Dr. Frederic D. McKenzie

Frederic D. McKenzie, 55, entered into eternal rest on July 12, 2020.

Frederic held a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, a Master’s Degree and a PH.D. in computer engineering, all from the University of Central Florida. Both of his M.S. and Ph.D. work were in artificial intelligence focusing on knowledge representation and model-based diagnostic reasoning. Frederic worked as a student researcher on projects involving the NASA Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center.  He later became a senior scientist at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), where he served as principal investigator for several distributed simulation projects.

Frederic was employed at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA for 21 years. He was a professor and chair of the department of computational modeling and simulation engineering in the Batten College of Engineering and Technology. His research focused on medical modeling and simulation, human behavior representation, and simulation architectures often focusing on aspects of scientific visualization and virtual reality. Most recently, recognizing the critical need by health-care workers for ppe, Frederic led a team of students and faculty in the development of an open-source mask designed with a removable filter for to be used at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD). He held seven U.S. patents.

Frederic leaves to cherish his memories, his wife, Issel McKenzie; two sons, Karl McKenzie, Connor McKenzie and a host of other relatives and friends.

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