First generation students receive Golden Gift scholarships

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Forty-four first generation students who live near FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC) are now Golden Gift Scholars. The scholarship fund is a project of the BBC Vice Provost’s Council, a group of community and business leaders committed to supporting programs on the campus. The Golden Gift First Generation Scholars Program focuses on juniors and seniors […]

Chaplin School honors world’s most beloved professor

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FIU legend Rocco Angelo sure can bring down the house. The Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management recently threw the professor a surprise party that drew industry luminaries and scores of alumni from as far away as New York, California and Amsterdam. With Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews—his favorites—blaring in the background, and wine, appetizers […]

2015 TEDxFIU speakers exemplify perseverance

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Two-time TEDxFIU speaker Dr. Aileen Marty has been to places “not on anyone’s bucket list.” Despite naysayers and fears of contagion, she has gone all over the world studying dangerous diseases like leprosy and plague. “If you have the skills and the training and the experience, and you are needed, you need to step up,” Esther […]

Blind alumnus excels as NASA engineer

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In anticipation of NASA’s launch of the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft on Thursday, Dec. 3, we sat down with electrical engineering alumnus Marco Midon ’97, MS ’00 to discuss how he built a successful career as a NASA communications engineer.   Marco Midon discovered his love for telecommunications when he was young and fascinated by […]

Student organization establishes First Generation scholarship

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Reaching back and helping others climb the same mountain makes everyone stronger. The men and women of Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional business fraternity at the College of Business, have raised funds to establish a First Generation Scholarship at FIU, making them the first student organization to do so. “Many of us, including myself, are […]

Program helps minorities pursue doctorates in STEM

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Doctoral candidate Michelle Pierre is working to create a biosensor that can pre-diagnose diabetes, and to develop a form of neonatal testing that can detect diabetes in premature babies using only a small sample of blood. As a single mother, however, juggling graduate school and research while raising two daughters is not easy; but taking […]

Launch a new venture in 54 hours at Startup Weekend Miami

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Jeff Brown hears new startup ideas all the time. He has even had would-be entrepreneurs approach him with their idea scrawled on a napkin. What does Brown – a self-described serial entrepreneur and angel investor – tell them? “I’m not going to fund a napkin and I’m not going to do the work for you,” […]

A mother’s gift helps improve students’ cardiac exam skills

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When Maruchi Suquet Mendez met Harvey there was an immediate connection. Harvey is a sophisticated cardiopulmonary patient simulator used to teach medical students how to develop and improve their cardiac examination skills. Mendez is a mother, who 15 years later, still grieves the loss of her son from sudden cardiac death. Mendez and Harvey are now […]

Wertheims’ philanthropy spurs collaboration between FIU, UF

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Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim
South Florida optometric physician and philanthropist Dr. Herbert Wertheim, a Horatio Alger Medal recipient, has become one of the most important supporters and financial contributors to Florida’s public universities. In doing so he hopes to spur closer collaboration between these institutions, magnifying the societal benefit to Florida and the nation. “Both Florida International University and the University of […]

South Florida News Service to expand and go bilingual

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South Florida News Service (SFNS), a program in FIU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will expand into a digital-first, bilingual independent news organization with a $150,000 grant from The Hearst Foundation. The SFNS, provides an opportunity for students to publish stories with partnering news organizations and learn firsthand what it means to be reporters in the […]