FIU hosts national leaders in Miami to showcase research and innovation

FIU hosted more than 50 business and education leaders, government officials and congressional staff members recently as part of the university’s third-annual in-person showcase of its cutting-edge technologies and innovation.

Year-round, FIU in Washington, D.C., FIU’s education and advocacy hub in the nation’s capital highlights the university’s research and innovation through events, conferences and other meetings. Recently, for the third time, it organized what it calls “Science Camp” to give partners a unique opportunity to see the work of university innovators up close.

Faculty researchers alongside students presented funded projects to staff representing members of Congress as well as the heads of companies such as Walmart, Comcast and InstaCart. At the Engineering Center, the FIU team led tours of the Wall of Wind national testing facility, the DOE-funded Applied Research Center, and the FIU-FPL lab where students conduct research using smart grid, weather and telecommunications data.

Off campus, visitors traveled to Biscayne Bay for an informative session with postdoctoral candidate Sara Pezeshk, the principal investigator for the Institute of Evironment NSF-funded project Ecoblox project, ‘Promoting Coastal Biodiversity through AI-driven Modular Seawall Design and Construction.’

“Designing a seawall tile that is both aesthetically appealing and easy to attach to an existing flat seawall naturally sparks curiosity,” said Sara Pezeshk, Postdoctoral Candidate at FIU’s Institute of Environment and Principal Investigator for Ecoblox, “Engagement with national stakeholders encouraged people to explore its functional benefits. By drawing interest through design, we create an opportunity for deeper conversations on adoption and impact.”

The boat tour culminated in a presentation by the research team of Gregory Reis, a professor in the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences, who demonstrated research buoys and autonomous marine drones in the areas of environmental contamination and ecosystem health, research that was only made possible through support from the EPA and NOAA.

Science Camp 2025 coincided with meetings of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute and longtime FIU partner STEMconnector’s Innovation Lab on ‘Experiential Learning,’ allowing both groups to engage with the FIU research on display alongside corporate leaders and congressional representatives.

“Thanks to our hosts at FIU, we were the beneficiaries of unique and innovative examples that enable their students to thrive in STEM fields. They are meeting students where they are and putting them at the center of the learning experience,” said Ted Wells, STEMconnector President.

Interim President Jeanette Nuñez welcomed the out-of-towners at the university’s newest research facility, the International Center for Tropical Botany at The Kampong in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, where university botanists work on the conservation and management of tropical species.

Alongside this high-level research, the university presented the innovative, nationally recognized ways in which it educates future scientists and science teachers. These include employing accomplished students to serve as learning assistants who work with peers under a professor’s direction and reconfiguring physical spaces into “active learning classrooms” that allow for engaging, small-group, interactive activities.

Simon Estevez, Rehabilitation & Recreational Therapy major at the College of Arts, Science, and Education, remarked how the Science Camp events piqued his excitement for the upcoming ‘Population Health’ D.C. Fly-In.

“I was able to see an active essence of learning that I wasn’t familiar with,” said Estevez. “Learning how to take difficult concepts past peer reviewed-articles and integrate them from labs to real-world experiences has opened my eyes to opportunities that I didn’t even know existed here at FIU.”