A double-barreled T-shirt launcher that can fire shirts higher than the 60-foot walls of Acrisure Bounce House.

A decked-out golf cart, rescued from its fate at the salvage yard and repurposed instead into Knightro’s preferred mode of transportation.

A 3D-printed, robotic Citronaut piloting a spaceship that blasts AC/DC’s Thunderstruck through surround-sound speakers.

And set to make its debut later this year, a powerful projection spotlight designed to summon Knightro onto the field — his own version of Batman’s iconic bat signal.

As the students explain the ins-and-outs of these custom innovations — all built in university labs with tools, technology and machines at their disposal — facility manager Pete Alfieris stands off to the side with a dash of pride on his face.

“Remember what Pete stands for,” the longtime UCF staff member calls out. “Preparing engineers through e��ܳ����پ��Dz�.”

They collectively groan, but in a tone that clearly shows they cherish this man and his dad jokes.

“If you graduate from [UCF’s] engineering college without meeting Pete, you didn’t really go to the engineering college,” says Caden Peters ’26, a computer engineering alum who co-created the Knight signal. “He really shows that anyone can make an impact. You don’t have to be a professor. You don’t have to be an advisor. He’s the facilities manager of the engineering building. And he still has such a strong impact on the college and inspires so many students. There’s really no one like him.”

Alfieris oversees daily operations, lab safety and security for UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science buildings since he took the role in 2008. Nowhere in his job responsibilities does it list mentoring and collaborating with students.

Yet for the past five years, since the football season ticket holder was first inspired to introduce a T-shirt launcher at UCF football games, Alfieris has been the driving force behind the growing partnership between the college and UCF Athletics, pitching his ideas to elevate the game-day experience for fans.

The partnership reflects what UCF does best: connecting classroom learning with real-world experience. As SpaceU, UCF Athletics provides a fitting stage for students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science — the nation’s No. 1 supplier of talent to the aerospace and defense industries, according to Aviation Week Network — to apply their academics and flex their skills.

“For years I have seen the potential in these students,” Alfieris says. “A lot of them go on to work at SpaceX, NASA, Blue Origin, L3 Harris, Northrop Grumman. They’re so smart and talented.”

The students are always on board to oblige in bringing his visions to life because he believes in them; sometimes more than anyone.

“There are only a few people here that I would say even scratch the surface compared to Pete when it comes to their belief in students,” says recent mechanical engineering grad Ayden Jordan ’26, who also created Knightro’s signal. “Pete believed in us from day one.”

Peters interjects: “Day zero.”

That belief and hard work have led to some of the most engaging moments in UCF football’s game day experience today.

The Idea That Started it All: A T-Shirt Launcher

Austin Harkins ’24 ’26MS had listened through two weeks of senior design project ideas, waiting for one worth claiming. The year-long group projects require engineering students to design, build and present a functional prototype before graduation.

Then his professor said two words: T-shirt launcher.

“You could just see everyone’s ears kind of perk up around the room,” says Harkins on a call from Texas, where he’s currently working as a mechanical design engineer for L3 Harris. “I grew up in Oviedo, Florida. My parents went to UCF. I couldn’t tell you how many UCF football games I’ve been to. I thought, ‘Yeah, I’m doing this.’ ”

Harkins led one of the teams to score the project. Mechanical engineering graduate student Luciana Carreras ’25 led another.

Over the next several months, both teams designed launchers capable of firing dozens of shirts into the stands during the brief 30-second window they’d have on the field between plays.

When the prototypes were ready, Carreras and Harkins brought them to the football stadium in the summer for a test run in front of UCF Athletics’ game day operations staff.

“I think [UCF Athletics] had some hesitations, which I understand because they didn’t know who we were,” Alfieris says. “We were launching [T-shirts] all over the field — one even went out of the stadium — and [UCF Athletics staff] all looked at me and said, ‘Oh, we’re definitely doing this.’ ”

While the athletic department staff has worked hard to build and protect traditions that span generations of Knights fans, they always embrace trying new things.

“I think some of UCF’s best qualities have always been a spirit of collaboration and an attitude of, ‘what if we try…?’ Pete and the engineering students embody that completely,” says Alex Cesarano, associate athletics director for brand experience. “What they’ve delivered over the last few years is a testament to what’s possible when we have a strong partnership between the university and athletic department. We are immensely grateful for all they’ve added, and continue to add, in service of our fans and student-athletes’ experiences.”

Beyond practicality, the teams took design aesthetic into account.

