Pegasus Magazine Summer 2021

The Magazine of the University of Central Florida

UCF’s Modern(a) Man

STATUS: Emergency Use Authorization

When the world needed an antidote, Darin Edwards ’97 ’10MS ’11PhD delivered in record time.

SUMMER 2021

HERE COME THE KNIGHTS Whether we addressed needs in our community, educated online or in physically-distanced spaces, or led research to combat COVID-19, over the last 15 months we’ve approached each challenge as an opportunity for impact. And while we’ve produced some of our finest work, we’ve missed our collective family on campus. That changed June 28, when the university returned to pre-pandemic operations, welcoming students for the start of Summer B courses and restoring what makes campus feel like home: our students, faculty and staff.

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PEGASUS

VO L U M E 2 7 • I S S U E 3 • S U M M E R 2 0 2 1

IN THE RECENT RESPONSES TO THIS PUBLICATION, several people made it a point that Pegasus should show more unity than division. I would question this publication of the past. It is finally where it should be — representing everyone on campus. It’s a serious publication now. … The whole unity thing is ideal, utopian. I wish the world inside and outside UCF could be that way. But the reality is that it isn’t, and relevant topics need to be addressed. I am Asian American (Filipino) and a naturalized American citizen. I am very proud of being an American, but there are people out there that don’t see me or others as American or patriotic. Look at the recent violence toward Asian Americans. In the Fall 2020 article, “We Are UCF,” I finally saw myself. » TUKZ TAACA ’94

AVP FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

TWITTER Apr 25 @LttlBlckHarts Some food for thought

Patrick Burt ’08MA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Laura J. Cole

while you listen to your tunes today #music

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

#brainfood

Ron Boucher ’92 ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lauren (Haar) Waters ’06 STAFF WRITERS Bree (Adamson) Watson ’04 Nicole Dudenhoefer ’17 Gene Kruckemyer ’73 Jenna Marina Lee

I AM EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED with Pegasus for printing the “What Is White Privilege?” article (Spring 2021). Why not also print “What Is Monetary Privilege?” or “What Is Liberal Privilege?” or “What Is Black Privilege?” or “What Is American Privilege?” ... Time to print an article about the rewards of hard work, determination and discipline. America is the most diverse and accepting country in the world. Stop with the racist nonsense. » STEVEN MILLS ’08

ART DIRECTOR

Music and the Brain: What Happens When You’re Listening to Music bit.ly/ucf-music-brain

DESIGNER Janeza Dino COPY EDITOR

Mar 30 @JimSRogers This is a very interesting article, connects your physical health to your mental health. I would add your spiritual health

I’M DISAPPOINTED TO SEE Pegasus act as a press outlet for the Catholic church. There’s a lot of interesting discussion to be had about the church’s role in contributing to and harming scientific exploration in centuries past and today, but “The Pope’s Meteor Man” (Spring 2021) was squarely written in defense of the church. The Catholic church is a political organization and should be treated as such — they don’t need UCF doing their PR. » KYLE MADDENS ’21

Steve Webb

as well to this. All three are connected, all three need care and attention. #health #UCF #ChargeOn #HealthyLiving

Peg Martin MULTIMEDIA Alexandra Bayer Thomas Bell ’08 Nick Leyva ’15 PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandy Pouliot SOCIAL Brandon Brown ’18 Carly (McCarthy) Hollowell ’14 ’20MA Regin Mantuano Rhiana Raymundo ’19

INSTAGRAM

WEB Jim Barnes

How to Ace the Test of Time — The Essentials to Healthy Aging

TWITTER

RJ Bruneel ’97 Jo (Greybill) Dickson ’11

bit.ly/ucf-healthy-aging

Kim Spencer ’11

Mar 28 @smarieclark125 This was a really

Roger Wolf ’07MFA

interesting read.

