Since 2003 The FedEx Institute of Technology has served as The University of Memphis’ research infrastructure and President David Rudd has outlined the expectations for the future of the institute.
Rudd’s plan includes a stronger focus on technology, national attention for partnerships with global technology organizations, and launching the first biologistics graduate program in the country.
Jasbir Dhaliwal currently oversees the portfolio of 111 graduate programs and has previously served as a professor and the associate dean for academic programs department of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. In accordance with Rudd’s plan for Fogelman and FedEx Institute, Dhaliwal has just been appointed to lead as the U of M’s new Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the FIT.
“The University of Memphis and FedEx are natural partners, so we want to strengthen them and take that national,” Dhaliwal said. “We want everyone in the country to know about what a good partnership we have here between FedEx and the University of Memphis.”
Not only is Fogelman planning on strengthening its ties to FedEx more than they have in the previous decade; President Rudd’s plan also called out to any other local technological leaders in the community to make Memphis a “vibrant technology hub for the future.”
Dhaliwal also compared the Bluff City to existing technological hubs.
“The silicon valley is known for technology innovation,” Dhaliwal said. “We’ll be working to see how can the FedEx institute can help Memphis be a leader in particular niches of the technology innovation space.”
Dhaliwal plans to work closely with internal research support services professionals led by the University’s interim vice president for research, Dr. Andy Meyers, as well as reaching out to external partners such as Memphis Bioworks and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“Bioworks is setting up a logistics accelerator. FedEx is a partner in that effort and so are we,” Dhaliwal said. “We are the only university in Memphis that has strong faculty in the bio side of things. We will provide the intellectual capital to serve as a good platform for all the innovation that is happening at Bioworks and other accelerators in town.”
According to the Innovation Officer, the FIT doesn’t plan on stopping there for the common good.
“You probably have heard about banks getting hacked, large companies getting hacked, the government getting hacked,” Dhaliwal said. “Cyber security is a an area The University will grow into and we will use two of our current centers, the STEP center (the systems testing action program) and also the center on information assurance as platforms to become a strong institution on cyber security.”
Dhaliwal also shared his hopes and beliefs for the institute as far as the University’s economical situation is concerned.
“A large part of our overall total budget comes from research that is funded by the federal government and companies,” Dhaliwal said, “As the budget situation changes for the University we’d like to increase our amount of funding we get for research and for students. The institute will play a key role in helping foster new relationships and new research contracts so that the University can increase funding for research and graduate students.”
Dhaliwal maintains that this new chapter in the FIT’s history makes it a rapidly growing international business sector for which no graduate program exists in the country. They plan to capitalize on the global supply chain leadership of FedEx, the large biomedical device footprint in Memphis and their own research strengths, to produce the first ever trained workforce in biologistics.