Harkins’ launcher resembles a rocket, a nod to UCF’s SpaceU identity. Carreras’ team chose a double-barreled design that maximizes the number of shirts they could launch before leaving the field.

“I never went to a football game until I had to launch this thing,” Carreras says. “But seeing it out there on game day and seeing the excitement from everyone, it’s great to leave something behind, especially when it’s a place that you’ve gotten education from, and you’ve found your friends and a life around the campus.”

Knightro’s Wheels

Once word spread that Alfieris and the engineering students were behind the T-shirt launchers, the UCF spirit team wanted in.

Knightro head coach Michael Callahan ’05 ’09MBA ’17EdD, who also serves as director of knowledge management for UCF’s College of Medicine, invited Alfieris to tour the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village and discuss future collaborations.

As they drove around in a standard golf cart with Knightro on board, Alfieris couldn’t help but notice the mascot clinging to the seat.

“Knightro was holding on for dear life, and I looked at Michael and said, ‘How come Knightro doesn’t have his own cart?’ ” Alfieris says. “He looked at me and said, ‘Good question.’ ”

Without a dedicated budget or funding, Alfieris has gotten good at being resourceful. He scoured the university’s surplus property system database, which offers discounted equipment and items in need of repair. One person’s trash is another’s treasure.

He found a cart in serious need of electrical work to run again. He turned to the looking for some talent.

Josh Alper, then a first-year mechanical engineering student, answered without knowing a single detail about what he was showing up for.

Alper, who is primarily self-taught, rewired the cart’s electrical system and fixed the battery charger. He installed LED lighting, four surround-sound speakers and a custom “Bounce Button” horn to the tune of Zombie Nation’s Kernkraft 400. He even rigged a “Knightro phone” that pauses the music for Team Knightro to interact with fans while tailgating. When the phone is placed back on the receiver, the music immediately resumes at maximum vibe levels.

“I was a new student who basically knew nothing about the school, and in my first few weeks, Pete was touring me around and introducing me to lab managers and faculty,” Alper says. “I was able to use 3D printers and tools in the . I’ve gone to football games and shot the T-shirt cannon, which was a really cool experience for my first football season. Working with Pete has opened so many doors.”

Here Comes Citronaut

Alfieris’ next big idea was a robot. Mechanical engineering student Andrew Anderson thought Citronaut seemed like a logical choice.

Anderson, who has completed professional internships with Pegasus Partner Universal Orlando Resort and Walt Disney World Resort refurbishing high-profile rides, spent a year creating what the team affectionately refers to as “Citronaut’s Thunderstruck” — a 3D-printed Citronaut piloting a spaceship that rolls through campus blasting AC/DC’s hit song.

The project began as an oversized foam cube measuring roughly 5 feet on each side.

“Figuring out how to safely cut the foam and see it take that saucer shape, it felt like I was working at Disney,” says Anderson, who has dreamed of developing theme park rides since he was 9 years old.

The team equipped the spaceship with tilting and movement capabilities and an accelerometer to give it a sense of flight.

Meanwhile, computer science major Melanie Allen became Alfieris’ go-to team member for precision work. She designed, laser cut and 3D-printed the Citronaut figure to fit snuggly in his spaceship.

“I’ve taken advantage of our machine shop, our 3D printers, laser cutters [and] the 5-axis CNC machine to make aluminum parts. I didn’t think I would ever be good at painting, and now I know how to paint. So I think a lot of these experiences have given me skills that really make me stand out,” Allen says.

Citronaut’s Thunderstruck debuted at the 2025 Mission IX Space Game as part of the pregame march to the stadium and was an immediate hit.

“A lot of kids were really excited when they saw it, and fans wanted to take pictures with it. It was fun to be part of the march and know that I helped create something that looks cool and something that people want to interact with,” Allen says. “I didn’t feel like I was just another student commuting and taking classes. I felt like I was making a difference and actually contributing to the university.”

Coming Soon: Knightro’s Own ‘Bat’ Signal

One of Alfieris’ most theatrical, ambitious ideas yet is expected to debut this year thanks to Peters, Jordan and the other three engineers of their senior design project team.

Similar to Batman’s “bat signal,” the team designed a custom cylinder-shaped light projector capable of summoning Knightro into action to amp the crowd.

“We faced a lot of questions and doubt when we pitched this for senior design. Could the physics actually work out? Will [the light] actually project at that far of a distance?” Jordan says. “When you have a good team, anything is possible. And we believed we could make the impossible happen.”

The biggest hurdle came early.

The specialized lights required for the design cost $700, leaving Jordan unsure if the project would ever get off the ground.

