The more Jake Rose’s colleagues at UCF and his neighbors around Chuluota, Florida, get to know him, the more he surprises them. The California native surfs and gardens. He is as comfortable building barns as he is building frameworks for AI-driven interfaces. He studied premed, minored in information systems and at heart admits to being “a closet psychologist.” He and his wife, who is now a visiting lecturer in the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting at UCF, raised their two children in New Zealand and recently purchased seven acres of workable land in the Orlando area.

The man with the callused hands is one of only a handful of professors in the world merging artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscience to shape the future of the field he’s best known for at UCF — accounting.

Welcome to the dawn of neuro-accounting.

“When my master’s students hear about these new ways to view and practice accounting and the tremendous difference technology can make, it heightens their interest,” says Rose, UCF’s Kenneth G. Dixon Eminent Scholar. He adds with a smile, “I’m also more relatable when they find out how I spend my weekends.”

“Accounting provides the information needed for [business] decision-making, and that’s why neuro-accounting will eventually impact the entire global economy.”

On his most recent Saturdays, he’s been using his hands to dig postholes for 2,000 linear feet of fencing while letting his mind do what comes naturally to him: envisioning the future. In this one, he sees Paso Fino horses and an orchard.

Then, fully refreshed on Monday, he’s Professor Rose again with his thoughts laser-focused on what he calls “this unusual combination” of behavioral science, technology and accounting.

“I’ve never viewed accounting as just credits and debits,” he says. “When you take a step back, you see business is about decision-making. Accounting provides the information needed for this decision-making, and that’s why neuro-accounting will eventually impact the entire global economy.”

Trailblazing with Technology

Rose joined UCF in August 2025 after directing accountancy programs at universities from the South Pacific to America’s heartland. He made the move because he recognized a unique culture in , which recently received a $50 million gift from entrepreneur and alum Barry Miller ’95 to strengthen tech-driven business education — including Rose’s work.

“This is one of the very few business schools that want to pursue experimental work with technology,” Rose says. “I saw it as a unique place to make progress in neuro-accounting, which, other than UCF, only exists in a colleague’s lab in Australia.”

He’s made rapid progress. Within weeks of arriving at UCF, Rose was named the university’s Kenneth G. Dixon Eminent Scholar for excellence in accounting research. At the award ceremony, Rose emphasized the larger mission driving his work: “We can literally improve the world.”

When he says “we” in this context, he refers to a collaboration between people and advanced tech.

“When we design systems and interfaces that allow people and AI to make important decisions together, then every business and government can benefit.”

“The basic mechanics of accounting are already being automated,” he says. “The future will be about how people perceive risks within financial data and how technology can improve professional judgment. The consequences of good judgment are massive and affect businesses and lives worldwide. The truth is, we’re bad at dealing with large amounts of data because our brains are limited. But AI and other new technologies are expanding our limits. When we design systems and interfaces that allow people and AI to make important decisions together, then every business and government can benefit. The implications are massive.”

Those improvements, the way Rose sees them, will have their origins at UCF’s Dixon School of Accounting, in the first neuro-accounting lab of its kind in the U.S.

Fun and Fresh: The Future of Accounting

Rose already knows what the future lab could look like because he’s worked in the Business Behavioural Laboratory at Monash University in Australia. The Dixon School’s director, Jay Thibodeau, is currently seeking funding to bring the concept to UCF.

Once complete, the lab would allow researchers to measure how new technology and financial information influence crucial judgment factors like stress and attention.

“Ultimately, we’ll be able to help firms make better decisions,” Rose says.

However, he doesn’t want to be one of the only people in the world who understands neuro-accounting.

“This is why I love teaching,” Rose says. “I get to spread the word with students and let them experiment. It’s fun. They’re enthusiastic about taking accounting where no one has taken it.”

Standing before a room of business leaders, community partners and fellow students, UCF junior Mariana Guerrero introduced herself not only as an accounting major in the and a student, but as someone shaped by a lifetime of seeing what meaningful engagement can do.

Born and raised in Orlando, Guerrero grew up with UCF woven into her life. Her parents, both proud Knights, spent their early careers working full time while attending school part time. Her mother’s two decades in government and community relations meant that childhood weekends were often spent at university events long before she understood what it meant to belong to a campus community.

