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8 things to know about the University of Florida Innovation Station 

Shelby Webb

University of Florida electrical engineering student Jake Easterling is developing a light-emitting photo ring that will balance the light temperature for underwater photography. The red light takes away the bluish cast of the water. Photo by Dan Wagner

SARASOTA – As the University of Florida seeks to broaden its footprint across the state, school officials were in Sarasota Monday to celebrate the first of what will likely be several new extension campuses for its College of Engineering.

UF President Kent Fuchs and UF College of Engineering Dean Cammy Abernathy spoke alongside local nonprofit, community and business leaders about Sarasota’s new “Innovation Station,” which will begin in the fall of 2017.

Fuchs said the new Sarasota extension campus reflects UF’s mission as a land-grant university and its goal to make Florida a global leader when it comes to innovation.

“The Innovation Station will put UF engineering’s research, talent, innovation and experience behind Sarasota’s rise as one of Florida’s most exciting and dynamic creative communities,” Fuchs told reporters and elected officials Monday in formally announcing the project at the HuB, a collaborative workspace and business incubator in downtown Sarasota. “Our decision to establish a physical presence in this community embodies UF’s larger effort in taking a leadership role in growing and diversifying our state’s economy.”

Here’s a quick look at the goal of the project:

  1. Oversee a program in which the College of Engineering will invite some applicants to attend State College of Florida for dual credit and eventual transfer.
  2. Help establish internships within the region for engineering students.
  3. Will provide local access to UF technology transfer.
  4. Will interface with local school officials to further enhance K-12 courses that emphasize science, technology, engineering and math.
  5. The UF College of Engineering will invite a limited number of Southwest Florida students, 10 to start, to join the engineering school by taking core courses at State College of Florida.
  6. If the students achieve a 2.5 GPA on as few as one of these core courses — calculus, differential equations, chemistry and physics — they are automatically admitted to the College of Engineering and can transfer there after two years at SCF with no additional applicationrequired.
  7. State College of Florida will accommodate the students at its Venice campus, where they will take core courses including those that are overcrowded at UF.
  8. The number of students who have enrolled at Santa Fe College as part of the UF@SantaFe program since it began in 2013: 137. The expected size of the fall 2016 cohort: 75

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