A week later, his team got an email that the lights were in, purchased by the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from the budget dedicated to supporting senior design projects.

“Pete worked his magic,” Peters says.

Engineering this from a concept drawing into an actual functioning contraption was no small feat.

The high-powered lights generated enough heat to require radiators and a water-cooling loop. The team also developed an innovative method to display the projected image by using a laser cutter to burn away the coating on mirror slides. And ensuring safety throughout their design, down to the emergency stop button, was paramount.

When their first successful test happened at 3 a.m. on the side of Engineering II, the first person they told was Alfieris.

“I remember walking up my apartment stairs that night thinking, I want this feeling for the rest of my life,” Peters says.

Funds and hours in a day are the only things holding back Alfieris and the students at this point. They have a few more ideas and projects in the works that they’re eager to share with Knight Nation when they’re ready.

Alfieris says he’s grateful to his supervisor, College of Engineering and Computer Science Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and NCAA faculty representative Manoj Chopra, for allowing him to engage with the students in these ventures. It’s been one of the greatest gifts of his career.

“All [the] stuff that I wanted to do is coming to life, and it’s so much fun,” Alfieris says. “I don’t have any kids, so they’re like my kids. I get that proud parent moment when they come to me and say, ‘Thank you.’ And I’m like, ‘What are you thanking me for?’ And they say, ‘You helped me. You were just always there.’ And it just makes me feel really good. It really does.”

Joshua Taggart knew he wanted to work for the space industry the day he experienced his first launch while attending a camp at Kennedy Space Center, seeing the space shuttle Endeavour soar into the sky. He’s now closer to making that dream a reality after being recognized with one of the industry’s most distinguished awards.

Taggart is the latest Knight to receive the coveted Astronaut Foundation Scholarship, a national award that provides more than 70 scholarships of up to $15,000 each for some of the nation’s very best STEM students. He will be recognized with the 2026 class of scholars at the foundation’s gala, to be held next month in Houston.

Taggart says he chose UCF for its reputation in engineering as the No. 1 supplier of talent to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries (Aviation Week Network). He is in good company as part of a trio of Astronaut Scholars this year from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, joining mechanical engineering student Keanu Brayman and computer engineering student Kyle Coutray (a biomedical sciences double major), who have received the scholarship for second consecutive year.

As Taggart works to complete his final year at UCF, his latest accomplishment fuels his path to make an impact as a future space researcher.

Future Focused

Driven to contribute to humanity’s exploration of our universe, Taggart is already working on future-focused innovations that can benefit the space industry.

Through NASA Office of STEM Engagement, he interned at the Johnson Space Center working on communications, avionics, propulsion and flight software for CubeSat subsystems.

This summer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, he is researching packaging materials for silicon carbide pressure sensors, working to make sure they perform reliably above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit), and on integrating thermocouple sensors for temperature compensation.

“I chose this field of research because I want to be involved in next-generation electronics that can withstand the extreme nature of outer space.” — Joshua Taggart

“With the harsh environment that outer space is and planet surfaces like Venus, electronics must survive very high temperatures and radiation effects,” he says. “I chose this field of research because I want to be involved in next-generation electronics that can withstand the extreme nature of outer space.”

His work as an undergraduate researcher for the Q-Sim Lab, directed by Assistant Professor Jaesung Lee, also centers around developing technology designed to operate in outer space. Taggart is working on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators designed to perform under extreme conditions, such as elevated temperatures and increased exposure to radiation.

He recently won a Judge’s Choice Award at UCF Student Research Week for his Honors Undergraduate Thesis, “Robust AlN MEMS Resonators for High Temperature Space Environments.”

His passion for space has only grown over the years, reflected by his ongoing research at UCF and for NASA. As an Astronaut Scholar, Taggart is launching into a future full of possibilities.

“Aside from the financial support that this scholarship will provide me as I complete my undergraduate program, I am very eager for all of the networking opportunities I will have,” Taggart says. “I look forward to networking with other students and industry leaders to learn and grow as much as I can thanks to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.”

Those interested in the Astronaut Scholarship and other opportunities should reach out to the Office of Prestigious Awards at��OPA@ucf.edu.

Students in the , with support from the American Association of Venezuelan Engineers (AAVE), are producing 3D-printed orthopedic devices — including splints, neck braces and animal immobilizers — for people and pets injured in the disaster.

The initiative, called Bracing Venezuela, began after BMES leaders contacted Greco Pinzón, president of AAVE. Pinzon’s dad, who has been volunteering in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, connected the students with physicians on the ground who identified the types of orthopedic devices most urgently needed.

