Research
The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. The sculpture is Orgonelle, designed by Rob Fisher.
FAU is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a research university with high research activity. The university has established notable partnerships with major research institutions such as the Scripps Research Institute, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, and the Max Planck Society.
The university is the home of two centers of excellence: the Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology and the Center for Ocean Energy Technology. These centers have been selected by Florida’s Emerging Technology Commission to receive grants to continue and increase their operations. FAU beat out some of Florida’s top research universities, including the University of Florida and Florida State University, for the initial funding from the state.
Since receiving its startup funding, Florida Atlantic has secured additional funds from other sources, including federal and private research grants. As a result, both centers have engaged in academic and industry partnerships, combining expertise in ocean engineering, marine biotechnology, functional genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics.
Researchers, scientists, and students at the centers are designing technologies to explore the sea, harvest renewable energy, discover new medicines, and develop new therapeutics to combat agents of bioterrorism. As a result of this research, in 2007 the university and Lockheed Martin announced an exclusive licensing agreement to develop and produce a rapidly deployable and autonomous mooring buoy system for military and scientific uses.
In 2010, the United States Department of Energy designated FAU as one of three national centers for ocean energy research and development. The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center joins centers in the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington and Oregon State University) and in Hawaii (University of Hawaii). The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center is undertaking research and development of technologies capable of generating renewable power from ocean currents and ocean thermal energy.
The university houses both an Imaging Technology Center and a NASA Imaging Technology Space Center. Located in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the centers specialize in digital imaging research and development for use in both government and commercial applications in the areas of medical technology, surveillance, communications, education, inspection, scientific observation, manufacturing, visual recognition and identification, and motion picture and digital video.
The Florida Atlantic Imaging Technology Center is developing a curriculum for digital imaging and processing, thereby establishing Florida Atlantic as the only university in the nation to offer this technical concentration. The NASA Imaging Technology Center is one of 12 NASA Research Partnership Centers throughout the nation which develop dual-use research and development with the participation of NASA and other related industries in the US. The center occupies two sets of laboratories and administrative offices, one on Florida Atlantic’s main campus in Boca Raton, the other at the Fort Lauderdale campus.
FAU is affiliated to the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University, with properties in Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton. The Research Park provides outside research facilities for companies which enable them to interact with the university community and its facilities, resources, and expertise. The Research Park operates the Technology Business Incubator; which fosters the start-up and growth of technology-based businesses, seeking to scale them and build relationships for them with the university. The Boca Raton campus is also home to the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences.