Robin Marquez ’26 has re-prioritized his necessities at the University of Minnesota: he has clothes for exploring, clothes for frigid winters and somewhere he’s safely stored a new passport. This is Marquez’s latest stop in a lifelong itinerary that’s taken him from Brooklyn, New York, to Palm Beach County to Tampa, Florida, to UCF.

Oct. 19-23 is National Transfer Student Week

“I created a new road by going offroad,” he says.

Marquez is coming up on his 31^st birthday. He graduated from UCF in May with a biology degree and an unexpected interest. Among the possessions he took north are arthropod samples collected from the UCF Arboretum, an 80-acre parcel of research-rich ecosystems. He’s studying the microscopic insects for information about biological diversity. They’ve already provided the direction Marquez sought for so long.

“What I’m doing now, I couldn’t fathom a few years ago,” he says.

In his mid-20s, Marquez felt as if he were stuck in the weeds with a high school education and blurry future. Today, this same Robin Marquez has achieved the following: awarded the Order of Pegasus, recognition as the first student nominated through Valencia College for a Goldwater Scholarship, collaborated with researchers at Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution, and stood as the only undergraduate to receive the coveted Entomological Society of America Alate Award in 2025.

All of this has led him to the Twin Cities to work on a Ph.D. in entomology.

“I still don’t know where the limit is,” Marquez says.

His successes aren’t just for him. They’re for anyone who thinks they’ve wandered off the academic road.

“I no longer buy the narrative of hitting traditional checkpoints, like [completing an uninterrupted path to graduation] and starting a career by your early 20s,” he says. “It might take time to find the right people to propel you in ways you never thought possible.”

Marquez tried the “traditional checkpoints” route after high school, enrolling at the University of South Florida on a full ride in 2013. He imagined cruising along to medical school. However, 16 months later he departed USF with a failing GPA and mounting mental health challenges.

“I felt crushed,” he says. “I thought college would be my ticket out of socioeconomic hardship, that I’d be a first-generation graduate and break a cycle. Instead, it came to a grinding halt. I had the capability but not the right mindset. So, I kind of floated in this nebulous space of ‘adulthood.’ ”

Marquez carried the label “college dropout” in his mind for years. To this day, it’s hard for him to explain how misunderstood he felt.

Volunteering at an animal shelter became an escape. He moved to Orlando and grew plants in his apartment, hoping to shake himself out of stasis. A friend noticed how he enjoyed gardening and said he could make a career at it.

“I grew up in the concrete jungle of Brooklyn before my family moved to Florida,” Marquez says. “A gardening career sounded impossible until I heard Valencia [College] offers a degree in plant science. I thought I’d take a class, set the bar low and get back on my feet.”

A botany instructor at Valencia, Fabiano Isenhour, told Marquez to aim higher and consider research. The program director, Javier Garces, suggested he pursue a doctorate.

“I went from thinking two years of college would be my path into the workforce,” Marquez says, “to wondering where research might take me.”

The Fascinated Bug Librarian

In January of 2024, nearly 10 years after leaving college with a 0.9 GPA, Marquez transferred through the DirectConnect to UCF program with multiple plant certifications and a 4.0 earned at Valencia. His mental health had improved, too.

“Everything snowballed,” he says. “ɫ����, I spent time with a wellness coach in the McNair Scholars Program. Mentors like (former Professor) Patrick Bohlen were invested in my potential. I found this intersection of passion, support and community, which fueled my drive.

Marquez also discovered the Arboretum and UCF’s Bug Closet, a collection of more than 575,000 specimens — one of the largest completely databased collections in the world — that heightened his new curiosity about the relationship between insects and agriculture.

“Insect specimens are like books,” he says. “They provide knowledge about the world. In the Bug Closet, I was the librarian. My research there led me to the Smithsonian, where I worked with species that are new to science. Someday I could be involved in giving them names.”

On His Own Track in Life

“When I look back at where I’ve been and where I’ve come, it’s exhilarating. I can’t imagine making it this far if my path hadn’t led to UCF.”

The dispiriting label Marquez once shouldered has been shed. In its place, he has that new passport, which he’s using to present research at international conferences. He envisions completing his doctorate and working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Smithsonian to support America’s natural resources through entomology.

“I’m just now finding where I belong,” he says. “When I look back at where I’ve been and where I’ve come, it’s exhilarating. I can’t imagine making it this far if my path hadn’t led to UCF.”

Landing humans on the moon was just a dream when UCF was founded in 1963. But we dared to believe — developing the talent and inventing the technologies to make it reality. That same spirit still drives us today.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Seconds after NASA’s Orion capsule splashed into the Pacific Ocean, white spray rose around the scorched spacecraft. Telemetry streamed from Houston to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Inside the Test Launch Control Center thousands of miles from the splashdown, Joseph Hoayun ’22 ’26MSEM watched his monitor intently. His heart pounded as he tracked live data from the crew module uprighting system, a critical safety mechanism he had spent months testing and analyzing.

As five vibrant orange balloons inflated and lifted the capsule upright in the rolling sea, Hoayun’s shoulders finally dropped. Months of work gave way to pride. Orion was home. Mission accomplished.

“That capsule was my baby,” says Hoayun, a spacecraft propulsion test engineer at Lockheed Martin, NASA’s prime contractor for the Orion spacecraft used in the crewed Artemis II mission. “We were just freaking out — everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. It felt like hours from the time Orion entered our atmosphere until the astronauts safely emerged from the spacecraft.”

While the world celebrated the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century, Hoayun’s attention soon turned to the next mission. As NASA prepares to accelerate its launch schedule from one Artemis mission every two years to an aggressive eight-month cycle, the pressure on test engineering is mounting. To keep pace, his division is expanding from 70 to more than 100 personnel.

High-Pressure Stakes

Hoayun supports the night shift in an operation that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week at Kennedy Space Center. On any given evening, he might run a proof and leak test on an Orion service module, pressurizing flight propellant tanks to hundreds of pounds per square inch to verify structural integrity under extreme stress.

