Questions asked at UCF rarely stay put.

The answers travel — making highways safer, informing disaster planning, shaping conversations about life-changing technologies and more. Behind that reach are brilliant minds, including eight faculty members whose research and scholarship are being celebrated at the 2026 Luminary Awards. Their achievements demonstrate how UCF expertise reaches beyond campus to address challenges facing Florida and the world.

Now in its 10th year, the annual awards honor faculty whose work brings UCF national and international recognition while elevating the university’s influence across disciplines and communities.

Selected from nominations submitted by deans, directors and department chairs across UCF, the 2026 awardees will be celebrated Oct. 20. Joining the ceremony will be President Cartwright; John Buckwalter, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; Winston Schoenfeld, vice president for research and innovation; and Kelly Ferris Lester, vice provost for faculty excellence.

Meet this year’s luminaries.

Haitham Al-Deek

Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Haitham Al-Deek is helping stop wrong-way drivers before a dangerous turn becomes a devastating crash.

Working with the Central Florida Expressway Authority, he helped create and implement North America’s first highly accurate wrong-way driving detection and deterrence system. Since its introduction in 2015, thousands of drivers have corrected course before heading in the wrong direction, helping prevent potentially fatal or debilitating crashes.

His algorithm for cost-effectively addressing the highway exits most at risk for wrong-way driving has been widely adopted in Florida and Idaho. Al-Deek’s broader expertise includes freeway operations, intelligent transportation systems and traffic safety. His work has influenced public policy and advanced transportation planning, freight transportation, and the deployment of life-saving technologies on high-speed toll roads and freeways.

Since joining UCF in 1992, Al-Deek has secured more than $10 million in research funding and developed innovations that have resulted in multiple patents for the university while preparing the next generation of transportation engineers to make an impact on society. His honors include awards from the U.S. National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board.

Kevin Mackie, Al-Deek’s department chair, says his extensive efforts to improve highway safety and transportation “are contributions that touch the lives of all of us.”

Andrea Blanco-Redondo

Florida Photonics Center of Excellence Endowed Professor, College of Optics and Photonics

Andrea Blanco-Redondo is harnessing light to push the boundaries of quantum technology.

Her research develops scalable ways to generate and control quantum states of light — advances that could unlock new possibilities in computing, communications and information processing. She’s internationally known for discovering a new class of optical pulses that behave like a particle and can help researchers and industry shape what’s next. In three years at UCF, her scholarship has informed roughly two dozen conferences and produced papers in prestigious journals, including Science, Nature Materials, Nature Communications and Nature Photonics.

An Optica (Optical Society of America) Fellow, Blanco-Redondo also serves as chair of the SPIE OPTO Symposium at Photonics West, a premier annual conference of the international society for optics and photonics. Alongside her research and professional leadership, she mentors future scientists and helps expand opportunities in engineering and optics.

“Through internationally recognized scholarship, sustained external engagement and demonstrable impact, Dr. Blanco-Redondo exemplifies the UCF Luminary ideal through globally impactful work that both broadens understanding and inspires future scientists,” UCF College of Optics and Photonics Dean David Hagan says.

William Crampton

Professor, Department of Biology, College of Sciences

William Crampton’s research on electric fish is revealing extraordinary capabilities — and has even earned a world record.

A leading global authority in his field, Crampton recorded an 860-volt eel in the Amazon Basin, the highest voltage ever documented from a living organism, according to Guinness World Records. His work advances species discovery, documentation, and conservation while revealing principles of biological sensing relevant to radar, sonar, and autonomous sensing technologies.

In a recent study, Crampton and other UCF researchers uncovered how eels and knifefish strategically suppress their electric signals to avoid detection, balancing the need to sense their surroundings with the need to remain concealed. His open-source tools are also expanding how scientists study behavior in natural systems. Crampton’s discoveries have also reached audiences worldwide through major media outlets, including National Geographic.

“His recent work combines innovative discovery, international recognition and exceptional public visibility, producing scholarship that advances knowledge while capturing the imagination of both the scientific community and the public,” UCF Department of Biology Chair Eric Hoffman says.

Alan Fyall

Visit Orlando Endowed Chair of Tourism Marketing,

Alan Fyall is helping destinations worldwide rethink how tourism can better serve the people who visit and the communities that call them home.