CONTRIBUTORS

Cadie Stockman

Jeff Haines Conor Kvatek Brooke Morris Christine Mouton ’98 ’01MS Robert Stephens David Vogin

INBOX SUBMISSIONS @buddaccounting Where my Knights at?! I’m a proud UCF Alum, and credit so much of what I learned about business and life to

The Pope’s Meteor Man: On the Intersection of Science and Spirituality bit.ly/ucf-meteor-man

my alma mater. #UCF #ChargeOn #buddaccounting

Emails to the editor should be sent with the writer’s name, graduation year, address and daytime phone number to pegasus@ucf.edu.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. Due to volume, we regret

Pegasus is published by UCF Marketing in partnership with the UCF Foundation, Inc. and UCF Alumni.

Opinions expressed in Pegasus are not necessarily those shared by the University of Central Florida.

Email:

pegasus@ucf.edu

Mail: UCF Marketing P.O. Box 160090 Orlando, FL 32816-0090 Phone: 407.823.2621

©2021 University of Central Florida. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Pegasus is a registered trademark of UCF Alumni.

that we cannot reply to every letter.

MOVED RECENTLY? NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INFO? Update your contact information: ucfalumni.com/contactupdates

4 | SUMMER 2021

Contents

TUN N E L VI S I O N For every hurdle lined up in front of Rayniah Jones, she only sees an opportunity to excel. The criminal justice major had a breakout season as the American Athletic Conference’s 100-meter hurdles champion, AAC Freshman of the Year, NCAA All-American and USA Track and Field Olympic Team Trials competitor.

“You don’t know when your time is coming, but when it does, always be grateful for it.” Read more about Jones’ journey at bit.ly/ucf-tunnel-vision.

6 In Focus

22 1ON1

12 Briefs

24 Big Shot

14 On Campus

28 Gateway to the Galaxy

16 Gold Standard

32 Giants of Academia

17 The Feed

36 Generating a Buzz

18 A Transformational Investment

38 Class Notes

20 Taking Shape

46 Why I Will Always Remember 9/11

21 Leading by Example

42 Weddings & Births

6 | SUMMER 2021

In Focus THE SHOW GOES ON Students and faculty members rebounded at UCF Celebrates the Arts this year without missing a beat, following the event’s cancellation in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Music, theater and visual arts presentations were offered to the community in April at downtown Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The climactic event of the festival, an outdoor performance by the UCF Symphony Orchestra, was nearly canceled because of inclement weather, but the student musicians and production team showed their resolve by moving all their instruments and equipment inside less than an hour before the scheduled concert, playing on a stage with no lights or sound system.

“We got to go back to where we as an orchestra belong: on a stage together, in front of a supportive audience.”

— Anna Ariani, a junior music education major and violinist with the UCF Symphony Orchestra

550+

Participants on and off stage

22

Live performances

17

Original dance productions

11

Free lunchtime concerts

9

Days of art

7

Virtual events

To see more photos from the annual event, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 7

In Focus LASTING LEGACY “As a Black student and a Knight, I wanted to leave a legacy at UCF,” says Derreasha Jones ’21 of the John T. Washington mural recently installed in the building named after him, more commonly referred to as the breezeway.

John T. Washington died in 1983 — 15 years before Jones was born — but the former associate professor of sociology and one of UCF’s first Black faculty members has made a lasting impression on her life. When Jones started at UCF in 2016, she became a member of the Black Student Union (BSU), for which Washington served as one of the first advisors when it was founded in 1969. There, she learned about Washington and his commitment to servant leadership. “[Washington] couldn’t have known the impact that he was going to make for all these generations to come, but he gave back because you’re supposed to impact your community,” says Jones, a psychology major who was also a LEAD Scholar, president of UCF’s NAACP chapter, an Advancement fellow, and Omega Psi Phi’s Miss Purple and Gold.

Jones made it her mission to make sure Washington’s legacy wouldn’t be forgotten. This effort began her first year while she gave campus tours as an Admissions Ambassador and realized that not much was said about him other than, “This is the John T. Washington Center, but you’ll never hear that name again.” She worked to change the talking points for tour guides but also wanted to update the plaque on the building. That push began in 2018 and was finally realized earlier this year after she brought it up again as a member of the President’s Student Advisory Council (PSAC).