“People think you build one rocket at a time, but right now we have Artemis III, IV and V all in our building being tested in parallel by different teams,” Hoayun says.

As leader of his division’s Operational Excellence Team, he applies Six Sigma methods to improve tracking, refine testing workflows and eliminate waste. He estimates his team has saved Lockheed Martin hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We do hundreds of distinct tests for each spacecraft cycle to ensure that all engines, electrical components, mechanical units and control systems work cleanly before they leave Earth,” he says.

Ensuring spacecraft reliability requires precision and strict safety protocols, including a 70-foot evacuation radius during high-threshold testing to protect personnel from lethal hazards. A single miscalculation could destroy a $2 billion spacecraft or trigger a catastrophic explosion.

Hoayun credits his UCF bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s degree in engineering management through the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science with giving him the tools to thrive in these high-pressure environments. For his senior design project, he fondly recalls building and successfully flying a distributed electric propulsion aircraft. The complex engineering challenge required the same collaborative problem-solving he now relies on at Lockheed Martin.

But long before stepping onto UCF’s campus, Hoayun discovered his passion for solving problems. As a child, he watched Apollo 13 and was captivated by the scene in which engineers race against the clock to build a makeshift carbon dioxide filter.

“Watching them solve a life-or-death engineering problem in real time made me say, ‘I want to be the guy in the control room doing rapid problem-solving,’ ” he says.

Read Him Like a Book

Hoayun’s dad, a science teacher at Orlando’s Corner Lake Middle School, recognized his son’s fascination with space early. Instead of traditional bedtime stories like Goodnight Moon, his father read him school textbooks or set up kitchen experiments to explain thermodynamics and chemistry. When Hoayun reached middle school, he landed right in his dad’s honors class.

“Getting to touch a spacecraft and see your work blast into orbit every day is a full-circle blessing.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily recommend having your dad as your teacher,” Hoayun says with a chuckle. “He loved using me as the class guinea pig for demonstrations, but I couldn’t complain — he was my ride home!”

After submitting about 400 job applications, Hoayun landed his dream job. In a few years, he says he may return to UCF to pursue a doctorate. But for now, at just 26, he’s focused on preparing the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III mission.

His work supports preparations for the precise maneuvers needed to bring Orion and commercial lunar landers together in orbit, helping pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon’s surface.

“Each mission is progressively more complex and difficult,” Hoayun says. “But that means you never get bored. Getting to touch a spacecraft and see your work blast into orbit every day is a full-circle blessing.”

Guests entering the room needed to immediately understand the story, Swift reasoned.

UCF’s newest Pegasus Partner, Universal Destinations & Experiences, recently joined UCF to launch a first-of-its-kind school for future themed entertainment leaders.

For Swift, a set dresser at Universal Orlando Resort, the answer was more than where to place a prop. As part of a team developing a Halloween Horror Nights house, she helped shape the story guests would experience the moment they entered. Every staged bloodstain, overturned object and carefully placed detail served a purpose, even to visitors who rushed through the room with their eyes squeezed shut.

“You might sit there and pretend to be the person and think, ‘How would that look here? How would that inform the space?’” Swift says.

For the recent UCF theatre graduate, questions like that are part of her dream job.

Finding Her Place Behind the Curtain

Born and raised in Orlando, Swift grew up drawing, painting, singing and sewing. She once imagined a future in interior design, and she loved performing. But backstage at Boone High School, she discovered a place where all her talents could truly thrive. Stage production combined artistic expression, teamwork, problem-solving and endless opportunities to keep learning. It was the first glimpse of a career where creativity could shape experiences and bring stories to life.

“I’ve always been a creative person who really liked learning different methods of creation,” she says. “I never really stuck to one medium.”

Theatre gave those interests a home. It also gave Swift the confidence to build a career around them.

UCF’s College of Arts and Humanities offered what she couldn’t find elsewhere: a robust undergraduate theatre design and technology track.

“UCF was truly the only place where design and technology took importance in the space of theatre,” Swift says.

An Education Built Around Doing

ɫ����, Swift learned industry-standard techniques and applied them through eight production assignments. She served as a light board operator, props manager, audio technician, scenic paint charge and associate projections designer. Each role helped her understand how the parts of a production come together.

For Sweeney Todd at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Swift translated the scenic designer’s vision into paint treatments and led students in applying them. For Legally Blonde, she helped use projection mapping to transform scenic pieces with changing colors, textures and video.

“You’re not just learning the theory. You’re doing it as well,” she says. “That’s where I feel I learned the most.”

Swift believes theatre education is often misunderstood as training for performers. Behind every production are people who design, build, budget, research, troubleshoot and communicate under tight deadlines. Those skills can carry graduates into film, television, theme parks and other fields.

“If you know theatre, then you understand that those people can do anything,” Swift says.

Creating the Scare

Swift joined Universal during her sophomore year. This year, she was selected for the team that helps create immersive environments for Halloween Horror Nights houses.

That work includes creating the elements that make every room horrifyingly convincing. Swift and her team also secure the props so they stay in place as guests move through the house.

She enjoys walking through the houses among the guests and watching them react. Whether she’s choosing furniture or making a new prop look worn, she draws on what she learned at UCF: The smallest detail can tell a larger story.

Swift once walked through Halloween Horror Nights wondering how its frightening worlds were made. She came to UCF to learn how to build them. Now, she brings them to life — down to the clues on the kitchen floor.

As UCF works to fuel discovery and innovation, alumni like Annie Swift ’26 show what  Knights can create when they carry their curiosity, ingenuity and determination into the world. Join , and help build a future the world has only begun to imagine.

Students, alumni, faculty and staff are in store once again for a full lineup of unforgettable events and activities across the main and UCF Downtown campuses from Oct. 18–25.

A Quick History Lesson

UCF’s first homecoming was held in 1971, three years after the first classes were held at Florida Technological University.

Since football didn’t start at UCF until 1979, Homecoming originally coincided with basketball season, which was the university’s first varsity sport. The year 1980 saw two homecomings for the first time: one during basketball season and the first for football.