“… before we knew it, we had a campuswide humanitarian project taking shape.”

“From there, everything snowballed,” says Jannah Barakat, a mechanical engineering major and president of BMES. “We started test printing, organizing volunteers, building a print tracker, reaching out to other student organizations, and before we knew it, we had a campuswide humanitarian project taking shape.”

Since launching the effort, BMES has produced more than 350 devices that have been shipped to clinicians in Venezuela. Smaller items, such as finger and wrist splints, take only a few hours to print and are manufactured flat so they can be easily transported. Once they arrive, clinicians soften the material with hot water and mold each device to fit each patient. Larger devices, such as neck braces and animal leg braces, are printed in multiple sizes and can take up to 10 hours to complete. With volunteers printing from across UCF and beyond, multiple devices can be produced simultaneously.

Bracing Venezuela has received support from Mohsen Rakhshan, an assistant professor in and BMES faculty advisor, who opened his lab’s 3D printer for the project. While many volunteers are engineering students, faculty members, UCF alumni and 3D-printing hobbyists have also come forward to help.

“One of the coolest things about this project has been watching people from so many different backgrounds come together around one goal,” Barakat says. “Whether you’re printing a brace, packing a box, donating supplies or simply helping us spread the word, every contribution helps get these devices into the hands of the people and animals who need them.”

“I hope this initiative becomes a model for how engineering students can quickly mobilize to respond to humanitarian needs.”

Those interested in joining the initiative don’t need to own a 3D printer. BMES supplies filament to volunteers who have printers, while others can still make an impact by donating materials, connecting the organization with additional volunteers or helping spread the word.

For Barakat, Bracing Venezuela demonstrates what’s possible when engineering students come together for a greater good.

“I hope this initiative becomes a model for how engineering students can quickly mobilize to respond to humanitarian needs,” she says. “Whether it’s supporting communities after natural disasters, helping [less fortunate] populations locally or partnering with organizations in other countries, I’d love to continue using engineering as a way to make healthcare more [widely available] wherever it’s needed.”

To join the Bracing Venezuela initiative, email Jannah.barakat@ucf.edu.

A bird bursting from the ocean or a mobula ray launching skyward makes the transition from water to air look effortless. For unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, it’s one of the hardest maneuvers to replicate.

Now, UCF researchers are studying how wing shape and motion affect that split-second transition — work that could help improve future amphibious UAVs.

Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering Samik Bhattacharya and aerospace engineering master’s student Dominic Polidoro ’25 are investigating the physical forces that interact as a wing exits the water and enters the air, a process known as egress. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM Army Research Office, the nine-month project aims to develop mathematical models to improve the technology used in military amphibious vehicles.

“This technology can … enable seamless air-water operations without the need for separate vehicles.”

The research could also expand the use of amphibious UAVs in civilian scenarios such as search-and-rescue missions in coastal areas, ocean monitoring and disaster response.

“This technology can … enable seamless air-water operations without the need for separate vehicles,” Bhattacharya says. “In 10 years, amphibious UAVs could perform reliable and stable dives and exits with better payload capacity and autonomous control in complex environments, far beyond today’s unreliable transitions.”

While researchers have extensively studied how drones enter water, far less is understood about how they exit it. Previous studies show that as a wing rises from the water, the lift generated by it will increase until it suddenly reverses direction before stabilizing. Why this occurs is not yet known, but the answer is crucial to understanding UAV performance.

“In general, when a UAV egresses, it causes lift overshoot followed by a sharp drop,” Bhattacharya says. “Such rapid changes in lift forces can create instability, leading to loss of control. Understanding this transition will not only improve our knowledge of creatures in nature but also allow for drone designs that can use or mitigate the lift increase and decrease that occurs.”

Inside the in , Bhattacharya and Polidoro use a water tank and 3D-printed wings to study how surface deformation, waves and vortex shedding interact during egress. They aim to better understand the physical forces that drive this transition.

“It’s difficult to disentangle the effects of surface deformation, waves and vortex shedding because they occur simultaneously on very short timescales and strongly influence each other,” Bhattacharya says.

The duo presented earlier findings from their research at the 2026 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum in January.

Faculty Background

Bhattacharya joined UCF in 2016. He earned his doctoral degree in aerospace engineering from The Ohio State ����ֱ��, his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn ����ֱ�� and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Technology Warangal, located in India.

Fueled by engineering ingenuity and months of testing, a team of UCF mechanical engineering students raced its human-powered vehicle past competitors from across the country to claim a national championship.