Created by local artists Peterson Guerrier and Chris Jones and located throughout the John T. Washington Center, the mural features Washington’s image, a quote from him, his signature, the original BSU logo, the John T. Washington Honor Society logo, and will feature highlights of his contributions to UCF along the interior corridor.

“It really turned into something even bigger than what I was asking for,” Jones says. “We want to continue to make sure that our whole community feels included and not just when there’s unrest or when it’s Black History Month. And I’m grateful that PSAC and President Cartwright made it happen.”

“I’m just here for the students, if it wasn’t for students, none of us would be here at all.”

— John T. Washington

8 | SUMMER 2021

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 9

PHOTO BY CHRIS SCHUBERT

In Focus GOOD SPORTS The Knights are accustomed to busy spring competitions, but this year’s spring semester was UCF’s greatest undertaking in school history. That’s because all 16 varsity sports were in action after COVID-19 prompted the NCAA, and then the American Athletic Conference, to push its traditional fall sports — with the exception of football — into the spring. The Knights rose to the challenge and delivered outstanding performances across the board in the classroom and on the field, court and track.

“I am extremely proud of our student-athletes and coaches for their incredible achievement this year considering the immense challenges and uncertainty that the pandemic presented week to week. They certainly made my first months on the job memorable.”

— Terry Mohajir, vice president and director of athletics

59.25

Points to win the War on I-4 rivalry series for the fifth straight year

27

Consecutive semesters with a department GPA of 3.0 or better

9

Teams represented in NCAA postseason

5

Knights drafted to the NFL, a program record

5

American Athletic Conference championship titles in a 23-day span

2nd

Place at the UCA National Championship, marking the 26th time over the last 28 years the cheerleading team has finished among the top 10

10 | SUMMER 2021

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 1

Briefs RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

TREATING PTSD UCF RESTORES, a nonprofit trauma research center and treatment clinic at UCF, has developed a virtual reality treatment tool that is now in clinical trials. The state-of-the-art tool is used to dynamically recreate each patient’s traumatic experience, which combined with individual and group therapy sessions have resulted in 66% of participants with combat-related trauma and 76% of first responders no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD following three weeks of intensive treatment.

“With this tool in hand, we will be able to dynamically recreate scenarios that are customized to each patient’s unique experience, ultimately helping them process traumatic memories, put them in their place and regain control of their daily lives.”

— Deborah Beidel, UCF RESTORES executive director

BOOK SMARTS

In collaboration with Adobe and Readability Matters, a team of UCF researchers led by Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering Ben Sawyer ’14MS ’15PhD has developed the technology to increase speed and comprehension while reading on tablets, smartphones and computers. Named one of the “2021 World Changing Ideas” by Fast Company, the readability tech is not only focused on making digital text easier on the eyes but also intended to help people consume and comprehend a high volume of information quickly without being overwhelmed.

DUE RECOGNITION 12 | SUMMER 2021

SUPER SUPERSONIC Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering Kareem Ahmed and his team are improving jet propulsion in ways once thought to be impossible.

Their experimental engine funnels a mixture of fuel and air at hypersonic speeds. And because of its perfectly angled ramp, the resulting detonation is sustained for a record-breaking three seconds. The detonation is essentially frozen in place, allowing its energy to be harnessed for unprecedented propulsion. If researchers can discover a way to sustain that reaction longer, we could experience air travel at speeds up to Mach 17 — about 13,000 miles per hour.

Congratulations to the following UCF researchers on being named fellows in national and international academies:

Sarcasm isn’t always easy to identify in conversation, so you can imagine it’s pretty challenging for a computer program to do it and do it well.”

— Assistant Professor Ivan

Garibay ’00MS ’04PhD, who, along with a team, developed a technique that can accurately detect sarcasm in social media. Using sentiment analysis and artificial intelligence, the team effectively taught a computer model to find patterns and cue words that indicate sarcasm. The findings were published in the journal Entropy.

