Teaching Team

Thomas O’Neal, Ph.D. – UCF Associate Vice President of Research and Commercialization and director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Nationally recognized as an “entrepreneur in the business of helping entrepreneurs,” He is dedicated to creating and supporting sustainable innovation ecosystems in Florida. Dr. O’Neal’s efforts focus on building strong research programs at UCF and the transfer and commercialization of research results into the marketplace. He serves as the Executive Director of the UCF’s Business Incubation Program (UCFBIP) and oversees the Office of Technology Transfer, the Venture Accelerator, and GrowFL, Florida’s Economic Gardening Institute. Under Dr. O’Neal’s Leadership, the UCF UCFBIP expanded to seven locations, and earned “Incubator of the Year” in 2004 and “Incubator Network of the Year” in 2013 by the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), where he currently serves as the board chair.