Student and Community Events

Oct. 18 – UCF Volleyball vs. West Virginia | The Venue | 1 p.m.
The Knights welcome the Mountaineers in Big 12 Conference play for “Kids Day.” Tickets are free for students. The general public can purchase tickets on . For more information, visit .

Oct 19–23 – Who’s Your Ducky?���� John C. Hitt Library | Open to Close
After the Design Your Own Duck event during Welcome Week, choose your favorite student-designed duck. Check out the Gallery Wall on the second floor of the John C. Hitt Library for the top 50 ducks and cast your vote during Homecoming Week. Scan the QR code on the wall to make your voice heard.

Oct. 19 – Homecoming Kickoff | Reflecting Pond | Noon–2 p.m.
Students can claim their exclusive 2026 Homecoming T-shirt and last-minute free tickets for Comedy and Concert nights.

Oct. 19 – Knights Got Talent | Knights Plaza | 7 p.m.
Bring a blanket or chair to support your fellow Knights as they showcase their special talents. This event is free for both the community and UCF students. Alongside the annual show, an art show will feature work from UCF students and Knight Thon’s Miracle Children.

Oct. 20 – Movie Knight | Memory Mall | 7 p.m.
Catch 2026 Academy Award Best Picture nominee F1. Secure your spot on Memory Mall as early as 6 p.m. and score an exclusive popcorn cup (while supplies last).

Oct. 21 – Game Night | UCF Downtown’s Learning Support Center | 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Challenge friends and members of the Downtown Learning Support team to some friendly competition. Prizes are up for grabs for a costume contest, Super Smash Brothers tournament and more. for more information.

Oct. 21 – Comedy Knight | Addition Financial Arena | Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.
Get ready for an unforgettable night of comedy with Jay Pharoah, with special guest AJ Foster. Best known for his standout run on Saturday Night Live, Pharoah has made a name for himself with his hilarious celebrity impressions, energetic personality, and impressive musical talent. Admission is free for all UCF students, but tickets are required. . The general public can .

Oct. 22 – Foam Splash | Communication and Media Building Plaza, UCF Downtown | Noon-2 p.m.
Dive into the biggest foam party of the semester. Splash into a giant foam pit and bubbly pool, enjoy tacos and ice cream, play water games and more. The first 200 attendees will get free rubber ducks and exclusive Foam Splash T-shirts.

Oct. 22 – UCF Women’s Soccer vs. Cincinnati | UCF Soccer Complex | 7 p.m.
The Knights welcome the Bearcats in Big 12 Conference play on “Fright Knight.” Tickets are free for students. The general public can purchase tickets on the . For more information, visit .

Oct. 22 – Concert Knight | Addition Financial Arena | Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.
This high-energy show features rappers Soulja Boy and Waka Flocka Flame. Admission is free for all UCF students, but tickets are required. . The general public can .

Oct. 23 – Spirit Splash | Reflecting Pond | Noon–2 p.m.
Recognized as the best university tradition in the state by the National Association for Campus Activities, Spirit Splash is not to be missed. Thousands of students will run into the Reflecting Pond and attempt to catch this year’s custom homecoming rubber duck. There will be special guest speakers, as well as performances from the spirit team and Marching Knights. The event is free and open to UCF students and the community.

Oct. 24 – UCF Football vs. BYU | Acrisure Bounce House | TBA
UCF students can attend the game for free. A complete guide to student ticket information can be found at . The general public can purchase tickets through the or UCF Athletics Ticket Office at 407-823-1000. For more information, review the .

Oct. 25 – UCF Women’s Soccer vs. Houston | UCF Soccer Complex | 1 p.m.
The Knights welcome the Cougars in Big 12 Conference play on “Alumni Weekend.” Tickets are free for students. The general public can purchase tickets on the . For more information, visit .

Oct. 25 – UCF Men’s Soccer vs. South Carolina | UCF Soccer Complex | 5 p.m.
The UCF men’s soccer team hosts the nationally ranked Gamecocks in Sun Belt Conference play. Tickets are free for students. The general public can purchase tickets on the

Alumni Events

Oct. 22 – Shining Knights Alumni Awards Reception | Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts, Downtown Orlando | 6-9 p.m.
The Shining Knights Alumni Awards honor UCF’s outstanding alumni and community leaders who have significantly contributed to the university and the community. The UCF Alumni family will celebrate six honorees at this year’s reception.  and include a pre-reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and dinner.

Oct. 23 – Ignite the Knight | Memory Mall | 6-8:30 p.m.
This family-friendly UCF festival features live music, food, beverages, carnival games and special appearances before the grand finale: fireworks. .

Bonus – volunteer to support Trick or Treat on Greek Street by bringing sealed, individually packaged Halloween candy, small toys or crafts.

Oct. 23 – UCF Athletics Hall of Fame 2026 Class Induction Banquet | Celeste Hotel | 6 p.m.
The 2026 class includes women’s soccer’s Marissa Diggs ’15, track and field’s Octavious Freeman, former football head coach Mike Kruczek, football’s McKenzie Milton ’19 ’22MA, volleyball’s Emily Mottola ’96 and men’s basketball’s BJ Taylor ’18.

The evening begins with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the induction program at 7 p.m. Individual tickets are $200, and Hall of Fame tables (seating 10) are available for $2,000. , or email varsityknights@ucfathletics.org for additional information.

Oct. 24 – UCF Alumni Tailgate | UCF FAIRWINDS Alumni Center | Three hours before kickoff
Enjoy a live DJ, free beverages, delicious BBQ for purchase, family-friendly games and more at this indoor and outdoor tailgate. Admission to this family-friendly zone is complimentary for all UCF alumni and guests.

Oct. 24 – UCF Black Alumni Community Family Reunion and Tailgate | UCF FAIRWINDS Alumni Center | Three hours before kickoff
Head to the ultimate tailgating experience, hosted by the UCF Black Alumni Community, three hours before the Knights take on BYU. Enjoy a DJ, giant yard games, guest appearances and more. while they last. This event is open to all alumni and guests.

