Full Sail University Impacting Trends and Education in STEM

Luis Garcia, Vice President of Emerging Technologies, and Host of Tech Tuesday, Full Sail University

Luis Garcia, Vice President of Emerging Technologies, and Host of Tech Tuesday, Full Sail University

Employment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has grown exponentially since 1990, seeing over 79 percent growth across the industries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field is projected to grow over 8 percent in the next decade.

Associated with the growth of the dynamic field is a steady cadence of trends starting and stopping. The multi-decade industry growth has shown that not all trends persist. However, a trend that has persisted is the use of powerful technologies– called emerging technologies.

Several areas within emerging technologies that have proven dominant includewhat I like to call unstoppable software, the abundance of data,the adoption of gaming technologies, as well as cybersecurity.

Software is no longer exclusive to computers, it’s in our daily lives – our watches, cars, homes, education, and health. At Full Sail University, I’m the VP of Emerging Technologies, so I help guide how STEM and emerging technologies are introduced into the institution. Through facilities like our Smart Lab, students enrolled in our tech-focused degree programs can explore the intersections between everyday life and software ecosystems.

“The multi-decade industry growth has shown that not all trends persist.”

The ability to generate, analyze and employ data to advance artificial intelligence (AI) and make educated predictions is crucial to all the industries under the STEM umbrella. Through Full Sail's Program Advisory Committees (PAC), the university works alongside active industry professionals to bring industry-standard practices, procedures, and technology into the classroom to stay relevant. Due to the work and dedication of PAC members and our educators, students in our emerging technologies degree programs – Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Game Design, Game Development, and Web Development – learn using market standard approaches to collect, interpret and utilize data.

Since data is woven so seamlessly through the fabric of our daily lives, cybersecurity is a trend that I foresee experiencing continued expansion. The field of cybersecurity combines humans, processes, and technology to protect systems from digital attacks. Full Sail’s Cybersecurity Bachelor of Science Completion degree gives students the knowledge to identify threats and protect information assets. It also provides students with the foundations of IT through the Information Technology associate degree earned during the first half of the program.

With several gaming degree programs available, students use Full Sail’s industry standard facilities including Blackmoor Studios (game development studio), the UX Lab, Simulation Lab, AR/VR Lab, FabLab, and Smart Lab – to learn to bring the world of gaming into any industry. Gaming technologies can be integrated into unexpected industries like filmmaking, defense, training and simulation, banking, agriculture, and even healthcare. For example, in 2020, students, faculty, and graduates of Full Sail University joined forces with AdventHealthUniversity to build an award-winning virtual reality (VR) prototype to serve as a proof of concept for a virtual command center to aid healthcare facilities and systems in visualizing hospital resources and COVID-19 data points.

The STEM industry is constantly expanding and evolving – even within the most popular emerging technologies practices listed above. Because of that, Full Sail has developed accelerated degree programs to keep up with the pace of the industries it serves. Undergraduate campus students can graduate in as little as 20-months, and online students can graduate in as little as 29-months. The accelerated options allow our students to get into their industries sooner,while beginning to impact the change needed to experience continued progression in STEM. 

Information Technology

Healthcare

Artificial Intelligence

Virtual Reality