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.

FMI: www.embryriddle.edu, www.spaceflorida.gov/