Associate Dean Mike Hickey Will Serve Thru June 2009
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced
last week the appointment of Dr. Mike Hickey of Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University to the Board of Directors of Space Florida.
Hickey is the associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences
at the school’s Daytona Beach campus. His term on the Space
Florida board runs through June 30, 2009.
Created by the state Legislature, Space Florida is a
public-private partnership responsible for promoting and developing
Florida’s aerospace industry, bringing together leaders in
government, education, military, and business in a unified effort.
Space Florida is guided by its Board of Directors, who plan and
implement economic and educational development related to the space
industry in addition to adopting rules and orders to conduct the
business of Space Florida.
"I look forward to working with the new appointees to the Board
of Directors at Space Florida," said Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. "This
is Florida’s great legacy and part of the foundation for our
bright future. Together we can achieve our goal -- a world-class
aerospace industry, based in Florida."
Hickey joined Embry-Riddle in 2002 and is currently an associate
dean, a professor of physics, and the director of
Embry-Riddle’s TeachSpace program, a summer educational
program for high school teachers.
He has published more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals
describing numerical simulations of acoustic-gravity waves in the
terrestrial and planetary atmospheres, and has received almost $4
million in research funds to support his research programs. In 2005
he received the Embry-Riddle Outstanding Researcher of the Year
award.
"It is an honor to be selected to serve on the Board of
Directors of Space Florida," Hickey said. "It is particularly
encouraging that Embry-Riddle has been recognized as a leader in
Florida’s aerospace education. I look forward to working
closely with colleagues in academia, business, and government to
help improve and secure Florida’s aerospace future in these
exciting and challenging times."
Hickey earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics at La Trobe
University in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to the United States
in 1986. He was a contractor at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center for several years, providing expertise on the upper
atmosphere environment. Next he worked at the University of Alabama
and then at Clemson University.
This summer he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological
Society. Hickey is also a member of the American Geophysical Union
and the American Meteorological Society.