David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez is an honors student at Sea Tech Dania Beach who will be graduating this Spring with a bachelor’s of Science in Ocean Engineering from the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering & Computer Science. "I choose ocean engineering due to its diverse application and being from Iowa the ability to work on the water,"Gonzalez said. "I plan on returning this Fall to pursue a Masters and eventually a Ph.D. After that, I plan on either going abroad for work or getting contracted with the Department of Defense."

This semester Gonzalez and the Sea Tech students on his team were tasked with creating a bio-inspired tracking Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). "I loved being a part of the mechanical team that worked on its overall design and fabrication,"Gonzalez said. "I think the thing I'm most proud of was the team's ability to work with one another and deliver a prototype by the end of this semester., Gonzalez said he never had the experience of competing for AUV or Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) in the international Robot X games, which pits universities from all over the world in heated competition maneuvering the AUVs and ASVs they built against those from other universities. Prior to the Covid pandemic, FAU Sea Tech students competed every year. "My most memorable experience at FAU was the first time we got our AUV to move. It was very slow, but it moved! The amount of joy that came along with the feeling that knowing we created that and it yielded results was something that will live with me for the rest of my life."

Among Gonzalez’s many impressive accomplishments was his internship last year at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), in Panama City, Florida. "My internship with NSWC PCD was amazing, to say the least. Working on a live base filled with some of the most brilliant minds was truly a great learning experience. Both from an academic perspective and a workplace perspective,"Gonzalez said. "From an academic perspective, the amount of knowledge I gained from talking with coworkers and reading reports is something I can't even properly quantify. Then from a workplace perspective, I learned how to conduct myself in a professional manner with the help of my advisor and coworkers."

Gonzalez was born in Camanche, Iowa, and moved to Boca Raton when he was 20 years old. In his free time, he enjoys longboarding, playing video games, reading books, playing Blackjack, and hanging out with his friends.