.
6. Summer courses are arranged to provide a pathway to “catch up” for students getting off track.

Curricular

7. We feature a Common Freshman Year (CFY) of required courses for all but one of our undergraduate degree programs, creating peer cohorts and providing students time to acclimate to our rigorous STEM curriculum without having the burden of potential lost credit if they change majors.
8. We utilize curriculum maps so students can see their academic pathway and understand the relationships between prerequisite and upper-division courses.
9. We’ve developed co-curricular endorsements to bring student life experiences and curricular activities into a holistic campus that supports professional development, lifelong learning, and leadership dimensions.

Financial Aid

10. We continue to develop aid packages to incentivize students to limit work during the school year to 20 hours or less per week.
11. We engage in Proactive Financial Aid Literacy Counseling to support students’ self-assessment and options for resolving unmet need.
12. We modified the Florida Poly Scholarship policy to better support successful academic progress.

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

STRATEGY (cont.)

Key Achievements for Last Year (Student, Faculty, Program, Institutional)

Student Achievements Karun Mackoon, Vanessa Townsend

2021 cohort of National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) X- Force fellows.

Edward Von Lue, Isabela Rangel, Raquel Julian, Miguel Cecchini do Amaral, and Benjamin Norris

Developed a software tool to help enterprises simplify and accelerate third-party and internal risk assessments.

Dorian Alberti and River Anderson (^) Developed a low-cost exoskeleton for warehouse workers and were awarded an entrepreneurial grant.

Aaron Apigo, Kevin Racktoo, and David Terry

Winners of the 2021 Catapult Launch Night for their development of an innovative gesture-control device for electric longboards

Jacob Rogers Founded the Club Lacrosse team that will compete against other university club teams

Makail Davis, Drew Stevens Present at Florida High-Tech Corridor’s stemConnect event

Megan Morano, Ethan Medjuck Finalists in the Florida Blue Health Innovation Challenge.

Cindy Nguyen Created an interactive learning tool in collaboration with the Network for Computational Nanotechnology.

Gage Roper Selected for the Fulbright Killam Fellowship Program

Jaimie Davis (Student), Dr. Ashiq Sakib (Faculty)

Founded the Mu Omega Chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Eta Kappa Nu ( IEEE-HKN ) academic honor society

Veronica Perez Herrera (Alumni), Gina Delulio (Staff)

Women in STEM award winners

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

STRATEGY (cont.)

Performance-Based Funding Goal Adjustments

Goal adjustments are a realistic recognition of the impact COVID-19 has had on student progress and performance, as well as an acknowledgement of the nationwide difficulties and likely learning loss in the pre-university student pipeline.

Academic Progress Rate: COVID-19 will show its impact most immediately on the academic progress rate. Students in the 2020-2021 cohort experienced unusual difficulty in the fall 2020 semester, creating for us a change in efforts to support their progress through policy adjustments and other student support efforts. For spring 2021, we reduced our fully-distance offerings to require more on-campus, in-class presence as a means to combat learning loss and lack of engagement, which may mitigate some of the impact of COVID-19 on this class, but our APR projections indicate a real acknowledgement of the difficulty and impact on our fall-spring persistence numbers. Similarly, we have set our Pell APR numbers to reflect the same trend as the total APR population.

Graduation Rate: Students who are in and have been in the pipeline generally performed better during this pandemic year than those who first started, although learning loss occurred in this population as well, and we saw similar difficulties with engagement. The social, economic, and family toll taken by the pandemic has impacted student priorities and made progression far more challenging. The University continues to work through policy- and financial-aid-related programs to support students in this difficult time. In terms of projections, we see a gradual increase in our graduation rate, noting that the 2020-2024 number will likely fall off by a point or two due to the pandemic’s impact on the current class.

Degrees Awarded (KPI): Goals set prior to the pandemic projected mostly consistent growth and progression; however, as noted, COVID-19 has disrupted that in a significant way. One way the University responded to student difficulties was by providing a “COVID-19 accommodation” that would provide a segment of our students a remote option for their courses, which saved progression for many students but often at a lower rate. Thus, the impact over time on degrees awarded is disruption and noise in the projected numbers, fluctuations from year to year, and completions that will likely take longer than the four-year target. In response to this reality, the University has undertaken a close examination of its course offerings schedule over a three-year period, with thoughtful scheduling of critical courses for progression in off-sequence terms to support students catching up and getting back on track. This effort should also have the benefit of ensuring excess hours are limited across our population.

Other Indicators: The University’s focus on incoming growth through all available pipelines, expanded student support efforts via SACSCOC Quality Enhancement Plan and other initiatives, as well as planned new programming, we hope will shorten the disruptive impact of the pandemic.

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

PERFORMANCE-BASED FUNDING METRICS

1. Percent of Bachelor’s Graduates Enrolled or Employed ($25,000+)

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023- ACTUAL (^)... 67.5 74...... APPROVED GOALS (^)... 72.8 72.8 75 78 78 78. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 75 76 77 78 78

2. Median Wages of Bachelor’s Graduates Employed Full-time

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023- ACTUAL (^)... 54,800 56,..... APPROVED GOALS (^)... 40,700 45,000 50,000 51,500 54,000 54,. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 54,000 54,000 54,500 54,500 55,

3. Average Cost to the Student [Net Tuition & Fees per 120 Credit Hours for Resident Undergraduates]

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL.. -5,330 -5,790 -7,..... APPROVED GOALS.. 12,000 12,000 2,000 3,000 5,000 9,000 9,. PROPOSED GOALS..... 2,000 3,000 5,000 5,000 5,

4. FTIC Four-Year Graduation Rate [Full-time, First Time in College students]

2012-16 2013-17 2014-18 2015-19 2016-20 2017-21 2018-22 2019-23 2020-24 2021- ACTUAL (^).. 36.6 39.5 34...... APPROVED GOALS (^).. 37 37 38 40 41 42 42. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 41 43 42 41 45

5. Academic Progress Rate [Second Fall Retention Rate with at Least a 2.0 GPA for Full-time FTIC students] 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL 76.8 65.1 71.7 65.4 76...... APPROVED GOALS 74 75 75 76 77 77 80 83 83. PROPOSED GOALS..... 66 75* 82 83 83 *Note: The 2020-21 goal is lowered due to student difficulties with COVID during the year. The 2021-22 goal is also lowered based on the learning loss for students entering as FTIC during the COVID period.

