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TOP GRAD: U.S. Air Force captain stationed in Asia earns master’s degree from the University of Florida
By Linda Homewood
Forces of nature and the threat of terrorism are all in a day’s work for Capt. Sean Knute Wade Adcock, who had hopes last fall of making a trip from his active duty service in Okinawa, Japan to attend graduation ceremonies at the University of Florida. Instead, the “Top Grad” pilot found himself moving Air Force planes out of harm’s way and delivering patients to destinations worldwide.
“It was easily one of the busiest weeks of my career: 37 hours in the air, six patients in six days — all critical or needing urgent care,” Adcock said.
Typhoons skirting the Okinawa Islands on the heels of a heightened U.S. terrorist alert, in August 2006, played roles in keeping Adcock from attending his August graduation, but luckily did not detain him from passing with flying colors. In July, after completing two years of studies, Adcock was able to make an important journey to the College of Pharmacy for three days of final exams to earn a master’s in forensic serology and DNA analysis from the UF College of Pharmacy.
Adcock worked on his education through distance learning while serving in the U.S. Air Force in Okinawa, flying medical evacuation missions for service personnel and their dependents. The missions mean transporting patients to any hospital that specializes in the particular medical emergency – in Asia, Hawaii or the continental United States, Adcock said.
UF aerospace engineering alumnus Cmdr. Christopher A. Comeau, of the 909th Air Refueling Squadron at Kadena Air Force Base, acknowledged Adcock’s eligibility for a promotion with the completion of his master’s education, crediting UF faculty for maintaining a high-quality distance program.
“As you might expect, he is one of my finest officers, distinguished recently among 500 of his peer officers as being the best in the entire 18th Wing for the second quarter in 2006,” Comeau said.
“That helps me walk a bit prouder and rib my spouse — an FSU grad — a little harder,” added Comeau, referring to the two Florida universities’ football rivalry.
Reared in Alaska, Adcock graduated in 1998 from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in Japanese. For the next five years, he was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. After the Sept. 11 disaster, Adcock’s unit worked on rotation staying in a recreational vehicle at the airstrip for emergency response to homeland security.
In 2004, one year after his transfer to Okinawa, Adcock entered the UF online forensic science master’s program. In addition to flying the medical missions, Adcock is part of a unit that is responsible for mid-air refueling of U.S. and Japanese military jets. Never being in one place for long made finding quality education with distance access a necessity, Adcock said.
“UF and its easily accessible Web sites are what made it possible for me to continue my education from literally everywhere in the world,” Adcock said.
The University of Florida Forensic Science Program offers master’s degrees and graduate certificates in five areas of forensic studies with coursework completed entirely online from any location. Program details, tuition and admission requirements are available at www.forensicscience.ufl.edu.