RANDY K. AVENT
PRESIDENT, FLORIDA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, LAKELAND
Florida Poly is the state’s newest university, with 1,300 students focused exclusively on engineering, mathematics and the physical sciences. Avent is the school’s founding president, arriving in 2014. Florida Poly debuted in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 top 75 engineering colleges without a doctoral program, and top 40 of those that are public.
| PROFESSIONAL EVOLUTION | I spent six years at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands doing research for ballistic missile defense. I specialized in super resolution of microwave imagery. |
| SOMETHING SURPRISING | I’ve ridden dirt bikes on and off for 40 years. |
| ADMIRES | Piyush Patel, who owns Kyra Solutions in Lakeland |
| SABBATICAL TOPIC | Study fine woodworking at North Bennet Street School in Boston |