What began as a Spring 2026 Senior Design project ended with the e-HPVC Senior Design team earning three first-place trophies at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) e-Human Powered Vehicle (e-HPVC) Challenge.

Hosted on UCF’s main campus, the annual competition challenges university teams to design, fabricate and race human-powered vehicles, testing everything from vehicle design and safety to endurance and speed.

UCF’s team took first place in both the endurance and drag race events, second place in design and first place overall, earning four trophies and $2,500 in prize money.

“Becoming national champions while representing UCF feels surreal, says Estefano Cicci, a mechanical engineering major and member of the e-HPVC team. “I hope these trophies remind future students that the goals that feel out of reach are exactly the ones worth chasing, and that a small, dedicated team from UCF can prove itself on a national stage.”

Building a Better Ride

In previous years, UCF’s e-HPVC teams have placed well in the competition with recumbent tricycles, but each new group strives to improve upon the last. Eric Cruz-Hernandez, a mechanical engineering student and member of this year’s team, says the group closely studied past designs to determine what worked and what needed improvement.

This year’s vehicle featured a mid-drive motor with electronic shifting to improve speed and battery endurance. The team also redesigned the frame to make it lighter and more accessible for riders of varying heights.

Engineering Excellence Across the Board

The e-HPVC team wasn’t the only group of Knights to win their competition.

A second UCF team placed second in the ASME Innovative Additive Manufacturing 3D Challenge, which asks students to re-engineer an existing product or create a new design. Teams were judged on ingenuity, engineering design principles and their use of additive manufacturing.

A third UCF team also showcased a fully functioning robot in the Student Design Competition, but didn’t place.

The Teamwork Behind the Trophies

For Bryce Ballard, a mechanical engineering student and external outreach chair for ASME at UCF, hosting the 2026 EFx event on campus was just as meaningful as competing in it. It not only gave students the chance to represent the university, but also to create a welcoming and supportive environment for teams traveling from across the country.

“One of the most impactful parts of hosting was being able to support other teams when they encountered issues with their trikes,” Ballard says. “Whether it was lending tools, helping troubleshoot problems or offering guidance, those interactions stood out the most. It reinforced that the competition is not only about performance, but also about collaboration, sportsmanship and building connections within the engineering community.”

Four outstanding undergraduate students are redefining the boundaries of STEM through their high-impact research — and in doing so, placing the university among the nation’s top producers of Goldwater Scholars.

The prestigious Goldwater Scholarship identifies and supports the nation’s best student researchers in the fields of engineering, mathematics and natural sciences.

This year’s honorees — all expected to graduate next spring — have propelled UCF into an elite tier of research institutions, surpassing several Ivy League institutions and tying for fourth in the nation in total Goldwater Scholars produced alongside Stanford ����ֱ��, the ����ֱ�� of Notre Dame and the ����ֱ�� of Chicago. Their impactful work reflects UCF’s commitment to building a high-level research environment that empowers students to lead projects addressing significant global and scientific challenges.

Supporting Space Exploration

Goldwater Scholar: Keanu Brayman

Major: Mechanical engineering

Ultimate Goal: To develop robotic systems to support human exploration on Mars.

Keanu Brayman’s passion for space began early.

“One of my earliest memories is watching a Space Shuttle streak across the sky from a beach in South Florida,” Brayman says. “I remember being amazed there were people on board and feeling drawn to one day help explore the stars and discover what lies beyond our planet.”

At UCF, Brayman has refined that dream with the support of faculty and mentors — including Department of Physics Chair and Professor Adrienne Dove, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Tarek Elgohary and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Engineer Christopher Proctor — as well as through programs like the .

He plans to pursue a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering to support lunar exploration and NASA’s Artemis program, as well as develop robotic systems that can extract resources and build infrastructure to support human exploration on Mars.

Engineering the Brain

Goldwater Scholar: Kyle Coutray

Majors: Computer engineering and biomedical sciences

Ultimate Goal: To research ways to restore communication, movement and cognitive function to the brain through engineering methods.

Kyle Coutray is focused on the intersection of neuroscience and technology.

“I’m interested in building systems that interact directly with the brain,” Coutray says. “In the lab, … [I’m] blending [both majors] into one approach.”

He aims to pursue a doctoral degree in neural engineering to further his research on brain-computer interfaces that translate complex brain activity into useful functions.

A 2026 Order of Pegasus inductee and a Burnett Honors Scholar, Coutray credits his success to disciplined focus and strong mentorship, particularly from Charles N. Millican Professor of Computer Science Joseph LaViola and Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Helen Huang.

