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On Saturday, Nov. 14, the Knights will face Arizona State at Acrisure Bounce House for the UCF Salutes Military Appreciation football game, a tradition that unites Knight Nation to honor members of the U.S. Armed Forces. UCF will also welcome NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, an influential leader in innovation and exploration who co-founded Draken International, a company that trains U.S. military pilots, for .

Across campus, the enduring partnership between UCF and the military takes many forms. Engineers test ideas for the next era of flight. Students work with veterans’ families to record stories that might otherwise go untold. And veterans returning to the classroom find support as they make the transition. Here are just a few ways those ties shape research, education and service at UCF.

Testing New Ways to Train

At , researchers work with military partners across Team Orlando, including the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. They combine expertise in how people learn and perform with tools such as digital twins, or virtual models. These models let researchers explore how people and equipment might work together, while giving military partners a way to test training ideas and plan future missions.

Turning Research Into New Capabilities

In September, UCF and SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force’s innovation enterprise, launched the East Coast Innovation Gateway to strengthen connections between researchers, entrepreneurs, government and industry partners to help promising ideas move faster from research to real-world capability. In a separate project backed by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, Kareem Ahmed, a UCF professor and leader of the university’s Center of Excellence in Hypersonic and Space Propulsion, is developing a specialized dual-mode propulsion engine that may make hypersonic and space travel more efficient and accessible — inching humanity closer to a world where a trip from New York City to London could take less than 15 minutes.

Opening Doors for Veterans, Military-Connected Students

Since 2011, has helped students navigate GI Bill benefits, plan their academic and career paths, and find community on campus. UCF’s Service to Service partnership aids veterans and military families in pursuing graduate degrees in public service fields, where they can put skills gained through military experience to work in new roles.

For military and veteran students balancing work and personal responsibilities, É«»¨Ìà offers a flexible, affordable path to a degree.

For military and veteran students balancing work and personal responsibilities, É«»¨Ìà offers a flexible, affordable to a degree. These efforts and more to support military-connected students have earned UCF national recognition. After many years as a Silver awardee, UCF received its first Gold designation on the 2026-27 Military Friendly Schools list and was also recognized as a Military Friendly Spouse School.

Preparing Students for Careers in National Defense

UCF students often secure the DOD’s SMART Scholarship program, which pairs financial support with summer internships, mentorship and employment with the DOD after graduation. Scholars gain hands-on experience at defense facilities working in areas such as advancing artificial intelligence, biotechnology and space. UCF also prepares future commissioned officers through its Army and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.

Helping Veterans, Service Members Recover from Trauma

UCF RESTORES, a nonprofit clinical research center and treatment clinic, treats services veterans, active-duty military personnel and others affected by traumatic events. Clinicians combine exposure therapy with individual and group therapy sessions. They also incorporate emerging technology such as virtual reality to recreate sights, sounds and any other sensory details associated with traumatic memories. The goal is to help people recover from trauma and manage symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The clinic’s treatment success rates far exceed the national average.

Preserving Veterans’ Legacies

Through UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program, students piece together veterans’ lives using historical records and conversations with their families. The partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration turns that research into digital biographies of veterans buried or memorialized at national cemeteries. The stories also reach K-12 classrooms, where teachers can use them to help students connect major events in American history with the lives of the people who experienced them. Additionally, UCF’s history department has been documenting veterans’ stories as part of the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project since 2010.