DESIREE DÍAZ

DAVID FUKUDA

LAURA GONZALEZ

JEREMY HALL

Associate Professor of Nursing American Academy of Nursing

Associate Professor of Kinesiology National Strength and Conditioning Association

Clinical Associate Professor of Nursing American Academy of Nursing

Professor of Public Administration National Academy of Public Administration

PEGASUS

As we close another successful academic year at UCF, we have a new goal worthy of our skills and passion: To become the world’s leading public metropolitan research university and a top 50 public research university in the nation.”

— President Alexander N. Cartwright, on his vision for UCF that includes building an inclusive environment with a culture of compassion at its core; becoming exceptional in our operations and serving as trustworthy stewards of taxpayer, donor and tuition dollars; focusing on academic excellence and providing the resources for our people to succeed; and partnering internally and externally to serve and positively impact our community.

o learn more about T Cartwright's vision for UCF, visit ucf.edu/charging-on.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

UCF has increased the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to low-income students by 58% and to students of color by 68% over the last seven years. The success is part of a graduation initiative led by a national consortium of 11 public research universities, called the University Innovation Alliance.

0 0 , 0 $835 Money raised by more than 3,100 donors in 24 hours during UCF’s Greatest Day of Giving, which took place March 24. Jessica Blume ’80 and her husband, Ken, donated $250,000 — the largest single gift in the history of UCF’s 24-hour challenge — to create a scholarship fund for business students who are the first in their families to attend college.

1

1

#

1

Graduate video game design program in the world (The Princeton Review and PC Gamer)

Boren Scholar

3

2

#

Emergency and crisis management graduate program in the nation (U.S. News & World Report)

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Professor of Art Robert Rivers was named the winner of the 2021 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art. The annual exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art celebrates 10 of the most progressive artists in the state of Florida, ranging from emerging to mid-career.

Known for his prints, Rivers has had his work exhibited around the world, with selections housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

PETER HANCOCK

MARTIN RICHARDSON

AXEL SCHÜLZGEN

MUBARAK SHAH

JEFFREY STOUT

Pegasus Professor of Psychology National Academy of Kinesiology

Pegasus Professor of Photonics National Academy of Inventors

Professor of Optics International Society for Optics and Photonics

Professor of Computer Science National Academy of Inventors

Pegasus Professor of Kinesiology National Academy of Kinesiology

9

#

Nonprofit management graduate program in the nation (U.S. News & World Report)

16

1

#

#

Hospitality and hotel management school in the world (CEOWorld)

TOP PRIZE

Cybersecurity team in the nation — for the fourth time (National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition)

#

Hospitality and tourism programs in the nation (ShanghaiRanking)

2

#

Student-designed remote-controlled aircraft in the world (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics)

Goldwater Scholars

National Science Foundation CAREER Grant Recipients

12

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Optical physics graduate program in the nation (U.S. News & World Report)

6

#

Transportation science and technology programs in the nation (ShanghaiRanking)

14

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Undergraduate video game design program in the world (The Princeton Review and PC Gamer)

17

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows

#

Local government management graduate program in the nation (U.S. News & World Report)

TOP 25 TOP 50 America’s Best Employers for Diversity (Forbes)

Best Value College in the nation (The Princeton Review)

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 3

JUNE

1

James Hecker, Kass Suggs and Em Murphy gathered outside Millican Hall with flags recognizing different identities in the LGBTQ+ community in celebration of Pride Month.

MAR.

23

Knights gathered at the Reflecting Pond for a vigil honoring the eight people killed during the March 16 Atlanta spa shootings and other victims of Asian Pacific Islander violence.

MAY

18

UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright joined theater student and host Alex Cumming for the first episode of the university’s new podcast Knights Do That.

Listen to the episode at bit.ly/ucf-podcast-cartwright.

MAR.

