Dr. Randy K. Avent

Education

2005 Greater Boston Executive Program
MIT Sloan School of Management
1986 Ph.D., Biomedical Mathematics and Engineering
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1986 M.S., Electrical Engineering
North Carolina State University
1984 M.S., Biomedical Mathematics and Engineering
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1980 B.S., Zoology
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Work history

Florida Polytechnic University
(2014-pres) President
North Carolina State University
(2012-2014) Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Development
(2011-2014) Professor, Department of Computer Science
Synstreams, LLC
(2012-2014) Cofounder & CEO
Office of Secretary of Defense, Office of Basic Research
(2009-2011) Chief Scientist (IPA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory
(2006-2009) Associate Chief Technology Officer
(2002-2005) Founding Leader, Airborne Communications Laboratory
(1999-2002) Founding Leader, Advanced Decision Theory Laboratory
(1998-1999) Associate Leader, Adaptive Beamforming Laboratory
(1996-1998) Assistant Leader, Adaptive Beamforming Laboratory
(1990-1996) Principal Investigator, Real-time Discrimination Laboratory
(1986-1990) Research Scientist, Bistatic Scattering Phenomenology
BBN Technologies Inc.
(2005-2006) Vice President
Aventure Inc.
(1980-82) Cofounder, Pharmaceutical Consultant

Service

2018 Senate Testimony to the Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation regarding Autonomous Vehicle Safety in “Driving Automotive Innovation and Federal Policies”.
2013 National Academy of Engineering, “Key Challenges in the Implementation of Convergence”
2013 Advisory Board, UNC Applied Physical Sciences Program
2012 Board Member, Institute for Rare, Orphaned & Neglected Diseases (IRON) The Hamner Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC
2012 Board Member, Tigerswan, Inc.
2012 Advisory Board, UNC Kenan Planning Advisory Board
2011 National Academy of Engineering, “The New Engineering Frontier: Manufacturing for the Grand Challenges”
2011 Advisory Board, Center for Homeland Defense & Security (CHDS) Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC
2011 Member, UNC-GA Defense Applications Group (DAG)
2010 Member, IEEE-USA Research and Development Policy Committee
2009 Chair, National Computer Science Research Initiative
2009 Member, Strategic Planning Committee for DoD STEM Education
2009 Member, Air Force Office Scientific Research Review Panel
2008 Technical Chair, DDR&E Global Technology Study
2008 Appointed to MIT Interaction Committee
2007 Member, Committee to establish a C4RJ program in Acton, MA
2006 Appointed to MIT Defense Core Advisory Committee
2003 Member, OSD Joint Decision Support Study Panel
2003 Member, Defense Science Board on Space Based Radar
2001 Member, MIT Management Effectiveness Committee

Continuing Education

2009 Introduction to Defense Acquisition, DAU
2004 Negotiation for Senior Executives, Harvard University
2004 Dealing with Difficult People and Difficult Situations, Harvard University
2003 Developing a Successful Product and Technology Strategy, MIT
2002 Fundamentals of Finance for Technical Executives, MIT
2000 Project Management, MIT

Honors

• Named to Florida Trend’s, Florida’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders (1 of 24
  named in Education) in 2019 and 2020.
• Tampa Bay Business Journal, People to Watch Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Fellow

Sponsored Research

Principal Investigator (PI), or Co-PI, on 47 different grants totaling over $200M in research funding

Bibliography

A list of over 150 invited keynote talks, papers, technical reports and presentations. Are available upon request.