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Provost

Greatness In Academics, Research and Beyond

John Z. KissAs Florida Tech's Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. John Z. Kiss, is chiefly responsible for executing the fulfillment of Florida Tech's academic and research missions, as well as leading its academic administration and accreditation. The Provost's Office establishes policies and procedures concerning academic programs, oversees faculty and staff appointments and promotions, and works to continuously improve the quality of teaching and scholarship at Florida Tech.

Provost's Bio

In addition to serving as the Chief Academic Officer, John Z. Kiss is a plant space biologist. He has served as a Principal Investigator on eight spaceflight projects that have involved NASA as well as the European Space Agency and Roscosmos. Dr. Kiss has received grants from NASA, the USDA, NSF and the NIH with a career total of $11 million. His recent research focuses on how gravity and light responses influence each other in plants in order to better understand the cellular signaling mechanisms involved in plant tropisms—directed plant movements in response to external stimuli.

In his former administrative roles, Dr. Kiss worked to hire excellent faculty who exemplify the teacher-scholar model and strengthen the research profile at the university. He also championed equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives in hiring and leadership while launching an award for inclusiveness and diversity.

Dr. Kiss received the NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal “for exceptional contributions in spaceflight research in the fundamental biology of plants in support of NASA’s exploration mission.” In 2021, he received the International Cooperation Medal from the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), and asteroid Kiss 8267 was named in his honor.

Dr. Kiss conducted an experiment on Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle in which the capsule was spun in space to produce lunar gravity.  Click on this link to learn more about his research and his philosophy about student involvement in these projects.  His comments begin at 14min:50sec into the podcast.

To learn more about the Provost, see Dr. John Z. Kiss's faculty profile.

Academic Affairs Offices and Departments

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