Advancing Patient Care

Goldwater Scholar: Varun Nannuri

Major: Molecular and cellular biology

Ultimate Goal: To pursue a career as a physician-scientist.

Varun Nannuri is driven by a desire to understand why people experience different health outcomes and improve care.

“Through my clinical experiences, I have seen how much patients and families rely on physicians during some of the most difficult moments of their lives,” Nannuri says. “My research experiences have shown me that better care depends on asking better questions.”

Nannuri plans to pursue a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree and become a physician-scientist. His ambition earned him recognition as a 2026 Order of Pegasus inductee while also completing his Honors Undergraduate Thesis. Nannuri is also a member of the Burnett Honors College as a Burnett Medical Scholar, a program that offers guaranteed admission to the UCF College of Medicine upon completion.

“UCF has given me opportunities to grow as a student, researcher, leader and future physician,” Nannuri says.

Restoring Human Senses

Goldwater Scholar: Trevor Overton

Majors: Electrical engineering and biomedical sciences

Ultimate Goal: To improve the lives of people with disabilities through advanced robotic prostheses.

Burnett Honors Scholar Trevor Overton’s work centers on neuroengineering and next-generation prosthetics.

“I’ve always had a passion for building things, and I also love reading and watching sci-fi,” Overton says. “When UCF offered me the opportunity to join the MEDD [ … I knew I had to take it.”

UCF’s MEDD program provides scientifically driven students like Overton with a unique opportunity to integrate engineering principles into medicine.

Much like the development of cochlear implants, Overton imagines similar breakthroughs with vision and touch.

“I envision a future where robotic prostheses are so advanced that they could completely replace or enhance the abilities of humans,” Overton says. “It’s not entirely impossible.”

After earning a doctoral degree in electrical engineering with a focus on neuroengineering, he hopes to inspire the next generation — just as his professors inspired him — emphasizing that UCF’s strength lies in professors who actively invest in their students.

A Growing Research Powerhouse

With four 2026 Goldwater Scholarship recipients, UCF continues to strengthen its position as a leader in undergraduate research. The achievement reflects both students’ immense dedication and a university-wide commitment to driving innovation, mentorship and hands-on discovery. As these Knights prepare for the next steps in their academic journeys, they carry forward a shared mission: to turn research into real-world impact.

Students interested in applying for the Goldwater Scholarship or other major national awards should contact the Office of Prestigious Awards at��opa@ucf.edu.

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, UCF 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 .

Although Royal knew since high school that he wanted to be an engineer, he didn’t know these courses were essential to succeeding in his studies. He enjoyed working with his hands, solving practical problems, and was interested in science, math, and technology. Mechanical engineering felt like the perfect intersection of all his interests.

What he didn’t have was guidance.

Starting Behind — and Pushing Forward

Royal didn’t know anyone in engineering or have access to mentors who could advise him on the classes a university engineering program required. When he later reconnected with two friends from high school — Kent Huerta and Isaac Washington, both civil engineering majors at the ����ֱ�� of South Florida — he quickly discovered they faced many of the same challenges navigating STEM pathways without early guidance.

“I would’ve still been a year behind graduating if I [hadn’t taken] an accelerated courseload,” says Royal, who’s now a mechanical engineering graduate student on track to become a double Knight. “We realized that … if we had some prior knowledge or someone to talk to us about STEM before we got to this level, or before we tried to enter STEM, we could have avoided those pitfalls.”

That realization helped turn his personal ambitions into action that benefits others.

In 2024, Royal, Huerta and Washington co-founded STEM Mentorship Matters, an outreach program that connects students at their high school, Q. I. Roberts Junior-Senior High School, with professionals in STEM fields and equips them with the knowledge to successfully pursue their careers.

“We … didn’t have that many opportunities or much education related to STEM when we were in high school,” Royal says. “That made it a lot more difficult compared to our peers who did. So we thought, ‘Is there any way to give something to students who were like us, who could use opportunities in STEM?’”

Giving Students a Head Start

What began as a grassroots effort serving just 30 students at Q. I. Roberts has since grown into a network of 10 high schools across Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, reaching hundreds of junior and senior high school students. The organization now includes 30 volunteer mentors who lead monthly workshops that connect professionals with students.

STEM Mentorship Matters also offers a range of resources, including guidance on applying to universities through the Common App, explanations of different engineering disciplines and advice on getting involved on campus. Monthly discussions focus on preparing for careers in STEM, with topics shaped by student interest and shared through the organization’s Discord server.

