J. William (Bill) Box

UWF degree and year of graduation:
BS Biology, 1969

Why did you choose to attend UWF?
I attended college because I had thoughts of joining the military. I figured if I did, then I wanted to go in as an officer. I attended my first two years of college at MIT and then decided that I wanted to take courses geared toward pre-med. I was raised in Pensacola so decided to go to UWF and major in biology.

What were your goals as a student?
My main goal was very simple. I had to get through school to go into the military as an officer. If I then went to med school, maybe I would serve in the military in a medical role.

What is your best memory from your days at UWF?
During my spare time, getting lost in the UWF library and reading all of the things that I had never been exposed to.

Who was your favorite professor and why?
Dr. John Baylis. I took an evolution course from him and he recognized that I had some potential that others had not seen before. Later in life I had dinner with him and he did not remember me at all, but I do remember him!

What do you do now?
I run two companies, one being an engineering firm and the other a development company. In the engineering firm we do fabrication for aerospace contractors and also manufacture some medical component for medical devices.

With the other company we are developing a series of small turbines for military applications as well as exploring commercial applications as well.

I have 14 or 15 patents. I guess I am a biologist-engineer-inventor. As far as I know I am the only biology major to become certified by the State of Florida as a mechanical engineer. I’m proud of that distinction.

How did UWF help you progress to this point?
Attending UWF allowed me to get out of college and work. I kind of looked at college as something I had to do, and UWF was there for that.

Outside of working, what activities and organizations are you currently involved in and what are your hobbies?
Currently I am building my own sports car from scratch. I also enjoy building computer controlled machinery.

How do you stay connected to UWF?
Over the years I have been visited by UWF Foundation staff as well as having dinner with former President Marx. I also read all of the mailings that come to my home.
What advice do you have to current and future UWF students?
If you don’t know what you want to do in life….don‘t worry. I go with the flow and still don’t really know what I want to do in life.

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