UCF and the Big 12 unveiled the 2026 schedule in January, with every game initially scheduled on Saturday. Two of those games are now shifted to Friday:

• Oct. 30 vs. Baylor (Mission X Space Game)
• Nov. 20 vs. Iowa State (Senior Knight)

TV and streaming designations and kickoff times will be revealed at a later date.

2026 Schedule & Game Day Themes

-Home games in bold-

9/3 vs. Bethune-Cookman (Season-Opener)
9/12 at Pittsburgh
9/19 vs. Georgia State (Family Weekend)
9/26 vs. TCU (Big 12 Opener)
10/3 at Houston
10/10 at Oklahoma State
10/24 vs. BYU (Homecoming)
10/30 vs. Baylor (Mission X Space Game)
11/7 at Kansas
11/14 vs. Arizona State
11/20 vs. Iowa State (Senior Knight)
11/28 at Colorado

The Big 12 Championship Game is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4, and will once again be played at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Dallas, Texas.

Under the direction of head coach Scott Frost, UCF carries early momentum into the 2026 season after landing quarterback Alonza Barnett III and a strong group of transfers through the portal. The Knights also secured a pair of four-star high school recruits, highlighting a solid overall class.

TICKETS

Season tickets for the 2026 campaign can be purchased at . Single game tickets are not yet for sale.

WHY WE BOUNCE

The 2026 campaign will mark the 20th season that UCF football plays its home games in Acrisure Bounce House. To recognize UCF’s 20 years of Acrisure Bounce House,  a season-long celebration of the countless memories made inside the place Knight Nation calls home. The 2026 campaign is more than just another season. It is a chance to tell our story.

We want to know why YOU bounce. If you’d like to help us tell our story of the bonds built through game day experiences, , and be ready to include photos.

The mission will include multiple health studies on the four astronauts to determine how radiation, microgravity, isolation and other factors impact their physical health, mind and behavior — crucial information that will help pave the way for future lunar surface missions and develop our understanding about humans’ deep space capabilities.

Thanks to new technology and modern medicine, researchers have better ways to understand the impact of space flight on human health.

“Artemis II is both a historic and biomedically important mission,” says  Emmanuel Urquieta, the UCF College of Medicine’s vice chair for aerospace medicine and director of the university’s new Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine (CASEEM).

“For the first time since Apollo 17, humans will travel beyond the Earth’s magnetic field. That matters enormously from a research perspective, because now we have technology to thoroughly understand the health impact of embarking into deep space. The knowledge gained from Artemis II will help shape the future of safe human space exploration and drive innovations that can benefit medicine here on Earth and help us start preparing us for a mission to Mars.”

The Space Coast’s College of Medicine

As the closest medical school to the Kennedy Space Center, UCF’s College of Medicine is charting a new frontier in healthcare as humans prepare for longer missions to the moon and Mars, and commercial space flights take more civilians into space.

The goal: explore how factors such as microgravity, radiation and isolation impact the human body in space and how that knowledge can drive innovation into diagnostics, treatment and disease prevention on Earth.

To further those efforts, UCF’s CASEEM includes faculty experts in medicine, engineering, computer science, psychology, arts and educational leadership. This interdisciplinary group will work together to research and develop new technologies for keeping space travelers healthy, as well as soldiers on military missions, deep sea explorers and mountain climbers.

What Lies Ahead for Artemis II’s Astronauts

• Understanding Radiation Exposure Effects

Traveling to the moon — which humans haven’t returned to since 1972 — means astronauts will go beyond Earth’s Van Allen belts, which protect humans from cosmic radiation and solar storms. Space travelers to the International Space Station stay within Earth’s magnetic field. During their 10-day mission, Artemis II is anticipated to break Apollo 13’s record (248,655 miles) for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth.

Fifty years ago, researchers could do little more than measure radiation. This time will be different, says UCF’s William “Ed” Powers, chief medical officer of CASEEM and the former chief of NASA’s Medical Operations branch where he was a primary medical support physician for six shuttle missions.

“Medical knowledge, technology and the ability to diagnose disease have advanced significantly since then,” he says.

Physicians and scientists will be able to determine how radiation impacts cells, organs, blood proteins and other molecular functions.

Artemis crew members will carry dosimeters in their pockets that measure radiation exposure in real time. Monitors inside the Orion spacecraft will also gather radiation information throughout the flight for future analysis.

An astronaut suffering a medical condition in space is always a concern, but deep space travel brings additional challenges, Powers explains. While astronauts on the International Space Station can be returned to Earth in about a day, as happened recently when a crew member became ill, returning from the moon may take several days or more.

“None of the four astronauts on this flight is a physician,” Powers says. “And a space capsule certainly doesn’t have the same equipment you’d have in a hospital emergency room.”

• Does Space Flight Reduce Immunity?

Previous research has shown that spaceflight missions alter the and reactivate dormant viruses in the human body. As part of the Artemis II mission, NASA will conduct an AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response) experiment that will investigate how deep space impacts specific cells and tissues as well as some vital bodily functions including immune system responses.

For this experiment, NASA-funded scientists created “organ-on-a-chip” devices that contain each astronaut’s bone marrow cells. This technology allows scientists to examine molecular changes and cell function.

“With this technology we can see how the body responds to stimuli across the whole mission,” says Jennifer Fogarty, CASEEM’s chief scientist who came to UCF after serving as chief scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program. “This capability will help us map the body’s molecular changes with tissue/organ function and much better predictive capabilities.”

