Florida
‘A buzzing hive’: Florida Tech relaunching underused CAMID space as Vertex, a high-tech hub
During Florida Institute of Technology President John Nicklow’s interview activities leading up to his April 2023 hiring, he toured CAMID, the university’s sprawling 100,494-square-foot manufacturing-design complex on Palm Bay Road.
“Initially, I was so excited. ‘We have this facility out here, and it’s fantastic.’ And then I went inside — and I thought, ‘It’s half empty,’ ” Nicklow recalled.
“And it could be so much more,” he said.
To that end, Florida Tech has relaunched the underutilized Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design as Vertex, a new “applied innovation hub.” Rather than function as a traditional academic building, Vertex’s office space, manufacturing and clean rooms will host business tenants, contracted research and development work, facility rentals, workforce training and more.
“If we do our jobs right, and you come back a year from now, this place is going to be a buzzing hive,” Vertex Executive Director Samantha Miles said, seated in a second-floor conference room inside the complex.
Born in Melbourne Beach and hired in November, Miles previously held leadership positions with a research company and a business school in Dubai in the United Emirates; served as student experience coordinator at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia; and held student-centric posts at Florida Atlantic University.
“Right now, we’re in a big transition period. Because not only are we improving the space and making it more industry-facing, we’re redesigning our labs. We’re redesigning our communal spaces. We’re upgrading our equipment A-to-Z,” Miles said.
As of today, Vertex houses CAMID, the Florida Tech Research Institute and four businesses: the Larsen Motorsports jet dragster racing team; SafeSky Systems USA and Zeal OTM (drone and surveillance companies); and Solar Transport Systems (a solar-powered electric car company).
Miles said unused second-story space above the Larsen Motorsports shop is under construction for future drone testing and for a composites laboratory. This area will also house ASCEND, an acronym for AeroSpace Cybersecurity ENgineering Development. In June, Florida Tech announced it will receive $5 million in state funding for ASCEND.
“A pet peeve of mine is when we’ve not capitalized properly or fully on an asset — in this case, space. And so, that was the idea: How could this best be used to serve our community, to serve the institution?” Nicklow asked.
Intersil donated building, land in 2013
Vertex is located off the intersection of Palm Bay Road and Robert J. Conlan Boulevard, about a 3½-mile drive from the Melbourne-based STEM university campus.
Harris Semiconductor constructed the building in 1977. It later housed Intersil Corp. integrated-circuit and telecommunications facilities for government, defense, aerospace and commercial programs until 2009 — the building was known as Fab 54.
In September 2013, Intersil donated the complex and five acres of land with nearly 300 parking spaces to Florida Tech — a gift valued at $13.1 million. This large-scale donation occurred during a Florida Tech expansion era when the university added facilities and programs on- and off-campus.
Florida Tech’s nearby Panther Bay apartment complex had just opened that year on Palm Bay Road, a little more than a mile to the west. And the new Panthers football team also debuted in September 2013 with a 20-13 win over Stetson at Palm Bay High’s Pirate Stadium. The football program got dropped for fiscal reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida Tech announced a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration in October 2015 to open the former Intersil complex as CAMID. Installed equipment includes computer-driven manufacturing equipment like a prototype fabrication bay, microelectronics tools, water-jet and plasma metal-cutting bays, and 3D printers.
Jason Jones operates SafeSky Systems USA and Zeal OTM, and he builds drones inside Vertex. He displayed a black quadcopter drone that recently flew over flame-blackened wildfire areas near Pasadena, California.
“With what we’re doing and the way the center’s growing, it gives us capabilities that we never thought we’d have,” Jones said.
Vertex to open for tours on March 28
Florida Tech officials will offer free tours of Vertex during an Innovation Ecosystem Expo from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 28.
The address is 2495 Palm Bay Road N.E., and the public is invited. The expo includes an indoor-outdoor showcase featuring booths from Vertex partners, along with 30-minute workshops.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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ORLANDO, Fla. – As hurricane season begins, the Federal Emergency Management Agency could face significant challenges amid budget cuts.
Florida Democratic Congressman Darren Soto expressed his concerns about the potential impact of these changes on the Sunshine State.
“I’m deeply concerned about the attempted changes to FEMA,” Soto said.