25

UCF’s Symphony Orchestra provided students a way to get out, come together and experience live music during Symphony Under the Stars at Memory Mall.

14 | SUMMER 2021

PEGASUS

FEB.

26

Knightro and UCF cheerleaders welcomed students to the spring Spirit Splash, which was modified with water soakers to adhere to physical distancing.

APR. MAY

6

7

Over three days in the Pegasus Ballroom, 6,000 UCF students received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine from UCF Student Health Services.

Spring 2021 graduates and their loved ones gathered at Addition Financial Arena for the first in-person commencement ceremonies since the pandemic began.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 5

Artifact

GOLD STANDARD Knights reminisce about their Olympic memories.

BY JENNA MARINA LEE Since the birth of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, Knights have represented Brazil, Antigua and Barbuda, Portugal, Greece and, of course, the USA, embodying the spirit of the Olympic motto citius, altius, fortius (faster, higher, stronger).

Former Olympians are head coaches for UCF’s athletics teams, accomplished athletes and even game officials.

Although they have been delayed a year due to the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics, set to take place July 23 through August 8, are no exception. At the time this story went to print, several Knights are in the mix to compete, where they will represent their country and alma mater on the world’s biggest stage.

We highlight a handful of UCF’s Olympic participants from years past and their stories.

MICHELLE AKERS ’89 Team USA women’s soccer midfielder, 1996 Atlanta Olympics (gold medal) “When that final whistle blew, I just remember standing there and putting my arms in the air and thinking ‘We are the best.’ … It was the first time women’s soccer was included in the Olympics.

I understood the importance of it. We had been fighting to develop the game to a point where it was actually a credible sport with the same opportunities [that] men’s soccer enjoyed. We had already won one World Cup but hardly anyone knew about it. The Olympics is kind of what put us on the map as a sport.”

PHIL DALHAUSSER ’02 Team USA beach volleyball blocker; 2008 Beijing (gold medal), 2012 London, 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Sahaydak’s gold medal from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

“It feels like it was yesterday. It’s crazy to me that it was 13 years ago. It was probably, at the time, the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. I’ll never forget that we beat two Brazilian guys that we had been battling with on the world tour for a couple of years at that point. The blocker — the big guy — was crying, and I always wondered, ‘Were they tears of joy that he won a silver medal or that he lost the gold medal?’ ” STEVE ANDERSON ’05 ’07MA Men’s basketball referee, 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics “I worked the bronze medal game between Australia and Spain [at the 2016 Rio Olympics].

I had the game-deciding call with [five] seconds left that put Spain on the [free-throw] line down 1 point.

They made both free throws. Spain [won]. Everyone that I talked to said, ‘That’s a good call. You needed to make that call.’ You never forget that because those are the plays you want to have. Those are the plays that make or break your career.”

16 | SUMMER 2021

JOHNNY DAWKINS UCF men’s head basketball coach; Team USA men’s basketball alternate, 1984 Los Angeles; Team USA player personnel director, 2008 Beijing Olympics “At the time, Kobe Bryant was arguably the greatest player in the game. [Our first individual workout together,] he’s going at it with intensity. A true perfectionist. ... Long story short, we end up shooting about 1,000 shots.

Most [players work out] an hour and a half, but at three and a half hours in, [I had to shut it down]. I was having a hard time passing him the basketball because I couldn’t get my wrist to operate anymore, which [had] never happened to me in my life. He looked at me with such disgust, like I disappointed him. I had a great understanding of who he was after that. He definitely made us a better team that year.”

TIFFANY ROBERTS SAHAYDAK UCF women’s soccer head coach; Team USA women’s soccer defender, 1996 Atlanta Olympics (gold medal) “The gold medal match was a night game, and it just felt like there were a million shining, blinking stars in the stadium because everyone was taking photos. Stepping onto that podium [to accept the gold medal], I remember Brandi Chastain standing next to me and then putting my hand over my heart for the national anthem.

