|
FIU Applied Research Center Recognized in Three Department of Defense Awards
 At an award ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia, FIU’s
Applied Research Center was recognized, together with an
elite group of companies, by the Department of Defense
(DoD) with their esteemed DoD Nunn-Perry Award for 2006
for their assistance in facilitating the partnerships between
three award-winning teams. This prestigious award is named
for former Senator Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense
William Perry, the founding sponsors of the Department
of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP),
for which this award is presented. The three award-winning
partnerships, for which FIU was recognized, were: AMEC
Earth and Environmental, Inc. in collaboration with ECHOTA
Technologies Corp.; the Boeing Company and its protégé Precision
Manufacturing Services; as well as Earth Tech Inc. and
its protégé ETI Professionals Inc. For these
partnerships FIU’s Applied Research Center (ARC)
provided mentoring assistance and the expert services of
the University.
Center in this award-recognized team was our very own
Gloria Angulo who acted as Deputy Program Manager for the
Mentor-Protégé Program at ARC. She has been
a key person in identifying solutions providers (faculty
experts, subject matter experts, service contractors, etc)
and coordinating the execution and budget control of the
program. She exhibited particular success in ensuring quality
response and project execution, which has established ARC
as an exemplary provider of support services to the DoD
MPP.
“It was particularly pleasing for the FIU to receive
public recognition for its long-term participation in the
DoD Mentor-Protégé Program. And I’d
like to congratulate the outstanding Mentor-Protégé team
here at ARC who played an important role in this recognition” said
Richard Burton, FIU’s Mentor-Protégé Program
Manager. “Gloria [Angulo] demonstrates keen efficiency,
focus and is a solid exemplar for performance,” continued
Burton. “She is a leader in executing on the Mentor-Protégé management
task, taking time to mentor her students, who have provided
support to the efforts of the program.”
The MPP teams SDBs (Protégés) with large
recognized companies (Mentors) under individual, project-based
agreements in order to facilitate working relationships
between said companies and to help the SDB grow from one
with high potential to a business with commercial capabilities
and a global orientation. FIU has supported these partnerships
by providing technology transfer assistance in the areas
of: environmental services, engineering services,
information technology, manufacturing, telecommunications,
etc. In addition, FIU has provided business development
assistance through training and consultation in business
process reengineering, enterprise management and a wide
array of managerial and operational objectives.
FIU’s Applied Research Center has been active in
the program since 1995 and has successfully mentored and
facilitated over 40 Mentor-Protégé relationships.
The Nunn-Perry Award is given each year to those institutions
that embody the ideals envisioned by the founders of the
DoD Mentor-Protégé Program and were first
presented by the DoD Office of Small Business Programs
in 1995. The purpose of this prestigious award is to highlight
outstanding Mentor-Protégé relationships,
as well as recognize their success. The 2006 Nunn-Perry
award recipients were selected based on credit and reimbursable
agreements sponsored by the Military Departments and other
Defense Agencies and cover the Fiscal Year 2005 period
of performance.
The MPP was formed in 1991 and offers substantial assistance
to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), qualified organizations
that employ the severely disabled, women-owned small businesses,
service-disabled veteran-owned businesses and Historically
Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses
enterprises. The objective of the program is to provide
Protégés with assistance in transitioning
from the small business environment by increasing their
capabilities through Mentorship from existing prime contractors
in order to contribute to the defense of our nation.
As a nationally recognized, multi-campus urban University,
FIU has been a partner in other Nunn-Perry award winning
teams over the past seven years and a major partner in
many DoD MPP relationships focused on expanding the entrepreneurial
base of the nation and our community for the past 11 years.
FIU President Maidique has spoken at length about the program
and his University’s involvement. As a participating
minority institution, FIU-ARC acts as a single point of
contact for program activities within the University, providing
both Mentor and Protégé access to the broad
array of intellectual and infrastructure resources. ARC
is an applied science and engineering research and development
organization at FIU, which offers its clients a full suite
of services in waste management, environmental technology,
water resources, fossil and renewable energy, and defense
strategy and technology.
“I am very proud of the FIU-ARC team that earned
this recognition in helping small businesses establish
themselves within the Department of Defense,” praised
ARC Executive Director Harlan M. Sands, “and I look
forward to the prospect of continued work with these award-winning
companies and anticipate a long and prosperous relationship.”
The FIU-ARC Mentor-Protégé team also
consisted of:
Walter Conklin
Guillermo Murillo
George Philippidis
Walter Quintero
Students:
Nelisa Chacin
Faviana Muci
The Applied Research Center also participated with
the following FIU departments:
School of Business
Office of Executive and Professional Education
Department of Industrial Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
|
