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VP for Research and Professor

M.J. Soileau
VP for Research & Professor of Optics, ECE, and Physics, University of Central Florida, USA

How do you spend a typical day?
Working with university research centers, helping faculty get money for their research, working with economic development folks, helping spin out new companies from the university, interviewing candidates for faculty positions, and attending too many meetings.

What do you love about your job?
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a rapidly developing university with an enrollment of 43,000 students but is only 40 years old. So in effect we are building a research university which happens to have the world's first College of Optics and Photonics. University building, aiding faculty in their research, and helping new companies be successful are the most fun...so is teaching, but I don't get a chance to do much these days.