Big Data Analytics Symposium 2026

Winston Schoenfeld

Ph.D. | Vice President of Research and Innovation

Dr. Winston V. Schoenfeld is currently Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Professor of Optics, MSE, and ECE at the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2000, and holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida.

Prior to joining UCF in 2004, Dr. Schoenfeld served as Device Manager at Uniroyal Optoelectronics, working in the area of high brightness light emitting diodes (LEDs), and later in 2003 founded Medical Lighting Solutions, Inc., a supplier of specialty LED lighting solutions for the medical and biomedical industries.

From 2011–2017 he served at UCF as Director of the c-Si Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), establishing the first industry-led U.S. c-Si PV consortium and overseeing more than $10 million in collaborative research projects between consortium members.

At UCF, he has secured more than $24 million in research funding and authored/co-authored more than 140 refereed journal publications in the areas of photovoltaics, the epitaxial growth and properties of oxide semiconductors, oxide and nitride-semiconductor light-emitting diodes, self-assembled quantum dots, e-beam nano-lithography, quantum information/networks, comprehensive modeling of nanowire devices, and solid-state nuclear material detection.

Dr. Schoenfeld is a Fellow of SPIE and a life member of OSA.

Florencio “Eloy”

Hernandez, Ph.D. | Director, School of Data, Mathematical, and Statistical Sciences

Florencio “Eloy” Hernandez serves as Director, guiding the transition to merge the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Statistics and Data Science into a single school. This marks a significant step forward in unifying and advancing UCF’s quantitative sciences.

Hernandez obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (Venezuela) in collaboration with L’Université Franche Comté (France) in 1996. Following that, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research from 1996 to 1998, and as a Visiting Research Scientist at the College of Optics/CREOL (UCF) between 1998 and 2002. In 2002, he joined the Department of Chemistry at UCF as an Assistant Professor and advanced through the ranks to become a full professor. Throughout his career, Hernandez has authored over 100 articles in peer reviewed journals and holds three US patents. He has also contributed to more than 100 national and international conferences (36 as an invited speaker) and has secured over five million dollars in external funding from various national agencies and private sector organizations (including NSF, DOE, DoD, Lockheed Martin, Kraft Food, and IAI) to support his research.

Throughout his career, Hernandez has been dedicated to imparting knowledge, developing critical thinking, and understanding how students from the new generation learn. He is also passionate about designing new strategies to support faculty, students, and staff in his academic community. Several years ago, Hernandez made a firm commitment to become an educational leader and administrator, helping others grow in their roles and achieve their full potential. With this goal in mind, he earned his MBA from UCF in 2018. He participated in several leadership programs at UCF, including the Academic Leadership Academy and the Provost Faculty Fellow program, to gain a deeper understanding of academic administration. During the last seven years, he developed an exceptional interest in institutional academic affairs. In June 2019, he became the Associate Dean of Research and Innovation at the College of Community Innovation and Education at UCF, and in February 2023, he embarked on a new journey as the Inaugural Dean of the College of Science at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi.

Kerstin Hamann

Ph.D. | Senior Associate Dean, College of Sciences

Kerstin Hamann is the Senior Associate Dean of the College of Sciences and Pegasus Professor in the UCF School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (SPSIA). She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science, a Master’s in Political Science, and a Master’s in West European Studies (all from Washington University). She previously served as SPSIA Director (2011–2021).

She twice served as Vice President of the American Political Science Association (APSA). Hamann was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the APSA Section on Political Science Education and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Political Science Education.

Hamann is a recipient of the UCF Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (campus-wide) and an Excellence in Professional Service Award (campus-wide), as well as Research Incentive Awards, teaching awards, and university-wide Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Awards. She served as Provost’s Senior Faculty Fellow, as a Fellow at the UCF Teaching Academy, and as Faculty Fellow to the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning.

In the profession, she has served on the governing bodies of several associations and has chaired and served on numerous APSA and SPSA committees. She serves on the editorial board of several academic journals and a book series.

Hamann’s research interests focus broadly on comparative politics, especially politics in Western Europe with a focus on organized labor and Spanish politics. Her recent research analyzes the political determinants of child marriage globally. She has also published extensively in the field of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.