University of Central Florida leaders showed a little bit of swagger Wednesday as the school launched a new center that will advance hypersonic and space technology development.
UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright said on Wednesday that the school has built a tradition around “people who dared to invent a better future.”
“What we create here and across UCF will define the aerospace and defense industries for generations,” he said in a news release that followed a media event announcing a new center.
The new space Center of Excellence in Hypersonic and Space Propulsion will be known as the “HyperSpace Center.”
The HyperSpace Center will be the focal point of research and innovation for the school’s accomplished faculty.
U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research officials joined school leadersfor the festivities.
“Today, the University of Central Florida is not only opening a new, top-notch facility where leading-edge research in hypersonics and space propulsion will take place,” said Col. Janelle T. Jackson, the office’s deputy director. “You are also opening doors and opportunities to students from various diverse backgrounds.”
UCF faculty member Kareem Ahmed’s team has received multiple U.S. Department of Defense grants for hypersonic technology research. The new facility will consolidate research efforts. Ahmed’s team, which includes dozens of students from a number of campus labs, will now be under one roof.
“It’s important that UCF lead this research, primarily because of the student talent that we have,” Ahmed said in the release. “Industry is interested in our top talent. Once they graduate, they are already hired by industry, pre-trained on the topics they would explore and they become the next generation of leaders in this technology.”
UCF has been the top supplier of aerospace and defense graduates six years in a row, Aviation Week Network said.