As the “organ-on-a-chip” technology advances and proves accurate, it will allow NASA physicians to provide personalized and proactive medicine to astronauts because they will be able to predict a crew member’s biological response to space flight. Such technology could be used before NASA sends an actual crew to Mars. The space agency could place the crew’s personalized chips on unmanned flights to the Red Planet to better understand the potential health risks for each individual.

“It’s basically sending small versions of astronauts to Mars before we send astronauts to Mars,” Fogarty says.

• Teamwork and Behavior

Selecting an astronaut crew that will perform well under the stresses of space flight is always a top NASA priority. But deep space missions present additional personnel challenges, including communication delays, increased isolation and resource constraints.

Astronauts on moon and Mars missions also must live in a capsule that is significantly smaller than the International Space Station, highlighting the need for crews to work together seamlessly and be able to manage any conflicts.

The Artemis flight will conduct an experiment called ARCHeR (Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness) that will evaluate how astronauts perform individually and as a team during the mission.

They will wear sleep and movement monitors before, during and after the mission to evaluate their cognition and team dynamics.

“You watch the astronauts on TV, and it looks so easy,” Fogarty says. “But human performance is critical in space. You have multiple duties to conduct and you’re always pushing operations. So we need to understand how the team performs, their reserve and resilience. The mission itself is the experiment.”

Star Nona 2026

UCF’s leading space medicine experts, valued strategic partners and an astronaut who holds NASA’s record for spacewalks will gather April 10 in Lake Nona’s Medical City to discuss how they can work together to keep space travelers healthy and use that research to create groundbreaking clinical innovations on Earth.

The “Star Nona 2026” event is led by the Lake Nona Research Council, which is focused on encouraging interdisciplinary scientific partnerships between industry, academia and healthcare.

The council includes physicians and researchers from UCF, Orlando Health, AdventHealth, the Florida Space Institute, the Orlando VA Medical Center, Nemours Children’s Health, business and industry.

For more information, including how to register for the event, visit www.ucf.edu/news/progressing-the-final-frontier-of-medicine-space.

Big ideas don’t wait — and neither do the researchers behind them.

The 2026 Reach for the Stars honorees — six UCF assistant professors — are already making a substantial impact on their respective fields through meaningful research and creative work that extends far beyond campus, with national and international influence.

Across disciplines, their work and research reflect a shared mission to advance ideas into impact — uncovering what shapes ethical decision-making in the workplace; exploring the origins of our solar system; developing computational solutions to meet future energy demands; designing more intuitive and reliable software experiences; strengthening education for students with disabilities; and engineering faster, more energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

Together, this brilliant group represents the kind of bold, forward-thinking innovation UCF continues to champion.

Each year, the Reach for the Stars awards recognize early-career faculty opening new doors for what’s possible across their fields. The prestigious award is second only to Pegasus Professor as UCF’s highest faculty honor.

In recognition of their achievements, each honoree will receive a $10,000 annual research grant for three years in addition to the distinction of being an award recipient.

The UCF community is cordially invited to come and congratulate the recipients from 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, in the Pegasus Ballroom at the Student Union as part of the 2026 Founders’ Day Faculty Honors Celebration.

This year’s Reach for the Stars honorees are:

John Bush

Assistant professor of management in the College of Business

What’s something few people know about you?

Working at Ů��AV is a homecoming for me. Growing up in Florida, I had the opportunity to experience all the great things this state and its universities have to offer. And while my younger self might not have predicted I’d end up in Black & Gold, UCF and Orlando have been incredible homes.

What does your research focus on?

I study when, why, and how employees cross ethical lines, and what role leaders, management policies, and organizational systems play in those decisions. A big part of what makes my work unique is that I focus on an important puzzle: how things we typically think of as “good” can promote unethical behavior. We tend to assume that well-intentioned management practices will always lead to good outcomes. However, my research shows that’s not always the case, and the unintended consequences can be significant.

What drives you to take on this challenge?

Before I entered academia, I worked in corporate finance and accounting. That experience meaningfully shaped how I think about ethics in organizations.

There’s a common assumption that unethical behavior is a “bad apple” problem, or rather, that it comes down to an individual’s character or integrity. But as my work has shown, it’s often a “bad barrel” problem. The environments organizations create, the systems they put in place and the ways managers approach leadership profoundly influence how people behave.

What makes UCF the right place for you to do this kind of work?

I’m a firm believer that the people make the place — and the faculty, staff and students of UCF are truly what make it such a great place to be. The College of Business has a management department full of colleagues who are both excellent scholars and genuinely collaborative people.

What’s next for you or your research?

I’m excited about several new directions, each of which builds upon my existing work. I’m particularly interested in examining more nuanced, less studied drivers of ethical decision-making. For example, what happens when someone becomes an accidental witness to unethical behavior? How does that experience shape what they do next and the moral burden that’s placed on them?

Ana Carolina de Souza-Feliciano

Assistant professor at the

What’s something few people know about you?

While many people know I’m not afraid to face challenges, few know that I’m afraid of roller coasters.

What does your research focus on?

I study the small bodies of our solar system (objects such as asteroids, Trojans and trans-Neptunian objects) from an observational perspective to try to understand how our planetary system formed and evolved. The small bodies that remain from the early solar system still preserve clues about the materials and conditions that existed when planets formed. By observing their surfaces, compositions and physical properties, we can piece together the history of how the solar system came to be.

What drives you to take on this challenge?

