Embry-Riddle Announces Partnership with Boeing
Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University and Boeing recently announced a new partnership that will bring 400 high-paying jobs to Volusia County through 2026, according to a media release. New employees at this state-of-the-art center of excellence will perform engineering work for Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security aircraft programs and advanced technology capabilities.
Boeing will lease the entire Cici and Hyatt Brown Center for Aerospace Technology, located in Embry‑Riddle’s Research Park, on the university’s Daytona Beach campus. The center, which has been under construction for the past two years, will open for business by fall of 2024, the release states.
By year’s end, Boeing has committed to employ 200 highly trained workers at its new facility, aptly named Boeing Daytona Beach. The other 200 roles are set to be filled over the course of 2025-2026.
“Today is a momentous day — not just for Embry‑Riddle or for the city of Daytona Beach, but for all of Florida,” said Mori Hosseini, chairman of Embry‑Riddle’s board of trustees, in the release. “Four-hundred people and their loved ones will live and work here, invest in our local economy and, more broadly, in the future of aviation and aerospace. It’s an incredible impact, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the State of Florida, and Cici and Hyatt Brown.”
As part of its transition into the area, Boeing will make a $100,000 investment into several Volusia County nonprofit organizations.
Later this fall, Boeing will also launch the DreamLearners Program in Volusia County Schools. The award-winning program offers students the opportunity to participate in hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs, and learn about careers in aerospace, the release states.
According to Embry‑Riddle President P. Barry Butler, community impact has always been a priority for the university — both in developing the next generation of highly skilled workers to step into high-paying positions, but also in creating a hub where the business and education sectors can meet and collaborate.
“The launch of our Research Park in 2017 marked a new era for Embry‑Riddle,” Butler said in the release. “By leveraging corporate partnerships, we’ve created a career pipeline that initially funnels students toward hands-on learning opportunities and, ultimately, fills jobs in the critical sectors of aviation, aerospace and STEM-related fields.”
According to a 2021 economic assessment, Embry‑Riddle’s Research Park generated $137 million in total economic impact in Florida, increasing the facility’s previous impact, reported in 2019, by 50%. In that same assessment, the park’s cornerstone facility, the John Mica Engineering and Aerospace Innovation Complex, also known as the MicaPlex, was also shown to have directly created more than 120 jobs with an average salary of above $78,000, the release states.