So when it came time to apply to college, she submitted only one application.

“I have always been a Knight,” she said.

Her parents’ work ethic allowed her to fully immerse herself at UCF. She joined the College of Business Ambassadors, now serving as vice chair, became active in the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA), mentors two students, and chairs the President’s Leadership Council. Each role, she says, has deepened her sense of community and purpose.

Her interest in accounting began at age 13, when her parents enrolled her in a financial literacy summer camp she initially resisted.

“I just wanted to be a normal teenager,” she said.

Instead, she discovered how engaging personal finance could be, especially through the board game Cash Flow, which she played so often her cousins eventually called her for help.

That curiosity grew in high school, where she researched teen financial literacy and realized how few young people had access to the conversations her parents encouraged at home. When she took her first financial accounting class at UCF, her interests aligned, and she began envisioning a future where her love of numbers could translate into meaningful work.

Her professional world expanded quickly. She represented UCF in competitions, including the KPMG-sponsored HSI Battle of the Brains Case Competition, where UCF won first place. She attended leadership programs at the KPMG Lakehouse and joined the firm’s Global Advantage Program in Lisbon, Portugal. Next summer, she will return to KPMG as an audit intern, with plans to earn her CPA and begin her career in public accounting.

Guerrero closed her remarks with gratitude for her family, for UCF and for partnerships like the one between the university and KPMG.

“I am excited to make the leap from being an involved UCF student to being an engaged UCF alumna,” she says.

Her introduction set the tone for an evening focused on shared purpose.

Impact of Partnership

UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright followed by highlighting the significance of the Crossroads Speaker Series and its partnership with Dr. Phillips Charities. The series, he said, is designed to explore how business, philanthropy and values-based leadership can work together to create positive change.

Cartwright emphasized KPMG’s engagement across the university, from supporting the Professional Selling Program to mentoring students at the KPMG Lakehouse. Their recent support ɫ���� Space Week reflects a partnership committed to innovation across disciplines.

He also spoke about UCF’s continued momentum, including achieving the final metric required for Florida’s Preeminent University designation.

“That is what makes UCF remarkable,” he said. “We open doors, spark possibility and empower students to make a lasting difference.”

“That is what makes UCF remarkable. We open doors, spark possibility and empower students to make a lasting difference.” — UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright

Remarks from Ken Robinson, president and CEO of Dr. Phillips Charities, reinforced the importance of investing in people and partnerships. From there, the evening shifted to its featured conversation.

Sherry Magee ’92, senior director of community relations at the KPMG Lakehouse and a UCF graduate, moderated a fireside chat with Jennifer Flynn Dear, managing director of corporate affairs for KPMG US—offering the audience a close look at leadership, service and purpose through Dear’s experience.

“We are so lucky to have UCF in our community,” Dear began. “They are wonderful community partners as well as a stellar business school thanks to the excellent Kenneth Dixon School of Accounting, KPMG accepts 70% ɫ���� applicants.”

Her career with the company began more than 25 years ago when she moved to New York City hoping for an advertising career. Feeling overwhelmed on her first day, she called her mother to say she would not last. Instead, she built a career across 12 areas of the organization, learning continuously.

One of her most memorable projects involved partnering with the late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, to raise awareness for adoption issues. That work sparked a passion for connecting business with causes that matter.

“I like pairing business and industry to raise awareness of an issue,” she said.

Dear shared that KPMG employees have donated more than $67 million and logged 130,000 volunteer hours. She takes special pride in the firm’s work in education and mental well-being, noting that KPMG Family for Literacy has provided more than 7 million new books to children in low-income communities since 2008.

The more employees get involved, she said, the more fulfilled they feel.

“Even before Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica, KPMG had a match set up for hurricane assistance, and participation was incredible.”

Philanthropy, she added, is considered an obligation as employees advance.

She also described the KPMG Lakehouse, a learning and innovation center where employees and clients engage with emerging technologies and leadership training.

“We train every day on AI,” she said. “We invested $2 billion in Microsoft to keep our data safe and to be more efficient and effective.”

The evening closed with remarks from Rodney M. Grabowski, UCF’s senior vice president for Advancement and Partnerships and CEO of the UCF Foundation.

“This is our fifth year for Crossroads,” he said. “We are grateful to Dr. Phillips Charities, to Mariana Guerrero, and to KPMG and Jennifer Flynn Dear for sharing their stories. Thank you for joining us. Go Knights and Charge On!”

With this many privately-owned satellites in low Earth orbit, there are concerns about catastrophic collisions in outer space, signal interference and the sheer number of satellites located there.

In response to the challenge of allocating this shared resource, Enrique Guerra-Pujol, a law professor in the UCF College of Business and the School of Accounting, has proposed a new model of outer space governance in the new issue of the Annals of Air & Space Law: outer space auctions.

Under the existing legal framework, if a private firm like SpaceX plans to launch a satellite into orbit from the U.S., it must first obtain permission from three public agencies: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has jurisdiction over the launching and re-entry of commercial space vehicles; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has jurisdiction over the orbits of communication satellites launched from the United States; and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which allocates radio-frequency allocations to the ITU in accordance with the provisions of the international treaty governing the use of radio frequencies, called the Radio Regulations.

“What if, however, these agencies used auctions instead of giving away these resources for free?” Guerra Pujol says.

Guerra Pujol’s new study provides a systematic analysis of the problem of space congestion and proposes a market-based solution through the implementation of outer space auctions, drawing inspiration from Coasian principles.

Coasian solutions propose using market mechanisms to allocate resources efficiently.

A historical precedent for orbit and launch auctions is the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 or OBRA-93, which gave the FCC the legal authority to use auctions to allocate property rights in the electromagnetic spectrum, Guerra Pujol says. Subsequently, the United States Congress expanded the FCC’s auction authority when it enacted the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

The researcher says most business firms are already familiar with the first-price sealed-bid auction or blind auction in which bidders simultaneously submit secret bids so that no bidder knows how much the other auction participants have bid. The bids are not opened until a certain date, and the person with the highest bid — or second-highest bid in the case of a second-price auction — is declared the winner. This simple format, however, is not the method used by the FCC to allocate licenses in the electromagnetic spectrum. Instead, the FCC uses a method called the simultaneous ascending auction or simultaneous multiple-round auction.

In principle, the FCC or ITU, or both, could use some variation of the simultaneous ascending auction to allocate orbit or launch licenses, especially for the new generation of mega-constellation satellites since the simultaneous ascending auction format is flexible enough to accommodate the plethora of variables in the case of orbit auctions, such as variation in radio-frequencies for various applications, different orbits, different altitudes, or variable numbers of satellites, Guerra Pujol  says.

Researcher’s Credentials

Enrique Guerra Pujol joined UCF in 2014 and has published dozens of scholarly articles, five book chapters and two textbooks. He has a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School and bachelor’s degrees in Spanish literature and political science from U.C. Santa Barbara. His areas of research include law, markets and property rights.

Fairley, an accounting major graduating Aug. 5, recently was selected for the men’s Under 24 Ultimate Frisbee team that will compete Jan. 7-13 in the World Flying Disc Federation’s world championship tournament in Australia. Fairley was one of about 500 applicants who competed for a spot on the 24-player team.

He got the good news while in one of his final classes at UCF.

“I’m sitting there and I go into my email and click the in-box to reload it and the email pops up: ‘We’d like to offer you an invitation to the U.S. National Men’s Team.’ I wanted to scream out in the middle of class, ‘Yes!’” Fairley said.

This summer was Fairley’s second time trying out for the team. In 2014 he tried out with two friends and former teammates from Ultimate Frisbee at UCF. His friends made the team but he didn’t. The motivation to redeem himself came in handy his second time around, as on the first day of tryouts in Columbus, Ohio, he injured his knee.

“I felt like I was playing out there at about 80 percent,” he said. “I didn’t know if that was going to be enough to make the team because there were tremendous people out there.”

Fairley’s love for the sport began in St. Augustine – his home – while competing in high school track and field. On off days, the team would get together to play Ultimate Frisbee. What drew him to the game was how it combines aspects of so many others sports: Traveling rules like in basketball, end zones like in football, and constant running like in soccer. He struggled to throw the Frisbee at first, but his commitment to practice up to four days a week – a routine he continues today – led to his passion for the sport and a desire to continue it competitively in college.