The solar system still holds many unanswered questions, and every observation has the potential to reveal something completely new about its history. I’m especially motivated by the idea that these small and distant objects preserve a record of the earliest stages of planetary formation, and since we still don’t know much about them, we need to better characterize these groups to have a chance of getting closer to important scientific answers.

What makes UCF the right place for you to do this kind of work?

��AV provides a dynamic research environment with strong collaborations and access to facilities that help me achieve my scientific goals.

What’s next for you or your research?

I aim to expand my research group and continue developing new projects exploring the composition and physical properties of small bodies in the outer solar system.

Shyam Kattel

Assistant professor of physics in the College of Sciences

What’s something few people know about you?

I enjoy long, quiet walks or runs. It’s when I do my best thinking and come up with new ideas for teaching and research.

What does your research focus on?

My research group is interested in understanding chemical processes through computer simulations. These chemical processes are central to many energy and fuel generation and energy conversion processes. We are exploring the design of catalytic materials that selectively convert abundant small molecules, such as CO2, N2, NO3, O2 and H2O, to a wide variety of synthetic chemicals and fuels in a carbon-neutral way to fulfill the growing energy demand of the future.

What drives you to take on this challenge?

I’m a huge advocate of sustainability. I’m fascinated by the rapid development and advancement of modern computers, machine learning (ML) and AI, which have enabled us to understand complex science on a time scale that’s impossible with traditional trial and error methods. This unique opportunity to utilize supercomputers with ML and AI to tackle energy and sustainability challenges keeps me awake at night.

What makes UCF the right place for you to do this kind of work?

By training, I’m a physicist, but my research focuses on looking into chemical reactions. UCF’s physics department is among a handful of institutions in the U.S. with a very strong catalysis program. This allows me to collaborate within the department and teach a physics course, which I enjoy. Additionally, the university’s large size and research facilities present opportunities to recruit the best students and to collaborate both within and beyond the department.

What’s next for you or your research?

My lab is developing capabilities to integrate ML and AI into our methods for understanding structure-materials property relationships across a large set of materials, driving the development of the next generation of clean and sustainable energy and fuel generation technologies. Our goal is to develop an integrated materials design framework that anyone can use for their research and for teaching research-based undergraduate and graduate courses.

Kevin Moran

Assistant professor of computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, director of the Software Automation, Generation and Engineering Research Lab and affiliate of the Cyber Security and Privacy faculty cluster initiative

What’s something few people know about you?

I was a Division 1 rower as an undergraduate at the College of the Holy Cross. Our team competed in the national championship regatta my senior year and was ranked among the top 20 teams in the country.

What does your research focus on?

If you’ve ever been frustrated by glitches in apps or websites, my students, collaborators and I aim to give engineers the tools they need to build more reliable software. My group has pioneered work in user interface engineering, focusing on user-facing systems and making software easier to use.

What drives you to take on this challenge?

Since I was young, I’ve enjoyed building things, taking them apart and understanding how they work. I view software as the ultimate engineering medium, where abstract ideas can quickly become reality. What excites me most is tackling the complexity of modern software systems by developing tools that engineers can easily adopt. Seeing those tools save engineers hours or days of time is truly fun.

What makes UCF the right place for you to do this kind of work?

UCF has been an excellent place to grow as an early-career researcher. I’ve received invaluable mentorship from department and college leadership, as well as senior faculty. The university’s connection to the local tech industry is also exciting, and I look forward to forming connections with local companies to put our tools into practice.

What’s next for you or your research?

Software engineering is rapidly shifting toward agentic workflows, where AI-powered agents perform engineering tasks autonomously. While this increases speed, it also introduces complex errors that are harder to spot. My lab aims to understand these software engineering agents, improve their reliability and create tools that help developers use them effectively.

Soyoung Park

Assistant professor of teacher education in the College of Community Innovation and Education (CCIE)

What’s something few people know about you?

When I travel for conferences, I love to explore local bookstores and cafes.

What does your research focus on?

My research focuses on transforming educator preparation to better support students with disabilities. Supported by more than $3.75 million in U.S. Department of Education funding, my work prepares special education teachers, speech-language pathologists and school psychologists to serve students with autism spectrum disorders and high-intensity needs. I also develop evidence-based mathematics interventions for students with learning disabilities.

What drives you to take on this challenge?

Mathematics remains an area where both research and practice need stronger alignment. Teachers need accessible, evidence-based guidance on how to teach effectively, but it isn’t always easy to find or interpret. Students need consistent access to high-quality instruction that meets their individual needs. I’m interested in helping bridge that gap so that research can better support educators and the students they serve.

What makes UCF the right place for you to do this kind of work?

UCF’s strong infrastructure for research and collaboration further amplifies my work. Support from the Office of Research has been instrumental in advancing my research development, grant capacity and interdisciplinary collaboration. As a CCIE research fellow and affiliated faculty member at the Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute, I have valuable opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration across colleges.

What’s next for you or your research?

Our next project focuses on synthesizing large data sets to help educators identify mathematics interventions that align with their students’ needs. We’re also exploring how AI can support this process through pedagogical AI chatbots and interactive web-based platforms that guide educators in interpreting and applying research evidence in practice. Ultimately, this work aims to strengthen both instruction and student outcomes at scale.

Hao Zheng

Assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science

What’s something few people know about you?

I enjoy traveling, especially visiting national parks and exploring new cities. Each trip helps me recharge, and I often come back with fresh perspectives and new ideas.

What does your research focus on?