We belted it, singing as loud as we could. It’s one of the happiest moments of my life because I was around my teammates and sharing that moment with them.”

To read more and listen to interviews, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

Find more @

ucf.edu/news

Digital Dictionary

The Feed @UCF

@University of Central Florida

Positive Note

UCF researchers launched the first online, fully searchable version of the 18th-century Johnson’s Dictionary, which is considered one of the most influential works of English literature. bit.ly/ucf-digital-dictionary

Associate Professor Chung Park serves as the education coordinator at A Gift For Music, a local nonprofit that provides free music education to underserved K–12 students. bit.ly/ucf-positive-note

Second Chance

After being convicted of a robbery at 17 and overcoming addiction, LeRoy Langston graduated at 64 with plans to become a counselor. bit.ly/ucf-second-chance

Turtle Tracking

A UCF-led study is helping solve the mystery of where sea turtles go during their “lost years” and will inform conservation efforts for the threatened animals. bit.ly/ucf-turtle-tracking

Accomplished Animators

Two UCF grads discuss what it was like to bring Pixar’s Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning film Soul to life. bit.ly/ucf-accomplished-animators

WHAT’S TRENDING ON...

UCF TODAY Distinguished Designees

Five UCF faculty members, who are first-generation students, immigrants and groundbreaking researchers, have been chosen for this year’s Pegasus Professor award — the university’s highest faculty honor. bit.ly/ucf-distinguisheddesignees

TWITTER April 7 @JackieWoerner FOUR (!!) of my incredible undergraduate students successfully defended their honors theses this week @UCF @UCFSciences Seeing students so passionate about research and celebrating their accomplishments is definitely the best part of this job.

May 9 @SpanCargo Graduated from UCF with a BA in Game Design!

4 years flew by and I’ve made

countless memories from classes, clubs, collegiate esports, and with friends. Thank you

FACEBOOK University of Central Florida April 15, 2021

In honor of #NationalASLDay, UCF College of Health Professions and Sciences Professor Bill Cooper is sharing some signs and phrases in American Sign Language that can be helpful when communicating with people who are Deaf and hard of hearing.

Cooper, who was born deaf, teaches several sections of American Sign Language and his courses cover Deaf history and culture as well. Learn more about his Introduction to ASL course by visiting bit.ly/ucf-asl-spotlight P.S. There’s a special sign Knights should know at the end

to everyone who has supported me along the way. On to the next level!

June 10 @lesucf PHOTO OF DICTIONARY BY ALEX BROWN

happy birthday to the place that gave me my

Gut Feeling

Assistant Professor J. Richelle Joe discusses society’s fascination with weight and her shift in focusing on what makes her body feel good. bit.ly/ucf-gut-feeling

wings. i will love you forever, @UCF

480 reactions

46 comments 390 shares

Dawn Marie Guardalabene My daughter is currently taking ASL and loves it (and the professor)! Thank you UCF for giving students the opportunity to learn ASL.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 7

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s $40 million gift to UCF — the largest in the university’s history — will strengthen proven pathways to opportunity, fueling student success, academic excellence and faculty research for generations.

18 | SUMMER 2021

BY LAURA J. COLE Philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, donated $40 million to UCF that will strengthen the university’s focus on fostering social mobility while developing the skilled talent needed to advance industry across our state and beyond. This is the largest gift to UCF in its 58-year history.

“We are honored by Ms. Scott and Mr. Jewett’s trust and confidence in the University of Central Florida,” says UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright. “Their transformational gift validates the work our faculty and staff do to foster student success, and we are thankful these funds will enable us to increase our impact for generations of students.

This unrestricted investment will accelerate our trajectory toward becoming the world’s leading public metropolitan research university and inspire others to invest in building a better future for our students and society.”

In 2019, Scott — one of the world’s wealthiest women — pledged to give away the majority of her wealth.

She gathered a group of nonprofit investors to help her identify and assess organizations that have a major impact on a number of causes, including economic mobility, positive social change and equity. Through her donations, she has taken a “data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong leadership teams and results.”