His research addresses destination planning, travel accessibility, resilience, sustainability and tourism’s impact on communities. His appointment to the United Nations Pool of Experts for Global Reporting on the State of the Marine Environment brings UCF expertise into international ocean governance.

An elected fellow and leader with the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, Fyall has advised organizations and governments across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and the United States. His scholarship includes eight books, 105 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 100 conference papers and editorials. The New York Times, USA Today and Forbes have featured his expertise.

“Dr. Fyall’s work connects local relevancy to global impact,” says Rosen College of Hospitality Management Dean Cynthia Mejia. “His research on accessible tourism through mega-events, the well-being impacts of tourism on residents and the vulnerability of coastal destinations to climate disruption is improving how communities around the world plan for and benefit from tourism.”

Ivan Garibay

Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Ivan Garibay is advancing artificial intelligence (AI) to confront challenges ranging from social media misinformation to disease.

He uses AI to model and predict complex human behavior and develops data-driven strategies to counter misinformation and propaganda. This year, he co-founded a biotechnology research company to commercialize AI research aimed at accelerating the search for cures for diseases – an effort supported by a patent filing.

Since joining UCF in 2016, Garibay has secured more than $36 million in research funding and testified before Congress about AI’s challenges and opportunities. The master’s program in data analytics he founded has produced 240 UCF graduates for the workforce.

His work has attracted media attention on four continents, including on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. His honors include election as an associate member of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida.

“[Garibay] exemplifies the externally recognized, world-changing scholarship the Luminary Award celebrates,” says Waldemar Karwowski, chair of the UCF Department of Industrial Engineering and Management.

Claire Connolly Knox

Professor, School of Public Administration, College of Community Innovation and Education

Claire Connolly Knox is strengthening how communities prepare for and mitigate disasters, respond when they strike and recover in their aftermath.

Her nationally recognized research connects coastal resilience, emergency management, environmental vulnerability and equitable delivery of public services. Supported by millions of dollars in grant funding, her work informs federal policy, disaster response, emergency management capacity and strategies for building more resilient communities.

As founder and director of UCF’s Master of Emergency and Crisis Management program, Knox also helps prepare future leaders in the field. Her contributions have helped advance UCF’s homeland security and emergency management graduate programs, which U.S. News & World Report ranks No. 1 nationally.

Knox was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2024 — one of the field’s highest honors — and received the International Association of Emergency Managers’ 2025 Emergency Management Educator of the Year Award.

“Her sustained scholarly productivity, national prominence, public engagement and commitment to addressing complex societal challenges have enhanced UCF’s reputation while advancing more equitable and resilient communities,” says Bradley Heim, director of the UCF School of Public Administration.

Abdul-Akeem Sadiq

Professor, School of Public Administration, College of Community Innovation and Education

Abdul-Akeem Sadiq helps governments and communities prepare for complex threats while equipping the next generation of researchers to take them on.

His interdisciplinary research spans floods, infrastructure failures, human trafficking and other emerging crises. By examining disaster preparedness, emergency communication systems, organizational mitigation strategies and equitable disaster response, he generates insights that inform public policy and professional practice.

Sadiq also leads a U.S. National Science Foundation initiative to develop future hazards and disaster researchers. He recently brought scholars from across the nation to UCF to strengthen collaboration and workforce development in disaster science. His honors include election as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, one of the field’s highest distinctions.

“Dr. Sadiq has established himself as a nationally and internationally recognized scholar whose research, leadership and public engagement have significantly advanced the fields of emergency management and public administration while elevating UCF’s visibility as a leader in disaster resilience and public service scholarship,” Heim says.

Mel Stanfill

Professor, Texts and Technology Program and Department of English, College of Arts and Humanities

Mel Stanfill brings critical insight to the technologies and online communities reshaping digital culture.

In examining how technology, identity, law and economics influence cultural participation, Stanfill explores fandoms, music, AI, digital games, social media governance, parasocial relationships and more.

Stanfill’s book Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture earned the National Communication Association’s 2025 Diamond Anniversary Book Award for its analysis of politics, online communities and harassment.

Stanfill’s expertise has reached the public through commentary for NPR, The Guardian, National Geographic, Forbes, NBC News and Teen Vogue, bringing scholarly insight to contemporary conversations about technology and popular culture.