My research focuses on making today’s AI systems faster, more energy-efficient and more reliable by bridging the gap between algorithms and hardware. AI has reshaped daily life, but behind the scenes, modern AI models require enormous amounts of computation and energy. My work explores new ways to co-design hardware and software so AI can run efficiently, especially for irregular or sparse data structures, such as graphs.

What drives you to take on this challenge?

I’m driven by both the importance and the difficulty of the problem. We’re at the turning point of rethinking future computing systems. Defining a new computing paradigm, despite its challenges, can have a far-reaching impact across society. Our research can fundamentally reshape how future computers are designed and how AI is deployed at scale.

What makes UCF the right place for you to do this kind of work?

Ů��AV is an ideal place to pursue bold research ideas, supported by strong momentum in engineering, computing and interdisciplinary collaboration. The university also offers an exceptional and supportive community of mentors and collaborators, including students, who set a high bar for excellence. I’ve been fortunate to work with many outstanding colleagues, and those experiences have shaped how I think about building a high-impact research program and growing as a scholar.

What’s next for you or your research?

Next, we’re expanding our work toward real-world deployments, including applications in healthcare and robotics. We’re also continuing to strengthen our research in building processors for AI and scientific computing so that our ideas can translate into improvements in performance and energy efficiency.

UCF’s leading space medicine experts, valued strategic partners and an astronaut who holds NASA’s record for spacewalks will gather April 10 in Lake Nona’s Medical City to discuss how they can work together to keep space travelers healthy and use that research to create groundbreaking clinical innovations on Earth.

The “Star Nona 2026” event is led by the Lake Nona Research Council, which is focused on encouraging interdisciplinary scientific partnerships between industry, academia and healthcare.

The council includes physicians and researchers from UCF, Orlando Health, AdventHealth, the , the Orlando VA Medical Center, Nemours Children’s Health, business and industry.

Star Nona 2026 Event Details

“Our goal is to bring together space medicine leaders and experts from academia, medicine and the space industry to find more ways we can work together to research the health impacts of space flight and how our discoveries can also improve healthcare on Earth,” says Michal Masternak, Ů��AV professor of medicine.

An anti-aging and cancer researcher, Masternak leads the Lake Nona Research Council’s space medicine research group. He also leads the College of Medicine’s program that processes astronaut samples so physicians and scientists can analyze the immediate impact of space travel on astronauts’ bodies.

Sessions will include presentations on:

• Microgravity and radiation exposure and their impact on human physical and mental health
• How space travel affects muscles, bones, cells, vision and the brain
• Protecting muscles in space (led by AdventHealth researchers)
• Next generation of the space station
• New technologies for diagnosing how space travel impacts human cells.

These presentations will feature UCF researchers from medicine, , and . UCF graduate students and post-doctoral scientists will also present research posters on space medicine.

The plenary speaker is NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam, a U.S. Navy captain who completed four spacewalks during space shuttle Discovery’s 2006 mission to the International Space Station.

The Space Coast’s College of Medicine

Located 45 miles west of the Space Coast and Kennedy Space Center, UCF’s College of Medicine is the perfect partner to chart a new frontier in healthcare as humans prepare for longer missions to the moon and Mars, and commercial space flights take more civilians into space.

The goal: explore how factors such as microgravity, radiation and isolation impact the human body in space and how that knowledge can drive innovation into diagnostics, treatment and disease prevention on Earth.

To further those efforts, UCF has created a new Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine (CASEEM), which includes UCF faculty experts in medicine, engineering, computer science, psychology, arts and educational leadership. This interdisciplinary group will work together to research and develop new technologies for keeping space travelers healthy, as well as soldiers on military missions, deep sea explorers and mountain climbers.

About the Lake Nona Research Council

Edward Ross, the College of Medicine’s chair of medicine and assistant dean for research, leads the Lake Nona Research Council.

Ross says Star Nona and the partnerships it creates will help solidify UCF and Medical City’s reputation as a premier center for space medicine.

“When people think of keeping space visitors healthy, we want them to immediately think UCF.” — Edward Ross, College of Medicine’s chair of medicine

“As a university, UCF was born to create the workforce to send humans to the moon,” he says. “We’re continuing that legacy with space medicine. When people think of keeping space visitors healthy, we want them to immediately think UCF.”

Event Registration

Star Nona 2026 will be held at the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m. Star Nona is made possible by support and sponsorships from Dr. Jogi Pattisapu and the Hydrocephalus and Neuroscience Institute, Tavistock Development Company and the Florida Space Institute. To sign up to attend the event, please visit .

Nov. 13, 2025, 3:55 p.m. Ů��AV ’22 stands on a balcony at Blue Origin headquarters in Cape Canaveral, Florida, her eyes fixed on the horizon at Launch Complex 36 — the very launchpad her grandfather helped construct as a NASA engineer in the 1960s.

Engines ignite. Gloria’s breath catches as she wills the rocket to climb. Then she hears those crucial words: “Liftoff detected. New Glenn has cleared the tower.”

The Blue Origin rocket scientist has just witnessed the launch of her first NASA mission. It’s a goal the Orlando native has dreamed about since childhood; one marked by visions of the space shuttle soaring upward as she commuted to school and the roar of sonic booms when it returned to Earth’s atmosphere.

What makes this milestone even more rewarding is the determination, the hard work and the relentless tenacity it took her to get here.

“Your dreams are possible,” Gloria says. “All you need is passion and persistence. As long as you keep going, you can do anything in this world. You’re always going to end up where you’re meant to be.”

