UCF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

As an alumna and now a UCF postdoctoral scholar, Rachel Hytovik ’20 ’24MSAE ’25PhD is helping to define a new frontier in air travel. As part of the team at the HyperSpace Center, she works on breakthroughs in hypersonic propulsion, a technology that, in the next 25 years, could power a flight from New York to London in less than 15 minutes.

Learn more about her work: https://bit.ly/4xvhx7j

Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering Samik Bhattacharya and aerospace engineering master’s student Dominic Polidoro ’25 are examining how wing shapes could inform mathematical models to improve the performance and stability of the U.S. military’s amphibious vehicles.

Their work is supported by a grant from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM Army Research Office.

Learn more about their research: https://bit.ly/3S9Cvs6

On most days, Joshua DeAscanis ’11 ’22MBA is focused on something many people never think about: the invisible systems that keep modern life running.

Through his role as business development manager for Siemens Energy, DeAscanis is helping transform how turbines are tested, inspected and manufactured so they can be delivered at the speed and scale global demand now requires.

Learn more about his role: https://bit.ly/44326FC

Associate Professor Dazhong Wu has been recognized by Springer Nature with a 2026 Editor of Distinction award for the Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing! The honor is given to those in the top 20% for manuscripts sent to review, recognizing their integral role in thoroughly evaluating submissions as part of the peer review process. Congratulations to Dr. Wu! 🎉

Congratulations to Associate Professor Dazhong Wu! He will receive a nearly $500,000 DARPA grant to develop AI-driven methods to predict the performance of 3D-printed parts — a breakthrough that could reduce costs and speed up adoption across industries like aerospace and healthcare: https://bit.ly/4dynKHH

Congratulations to Associate Professor and Associate Chair Jeff Kauffman! He has been elected as Chair of the Faculty Senate for 2026-2027.

Learn more about him and his priorities over the next year: https://bit.ly/4wmhFFz

We're so proud! ✨

UCF’s e-HPVC team won first place overall at the national ASME EFx competition hosted on UCF’s main campus. The team’s award-winning vehicle was designed and built as part of a Spring 2026 Senior Design project: https://bit.ly/4npX7I7

The Robotics Club of Central Florida is the latest student-run organization to make headlines, joining UCF’s programming and cybersecurity teams in global acclaim.

Congratulations to their competitive robotics teams, Knightmare and Daydream, for advancing to the VEX Robotics World Championship in St. Louis!

Learn more about their amazing season: https://bit.ly/4dcqUzt

This semester, four faculty joined the college, including our new department member, Assistant Professor Pouria Ahmadi! Help us welcome him to CECS, and learn more about his work: https://bit.ly/4tdynE9

What a wonderful MAE Research Day! ✨

We're incredibly proud of all our graduate students; their research work was truly outstanding. Congratulations to this year's Best Poster Award winners: mechanical engineering doctoral students Yeting Sun and Ajoy Kumar Sarker; and biomedical engineering doctoral student Uditha Weerasinghage.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the insightful discussions on the research experience led by our panelists: faculty members Robert Steward and Helen Huang, and students Madisyn Messmore, Michael Pierro, Yiting Wang, Chance Brewer and Yeting Sun.

Thank you to all who joined us! Charge On!