“Dr. Stanfill has made UCF a national player in the discussion of the cultural effects of technology,” UCF Department of English Chair James Campbell says. “UCF needs to be a place not just where new technology is conceived, but where it is questioned, critiqued, and has its cultural meanings and effects made clear, and Dr. Stanfill is making that happen.”

As a previous fellow in the fourth cohort of the Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers program — commonly referred to as the Enabling Program — Sadiq knows firsthand the importance of the initiative and its mission of shaping innovative scholars in hazards and disaster research. Designed to help early-career researchers develop their professional and scholastic careers, the Enabling Program advances interdisciplinary knowledge by empowering them to address complex issues in risk and disaster management.

During his own fellowship in the program from 2014 to 2016, Sadiq was paired with faculty mentors at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and Arizona State University. Under their guidance, he wrote and received approval on his second NSF proposal to conduct research on flood risk management — a feat he considers the launchpad for his career.

“A major goal of the program is to help people write career grants and elevate the trajectory of your career, and my experience reflected that,” Sadiq says. “The positive impact that will have on your career is incredible. I had lots of opportunities to collaborate, work alongside, publish, and present with students at both national and international levels.”

After serving as a mentor for the fifth cohort and experiencing the innovative program from both sides, Sadiq was inspired to take the reins as principal investigator for the sixth cohort. Funded by a two-year, $433,000 NSF grant, his team includes co-principal investigators Michelle Meyer (TAMU), Henry Burton (UCLA) — both former program fellows and mentors — and Jill Trepanier (Louisiana State University).

“To be able to get funding for such a key program that focuses on helping extraordinary individuals and faculty to excel was unbelievable.”

“To be able to get funding for such a key program that focuses on helping extraordinary individuals and faculty to excel was unbelievable,” he says. “We were all ecstatic, and I’m really honored to be the one leading the sixth round. We had our first planning meeting recently, and people were just saying how grateful they are to the program for helping them get to where they are today. I think the biggest challenge we’re going to have is saying no to a lot of excellent applicants.”

Using a community-driven mentorship model, the program allows participants to serve as fellows in one aspect of disaster research and practice while mentoring in another. In emphasizing teaching, mentorship and research, it creates a repository for sharing case studies and datasets.

As they promote continuity in developing future generations of researchers and educators, Sadiq and his team are taking this round of the Enabling Program a step further in expanding eligibility criteria. For the first time in the program’s history, both postdoctoral scholars and non-tenure-track research scholars are eligible to participate, along with scholars in the physical sciences, social sciences and engineering.

Ideal candidates are early-career scholars in disaster, hazard or risk who are interested in seeking resources and guidance to make a positive impact in their field. Ultimately, 20 fellows will be selected from the pool of eligible applicants and matched with mentors based on their disciplinary areas.

In the Enabling Program, mentorship opportunities are tailored to each participant’s personal and professional goals, from research and teaching to leadership and collaborative endeavors. Mentors provide guidance on topics such as identifying and applying for potential grant opportunities, reviewing articles and manuscripts for publication, establishing work-life balance, assembling pre-tenure packages, and crafting and implementing teaching philosophies — all tasks that can be daunting when navigating new territory as a young faculty member. Fellows will even participate in an NSF mock panel, where they’ll write and submit a proposal that a roundtable of mentors will then review, deliberate and provide feedback on.

By fostering a solid foundation in hazards and disaster research through this comprehensive mentoring and training program, Sadiq and his team hope to amplify the impact of the research and career development that will come from it. Lessons from this round of the Enabling Program will be published by a third-party evaluator. Sadiq’s team will disseminate program results through publications, conferences and meetings, such as the Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop.

“Without this program, I don’t think I’d be where I am today.”

“Without this program, I don’t think I’d be where I am today,” he says. “It gave me many opportunities to connect with people who are well-versed and knowledgeable in the field of hazards, disasters and risk. I was exposed to opportunities inherent in working with other people from other universities as well as publishing in journals I never thought I could. This program has so much to offer.”

For more information on the Enabling Program, including how to apply, contact Professor Abdul-Akeem Sadiq.

Researcher’s Credentials
Sadiq is a professor in UCF’s School of Public Administration, housed in the . He received his joint doctorate in public policy from Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. He also serves as program director for UCF’s Master of Public Policy program.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under award No. 2526640.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.