Florida Atlantic: New FPL Center for Intelligent Energy Technologies

Florida Atlantic University received a $1 million gift from Florida Power & Light Company, through its charitable arm, the NextEra Energy Foundation, to establish the FPL Center for Intelligent Energy Technologies (InETech), which will be housed in the FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science. As part of this commitment, FPL will engage in a four-year collaboration with the university to pursue research relating to smart technologies, products relevant to the energy sector and workforce development.

“Florida Atlantic takes great pride in its partnerships with community and industry leaders,” said FAU President Stacy Volnick. “We truly appreciate this gift from our partners at FPL and NextEra Energy, which will support our bold vision to solve tomorrow’s challenges today and create impactful opportunities for our students and faculty.”

In addition to funding research for the benefit of the energy sector, the gift enables the creation of the FPL InETech Center Scholarship, which will help the College of Engineering and Computer Science continue to attract highly qualified undergraduate and graduate students. It also will support community outreach and K-12 activities that aim to spur interest and educate youth about the energy industry.

“At FPL, we hope that many of these students will become our future employees that can help drive innovation and creative solutions to meet the evolving needs of our customers and our communities,” said Pam Rauch, FPL vice president of external affairs and economic development. “We have a long-standing partnership with FAU, and we are honored to work together to bring this state-of-the-art facility to life to inspire and motivate the energy leaders of tomorrow.”