{"id":154076,"date":"2026-07-07T10:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=154076"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:23:11","slug":"cater-named-an-official-university-research-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/cater-named-an-official-university-research-center\/","title":{"rendered":"CATER Named an Official University Research Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
At the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research (CATER), the mission is simple: CATER to the energy needs of society. For 20 years, researchers affiliated with the center have worked on groundbreaking projects in power generation, space propulsion and aviation that have pushed the boundaries of what\u2019s possible in power generation, air travel and spaceflight.<\/p>\n
Now CATER is expanding its mission and its reach as it shifts from a center within the College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a> to an official university center, effective July 1. This new iteration of CATER includes structured goals for faculty<\/a> success, advancing new industry and national lab partnerships<\/a> and the development of new research and testing facilities for students and faculty.<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida has an unparallel industrial ecosystem that includes turbomachinery companies, space propulsion companies and aviation companies,\u201d Pegasus Professor and Trustee Chair Jayanta Kapat says. \u201cCATER works at the intersection of these technologies and strives to provide the best training to UCF students who will work for these organizations, capable of providing them with fast and quality technical solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n UCF sets up its faculty for long-term success, in part, through quality mentorship.<\/p>\n As part of Kapat\u2019s plan, core senior CATER faculty members will mentor incoming assistant professors who join CATER as core faculty members until they receive promotion and tenure. Throughout the process, junior faculty will receive guidance on the grant funding process and networking as well as student recruitment and advising.<\/p>\n CATER\u2019s current interdisciplinary faculty expertise includes mechanical and aerospace engineering, and modeling, simulation and training.<\/p>\n \u201cThe typical faculty career is 20 to 30 years, and we want our faculty to stay successful over that period of time,\u201d Kapat says. \u201cNone of this is taught in a university as a course. So in CATER we have created a very intense one-to-one mentorship plan that worked well in the previous version of CATER so that core members can sustain productivity over their entire faculty careers.\u201d<\/p>\n To be considered or to remain a core member of CATER, senior faculty will need to continuously meet specific metrics such as annual research expenditures, total annual awards, the number of mentored graduate students, number doctoral graduations, publications, etc.<\/p>\n CATER won\u2019t expand beyond 15 core members and 10 research faculty members, while keeping its focus on various research applications, such as hypersonics and national security, energy and sustainability, advanced air mobility, and space power and propulsion.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the areas where we contribute to the university’s overall strategic initiatives that President Alexander N. Cartwright implemented as part of UCF\u2019s strategic plan,\u201d Kapat says. \u201cSo this is our contribution to the university\u2019s strategic goals.\u201d<\/p>\n The faculty are already working on several research projects to support CATER\u2019s research<\/a> pillars, including the development of digital twin architecture for power plants and aviation systems, creating new fuels for zero-emission aviation, use of supercritical carbon dioxide, molten salt and ammonia as energy carriers for future power generation systems, expanding design paradigm using advanced manufacturing and newer materials, and investigating the possibility of building a power plant on the moon.<\/p>\nFostering Faculty Mentorship<\/h2>\n
Redefining the Research Focus<\/h2>\n
Expanding Industry Partnerships<\/h2>\n