A life-long learner and Miami-Dade College emeritus professor of physics, Dr. Carl Stocker’s transformational gift to FIU has opened up new pathways of exploration for generations of FIU students.
The Stocker AstroScience Center will expand research and educational opportunities for the hundreds of students who take astronomy courses annually and offer community members up-close encounters with the stars through public events. Stocker’s thoughtful and purposeful generosity has allowed for the construction of a four-story observatory and a classroom/laboratory. It also provides a home for the SARA lab, a consortium of 10 universities using, through FIU, a remote observatory at Kitts Peak in New Mexico. This facility is the first building to be constructed through private donations since the Green Library and the Wertheim Performing Arts Center.
Today Stocker is a member of the advisory board of FIU’s School of Integrated Science and Humanity. One of Florida’s former Scrabble champions, he remains a competitive player and director of the local Scrabble Club, which he founded.