Oct. 24 –  UCF Regional Community Watch Parties | Locations vary | Time varies
Not able to come to campus? Regional Knights communities will host local watch parties before the homecoming game — and everyone is invited. .

Oct. 25 – Trick or Treat on Greek Street | Greek Park Drive | 2-5 p.m.
The UCF Greek Community is hosting its annual Trick or Treat on Greek Street. This family-friendly event brings Halloween fun to the Central Florida community — and everyone’s invited.

in your group. All registered Greek alumni will be entered for a chance to win.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Since UCF first held classes on Oct. 7, 1968, we have always been driven by an ambitious charge: “Reach for the stars.” The first moon landing followed in 1969. Decades later, UCF keeps reaching as that founding mission lives on in the Knights developing the talent, discoveries and technologies taking humanity deeper into space — and transforming life here on Earth.

Before UCF had a single classroom, we had a mission: provide the talent to help humanity reach the moon.

UCF, America’s Space University, was built for the Space Age. We have spent every decade since building what’s next.

This year’s Mission X Space Game celebrates that momentum during a year of milestones: the 10th anniversary of UCF’s Space Game, the 20th season of the university’s on-campus football stadium, the 30th anniversary ɫ���� football’s rise to the highest division of collegiate athletics and the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Together, these milestones offer a chance to reflect on how far UCF has come — and look toward where Knights are headed next.

Across six decades, every breakthrough has built on what came before. The goalposts have moved from reaching the moon to sustaining life beyond it. New fields have joined the mission. Once-distant ideas have become experiments, breakthroughs and careers powered by Knights.

The moments that follow trace those threads across generations: then, the bold moves that launched UCF’s space legacy; now, the people and possibilities building on that foundation to push exploration even further.

1960s | Building the Space Workforce

1963: Florida Technological University, now UCF, is founded to provide talent for the growing space industry as the United States is challenged with landing a man on the moon before 1970.

Today: UCF is the No. 1 supplier of graduates to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries by Aviation Week. That impact is especially visible along Florida’s Space Coast, where 29% of Kennedy Space Center employees are UCF graduates.

1968: Classes begin across UCF’s original five colleges, with aerospace sciences among the university’s earliest degree programs.

Today: Space at UCF extends far beyond a single discipline. Students can choose from more than 35 space-related programs spanning business, engineering, hospitality, medicine, planetary science, optics and policy — preparing them for in-demand careers across the space sector.

1968: UCF receives its first research grant — $12,500 from NASA — establishing an early connection between the university and the agency.

Today: UCF has received $204 million in NASA awards since 1991, supporting work that advances planetary exploration, propulsion, space medicine, technologies and more. This underscores the strong decades-long collaboration between the university and the agency.

1970s | Connecting Education to Industry

1971: NASA employs 18 students through UCF’s Co-Operative Education initiative, which leverages the university’s metropolitan location to let students alternate quarters of study with off-campus work in their academic fields.

Today: UCF students are conducting hands-on research alongside Johnson Space Center astronauts and testing technology on the world’s largest simulated lunar surface.

These experiences strengthen students’ resumes while giving them workforce-ready skills and professional connections to step directly into the fast-growing space industry — and start contributing immediately.

1980s | Developing the Foundation of Space Medicine

1985: As rockets soared off Florida’s Space Coast for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, UCF students were already exploring spaceflight’s impact on people. A group ɫ���� health sciences graduate students, including respiratory health alum Charles Gutierrez ’82 ’85MS, conducted experiments in labs on campus and on a field used as a makeshift launch site to understand how rockets impact heart and lung health. The research, published in The Physiologist, reflects UCF’s spirit of turning curiosity into action.

Today: Reaching farther into space requires an understanding of how humans will live, work and stay healthy there. As the closest medical school to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, UCF established the Led by Emmanuel Urquieta, vice chair of aerospace medicine and associate professor of medicine, the center brings together UCF experts across disciplines to lead research and develop technologies that will help humans prepare for longer missions to the moon, Mars and beyond. Urquieta also leads .

1990s | Creating a Place for Space

1990: UCF establishes the Space Education and Research Center, which later becomes the . The institute is a hub for space research, education and technology development connected to Florida’s space industry.

Today: FSI research ranges from studying the Earth’s upper atmosphere to the origin of the planets to propulsion technologies for aerospace vehicles. Through research, operations oversight and educational programs, the institute continues to position Florida as a global leader in the space industry and contributes to the state’s economic development.

Among its facilities is the , home to the world’s largest simulated lunar surface. Filled with 240,000 pounds of simulated lunar soil, the lab’s Lunar Highland Regolith Test Bin lets researchers, students and space organizations test how rovers, tools and other technologies perform on a moonlike surface.

1996: Robinson Observatory opens on UCF’s main campus, providing students and faculty a place to study planetary systems, asteroids and more. By 2004, it housed what the Orlando Sentinel described as the largest telescope in the Southeast open to the public.

Today: UCF researchers use observations from some of the world’s most powerful telescopes, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, to investigate comets, asteroids, and the origins and evolution of our solar system.

2000s | Entering the Space Renaissance

2009: Engineering alum Nicole Stott ’92MS launches aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the first UCF graduate to fly aboard a NASA shuttle and live on the International Space Station.

Today: UCF is preparing students not only to travel to space, but also to build the industries, policies and experiences surrounding it.

Through the Barry S. Miller College of Business, students can earn the nation’s first fully online MBA in space commercialization. A Space Policy and Management course in the College of Community Innovation and Education examines the decisions and administrative mechanisms that help power the space industry. Students can help imagine the future of dining and hospitality in spaceports, shuttles and orbital hotels at the , a global leader in hospitality and tourism education.

2010s | Return to Liftoff

2017: Invigorated by a new uniform line and excitement around the hiring of Scott Frost as head coach in 2016, UCF Athletics decides to debut the Space Game — an idea conceptualized three years prior by UCF Athletics’ brand experience department.

