By Andrew Skerritt
The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), partnering with Florida A&M University (FAMU), will host the second Air Force Historically Black Colleges & Universities/Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) Digital Partnership Summit September 19-21, 2023, on the Tallahassee campus.
Dubbed the HBCU Digital Partnership Summit, the three-day hybrid, virtual/in-person event is forĀ allĀ HBCU faculty and students, researchers, minority businesses, digital transformation professionals, and other academic enclaves, including Department of Defense personnel, that advocate for connecting the Department of the Air Force and the HBCU community.
āFlorida A&M University welcomes the opportunity to host the Air Force Institute of Technology HBCU Digital Partnership Summit. Collaboration with the partners, such as the Air Force and HBCUs, is crucial to expanding our STEM research and education ecosystem, which, in turn, creates additional opportunities for our faculty and students to excel in this space,ā said President Larry Robinson, Ph.D.
AFIT, with its main campus located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the Air Forceās leader for advanced, multi-disciplinary academic education, as well as its institution for technical professionals continuingāÆeducation.
The Summit will feature speakers from AFIT, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and academia. Topics to be discussed include: the University Affiliated Research Center, Cyber Physical Systems and the Joint Warfighter, Digital Gamification and Model-based Systems Engineering, Why AI Will Never Replace Human Creativity, Human Systems Integration, Agile/Scrum Methodology Delivering Digital Products, What Does It Mean to be a Software Factory?, and more.
The third day will feature the 4thĀ AnnualĀ Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Serving Institutions (HBCU/MSI) Outreach Initiative Collider,Ā onĀ September 21, 2023. The collider brings together speakers representing academia, the United States Air Force, and other federal organizations to discuss funding programs and resources for academic institutions and commercial small businesses to enter partnerships to solve Air Force challenges.
This Air Force outreach initiative has established outreach goals and objectives to increase HBCU/MSI participation in Air Force research funding source programs; increase research opportunities with HBCU/MSIs in Air Force competency areas; working with HBCU/MSIs to increase their success in competing for broader research funding sources; and increase the number of HBCU/MSI spin-out companies.