“You’ll Never Graduate”

Gloria’s college journey began outside of Florida despite the numerous space-related research and partnerships available in her backyard at UCF. Like many of her peers, she thought she had to branch out from her hometown to gain the most out of her college experience.

She realized quickly she had made a mistake.

Not long after arriving at the University in Texas at Arlington, an academic advisor told her she would never graduate with an engineering degree if she started her academic career in algebra. She would need an additional 1.5 years of math and science classes alone before she could set foot in an engineering class.

Rather than catch up on the mathematics education and credits she needed to pursue engineering, he advised she’d be better off going after “something more realistic for her current path like a business degree.”

“As an impressionable 18-19 year old, you listen to your adviser, right?” she says. “I just remember dropping the business class a few weeks in because I thought, ‘This is not what I want to do, and I don’t care how long it takes me, I’m going to do get an engineering degree.’ ”

Opportunity Comes Calling

She course-corrected and enrolled in the program at Valencia College. Valencia provided her the academic resources and tutoring she needed to overcome her initial struggles in math and science.

In 2018 ahead of transferring to UCF, she applied to the Central Florida Physics Research Exchange Program, a former initiative for undergraduate students to participate in a 10-week funded research project over the summer with UCF’s physics department.

She remembers doubting her chances of acceptance. After all, she was an aspiring aerospace engineer, not a true physics major. But the program came with the promise of $5,000, and for someone who was working her way through school, what did she have to lose?

As part of her application, she wrote a compelling letter to Professor of Physics William Kaden about his space weathering effects research for NASA and how much she’d love the chance to work in his lab.

The letter worked. Kaden would go on to become Gloria’s mentor throughout her 2.5 years at UCF and kickstarted her hand in research that yielded projects on finding water on the moon, collaborations with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), work with UCF’s and a co-authorship on a NASA-funded paper published in 2021 in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology.

“The world of research at UCF really provided me the actual work experience and opportunities to turn me into an engineer and a candidate that these companies sought after.” — Ů��AV ’22, Blue Origin engineer

“The world of research at UCF really provided me the actual work experience and opportunities to turn me into an engineer and a candidate that these companies sought after,” says Gloria, who keeps her senior-year textbook Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion, Second Edition on her office desk. “I worked with industry hardware, a vacuum chamber that’s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at NASA, flew a payload on a Masten Space Systems Xodiac rocket to track rocket plumes during launch and landing on the moon. I was a published author before I graduated. It all was such an amazing opportunity. That was the first time when I felt like I was actually doing the work I had dreamed about. The things I was exposed to at UCF really  just opened my eyes onto what’s available out there in terms of my career.”

Building a Road to Space

Since graduating in 2022, Gloria launched over a dozen successful missions across three launch-vehicle programs (Atlas V, Delta Heavy, Vulcan Centaur) at United Launch Alliance as a propulsion systems test engineer.

In January 2025, she joined the Blue Origin team as an integrated vehicle test engineer, specializing in the integration, testing, refurbishment, and optimization of complex fluid and pneumatic systems for her fourth launch vehicle, New Glenn.

In other words, she validates the build of the rocket, ensuring its integrity and functionality through every build stage before launch.

She is energized every day by the opportunities available to her to grow and learn within the company, who in addition to their rocket program is also developing a lunar lander and space station.

“This work matters. It’s the future.” — Ů��AV

“We’re all working together for the benefit of Earth, and you feel it every day you go to work at Blue Origin,” she says. “This work matters. It’s the future, it’s the next generation launch vehicle, and it just plays a hand in Blue’s mission statement that we want to build a road to space.”

Every milestone they hit — like the recent successful launch and first-time landing of the New Glenn rocket that ferried NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft to begin their journey to Mars — helps get them closer to that goal.

While current generations may not see it, she knows the work she is doing at Blue Origin is developing the infrastructure for future generations who will one day consistently travel to and live on other celestial bodies.

“The stars are the final frontier. It calls to us,” Gloria says. “You can’t really explain it, but when you look up at the sky, it kind of touches your soul. It just makes me feel more connected to something that’s so far away and so beautiful. It’s everything.”

When Alain Berinstain talks about space, he doesn’t just talk about rockets or research missions — he talks about people, partnerships and the power of doing things that haven’t been done before.

That daring mindset is exactly what he’s bringing to his new role as director of the (FSI) at UCF, which supports space research, development and education activities, along with the development of Florida’s space economy — civil, defense and commercial.

A business and research strategist, Berinstain brings more than 30 years of experience in the space industry, driving strategic growth and domestic and international partnerships. He officially stepped into the role in December of last year, ready to elevate FSI into a nationally recognized institute while strengthening UCF’s research profile, supporting Florida’s rapidly growing space economy and driving even greater global impact.

“Being bold is having ideas and doing things that nobody has ever done before,” Berinstain says. “If you do that in a collaborative way, then — pardon the pun — the sky’s the limit.”

A Career Built on Making Connections

Berinstain’s path to UCF wasn’t a straight line — and that’s by design. Trained as a chemist, he earned a bachelor’s degree in honors chemistry from Concordia University, a master’s degree in space studies from the International Space University and a doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of Ottawa. Early in his career, he saw space as a powerful platform for science, but also one that demanded collaboration across disciplines, sectors and borders.

From 1997 to 2013, Berinstain held leadership roles at the Canadian Space Agency, including director of planetary exploration and space astronomy. There, he managed annual budgets exceeding $25 million and helped negotiate Canada’s participation in major NASA missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, OSIRIS-REx and the Mars Phoenix Lander. He also co-authored the original Global Exploration Roadmap, aligning international partners around shared exploration goals.