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According to CBS News, FEMA lost a third of its staff after 1,800 employees accepted buyout offers from the Trump administration. With an additional 200 probationary workers fired, the agency is shorthanded. CBS News also reported on an internal FEMA review that indicated the agency is “not ready” for hurricane season.
“If a hurricane hits and we don’t get individual relief, it means that you’re not going to get any assistance if you need temporary housing or a loan to fix your house while you’re waiting for the insurance company to pay out, which could be years,” Soto explained.
“It means local governments don’t get reimbursed for cleaning up both the roads and the overtime for law enforcement, firefighters, and our first responders.”
While Congress reviews the Trump administration’s proposal to slash FEMA’s budget, some Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, argue that the agency could be dissolved outright.
“We don’t rely on FEMA. We do it. We lead. We have local partners and the best emergency management team from the local and state level anywhere in the country, bar none,” DeSantis stated in April.
However, Soto disagrees with this perspective.
“It is a boneheaded idea. Look, the states are very good at responding initially, but they don’t have the money to fund the recovery,” he said.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla — Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Tuesday, stating gold and silver coins can be used as legal currency in the state of Florida.
HB 999 states, “the person who claims the sales tax exemption bears the burden for determining whether the gold or silver coin meets a specified definition.” Retailers can determine if they would like to accept the coins as payment in their establishments.
The bill states that the coins must be minted and stamped to indicate their purity. Purchases of the metals would also be exempt from sales taxes.
HB 999 was first filed in Feb. 2025 and was passed by the Senate in April 2025. The House passed the bill on May 23 before it made its way to the governor’s desk on May 27.
The bill will take effect on July 1, 2026.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – University of Florida scientists discovered two different termite species are breeding to create a hybrid termite.
The backstory:
A new University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences study confirms that hybrid termite colonies have been established in South Florida. Researchers told FOX 13 these hybrid termites are the result of Formosan subterranean termites and Asian subterranean termites coexisting and mating with each other.
“This is kind of a crazy story to look into, that the two most destructive termites in the world are hybridizing here in Florida — which is not great news, I’ll be honest with you,” said Thomas Chouvenc, associate professor of urban entomology at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center and lead author of the study. “It’s going to have evolutionary consequences over the long term.”
Studies to learn more about these hybrid termites – and their potential – are still in the works, he added.
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“It’s not going to be a super termite like some would like to call it, but the reality is, even if it’s a mule, it can still give a good kick, I would argue,” Chouvenc told FOX 13. “So the potential (to cause) damage is probably kind of the same as either the Formosan or the Asian subterranean termite.”
In order to have hybrid termites, both parent termites must live in the same area. This UF/IFAS termite map shows a large presence of both Formosan subterranean termites and Asian subterranean termites in southeast Florida.
What they’re saying:
“We went for genetic analysis, and we confirmed that, yes, these winged termites had half the genes from one species and half the other one. And we have been able to confirm this in 2022, in 2023, 2024, and also this year in April, where we collected these hybrid wing termites,” Chouvenc said. “This tells us that now we have established hybrid colonies in the field in southeast Florida.”
That same UF/IFAS map shows the presence of both termite species in the Bay Area, too.
“We expect that it may just be a matter of time before the hybrid termites between the two is also established in Tampa,” Chouvenc said.
According to the map, Asian subterranean termites have been reported in South Tampa close to MacDill Air Force Base near the water. Chouvenc told FOX 13 he suspects they got there after infecting a boat, because his studies have also shown that water vessels can unknowingly spread these insects.
“It is remarkable how much termites can find a way to survive in these boats as long as there’s sufficient amount of wood and there’s enough moisture,” Chouvenc said. “And if you have a boat, you know there’s going to be moisture on your boat somewhere at some point.”
Both boat, and homeowners are encouraged to always keep an eye out for evidence of termites on their property.
Why you should care:
“The hybridization may not be a problem for us in the short term. It may be kind of a quirky biological story to tell,” Chouvenc told FOX 13. “But the reality is, if we look at the very long term, these populations that have mixed genetic lineages may inherit the good genes from both species.”
“It’s a good time to remind homeowners in Florida that termites are part of our reality,” he added.
The Source: FOX 13 reporter Ariel Plasencia conducted the interview and gathered the information for this story.
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