When it comes to civic leadership, 约翰尼·加西亚 is on board.
Garcia, in fact, is on countless boards.
He serves on the boards of the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, 朴茨茅斯伙伴关系, STARBASE Victory and the Portsmouth Police Department PAL Program. 去年12月，. Glenn Youngkin appointed Garcia to the state's 建模 and 模拟 Advisory Council.
He is also vice chair for Small Business at the Hampton Roads Chamber, an advisory board member for the 建模、分析 and 模拟 Center (VMASC), president of ODU's Batten College of Engineering & 技术 Executive Advisory Board and president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of 弗吉尼亚海岸.
For Garcia, community service is his "compass."
"My purpose is to be the difference maker in the personal, 家庭, professional and spiritual lives of enough people to make a positive difference in the world,他解释道.
加西亚是 思米公司., a local and highly successful modeling and simulation company. Robots developed by 思米公司. are included in the 巴里艺术博物馆's exhibition, "Motion/Emotion: Exploring Affect from Automata to Robots," which will be on view from Feb. 10日至12月. 31.
去年秋天，加西亚11年的博士学位.D. received the ODU Distinguished 校友 Award.
"As a very active alumni, I am so proud of what we have created at ODU," he said. "The future is great for our community, for industry collaboration and opportunities for our students and faculty."
从油田到科技
Garcia couldn't have grown up further from the world of technology.
As the son of Mexican migrant workers, Garcia's first job - even before he was a teenager - was picking cotton with his 家庭 in Lubbock, 德州.
A five-year stint in the Navy put him on the track to 教育, introduced him to modeling and simulation and gave him a permanent home in Hampton Roads.
Garcia worked for more than a dozen years in the industry, advancing to chief technical officer at General Dynamics before founding 思米公司. in 2007.
改变人生的教育
Less than two years before founding SimIS 公司., Garcia entered the computational modeling and simulation doctoral program at the Batten College of Engineering and 技术.
"The importance of my experience at ODU is one of the reasons for my success," he said. "A new research center at the VMASC provided me the platform to create 思米公司., my first company, and gave me the tools and skills needed to make my ventures successful. The experience at ODU was life-changing."
Today, he pays back those who helped him along the way. Garcia is noted for hiring veterans - a Virginian-Pilot article noted that more than 85% of SimIS employees are veterans - and ODU graduates.
"Dr. 约翰尼·加西亚 has been a passionate supporter, cheerleader and an integral part of the Batten College of Engineering and 技术 家庭, 首先是作为研究生, now as an alum and a board member,伊夫特哈鲁丁汗说, interim dean of the Batten College. "His energy is infectious and his engagement with ODU has been a force for good."
Garcia can often be found presenting lectures on the importance of 教育, 多样性 和创业.
"We have to be involved in our community and ODU is my community," he said. "The main reason a community is successful is because we look out for our own."
