Chelsea Hagen
Chelsea Hagen serves as the Consortium Director for the University of South Florida
Institute of Applied Engineering (IAE), where she leads strategic collaboration among
government, industry, and academic partners to advance innovative research and technology
solutions. With more than a decade of experience supporting Department of Defense
programs, Chelsea has built a reputation for delivering complex projects on time and
within budget while fostering strong stakeholder relationships and high-performing
teams.
Prior to becoming Consortium Director, Chelsea served as a Project Manager at IAE,
where she managed multimillion-dollar defense contracts and coordinated execution
across numerous task orders supporting national security initiatives. Her experience
spans program management, systems engineering, risk management, contract administration,
and cross-functional leadership. Before joining USF, she led system safety engineering
efforts for major U.S. Army aviation programs and contributed to systems engineering
and organizational transformation initiatives within the aerospace industry.
Chelsea holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the
University of Alabama in Huntsville and earned a System Safety Engineering Certificate
from the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering. She is passionate
about building partnerships that accelerate innovation, strengthen workforce development,
and deliver meaningful impact for government and industry stakeholders alike.