Website
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Areas of Responsibility
Departments:
- Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering
- Computer Science
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
- Material Science and Engineering
- Mechanical in Aerospace Engineering
Biography
Dr. Michael Georgiopoulos serves as dean of UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS), one of the nation’s largest and most dynamic colleges of its kind. He oversees more than 15,500 students and 400 faculty and staff, leading efforts that are central to UCF’s recognition as Florida’s Premier Engineering and Technology University.
Under his leadership, CECS has helped position UCF as the nation’s top supplier of talent to the aerospace and defense industries. UCF awards one in every four engineering and computer science degrees issued by Florida’s public universities — an impact Georgiopoulos and CECS are working to grow to support increasing workforce demands. The college is also home to UCF’s powerhouse Cyber Defense Competition Team, which leads the nation in national championships, and its world-class computer programming team, further distinguishing UCF’s prominence in student success and high-tech fields.
Georgiopoulos became the college’s sixth dean in 2013, following a year as interim. He joined UCF in 1986 as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has served in, and has been honored for, his many roles at UCF. In 2010, he was named a Pegasus Professor — UCF’s most prestigious faculty award — in recognition of extraordinary teaching, research and service.
During his tenure as dean, undergraduate student enrollment has increased by more than 90% and graduate student enrollment increased by more than 75%. The faculty population has expanded by more than 90%. The college’s research enterprise has grown to an annual research awards portfolio exceeding $66 million, increasing by more than 200%. The philanthropic giving to the college, as part of the IGNITE campaign, surpassed $80 million.
Georgiopoulos is widely known in the UCF community for his leadership of UCF’s EXCEL program, a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) talent expansion program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Since it began in 2006, EXCEL has resulted in an approximately 50% increase in STEM student success and has been lauded by UCF and the NSF.
His research area of expertise is machine learning with special emphasis on neural network algorithms. In 2011-2012, he served as UCF’s interim assistant vice president of Research. His research portfolio includes more than 50 grants and contracts as principal investigator or collaborator, some of which were multi-million-dollar efforts. He has also advised the research of more than 100 students at all degree levels.
Georgiopoulos has published and presented his research findings in more than 250 papers in various professional journals, book chapters and international conferences. In addition, he has served as associate editor of Neural Networks, associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, and technical co-chair of the 2011 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks.
He holds a master’s and a doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut, and in 2014 was inducted into the university’s Academy of Distinguished Engineers. Georgiopoulos also earned a diploma in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece.