Alumnus named a 2018 “Face of Technology” by Florida High Tech Corridor

Alumnus speaks during a business meeting.

Michael Moskal (center), industrial and systems engineering alumnus and Senior Data Scientist at OSTHUS, has been recognized for his contributions to the Florida high tech industry.

By Sarah D'Iorio

Published March 28, 2018 This content is archived.

For Michael Moskal, the idea of a career in industrial and systems engineering was conceived at an early age. He was influenced by his father, who started off in the profession, as well as several faculty members in UB’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, under whom he worked as a research assistant shortly after graduating high school.

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Michael Moskal.
“The field is fast paced, rewards innovation, and is saturated with stimulating problems that need to be solved. ”
Michael Moskal, ISE BS '11, MS '13, PhD '16

“Early in my education I was exposed to the work of Rajan Batta, Moises Sudit, Ann Bisantz, and James Llinas, all of whom represent a wide breadth of expertise in the field. They ultimately convinced me to join the program and mentored me while at UB,” says Moskal, who holds a BS (2011), MS (2013) and PhD (2016) in industrial and systems engineering.

Now Moskal is making his own mark in the field. He has been named one of nine Florida High Tech Corridor’s 2018 “Faces of Technology,” a distinction which he earned for his innovative work in the field — most recently researching and developing secure software solutions for the U.S. defense and intelligence communities in his previous role as manager of research programs at Modus Operandi, based in Melbourne, Florida.

“The Corridor is proud to recognize individuals like Michael for their contributions to our region’s high tech industry,” said Ed Schons, president of The Corridor, an economic development initiative of the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, and the University of Florida. Spanning 23 counties, the initiative aims to grow high tech industry and innovation through partnerships that support research, marketing, workforce and entrepreneurship.

During his graduate studies at UB, Moskal pursued operations research, which centers on applied mathematics for the analysis and optimization of complex systems. His dissertation was focused on adaptive Unmanned Aerial Vehicle routing methods for tactical surveillance operations, which he credits with advancing his career in the defense industry immediately upon completion of his degree.

Now a Senior Data Scientist at information technology company OSTHUS in Melbourne, Moskal provides technical leadership to an integrated product team across four different time zones in three different continents in support of customers in the biopharmaceutical, lab informatics, and automotive industry.

Moskal says the best part of working in the data science and applied research and development field is getting to experiment with and apply leading edge technologies to provide a solution.

“The field is fast paced, rewards innovation, and is saturated with stimulating problems that need to be solved,” he says. “I wake up every morning excited knowing that there is some contract out there to chase that can advance the state of the art while actually making an impact to those that use the technology.”