In fact, UCF’s strong Ultimate Frisbee club team is what convinced Fairley to become a Knight. His senior year in high school he tried out for Florida United, a club team made up of the best players in the state, and that’s when he met UCF alumnus Andrew Roca. Roca was head coach of Dogs of War, the Ultimate Frisbee club team at UCF, and he invited Fairley to Orlando to check out the campus and team.

“He really sold me on what UCF had to offer. Plus, it was a little bit further from home so it would give me the chance to be more on my own,” said Fairley, who originally planned to attend the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. He went on to become the Dogs of War team president.

“I saw the future of our program in him and he delivered,” said Roca. “He picked up the game, ran with it, continued to excel and more importantly, pushed others to excel. I couldn’t describe a leader better than that.”

Off the field, Fairley developed leadership skills while working as a sport clubs supervisor at the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center. He managed a team of 70 people, a budget of $40,000, community service events, fundraising efforts and more. He aspires to work in accounting or as a data analyst.

“Being able to provide that leadership experience that not a lot of kids have – it’s something that sets you apart immediately,” Fairley said. “Leadership is an aspect Team USA really looks for.”

“We are very pleased to see that our undergraduate and master’s accounting programs are beginning to get more external recognition. The Accounting.com top 50 rankings for both programs are a reflection of the hard work and accomplishments of the Dixon School of Accounting faculty over the last 5 years,” said Sean Robb, Ph.D., director of #UCFBusiness’ Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting.

“It’s really impressive when you realize that there are over 1200 U.S. business schools with undergraduate accounting programs.”

To be included in Accounting.com’s rankings, a school must report at least two out of the four following metrics: acceptance rate, enrollment rate, retention rate and graduation rate.

“The high level of faculty engagement with students through office hours, College of Business events, and student organizations is what gives the Dixon School an edge in accounting education. I have never felt like I was on my own in this program, which is why I was eager to return for an M.S.A.,” said Renee Giron, ’15, accounting alumna and former college student ambassador.

“While it may not be tested on the CPA exam, the positive connections with other students and faculty are what drive me and many others to succeed.”

Since joining UCF in 2005, Sutton has supervised or is currently supervising seven UCF Ph.D. students, six of which have focused their research on technology effects on accounting and auditing practice, as well as users of accounting information.

In addition to his work at UCF, he has extensive global experience and he has co-supervised Ph.D. students from the University of Melbourne, University of Auckland, and the University of Technology Sydney, and has served as an external dissertation examiner for Ph.D. graduates at the University of Maastricht, University of Queensland, University of South Australia, and the University of Waterloo.

Two of his Ph.D. students have received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Information Systems Section of the American Accounting Association: UCF Ph.D. graduate Clark Hampton (2012, assistant professor, University of Waterloo) and Melbourne Ph.D. graduate Carlin Dowling (2007, associate professor University of Melbourne).

Sutton is widely published and received the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Strategic and Emerging Technologies Section of the AAA in 2003.

“It is quite humbling to be recognized by your peers for the work that you do out of passion. I have been incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with some great Ph.D. students who are not only very talented, but also good, caring people who impact the lives of many, many students,” he said.

Sean Robb, Ph.D., director of the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting is proud of Sutton’s recognition, and adds “Steve Sutton is a prolific accounting researcher and an extraordinary research talent. This award merely formalizes a consensus opinion about Steve’s abilities that has existed in the accounting academy for many years.”

Calling all Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting graduates, friends, and community partners…Do you want to connect to fellow accounting alums and accounting professionals?

The UCF Alumni Association is proud to introduce the Dixon School of Accounting (DSA) Alumni Chapter. Beginning Fall 2011, this chapter will host events and activities tailored to the needs ɫ���� accounting alumni and friends. Best of all, joining is FREE!

2011-2012 Dixon School of Accounting Alumni Chapter Executive Committee:

The DSA Alumni Chapter is always looking for new leaders! To find out how you can become involved or to be added to the alumni chapter committee email listserv, email Bridget Downes, assistant director of development and alumni relations at bridget.downes@ucf.edu.

For more information on the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, visit their .