Highlights

  • Since launching in 2021, Reserve Mercury 鈥� a mobile communication platform developed by UCF Senior Design students in partnership with the U.S. Army Reserve 鈥� has expanded nationwide, simplifying administrative work and reducing delays for thousands of reservists.

  • New senior design teams continue advancing the platform, with this year鈥檚 team focused on improving speed, security and system stability.

  • The long-running project provides students with hands-on experience building and maintaining real-world software systems that directly support military operations.

Five years after UCF computer science students first helped the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) build a tech solution to enhance efficiency, Knights are still improving the platform 鈥� and the impact keeps growing.

Reserve Mercury, a mobile and web application designed to replace slow, paper-based administrative processes used by Army Reserve units, is now being used by thousands of reservists nationwide. What started as Project Mercury 鈥� a student-led effort to replace paper forms 鈥� has evolved into a long-running collaboration between student developers in UCF鈥檚 Senior Seminar Course, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the USAR.

Originally launched in 2023, the app digitized the Army Reserve鈥檚 DA 1380 submission process 鈥� a manual workflow that once required soldiers to print forms, physically route paperwork through chains of command and wait for approvals tied to compensation and service records.

Now, soldiers can digitally submit pay, absence and medical forms within the platform from any device. Leaders can then review and approve submissions instantly, helping reduce delays and ensure soldiers are paid on time.

But the momentum behind Project Mercury didn’t end at launch.

Each semester, new student teams continue building on the work of those before them 鈥� refining features, fixing issues and expanding the platform based on direct user feedback from soldiers.

鈥淎s technology continues to advance, it鈥檚 important that critical systems like those used by the Army Reserve evolve as well,鈥� says Shaun Gorllapati ’26, functional test and continuous improvement lead on the Fall 2025鈥揝pring 2026 Senior Design II team. 鈥淧rojects like this help bridge that gap by introducing more efficient, scalable and modern solutions that improve overall operations.鈥�

Inheriting a Mission Already in Motion

Under the guidance of Associate Lecturers Matthew Gerber and Richard Leinecker in UCF鈥檚 College of Engineering and Computer Science, Project Mercury has become one of the university鈥檚 most ambitious long-term software projects since its inception in 2021.

Senior Design students work alongside Army Reserve subject matter experts led by Reserve Mercury Program Manager Lt. Col. Jonathan LacKamp while gaining experience in large-scale software engineering, testing and deployment management.

Members of the Fall 2025鈥揝pring 2026 Senior Design II team, from left to right: Gradi Mbuyi, Jared Luzod, Lee Marshall, Alanys Galarza Hernandez, Joe Sparma, Thai Nguyen, Javier Chavez, Michael Cran, Areeb Yousuf, Noah Coe, Yoan Molina, Mitchell Lance, Shaun Gorllapati ’26, Alexander Canapp and William Bu. (Photo courtesy of Shaun Gorllapati 鈥�26)

This year鈥檚 team included 15 students with expertise in data science, artificial intelligence and application and web-based development. Organized into three groups, they focused on backend development, bug fixes and maintenance, and new feature development.

At the start of the semester, the team inherited a nearly five-year-old codebase from previous students. Through documentation reviews, handoff meetings and collaboration with prior developers, they learned how to maintain and expand a living software system already serving military users nationwide.

New Features Focus on Speed, Security and Simplicity

For Spring 2026, 84 new users from the 6th Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment were onboarded and trained on the platform. Their feedback directly shaped several new improvements.

Among the latest updates was a Pay Type Limits feature that helps commanders monitor annual submission thresholds tied to DA 1380 compensation requests. Students also improved the app鈥檚 dental form process by adding required field validation, submission confirmation and better signature handling to help ensure medical documentation is completed accurately for deployment readiness.

Another major upgrade was a redesigned notification system.

鈥淚鈥檓 especially proud of the notification system, which significantly improves how reservists stay informed and act within the application,鈥� Gorllapati says. 鈥淧reviously, 鈥� users had to rely on an activity log to view updates. Notifications were not actionable, lacked clear read and unread indicators, and did not guide users to the relevant part of the app.鈥�

Additional enhancements currently in development include multi-factor authentication for stronger security and a large-scale user interface redesign to modernize the platform and improve accessibility.

The response from reservists has reinforced the project鈥檚 impact.

鈥淲e recently onboarded a unit that was struggling with an HR administrator shortage across multiple companies,鈥� says Maj. Jeffrey Garner, Reserve Mercury onboarding and implementation lead. 鈥淎fter they started using Reserve Mercury, the feedback was immediate 鈥� they called it a 鈥榞ame changer鈥� and asked to onboard their additional units as soon as possible.鈥�

Developing Career-Ready Skills Through Mission-Driven Work

For students, the experience goes far beyond the classroom.

鈥淲orking on a project with real-world, national-level impact while still a student has been a very meaningful experience,鈥� Gorllapati says. 鈥淸It has] prepared me to handle real-world engineering challenges more effectively and has reinforced my goal of pursuing a career in software engineering, where I can contribute to large-scale, impactful systems.鈥�

Senior Design team members build experience in frontend and backend development, AWS services, deployment management, software testing, and release cycles while collaborating directly with military stakeholders in an environment that mirrors professional software engineering teams.

But for many, the most rewarding part is knowing their work directly supports service members.

鈥淜nowing that the end users are real service members adds purpose to every feature we build,鈥� Gorllapati says. 鈥淚t motivates us to learn new tools, improve our technical skills, and apply best practices to ensure the application is reliable, efficient, and easy to use.鈥�

That purpose continues driving Reserve Mercury forward 鈥� one update, one deployment and one student at a time.

“What we’ve seen over the life of the project is the power of collaboration between reservists as both customers and subject matter experts, innovation sponsors like DIU and the incredible dedication of successive student teams,” Reserve Mercury Program Manager Lt. Col. Jonathan LacKamp says. “The program is currently poised for wider adoption across USAR, but that wouldn’t be possible without the strong foundation built by our UCF partners.  At Reserve Mercury, we believe that administrative efficiency is directly related to both operational readiness and the retention of qualified soldiers. UCF is helping make this belief a reality.”