“It’s a unique part of the UCF story that it was too good of an opportunity not to use the athletics platform to amplify,” Jimmy Skiles ’06 said in a 2022 article about the origin of the Space Game.

Today: The annual Space Game — which has crossed over into UCF’s other sports — has grown into a spectacular, fan favorite event that promotes our talented people, the revolutionary work done here and has laid the groundwork for what has become UCF Space Week.

2019: UCF sends five research projects into space with SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights after launch activity resumes in full force following the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Today: UCF has worked with NASA on almost 600 projects since the 1990s, including the Lunar-VISE mission led by Associate Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Department of Physics Chair Adrienne Dove. The $35 million project will land a spacecraft on a part of the moon never visited before: the Gruithuisen Domes.

2020s and Beyond

The next era of space exploration is already taking shape — and UCF is helping lead it.

NASA is targeting 2028 for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing. At the same time, commercial launches are accelerating — with the White House aiming to enable over 1,000 launches and reentries on American soil annually by 2030 — new markets are emerging, and the demand for space-ready talent and technology continues to grow. Our future on Earth will be shaped by our future advancements in space, and UCF will be an influential driver of that progress.

As the next phase of space exploration, launched in October 2024 as a first-of-its-kind partnership with the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, providing a centralized, physical space to advance hypersonic technology.

In May 2027, Knights from Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics aim to launch a rocket from sea through a partnership with Seagate. The ambitious effort aims to be to first sea-based launch by university students in the nation — an example of how we continue to forge a path forward for space exploration.

UCF is also helping connect Florida’s universities, NASA and industry through the Florida University Space Research Consortium. The partnership creates new paths for shared space research, technology development and workforce preparation tied to Kennedy Space Center — strengthening Florida’s ability to lead the United States’ future space efforts.

Six decades in, UCF’s space legacy is still being written — in classrooms, labs and places we are determined to reach.

Landing humans on the moon was just a dream when UCF was founded in 1963. But we dared to believe — developing the talent and inventing the technologies to make it reality. That same spirit still drives us today.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

On a clear night, Teresa Kinney ’11MS can step into her backyard in Merritt Island, just a few miles from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and look toward the moon. Its illuminated gray and white surface is no longer just a distant destination — it represents the next chapter of human space exploration and her own engineering������������.

As transportation office program lead engineer in NASA’s Moon Base Program, the UCF alumna plays a critical role in the agency’s phased effort to establish America’s first permanent outpost near the moon’s South Pole. Her engineering team oversees the surface transportation systems needed to deliver cargo, move equipment across the lunar surface, support deep-space and orbital missions and ensure every component works together as part of the larger lunar architecture.

Kinney evaluates whether transportation concepts and designs are technically ready to advance and how they fit into NASA’s long-term vision for building and sustaining a lunar base.

“I make sure technically that the design is worthy of moving forward to the next phase, that we’re looking at all the right thermal, dynamic and radiation environments and making sure the integration of hardware, including electronics and other parts, is coming together the proper way,” Kinney says.

Engineering a Moon Base

NASA’s Moon Base Program is designed to evolve from robotic and early uncrewed missions to semi-permanent infrastructure, early habitation and, eventually, a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. Every phase depends on reliable transportation systems capable of delivering the hardware and supplies needed to build, operate and maintain a base hundreds of thousands (238,855) of miles from Earth.

For Kinney, success depends on how every system works together. Landers must deliver the right payloads. Surface vehicles can transport equipment once it arrives. Orbital and deep-space transportation systems must support the broader mission. Each piece must perform safely on its own while also working within the overall architecture.

“I was surprised by the logistical complexity of maintaining a permanent presence on the International Space Station,” Kinney says. “I guess I shouldn’t have been — it’s like going on a month’s-long camping trip when you’re used to camping for long weekends. You need a lot more for that longer duration because you can’t just make do for an extended period. You think you’re prepared, but then you realize there are things you didn’t expect to need and things you wish you had with you. I think we’ll learn those same kinds of lessons from Moon Base, and I’m excited and ready to get started.”

Kinney also serves as project chief engineer for the Liquid Oxygen-Methane Assessment, a joint initiative involving NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Space Force. As the project’s final technical authority, she’s helping quantify the explosive yield and risks associated with the large quantities of liquid oxygen and methane carried by next-generation rockets and spacecraft, including human landing systems, particularly during catastrophic failures or other anomalies. The data will help inform safety protocols for spacecraft, launch sites and surrounding communities.

Whether she’s assessing lunar transportation architecture or helping government agencies better understand the risks of cryogenic propellants, Kinney’s work comes down to the same challenge: understanding how complex systems behave, where they can fail and how engineers can make them safer.

A Curiosity That Started Early

That instinct to understand how the pieces fit together began early.

” … my dad slid me up under the dashboard and started handing me parts. At some point I realized, ‘I can do this.’”

At 8, Kinney started helping her father work on cars. By 12, she was small enough to slide under the dashboard of the family’s Chevrolet station wagon and install its air-conditioning system before a summer trip to Florida.

“We were living in Alabama and were going to [Walt] Disney World [Resort] but couldn’t make the drive to Florida without air conditioning,” Kinney says. “I was small enough that my dad slid me up under the dashboard and started handing me parts, asking me to connect things. At some point I realized, ‘I can do this.’ It was the first time I had ever completed a mechanical task entirely on my own.”

That experience sparked an interest in solving complex problems, shaping her career and allowing her to do what she enjoys most: putting things together.

Career Takes Off

Before becoming a NASA civil servant at Kennedy Space Center in 2005, Kinney earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and spent two decades supporting the space shuttle solid rocket booster, Spacelab and International Space Station programs as a contractor at Marshall Space Flight Center.

As a structural dynamicist at NASA, she embraced the challenges of loads analysis and modal testing of large space structures while enjoying the freedom to explore new ideas and uncover innovative solutions.

“I never had any roadblocks in front of me,” Kinney says. “They were like, ‘Here’s the work. Here’s your part of it, Teresa. If you have problems, come and talk to us.’ No one ever treated me in a way that wasn’t wonderful and supportive.”