From navigating the college application process and building strong resumes to learning how to network and apply for internships, volunteer mentors guide students to success in the classroom and beyond graduation.

“It helps students think, ‘What would I want to do beyond middle and high school? Am I even interested in STEM?’” Royal says. “[And] it’s OK if they’re not. We’re just trying to provide them with some insight. It also provides some insight into what they may want to do in STEM if they are interested.”

Royal adds that these interactions help students narrow their interests, explore future career possibilities and feel more confident entering their chosen field. Just as important, it gives them something Royal says he and his co-founders lacked early on: encouragement.

“Just someone saying, ‘You can do this if you set your mind to it,’ is very important because we didn’t have a lot of that pursuing STEM,” he says. “And I feel it’s important to have because it makes it easier to accomplish whatever you set out to do.”

Unlike a typical scholarship that only covers the cost of tuition and fees, the SMART scholarship also provides an annual stipend, a summer internship, an experienced mentor and guaranteed employment with the DOD after graduation.

The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing STEM degrees who can commit to one year of employment with the DOD upon graduation. The goal is to develop a talent pipeline of technically proficient professionals who can meet the nation’s security needs.

Carlos Arteaga

M.S. in civil engineering

For Arteaga, applying for the DOD SMART Scholarship program was a no-brainer. He already works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a geotechnical engineer and plans to use his time in the program to develop as a professional within that agency. He says this program stood out because it aligned perfectly with his values of technical excellence, service to country and long-term impact.

“I was drawn to the program’s integration of academic advancement with real-world application, especially within the DOD’s infrastructure and research divisions,” Arteaga says. “The opportunity to contribute to national security while deepening my expertise in structural and geotechnical engineering made it an ideal fit.”

As a master’s student on the non-thesis track, Arteaga plans to take a more practical approach to the internship. He hopes to gain a better understanding of how engineering decisions are made in defense and looks forward to collaborating with experts across the DOD.

Balancing coursework with a job and the responsibilities of the DOD program is no easy feat, but Arteaga says that the flexibility and technical rigor are what drew him to UCF’s graduate programs.

“The curriculum has strengthened my foundation in structural and geotechnical principle while also enhancing my ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively,” Arteaga says. “Combined with my experience at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, my time at UCF has prepared me to contribute confidently and competently to the DOD’s mission.”

Chance Brewer ’20

Ph.D. in mechanical engineering

Through his work in the Putnam Lab, managed by Shawn Putnam, mechanical engineering associate professor, Brewer has had the chance to collaborate on research projects sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). As a DOD SMART scholar, Brewer will rejoin the AFRL team to work on research related to his expertise.

“My academic research on multifunctional materials in thermal management systems is already closely tied with the work I will be doing with AFRL, but the challenges and applications I am targeting will shift to focus on thermal control for space vehicles,” Brewer says. “Over the past two summers I have worked with the same team that I will be working with for SMART, so I am already very familiar with the community that I will be joining after I graduate, and I feel very fortunate to be joining such a great team.”

Brewer thanks Putnam as well as the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research and the UCF Academic Advancement Programs office for their support and encouragement to get involved with research as an undergraduate student. He credits their guidance and sense of community with shaping his graduate experience and, ultimately, a career with the DOD.

“My ultimate goal from this experience is to establish a career within AFRL leading research on coupled thermal and optical materials for thermal monitoring and control systems,” Brewer says. “Through these efforts, I also hope to learn how we can leverage thermal solutions being developed for space applications to help support missions across the DOD and to help advance thermal management systems for commercial technologies.”

Jean-Philippe Perrault ’06 ’14MBA

Ph.D. in industrial engineering

Like Arteaga, Perrault is already employed with the DOD. He works as an engineering supervisor for the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD). He’s also a father of five, a chess coach an active community volunteer and a doctoral student. With a very full schedule, the DOD SMART Scholarship was a practical choice because it designates study time during work hours, alleviating the pressure of pursuing a Ph.D.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration, Perrault returned to UCF in Fall 2024 to continue his studies. He also serves on the advisory board for the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems and with the encouragement of Professor Luis Rabelo, joined the industrial engineering doctoral program’s systems engineering track.

Perrault’s research focuses on the development of a theoretical framework to adopt AI technology in military training systems. He says the SMART scholarship program will help him deepen his technical knowledge and in turn, inform his research.

