Profile
P. Barry Butler serves as president of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which educates nearly 34,000 students at campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, and through an award-winning Worldwide Campus. He became Embry-Riddle’s sixth president on Feb. 14, 2017. Since then, he has advanced industry and government collaboration to expand the study of aerospace cybersecurity, aviation data analytics and autonomous vehicles. These partnerships strengthen discovery-driven education and the contribution of two new centers of excellence: the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle and the Center for Aerospace Resilience. Butler has also expanded the university’s research park, home to emerging as well as established entrepreneurs and business leaders. Butler, an advocate for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, previously served as Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Iowa, a position that followed ten years as Dean of the College of Engineering. He has served as a visiting research fellow and consultant to government and private R&D organizations. The current chair of the Association of Independent Technologies Universities, Butler earned a bachelor’s, master’s in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a licensed pilot and glider pilot.Sessions