When Ken Christensen began his career, he wasn’t chasing a dream job — he was chasing opportunity. “You work hard, you don’t say no, and doors open,” he says, summing up the career philosophy that has carried him through decades of work in computing, research, and education.
Now a University of South Florida professor and soon-to-be an associate dean in the new Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing says that “say yes” mindset has served him – and many of his students – well.
A Career Shaped by Opportunity
Christensen grew up during the space race and nuclear energy boom of the 1960s, captivated by aircraft, atomic power, and rockets. He envisioned working in nuclear power or space tech. But by the time he reached college, that had shifted.
“After Three Mile Island [a 1979 nuclear power plant meltdown in Pennsylvania], I changed my major from nuclear engineering to electrical engineering,” he says. “I remember talking with other students about where computing was going.” That conversation launched a rich career that now includes energy-efficient computing, grant-funded predictive modeling, and teaching in both on-ground and online formats.
“It’s not a fancy story,” he adds. “I was pragmatic. I talked with other students and realized computing was where things were headed.”
His instincts were right. Christensen earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida, and headed to North Carolina State University to earn a master’s and PhD. After 12 years at IBM, he joined USF in 1995, just as the internet took off. His research focused on energy-efficient computing and communication systems, including how networks support microgrids that power homes or businesses independently.
“If you can build a small grid tied to solar, you’re no longer dependent on the utility during a hurricane,” he explains. “It’s all about building systems that are efficient, resilient, and sustainable.”
Additionally, Christensen has 100+ journal and conference publications and 14 U.S. patents, most of them in network communications and switching technologies. The most recent patent focused on selecting communications channels through automation to boost efficiency and cut costs for businesses using complex networks.
Grants with Impact
He has been instrumental in securing and leading grant-funded initiatives that have created opportunities for students in the computing and cybersecurity fields. He helped lead a $1.3 million State of Florida TEAm grant in 2013 to expand enrollment in computer science through a partnership with UCF and FIU. That led to two $5 million NSF S-STEM grants, providing more than $2 million in scholarships to USF students. He also served as co-PI on a $1.3 million CyberFlorida grant to strengthen the cybersecurity workforce pipeline.
Asked how he joined these grant teams, his answer isn’t surprising: “I said yes.”
That openness to opportunity recently led him to a new space: school-based mental health. He’s part of a $950,000 grant from the William T. Grant Foundation, working with researchers from education, health, and computing to help schools better allocate their mental health resources.
“We’re using predictive modeling and simulation to support capacity planning — figuring out how to get the right people in the right place at the right time,” he explains. “It’s a performance evaluation problem at its core.” When asked how he got involved, his answer reflects his philosophy: “I got an email and said yes.”
Preparing Students
While his work and service, including thousands of academic papers read, reviewed, or edited, might sound intense, Christensen keeps things grounded.
“As a student, it never crossed my mind that I would care about my faculty’s personality or personal life. I would want to know that they are competent and that they are prepared to teach,” he said.
And he is.
He brings that practical, future-focused energy to engineering students and to those who are seeking to enter the computing field through USF’s transitionalPathway to Computing Graduate Certificate. He is quick to point out that he sees the fully online program as a launchpad into advanced academic study. It’s rigorous, fast paced, and designed for career changers considering a master’s degree.
“This program isn’t a coding bootcamp,” he said. “It’s a pathway into graduate school. And so far, the evidence is that students who do well in PTC go on to do well in their graduate programs.”
Beyond Campus
Outside of work, Christensen has a long-running fascination with Saab cars. He owns two — a 1987 and a 2010 — and has even visited the factory and museum in Sweden.
“They were built by aircraft engineers right after World War II — engineers who didn’t even have driver’s licenses,” he says. “They had leftover green paint from building bombers, so the first cars were green. I could talk your ear off about Saabs.”
He’s a family man with three grown children and a grandchild. And he shares an affection for his aging dachshund: “Fifteen years old, not many teeth left, mostly deaf and blind — but he still knows when it’s raining and won’t go out,” he says.
For all his accomplishments, Christensen shrugs off praise. “Nothing I’ve done is remarkable. It’s just part of the profession — you show up, you work hard, you help students, and you keep learning.”
And, in his case, you never say no.