UCF Landing

As her career evolved, Kinney realized technical expertise alone wasn’t enough if she ever wanted to lead an interdisciplinary team. With UCF’s longstanding presence at Kennedy Space Center, she knew where to turn.

“UCF has a great reputation and the proximity, but it took me years to say, ‘OK, start doing a master’s,’” Kinney says.

While working full-time, she attended most classes at KSC through a special program, often balancing 60- to 70-hour workweeks as she earned her master’s degree in industrial engineering.

“You never know what opportunities might be waiting in front of you.”

Kinney applies that same dedication to everything she does, whether she’s building bookcases with her husband — a retired NASA engineer she met while working at NASA (MSFC) — or encouraging young people to pursue careers in space exploration. She offers the same advice she gave her daughter, Julia Kinney ’19, a UCF biomedical sciences graduate who works at a cancer center, and her son, Jackson, an aerospace engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center.

“Don’t be intimidated,” Kinney says. “Don’t see things as too hard — see them as challenges. You never know what opportunities might be waiting in front of you.”

That is the world Alex Bair ’16 helps power every day.

October is National Arts and Humanities Month.

The UCF College of Arts and Humanities graduate works for Cast & Crew, a company operating at the intersection of entertainment, finance and technology. While the company is often described as a payroll provider, its work extends far beyond paychecks, helping productions manage labor compliance, workforce systems, production accounting and the increasingly sophisticated financial infrastructure required to support film and television at scale.

For Bair, the role has become an unexpected way to combine two sides of himself that never felt entirely separate: creativity and complex systems of thinking.

“It’s really the culmination of these many different modalities coming together that makes you a complete person,” he says.

That mindset has shaped nearly every step of his journey.

Lessons Passed Down

Long before Bair entered the entertainment industry, stories from his grandfather helped shape how he viewed work, education and opportunity.

His grandfather participated in a work-study program connected to Henry Ford in Detroit, balancing classes at night with work during the day. Students were expected not only to study and work hard, but to demonstrate discipline and financial responsibility by saving part of their wages.

Those stories stayed with Bair growing up.

The lesson was never simply about earning a paycheck. It was about curiosity, continuous learning and building a meaningful life.

That philosophy would later guide him through an industry constantly evolving through technology and innovation.

Finding Direction at UCF

Bair originally attended another state university before transferring to UCF after his grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, allowing him to be closer to family.

Majoring in theatre, he immersed himself in storytelling, communication and performance. The experience sharpened his confidence and taught him how to think creatively, adapt quickly and communicate clearly across different environments.

At the time, he did not envision a future in fintech or entertainment infrastructure.

But looking back, he sees how those experiences prepared him for exactly that kind of work.

“People think they have to pick one thing and stay in one lane forever,” Bair says. “But your experiences build on each other.”

The arts, he says, taught him far more than performance. They taught him how to navigate ambiguity, connect ideas and understand people, skills that became invaluable in the professional world.

The Business Behind Entertainment

As productions have grown increasingly complex, the entertainment industry has become deeply reliant on sophisticated financial and technological systems operating behind the scenes.

Through his work at Cast & Crew, Bair helps support the financial backbone of film, television and theater productions, from payroll and production accounting to the intricate web of budgets, contracts and labor agreements that make creative work possible.

While many people see intimidating systems and technical jargon, Bair is drawn to understanding how the pieces fit together. He discovered he had a natural aptitude for the operational and fintech concepts shaping the industry, finding a career where technology, finance and creativity intersect.

Rather than viewing entertainment and business as separate worlds, Bair sees them as inseparable. Behind every performance is an invisible infrastructure that allows storytellers to create.

Today, those systems continue evolving rapidly through automation, digital platforms, artificial intelligence and large-scale workforce technologies. Bair operates in the middle of that transformation, helping support the infrastructure behind productions across the entertainment landscape.

A Different Kind of Career Story

Looking back, Bair hopes students understand they do not need to have every detail of their future perfectly mapped out.

He welcomes each experience as another layer to who he is. Instead of treating new opportunities as a tradeoff, he approaches them as a new scene in his unique story.

The arts and technology. Creativity and finance. Storytelling and systems. In an industry increasingly shaped by innovation and constant change, that openness to learning may be more valuable than ever.

“I don’t think you need to have it all figured out,” he says. “I think you have to love something.”

Engineering students are constantly told that grueling workloads, sleepless nights and brutal exams will eventually pay off with lucrative careers. But Michael Ferrante ’15MSEM wants them to know something far more important: they are not alone.

“I’m providing evidence that somebody cares. That’s important to students — knowing that somebody is listening.” — Michael Ferrante ’15MSEM, CECS special instructor

“I’m providing evidence that somebody cares,” says Ferrante, an engineering management graduate and a special instructor in UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) who has championed student success for over 50 years. “That’s important to students — knowing that somebody is listening.”

His peers at the Florida Engineering Society have tuned in as well, naming Ferrante their 2026 Engineering Faculty Member of the Year. The recognition came as a surprise to Ferrante, who does not teach full-time. Instead, he wears many other hats, all displaying an unwavering devotion to expanding engineering opportunities
at UCF.

“When a student comes back to me years later and says, ‘Hey, I got my Ph.D., I am working where I want to work and I’m enjoying life,’ that’s what matters,” Ferrante says. “I may have given them advice and steered them in the right direction, but they did the heavy lifting. They earned the grades and they put in the work.”

Tau Beta Pi Is In His DNA

Ferrante’s legacy began in the 1970s when he helped record UCF courses on Betamax tape for traveling engineers. Since then, he has been deeply embedded in campus engineering organizations. He is the chief advisor for Tau Beta Pi — the National Engineering Honor Society — and has served on numerous leadership committees, including the CECS Alumni Council, the Engineering Leadership and Innovation Institute (eli2) and the UCF student chapter of the Florida Engineering Society.

When he is not running between the engineering buildings, Ferrante is networking on behalf of students at national conferences, securing scholarships and bringing industry leaders to campus for recruitment events.