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Teaching & Learning (from the 2025 System Strategic Plan not included in PBF section)

1. Public University National Ranking [Number of Top50 Rankings based on BOG’s official list of publications]

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 ACTUAL (^). 0 0 0 0..... APPROVED GOALS (^). 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 0 0 0 0 0

2. Freshmen in Top 10% of High School Class

FALL 2016

FALL 2017

FALL 2018

FALL 2019

FALL 2020

FALL 2021

FALL 2022

FALL 2023

FALL 2024

FALL 2025 ACTUAL 14 22 25 25 32..... APPROVED GOALS 35 17 18 22 22 23 25 27 28. PROPOSED GOALS..... 30 30 30 30 30

3. Time to Degree for FTICs in 120hr programs

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL (^). † 3.6* 3.8 4...... APPROVED GOALS (^)... 4.7 4.5 4.5 4.4 4.4 4.. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.

Note†: There were too few (less than twenty) graduates in the 2016-17 graduating class to report for this measure. Note*: The 2017-18 rate was somewhat artificial because 2014 was the initial cohort; so all graduates would have finished within four years.

4. Percent of Baccalaureate Degrees Awarded Without Excess Hours

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL (^). * 96 89 82..... APPROVED GOALS (^).. 68 70 75 80 80 81 82. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 80 80 81 82 83

5. Six-Year FTIC Graduation Rates [Full-& Part-time students]

2010-16 2011-17 2012-18 2013-19 2014-20 2015-21 2016-22 2017-23 2018-24 2019- ACTUAL.... 50..... APPROVED GOALS.... 51 56 56 58 58. PROPOSED GOALS..... 56 56 58 58 58

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (cont.)

Teaching & Learning (from the 2025 System Strategic Plan not included in PBF section)

6. FCS AA Transfer Three-Year Graduation Rate [Full-& Part-time students]

2013-16 2014-17 2015-18 2016-19 2017-20 2018-21 2019-22 2020-23 2021-24 2022- ACTUAL (^). 20 14 † 39..... APPROVED GOALS (^).... 16 18 18 19 20. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 18 18 19 20 20

Note†: There were too few (less than twenty) graduates in the 2016-19 graduating class to report for this measure.

7. Pell Recipient Four-Year Graduation Rate [for Full-Time FTIC]

2012-16 2013-17 2014-18 2015-19 2016-20 2017-21 2018-22 2019-23 2020-24 2021- ACTUAL.......... APPROVED GOALS_...._. 49 49 50 50. PROPOSED GOALS..... 33 34 35 37 38

Note†: The 2017-21 cohort is the first FTIC cohort in which Florida Poly students were able to receive Pell grants during their first year

8. Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded [First Majors Only]

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL (^). 18 197 239 293..... APPROVED GOALS (^). 13 160 250 320 320 330 340 350. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 251 276 320 340 350

9. Graduate Degrees Awarded [First Majors Only]

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL (^). 21 8 8 15..... APPROVED GOALS (^). 16 7 14 18 28 28 30 35. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 26 28 30 35 35

10. Percentage of Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded to African-American & Hispanic Students

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL. 24 21 22 25..... APPROVED GOALS. 23 24 25 25 25 25 25 25. PROPOSED GOALS..... 25 25 25 25 26

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (cont.)

Scholarship, Research & Innovation Metrics

15. National Academy Memberships

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 ACTUAL (^0 0 0 0 )..... APPROVED GOALS (^0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ).. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 0 0 0 0 0

16. Faculty Awards

FALL 2014

FALL 2015

FALL 2016

FALL 2017

FALL 2018

FALL 2019

FALL 2020

FALL 2021

FALL 2022

FALL 2023 ACTUAL.. 0 0 0 0.... APPROVED GOALS.. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. PROPOSED GOALS.... 0 0 1 0 0 1

17. Total Research Expenditures ($Thousands)

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL (^204 438) 1,202 2,006 1,..... APPROVED GOALS (^).. 600 1,300 751 1,000 1,267 1,330 1,. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 1,013 1,267 1,300 1,500 1,

18. Research Expenditures from External Sources ($Thousands)

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024- ACTUAL (^).. 249 348 323..... APPROVED GOALS (^).... 304 491 780 1,012 1,. PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 483 675 900 1,000 1,

Florida Polytechnic University

BOT Approved 4/20/

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (cont.)

Scholarship, Research & Innovation Metrics

19. Utility Patents Awarded

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 ACTUAL (^0 0 0 0 )..... APPROVED GOALS (^0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ). PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 0 0 0 0 0

20. Number of Licenses/Options Executed Annually

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023- ACTUAL 0 0 0 0 0..... APPROVED GOALS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. PROPOSED GOALS..... 0 0 0 0 0

21. Number of Start-up Companies Created

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023- ACTUAL (^0 0 0 0 )..... APPROVED GOALS (^0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ). PROPOSED GOALS (^)..... 0 0 0 0 0