“I aim to show people how FSI can help meet their goals … and, in the end, raise the research profile in space at UCF, in Florida and in the world.”

Berinstain later moved between public service and the private sector, advising companies such as Virgin Galactic and Sierra Nevada Corporation, leading global development at Moon Express Inc. and most recently serving as chief strategy officer at science-based solutions company CSS Inc. Along the way, he helped generate more than $10 million in revenue for in-space manufacturing of health and technology products and cultivated strategic partnerships with academia, government and industry stakeholders.

That cross-sector experience now shapes his vision for FSI — especially when it comes to funding. A key priority, he says, is diversifying funding beyond traditional government grants by expanding private and commercial partnerships.

“Since I’ve spent time in other sectors and made contacts, I look forward to mining those to help collaborate and redevelop those relationships,” he says. “I aim to show people how FSI can help meet their goals and come up with new opportunities that we can respond to, and, in the end, raise the research profile in space at UCF, in Florida and in the world.”

Why UCF — and Why Now

Berinstain’s appointment will fuel the momentum of space exploration and research at SpaceU — the top provider of graduates in the nation to the aerospace and defense industry — and the new Florida Space Research Consortium.

“Alain is a daring innovator internationally recognized for his leadership throughout space’s public and private sectors,” says Winston Schoenfeld, vice president for research and innovation. “His experience, bold vision and strategic pursuit of partnerships will elevate the impact of our research at America’s Space University and further strengthen Florida’s rapidly growing space economy.”

FSI’s unique position within a deeply collaborative campus and a statewide network of space researchers is what Berinstain says drew him to UCF.

“We lead our own world-class science, but we also partner with researchers across colleges and departments … There’s real strength in numbers.”

“Where FSI fits within the UCF ecosystem is really interesting. We lead our own world-class science, but we also partner with researchers across colleges and departments,” he says. “What also attracted me is the collaboration among state universities in Florida. With the new consortium for university space research, in which we’re in a leadership position, there’s real strength in numbers.”

From the Earth’s upper atmosphere to the origins of the planets and the dynamics of asteroids, FSI’s research tackles some of the biggest questions in space science. Building on those strengths, Berinstain is setting his sights on what comes next: expanding into areas shaping the future of commercial space, including microgravity research, pharmaceuticals and defense.

“I plan to grow FSI in areas that are of national and economic importance. They all need help from strong research groups,” he says. “It’s not so much about what we want to do — it’s about what they need us for. And that creates all kinds of cool opportunities for us for amazing research and mutually beneficial collaboration.”

Building on Momentum

Just weeks into the role, Berinstain says he’s already felt the energy that surrounds space at UCF.

“I participated in Space Week at UCF … and I came away [from that experience realizing] how pervasive and important space is to the culture of the institute,” he says. “So it feels like I’ve got to catch up to that momentum. It’s an honor. It’s a challenge. It’s wonderful to leverage that for FSI.”

Ask Berinstain about his leadership style, and don’t be surprised if he starts with a pop culture reference.

“Do you watch The Big Bang Theory?” he says. “Sheldon Cooper has that line: ‘I’m not crazy. My mom got me tested.’ Well, I’ve been tested for my leadership style.”

According to that assessment, Berinstain falls into what’s known as a “parental” leadership style — a label he’s quick to unpack.

“It sounds funny,” he says, “but what it really means is guided leadership. I’m very team-oriented. I’m resilient. I deal with situations head-on.”

At the core of that approach is trust — trusting people to do their best work when they feel supported and empowered.

“There are people here who’ve been doing amazing work for a long time. I want to build on that,” he says.

A Bigger Picture of Impact

For Berinstain, success at FSI isn’t just about dollars raised — it’s about alignment and purpose.

“I prefer to think of research funding as impact,” he says, “as contributions to UCF, to Florida and to our country. Let’s meet our own priorities and help others meet theirs. That’ll help in our growth.”

With a strong space legacy, a collaborative spirit and a rapidly expanding frontier ahead, Berinstain sees FSI entering a new era of possibility as a leader in space research.

Simply put, “it’s a dream job,” he says.

Here are the highlights that shaped an unforgettable year.

Daring to Boldly Invent the Future: Florida’s Next-Generation Preeminent University

UCF met the 12 metrics required to earn the Preeminent State Research University designation from the Florida Board of Governors, the highest designation for state research universities. This landmark achievement highlights sustained progress in student success, research and more — affirming UCF’s leadership in advancing opportunity and impact in Florida and beyond.

UCF Opens Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion in Lake Nona, Fueling a Talent Pipeline and Healthcare Innovation

UCF opened the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion on the Academic Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona — a 90,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility dedicated to preparing the next generation of healthcare professionals. The pavilion expands immersive simulation technology and interdisciplinary learning spaces, enabling UCF to graduate more nurses ready to serve communities across the region.

Pegasus Partners Expand with BNY and Lockheed Martin

This year saw strategic growth of UCF’s Pegasus Partners program, with major collaborations forged with global financial services company BNY and aerospace and defense leader Lockheed Martin. The BNY co-located educational innovation hub on UCF’s main campus — the first of its kind in Florida — brings experiential learning and cybersecurity education directly to students. Additionally, the expanded Lockheed Martin partnership will grow the highly successful College Work Experience Program and expand research in vital areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and hypersonic technologies.