“The thing I’m most proud of involves Tau Beta Pi,” Ferrante says. “These students are the cream of the crop. When I began advising the UCF chapter 12 years ago, we had just three students. Today, our chapter has grown to more than 100 students and we regularly initiate dozens of new members each semester.”

Until Ferrante secured approval at a Tau Beta Pi national convention several years ago, computer science majors at UCF were ineligible to join the prestigious engineering honor society. Today, UCF stands as one of only an elite number of colleges nationwide permitted to induct computer science students into the organization.

“Mr. Ferrante is the kind of person who is always around and has his hands in everything. Nothing is too much for him. He’ll make the time for it.” — Julia Moras, computer science student

Computer science major Julia Moras is one of those select members. Since being initiated during her first year, Moras has spent the past two years leading the UCF chapter as its president.

“Mr. Ferrante is the kind of person who is always around and has his hands in everything,” says Moras, who has taken on the role of student advisor for the UCF chapter. “Nothing is too much for him. He’ll make the time for it.”

Next year, the Florida Delta chapter of Tau Beta Pi will celebrate its 50th anniversary at UCF. As the chapter prepares to host the District 5 conference for the third time, Ferrante will be busy organizing the landmark event. The numerous chapter awards lining his office walls stand as a testament to his impact — even if he is quick to deflect credit by insisting he is “just the advisor.” Yet, his influence extends far beyond the campus borders.

Alongside four decades of service to the Naval Air Warfare Center, where he worked on simulation and live system development projects, Ferrante served as a weapons expert and test sniper for the U.S. Army’s small arms development program. He also was vice president of a local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, volunteered for 40 years as a reserve captain with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and currently sits on the Zoning and Planning Board for the City of Winter Springs.

No Slowing Down

His wife and fellow UCF graduate, Pamela Ferrante ’85 MEd’95 EdS ’00, insists that retirement is out of the question. Even at 73, slowing down is simply not an option for her husband, a past recipient of the CECS Alumni Night Leadership and Service Award.

As a student advisor, Ferrante believes his job is to show up, listen and help. Sometimes that mentorship means writing letters of recommendation for scholarships or graduate schools, introducing students to prospective employers or providing them with advice. He and his wife also donate food, clothing and supplies to the UCF Knights Pantry, which provides for students’ immediate needs.

There is no telling how deep Ferrante’s campus footprint will grow. With his recent  appointment to College of Community Innovation and Education as courtesy professor of practice for engineering integration, Ferrante intends to leverage his five decades of engineering expertise to foster new strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives across the university and beyond.

“What really makes me feel good is when students make the effort and get the job of their dreams. All I do is try to direct them.” — Michael Ferrante ’15MSEM, CECS special instructor

“Mike has an extraordinary gift for making people feel supported,” says CCIE Interim Dean and Professor Ross Wolf ’88 ’91MPA ’98EdD, who volunteered with Ferrante in the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. “Over three decades, I watched him dedicate countless hours to mentoring and encouraging others. Whether in law enforcement, engineering or community service, Mike’s true passion has always been helping people reach their goals.”

One thing is for sure. Ferrante’s goal remains the same: to pay forward the education and opportunities that UCF provided him and his four children — Matthew ’16, Aimee ’17, Deanna ’17 and Jennifer ’19.

“What really makes me feel good is when students make the effort and get the job of their dreams,” Ferrante says. “All I do is try to direct them.”

It’s an enormous operation, but for De Salvia, hospitality has never been simply about delivering excellence at scale.

His approach is grounded in empathy and care. He understands the power of that kind of service because long before he was responsible for hospitality on a global level, he experienced it himself as a UCF student.

It began when De Salvia became a Knight in 1999, pursuing his bachelor’s in marketing and discovering a natural connection to consumer behavior and marketing intelligence. While his UCF journey deepened his academic understanding of hospitality, it would ultimately contribute toward the formation of his belief that true service occurs when life hits hardest.

Humanity, Hard Work and Honor

De Salvia arrived at UCF ready to begin a new chapter. But just weeks before starting his first year at UCF, he lost his best friend to an asthma attack.

“He was the one that always pushed me to continue pursuing my academics,” he recalls. “He always told me I was so much smarter than I thought, and that I had to keep going.”

Inspired by his friend’s belief in him, De Salvia forged on with his bachelor’s until he was rocked by another loss a month later: his brother George, an Orlando police officer, was killed in the line of duty at only 29 years old.

Suddenly, De Salvia’s degree hinged on two things: his will to succeed, and the support from UCF faculty and administration who rallied around him.

“I’ll never forget that,” he recalls fondly. “They kept me on track. I didn’t have to drop classes or change things. They were there for me every step of the way.”

Together, they transformed a trying and challenging semester into a successful journey that forever tethered De Salvia’s heart to UCF.

“I decided not to let my brother and best friend down; to work hard, outpace and outperform everyone to honor their memory,” he says. “I can’t express how big a part UCF played in my life, ensuring I could make them proud.”

De Salvia stood by his decision by earning his bachelor’s degree and, in 2004, establishing the at UCF. True to his promise to excel, he returned in 2009 to earn his .

New Knowledge, New Horizons

“I call my master’s in management the awakening of my professional career,” De Salvia says. “It’s the best money I’ve ever spent investing in myself.”

The program challenged him to recognize his capabilities and reconsider his professional direction. Empowered by an expanded mindset and greater self-awareness, he resolved to take his knowledge to an organization where he could implement it.

“I call my master’s in management the awakening of my professional career. It’s the best money I’ve ever spent investing in myself.”

That meant acknowledging he was unhappy and unfulfilled in the job he held at the time. In a bold move, he resigned two days after graduating.

There was no plan b.

He credits that step with granting him the life he has today, and UCF with giving him the personal insight to take it.

His newfound freedom led to an eight-year career with Disney overseeing their Vacation Club sales and marketing, ultimately propelling him to his current position with Hilton Grand Vacations.

De Salvia largely measures the value of his success by how much he gives back, especially to UCF.

