Mechanical Engineering Student Patricia Garcia Is On The Fast Track To Success
By the time Patricia Garcia entered FIU as a freshman, she had completed a summer research internship at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She spent the following summers in Massachusetts Institute of Technology labs engineering 3D skeletal muscle for the development of bio-robots and pre-clinical drug advances.
But things haven’t always been easy for the young woman with a seemingly natural affinity for STEM. When her mother fell gravely ill, medical bills began piling up, and Garcia was unsure how her family would afford tuition. But earning a scholarship from the Miami Bayside Foundation eased their financial burden.
Since 2011, the foundation has supported scholarships in FIU’s MBA program and the general scholarship fund. “We believe we have a real partner in FIU,” said foundation Chair Nathan Kurland.
Thanks to the scholarship, Garcia was able to focus more on her studies and explore initiatives to advance women and minorities in STEM.
“I believe the research laboratory and the engineering classroom are the perfect places for a girl like me,” Garcia said. “Thank you, FIU and Miami Bayside Foundation for believing that too.”
Celebrating the opening of the South Florida Media Network Washington, D.C. Bureau at Alley
Experiential Learning: Impactful Preparation For A Career In Mass Media
Students in FIU’s School of Communication + Journalism have a unique opportunity to gain real-world reporting experience in New York City and Washington, D.C.
As members of the student-run, faculty-led South Florida Media Network (SFMN), students are stationed in bureaus in the two cities, where they are tasked with reporting and creating and editing content following major news trends.
Funded through the Alley-FIU Journalism Solutions Partnership, with Alley furnishing co-working spaces and content studios equipped with the video and audio recording and editing technology, the innovative program emphasizes lively academic discussions, investigative fieldwork and professional workshops and events.
“Alley is elevating the education landscape by bridging the gap between skilled students and moonshot startups, and between top-ranked schools, like FIU, and the largest companies in the world, like Verizon. This role will allow myself and Alley to help propel great ideas out of the classroom and into real-world applications,” said Jason Saltzman, CEO and founder of Alley and member of the FIU Foundation Board of Directors.
Alumna Jaylin Hawkins ’18, who reported for the New York Bureau as an FIU student, said SFMN helped her figure out in which medium she worked best and the types of topics she wanted to cover in her career. She is now assistant editor at the D.C. Witness.
“The New York Bureau made sure I was prepared for reporting in a bigger city. Having the experience of being in a big city gave me an advantage when I applied to jobs.”
Research Excellence
Howard R. Lipman, CEO, FIU Foundation, Inc.; Jorge M. Pérez, Chairman and CEO, Related Group; President Mark B. Rosenberg; John F. Stack Jr., Founding Dean, Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Related Group Foundation Bolsters the FIU Metropolitan Center’s Research Capability
Since 1997, the FIU Metropolitan Center has been South Florida’s foremost urban “think tank,” providing impactful services to local governments and nonprofit organizations throughout the region. Now, a $1 million endowment gift from the Related Philanthropic Foundation will bolster the center’s applied research studies and job training initiatives.
In recognition, the center has been renamed The Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center, in honor of Pérez, chairman and CEO of Related Group.
Among its first uses, the endowment will provide financial support to doctoral students from underserved communities who are currently researching policy solutions for a more economically and environmentally resilient South Florida. The center trains graduate students in policy sciences, spearheading research on economic development.
“It’s an honor to support and partner with the Metropolitan Center, especially after it’s been such an incredible resource for countless Miami businesses and organizations over the years. We share the center’s goal of serving and empowering residents across the demographic spectrum. We’re excited about the future growth opportunities we will help generate for the community at large,” said Pérez.
Criminal Justice Associate Professor Besiki Kutateladze
Promoting Fairness And Transparency In The Criminal Justice System
Do prosecutors consistently act fairly when deciding whether an individual is charged and what he or she is charged with?
Researchers at FIU and Loyola University Chicago aimed to discover just that when they partnered with prosecutors from Tampa, Chicago, Jacksonville, and Milwaukee to study prosecutorial practices and reduce the risk of racial and ethnic disparities. The two-year project is funded by a $1.7 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation – the largest the MacArthur Foundation has ever awarded to FIU.
Led by criminal justice Associate Professor Besiki Kutateladze and housed within FIU’s Center for the Administration of Justice, the project recently released its first of four reports.
The project aims to improve performance and response to community needs by researching prosecutors’ case management systems. It also seeks to increase the transparency of prosecutorial decision-making for the public by examining issues such as treatment of vulnerable populations like the mentally ill and homeless, instances of prosecutorial misconduct or wrongful convictions, and racial and ethnic disparities in pretrial interventions and plea agreements.
“We believe this is one of the most important prosecutorial research initiatives happening in the U.S. right now,’’ said John Stack Jr., dean of the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs. “It is essential that we develop data-driven strategies to keep communities safe but also to ensure our criminal justice systems are effective, efficient and fair.’’