Elevating Impact Across Space

As America’s Space University, UCF deepened its influence across the space sector this year, highlighted by the inaugural UCF Space Week that took place Nov. 3-7. The university-wide celebration showcased all the ways Knight Nation is advancing space research, supporting Florida’s fast-growing space economy, and preparing the next generation of explorers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. The observance also marked the debut of the SpaceU Awards, which celebrated eight honorees — two students, three faculty, two organizations and a record-setting astronaut — for pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space development, discovery and exploration.

UCF’s impact also extended into human health in space. Two internationally known  experts — William Powers and Jennifer Fogarty — joined the College of Medicine’s faculty as part of UCF’s new Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine that will lead research and technology development for improving health in extreme environments such as space.

As the top talent provider to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries, UCF also launched a new online space MBA program to meet the expanding needs of the booming space industry on Florida’s Space Coast and around the world. The 24-month part-time graduate business program focuses on space commercialization, business strategy and innovation, preparing graduates to lead in high-impact roles across the commercial space, aerospace, government, startups and emerging tech industries.

UCF Launches Institute of Artificial Intelligence to Advance Research, Talent Development Across Disciplines

UCF launched the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, a new university-wide initiative bringing together top faculty, industry partnerships and cross-campus collaboration to position the university as a national leader in AI. The institute will also support UCF’s AI for All Initiative, which integrates AI into teaching and learning across disciplines, ensuring students graduate with the ability to use AI effectively in their careers.

Honoring Excellence on Founders’ Day

UCF’s annual Founders’ Day honored the outstanding achievements of the university’s employees, faculty and students. Hundreds of Knights were recognized for their excellence and impact — among them Pegasus Professors Roger Azevedo, Fevzi Okumus and Yan Solihin; Medal of Societal Impact honoree Mohamed Abdel-Aty; Reach for the Stars honorees Amrita Ghosh, Leland Nordin, Yogesh Rawat and Kelly Stevens; and 37 Order of Pegasus inductees — the university’s highest student honor.

Epic Universe Launch Provides Immersive Learning Opportunities at UCF

Universal Orlando Resort’s highly anticipated new theme park, Epic Universe, opened its gates this spring, and Knights played a role in bringing it to life. Located less than a mile away, UCF’s — ranked No. 1 in the world for hospitality education (CEOWORLD magazine) — turned Epic Universe into a living case study for hands-on learning in hospitality, themed experience, engineering and beyond. While the park attracts millions of guests with its immersive worlds and attractions, it’s also transforming hospitality education for Rosen College students, building a direct talent pipeline into the park and developing a workforce ready to lead the industry.

Introducing John Buckwalter, UCF’s Next Provost 

Following a competitive national search, John Buckwalter was appointed UCF’s next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. He and his wife, Amalia, officially joined Knight Nation on Aug. 1. Buckwalter brings more than 20 years of experience in academia to UCF. He most recently served as provost at Boise State University, where he led transformative interdisciplinary initiatives and championed student achievement. He succeeds Provost Michael D. Johnson, who retired this summer following 35 years of service to UCF.

Knights Shine in Athletics

UCF Athletics delivered unforgettable moments this year — from the rowing team claiming its first Big 12 Championship in program history, to men’s soccer’s conference title, to men’s tennis clinching its , to 82-78 victory over Hofstra at Additional Financial Arena that sparked the best start (8-1) in head coach Johnny Dawkins’ tenure.

Together, We Unleashed Impact: Thank You, Knight Nation, for a Transformational Day of Giving 2025

Knights made a collective impact for another record-breaking celebration of all things Black & Gold. raised more than $14.8 million — a 63% increase from last year and the most in university history. With 10,472 gifts, inspired donors across the globe rallied together for the community-driven effort — fueling UCF’s academic programs, life-changing scholarships, groundbreaking research and more. These contributions were made across all 50 U.S. states, as well as globally, including Australia, France, Panama and the United Kingdom.

Their discovery in the Cygnus X region sheds new light on and deepens a long-standing mystery about the ionization state of the interstellar medium — the sparse material that fills the space between stars within a galaxy. This is crucial to understanding galactic evolution.

Using the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the team detected radio spectral lines from helium in diffuse ionized gas in the Cygnus X region, a massive star-forming complex located about 25,000 light-years from the galactic center.

“We are still investigating. This can provide a better understanding of how energy flows from stars to the interstellar medium in the inner region of the galaxy works,” says Roshi, who has served in a few of the world’s most advanced observatories over his 20-year career.

A Decades-Old Galactic Puzzle

According to the Big Bang theory, hydrogen and most of the helium in the universe were created in the moments after the initial cosmic event.

Ionization is the process where energetic radiation (like UV light or cosmic rays) or extreme heat strips electrons from neutral atoms or molecules, turning them into charged particles. This ultimately is what makes nebulae visible and is fundamental to understanding stellar life cycles and galactic structure.

For more than 30 years, astronomers have struggled to explain why specific wavelengths of light known as helium spectral lines are faint or missing in the diffuse ionized gas in the inner Milky Way, even though massive stars there produce more than enough high-energy radiation to ionize both hydrogen and helium.

“This has been a persistent mystery,” says Pooja Priyatharsheni, second author of the study and a doctoral student at India’s Lady Doak College, whom Roshi connected with two years ago while promoting astronomy to collegiate students in India. “We know the galaxy contains plenty of massive stars capable of ionizing helium, yet in many inner regions, we simply don’t see the helium signal we expect.”

Cygnus X Provides a Clue — and a Challenge

The new detection in Cygnus X demonstrates that helium within the diffuse gas associated with this region is fully ionized.