In addition to the scholarship honoring his brother, he sits on both the Entrepreneurial Leadership Board and the management board at the Barry S. Miller College of Business, mentors students, supports the and speaks at

Through Hilton Grand Vacations, he’s also working to establish the Hilton Grand Vacations Scholarship Fund to help reduce financial barriers for hospitality students and bring Knights into the Hilton Grand Vacations family.

It’s a level of support that gives UCF students greater access to the industry while deepening the partnerships that are central to their experience at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

“The scholarship reflects Hilton Grand Vacations’ commitment to developing the next generation of hospitality leaders,” says Kyle Trager, director of development for Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

“Derek recognizes the long-term impact an endowed scholarship can have on attracting, supporting and retaining exceptional hospitality students,” he continues. “His leadership has been instrumental in advancing both the scholarship and broader partnership opportunities between HGV and Rosen College.”

Life, Lessons and Leading the Next Generation of Knights

De Salvia says he strongly believes UCF alumni share a responsibility to return and pay their knowledge forward. One of his key lessons is encouraging students to enter the world with their eyes wide open.

“Don’t look at just one path you feel you need to be on,” he says. “Whatever feels like an opportunity you want to pursue with passion, go for it. The thing people can never take from you is passion.”

And De Salvia’s devotion to his alma mater won’t be waning. He wants to pursue his doctoral degree at UCF and when he retires, he’d be happy to teach here and share what he’s learned to help students get a better start.

Are you interested in matching De Salvia’s spirit of service and helping UCF succeed in our next great mission? Learn more about the that’s elevating student success and building a future the world has only begun to imagine.

On Thursday, Sept. 24, the ɫ���� Board of Trustees approved renaming the to the Dr. Yvette Kanouff School of Data, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. The renaming initiative was the in honor of a transformational gift Kanouff — a highly successful leader in mathematics and technology — made to UCF and establishes the school as one of the very few named mathematical schools in the United States.

Kanouff’s investment also establishes an endowed fund that will help advance UCF’s mission of expanding student success and maximizing excellence. The fund will support outstanding graduate students, expand scholarships that increase access and achievement, and recognize excellence in teaching and research among students, faculty and postdoctoral fellows across the school, which is in the .

Creating Paths to Success

Kanouff says she believes everyone can contribute to UCF student success, whether through mentoring, professional connections, volunteer service or financial support.

“I want our students and future students to know that what I’m investing in is them,” Kanouff says. “I want them and their children to have an amazing opportunity at a college that is able to fully develop their capabilities and talents.”

Her gift reflects a belief shared by many supporters ɫ����’s Go For Launch campaign: that investing in students creates opportunities that extend far beyond graduation and strengthens the university’s impact for generations to come.

Kanouff knows firsthand how any financial assistance can help make a student’s college journey easier, which she says the new endowment and school name will help promote. Kanouff worked to pay for her studies while earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics at UCF. At the time, she says she did not understand how scholarships worked or what financial assistance might have been available. From this personal experience she knows there are students who have the ability and determination to succeed but they may not know where to find help.

“If you have the skill and you have the grit, there should be a path for you to have a wonderful career,” Kanouff says.

A Foundation for What Comes Next

In addition to access to opportunities funded by philanthropy, Kanouff says that students should seek out their professors and maintain lifelong relationships with them whenever possible.

When Kanouff was in graduate school at the College of Sciences, she chose a challenging topic on wavelets and their application to digital signal processing and centroids for her master’s thesis. She selected Ahmed Zayed, the former associate chair for graduate studies in UCF’s College of Sciences, as her advisor. Zayed became her “thesis father,” a term that reflected the lifelong commitment he made to mentoring her. The two have remained close ever since.

Zayed encouraged Kanouff to pursue a doctorate in mathematics, but her career ultimately took her in another direction. In 2025, UCF recognized her many contributions to mathematics, data science and technology by awarding her an honorary Doctor of Science. Zayed, now at DePaul University, traveled from Chicago to attend the ceremony.

“That relationship was something really, really special,” Kanouff says, “And that is something most students don’t have.”

In addition to lifelong friends and mentors, UCF gave Kanouff a strong foundation in mathematics. She began her career as a mathematician in the defense industry, applying pattern-recognition algorithms she had learned at UCF. She later carried that foundation into technology and other emerging fields, discovering how mathematical principles could be applied across industries and disciplines.

Over the years, Kanouff has often visited the campus to see how her professors were doing and occasionally taught a calculus class as a guest lecturer. When speaking with students, she often shares some of the emerging technologies that require the advanced math skills they are learning.

Kanouff points to artificial intelligence as one example of how mathematics drives emerging technology. AI systems rely on mathematical concepts such as pattern recognition, clustering, and association.

“People look at AI and think computer science,” Kanouff says. “I love computer science, but guess what else you have to take? You have to take data science and math and statistics.”

Expanding What’s Possible

Through Knights like Yvette Kanouff are helping UCF expand student success, fuel discovery and build a future the world has only begun to imagine. Join the mission at goforlaunch.ucf.edu.

That sense of possibility that Kanouff foresees reflects the vision behind UCF’s Go For Launch campaign and will shape the newly named school, bringing mathematics, statistics and data science together to help students understand complex problems and contribute across disciplines and industries.

“Yvette’s relationship with UCF demonstrates what can happen when graduates remain connected and invest in those who follow,” says Rod Grabowski, senior vice president for advancement and partnerships at UCF and CEO of the UCF Foundation Inc. “Her generosity advances the vision of Go For Launch by expanding opportunity for students, strengthening academic excellence and inspiring others to help build what comes next.”

Kanouff says she believes creating those possibilities is not the university’s responsibility alone. Alumni, friends and industry partners can strengthen students’ paths in large and small ways by staying connected, sharing their experience, mentoring or contributing to scholarships.

“Mathematics teaches us how to solve complex problems, but supporting students helps create opportunities for them,” Kanouff says. “Whether we give money, time, mentorship or opportunity, each of us can help a student see a path forward.”