{"id":111728,"date":"2020-08-11T14:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T18:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=111728"},"modified":"2020-09-24T08:55:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T12:55:00","slug":"interim-director-of-ucfs-school-of-modeling-simulation-and-training-to-return-to-private-sector-later-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/interim-director-of-ucfs-school-of-modeling-simulation-and-training-to-return-to-private-sector-later-this-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Interim Director of UCF\u2019s School of Modeling, Simulation and Training to Return to Private Sector Later this Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wes Naylor, the interim director of UCF\u2019s School of Modeling, Simulation and Training (SMST), is leaving Aug. 17 to return to his private sector job.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy position was always of an interim nature,\u201d says Naylor. \u201cI believe I have accomplished what I set out to do. Our partners continue to have faith in this amazing institution seeking solutions for some of their most challenging problems and our graduate students are receiving a world-class education with unique opportunities in our research labs. The pandemic has prolonged my stay, but I need to get back to my business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naylor, a retired U.S Navy captain with extensive business and government relations experience, is the CEO of Fifty Pound Brains. The company specializes in government contracting and human performance.<\/p>\n

Naylor became SMST\u2019s interim director on Jan. 27. He took over after a lengthy investigation found a few employees at the Institute for Simulation and Training, which is housed in the SMST, helped a student obtain a doctoral degree with inappropriate assistance.<\/p>\n

UCF was scheduled to launch a national search for a permanent director of SMST, but then the university, like others around the world were faced with the pandemic. UCF switched to remote operations in early March, transitioned 69,500 students to remote classes and instituted a university-wide hiring freeze. That monumental task, along with other funding concerns, slowed the search process.<\/p>\n

A search committee has been named and its first meeting is scheduled for Aug. 14. The committee, made up of SMST faculty and others across the university, will help determine what they want in the new director and then conduct the search. Interviews will likely be conducted remotely with finalists making visits to SMST before a leader is selected. The team will make recommendations to Elizabeth Klonoff, vice president for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies. She oversees SMST and graduate programs at UCF.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect to officially launch the search by the end of this month,\u201d says Klonoff. \u201cThe pandemic had us all focused on minimizing the risk to our students, faculty and staff, while still operating one of the largest universities in the nation. We are so grateful to Dr. Naylor for the time he has given us and his leadership. And I thank the faculty, students and staff at SMST for their patience. I look forward to seeing who they recommend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until a director is selected, David \u201cFuzzy\u201d Wells has been named interim director effective Aug. 17. Wells has been the deputy director of SMST since 2018. He holds degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Air Force Institute of Technology and the Naval Postgraduate School, where he specialized in modeling, virtual environments and simulation<\/a>. A retired U.S. Air Force officer, Wells served in many positions, including chief of experimentation at the Air Force Agency for Modeling & Simulation, operations research working group chair and assistant professor of computer science at the U.S. Air Force Academy, chief scientist for research and development at the Joint Warfare Analysis Center, and director of U.S. Pacific Command\u2019s Cyber War Innovation Center.<\/p>\n