“This result confirms that when the radiation field is strong enough, helium becomes fully ionized and visible in radio observations,” Priyatharsheni explains. “But it also raises new questions about why the same doesn’t occur in the inner galaxy.”

What’s Next

Led by Roshi of the , researchers from the Green Bank Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, West Virginia University and Lady Doak College are now analyzing new high-sensitivity data from the Green Bank Telescope targeting the inner galaxy.

Their goal: to determine whether unusual  radiation sources, interstellar dust absorption, or unknown processes might explain the missing helium emission in the inner galaxy.

Their findings will better inform other astrophysicists and aerospace scientists about the energy flow through the interstellar medium and physical conditions of the galaxy, allowing them to refine their research and observational strategies.

They hope to retrieve most of the data for  their next findings by the end of 2026.

Researchers convening at UCF underscores the university’s national role as America’s Space University and its growing influence in hypersonic science, aerospace innovation, and defense research.

“Bringing this national team to Ů��AV is a tremendous step forward,” says Trustee Chair Professor Kareem Ahmed, director of the UCF HyperSpace Research Center. “This program will advance our understanding of the fundamental science behind hypersonic material interactions, driving breakthroughs in advanced materials, propulsion systems, and next-generation vehicle technologies.”

The five-year MURI will develop new methods that combine laboratory experiments, operando testing, and atomistic simulations using advanced deep-generative algorithms. These techniques can disentangle multiple drivers of observed behavior, handle noisy measurements, and overcome nonlinear and chaotic relationships between what scientists can measure and what they need to infer. The goal: integrate diverse datasets and pinpoint which inputs matter most.

“Known for boldly advancing critical hypersonic technologies, UCF’s world-class faculty are well-positioned to join their colleagues at other leading research universities to strengthen our nation’s capabilities in this area of significant national interest,” says UCF Vice President for Research and Innovation Winston Schoenfeld. “Fitting for the nation’s top provider of graduates to the aerospace and defense industries, this partnership also will provide invaluable hands-on experiences for dozens of student researchers at the ���������貹���������Գٱ��, ensuring a highly trained workforce.”

The initiative is expected to influence future U.S. Department of Defense hypersonic systems.

The initiative is expected to influence future U.S. Department of Defense hypersonic systems — from vehicles and weapons to propulsion technologies — by improving material models, enhancing reliability assessments, and providing a framework that can be replicated across other advanced materials programs.

The team includes leading experts in probabilistic inference (Assad Oberai, University of Southern California; Romit Maulik, Purdue University); hypersonic flight experiments and simulation (Kareem Ahmed, UCF; Savio Poovathingal, University of Kentucky; Onkar Sahni, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); and micro-scale solid–gas interface physics (Aiichiro Nakano, University of Southern California).

In addition, the program will train the next generation of researchers through hands-on work with four postdoctoral scholars, 10 graduate students and 10 undergraduate students in areas such as scientific machine learning, high-speed flows, computational physics, and materials science.

This MURI marks a major step forward in advancing the science behind hypersonic systems and will help pave the way for safer, more reliable, and more capable technologies for national defense.

UCF’s expertise will help drive the success of DUSTER, a payload designed specifically to capture and measure dust behavior during spacecraft and human operations on the moon. Lunar Outpost’s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover will support NASA’s DUSTER (Dust and plaSma environmenT survEyoR) investigation, selected for development through the Artemis IV Deployed Instruments program. The instruments will be built at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder.

DUSTER represents the best opportunity to date to evaluate the theory on the physics of dust erosion, with implications for the activities being planned on the moon’s surface. The Artemis IV mission is due to launch in 2028.

Testing Rocket Exhaust and Dust Erosion

This theory introduces a fundamentally new understanding of the behavior of gas in the boundary layer, the thin region where rocket exhaust meets the moon’s surface. This new physics shows how the gas flow in that layer lifts dust grains —something no previous model could adequately explain. Before this breakthrough, NASA lacked a method to reliably predict how much lunar dust erosion a landing or departing spacecraft would generate, and therefore could not fully estimate how much sandblasting damage would occur to hardware on the moon.

However, several key parameters in this new model cannot be measured accurately using existing lunar data or Earth-based experiments. On Earth, large-scale testing is limited: rocket exhaust cannot be blasted into a vacuum chamber without destroying the vacuum, and gravity cannot be reduced to lunar levels for the necessary full-scale trials.

DUSTER will change that. By collecting data during actual Starship Human Landing System operations on the moon, DUSTER will allow scientists to measure these long-elusive parameters directly in the lunar environment — providing the highest-fidelity test yet of Metzger’s theory.

“One of DUSTER’s capabilities is measuring the dust blown by rocket exhaust as the Starship Human Landing System lifts off and departs from the moon,” Metzger says.

In this project, University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics senior researcher Xu Wang, who serves as principal investigator, will analyze upstream plasma conditions. UCF will interpret measurements of dust ejected during the Human Landing System liftoff.

“UCF brings to this project its expertise in the science of how rocket exhaust blows soil and dust.” — Phil Metzger ’00MS ’05PhD, Ů��AV planetary scientist

“UCF brings to this project its expertise in the science of how rocket exhaust blows soil and dust,” says Metzger.

The findings generated by DUSTER will directly inform NASA’s long-term plans for sustained lunar operations, providing critical insights to protect habitats, instruments, and other assets as human presence on the moon grows. As NASA plans to deliver major infrastructure to the lunar surface, Artemis IV presents a new opportunity to address this outstanding engineering challenge of lunar exploration.