How we meet

The University of Florida’s move to remote work has forced all of us to rethink the way we meet and interact with our colleagues.  

During this time the UFTI has celebrated a retirement and held an External Advisory Board meeting. Traditionally, these would have been in-person events; often involving food, discussion, and camaraderie.  

McTrans Director Retirement 

Bill Sampson, PE, retired after 30 years as Director of the McTrans Center in March 2020. On Friday, March 20, former students and coworkers came together via Zoom, an online web conferencing platform, to celebrate his time with the University of Florida. Having a virtual retirement party allowed participants to celebrate Bill’s time with McTrans while being able to observe social distancing best practices.  

External Advisory Board Meeting 

What is normally an all-day opportunity for the UFTI’s External Advisory Board members to come together from around the country had to quickly be rearranged to address the COVID-19 health emergency. The meeting plan was altered to make it more functional for an online meeting. Using Zoom’s breakout room feature the External Advisory Board was able to come together in the afternoon on April 6, 2020. The meeting was able to break into small groups to discuss strategic plans for individual research initiatives and then come back together to recap those discussions.  

Working remotely has been a dramatic shift for many people, but if there is one thing engineers can do, it’s take a problem and work out a solution.