“Beyond technical skills, I aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of how research translates into real-world applications within the DOD, including navigating the complexities of defense innovation and collaboration,” Perrault says. “I also look forward to developing leadership, project management and interdisciplinary collaboration skills that will enable me to contribute effectively to the defense community both during and after my scholarship.”

Perrault plans to continue working for the NAWCTSD but hopes to strengthen the collaborative relationship the agency has with UCF. As a three-time alum, he says that some of his most cherished memories were formed at UCF — memories of friendship, hard work and achievements.

“As a continually growing university located close to home, UCF has played a significant role in shaping my professional journey,” Perrault says. “My success is largely attributed to the comprehensive education and experiences I gained here — the coursework, laboratories, professors and student support services all contributed to my development as a leader within our local community.”

And that’s when he understood the promise of his medicine-engineering double degree (MEDD) from UCF.

The unique partnership between the College of Medicine and College of Engineering and Computer Science allows undergraduates to earn two baccalaureate degrees — one in mechanical engineering or any other engineering discipline UCF offers — and one in biomedical sciences. The program recognizes that the future of healthcare is in technology and that the workforce needs trained professionals who can understand the biology of disease and the engineering principles to create new healthcare solutions.

MEDD is demanding, requiring 163 credit hours to earn the two degrees. To date, seven students have completed the program.

“The MEDD program is probably the most challenging undertaking at UCF on the undergraduate level,” says William Self, professor of medicine who leads undergraduate education at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and helped create the medicine-engineering program. “This small cohort of scholars are driven by their desire to help mankind in the areas of healthcare and medicine through the engineering principles they learn along the way. I am so proud of these students for their drive and perseverance to complete this path and look forward to seeing how they impact society in the future.”

Senthil will graduate in August and hopes to work for a company that makes assistive devices or create his own start-up. Fellow Knight Michael Meyers ’25 graduated in the spring and will begin his master’s in electrical engineering this fall at UCF. He wants to develop better ways to diagnose diseases through enhanced imaging technologies, such as AI-assisted X-rays and non-invasive visual biopsies.

Limbitless Provides Inspiration for Medicine-Engineering Partnerships

Senthil always thought his future would include medical school. But while living in Texas during high school, he discovered how Texas A&M’s EnMED program encourages engineering majors to attend medical school and use their problem-solving skills to improve patient care. Senthil, a National Merit Scholar, received information from UCF about the MEDD program and the Burnett Honors College. UCF also offered a scholarship and a university visit. He liked UCF’s campus life and met other students who had used their MEDD studies to achieve their dreams. He decided to become a Knight.

On campus, he became active in Limbitless Solutions, a UCF organization that creates and provides 3D-printed, EMG-powered prosthetics for clinical trial participants. He started with technological development and then became part of the clinical research team, where he worked with patients and their families to understand how the prosthetic limbs worked and could increase independence.

“We don’t create this technology to fix someone,” he says. “The goal is to give them tools to express themselves.”

The Limbitless experience also provided Senthil with research opportunities. He has published research in multiple journals and presented his scientific findings at UCF and even nationally. One of those presentations was at RESNA, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. The non-profit professional organization is dedicated to maximizing “the health and well-being of people with disabilities through technology.”

Senthil was considering graduate and medical school when he saw the scope of assistive technologies on display at the conference. His new career goal — develop technology to help people.

“I want to create a device that fills a need, that enables others,” he says. “My passion is helping people improve their lives.”

Improving Diagnostics Through Imaging

Meyers grew up in the Orlando area. His mother is a nurse, and he always expected to be a pre-med major. Then, like Senthil, he received communication from UCF about the MEDD program and the Burnett Honors College. “The dual degree broadens our experience,” he says, “and gives you a big step up in applying what you’ve learned in school.”

He acknowledges the double degree courseload is tough, laughing as he discusses three lab courses each semester and having to train your brain to “flip flop” from memorizing microbiology terms to thinking about logical engineering processes. But he says his flip-flopping brain helped him better understand difficult subjects like immunology. “Engineering helped me understand why and how processes are happening when the body is fighting a disease,” he says.

At UCF, he used his dual training in research and in practice. He was an undergraduate research assistant in UCF’s Nanobio Sensors Lab and did internships at Northrop Grumman and Mitsubishi Power Americas.

He credits a class with UCF Professor of Electrical Engineering Wasfy Mikhael with inspiring him to understand how imaging and signal processing can create new systems to help physicians better see diseases like cancer in the body. That will be the focus of his masters training.

“The body in and of itself, is a well-oiled machine,” Meyers says. “With my dual degree, I want to figure out a way moving forward to make it even better.”