“We chose to make relatively large gifts to [286 organizations], both to enable their work, and as a signal of

trust and encouragement, to them and to others,” Scott wrote in a blog post on Medium. “Because we believe that teams with experience on the front lines of challenges will know best how to put the money to good use, we encouraged them to spend it however they choose.”

A HISTORY OF FOSTERING SOCIAL MOBILITY FOR ALL

“Higher education is a proven pathway to opportunity,” Scott wrote.

Since its founding, UCF has been committed to helping students earn a college degree.

Eliminating achievement gaps and reducing barriers for students of all backgrounds and incomes has been a decadelong focus for UCF. As a result, the university has made significant strides in reducing achievement gaps among student populations, dramatically outperforming the national average in key areas.

“I am proud of our entire community at UCF whose commitment to student success contributes to a better world for everyone,” says Michael D. Johnson, UCF interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Our programs — such as DirectConnect

This unrestricted investment will accelerate our trajectory toward becoming the world’s leading public metropolitan research university and inspire others to invest in building a better future for our students and society.

to UCF, the McNair Scholars Program and the First Generation Program — are among the best in the country.

Through research and scholarship, our faculty provide one-on-one mentorship that sets their students up for success. And our partnerships, especially through the University Innovation Alliance, empower us to find innovative solutions that help students overcome barriers to earning their degree.”

When it comes to academic success, UCF has outpaced the national average in key academic achievement gaps. In 10 years, UCF has increased the 6-year graduation rate to 74.1% across all students, closing the gap between key populations. UCF has also worked to improve the retention rate to 92.1% — making sure students have the resources they need to succeed at the university level.

This achievement demonstrates that students who are provided access to a college education, work hard and are supported by their university can graduate without disparity. As a result of the university’s success in its social mobility efforts, UCF was ranked No. 2 in the nation for social mobility impact

by Education Reform Now and among the top 50 public universities for social

mobility, graduate indebtedness, and graduation and retention by U.S. News & World Report.

AN INVESTMENT IN OUR FUTURE

This transformational $40 million investment will fund new programs that foster student success, provide faculty funds to conduct groundbreaking scholarship and research, and amplify the impact of established and future partnerships.

“While our resources are finite, our impact can be amplified with the help of others. I hope our alumni and friends will join Ms. Scott and Mr. Jewett in helping to provide a foundation for UCF’s future,” says Cartwright. “Because every new dollar allows us to make new discoveries on distant planets and to solve problems here on Earth.

Because every new investment creates opportunities for students to be the first in their families to earn a degree, creating generational change for their families and their communities. And because every gift helps create an impact that can only be rivaled by our dreams of what we can achieve together.”

INVEST IN IMPACT “I hope our alumni and friends will join Ms. Scott and Mr. Jewett in helping to provide a foundation for UCF’s future.”

UCF.EDU/GIVING

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 9

Launchpad

TAKING SHAPE One alum’s global exercise brand is topping the home-fitness industry leaderboard.

BY LAURA J. COLE The trope of stationary bikes and treadmills doubling as glorified furniture for laundry has become a thing of the past.

Home exercise equipment has found new popularity, beginning prior to the pandemic but picking up speed as people found themselves at home and in desperate need of a physical outlet.

Lou Lentine ’93 was ahead of the trend. In 2015, he launched Echelon, which offers on-demand studio fitness classes that users can follow along with at home using their smart bikes, treadmills, rowers and mirrors.

“With the success of our first fitness product, we wanted to bring a more immersive fitness experience,

that’s when we created our app and started filming classes,” says Lentine, who majored in marketing at UCF. “Echelon then grew from selling $35,000 a minute on QVC, to becoming a global brand at major retailers.”

Every month, users participate in 5 million classes, Lentine says. That’s partially thanks to the big-name celebrities — from Mario Lopez and Joey Fatone to Lady Gaga and Pitbull — who partner with the brand and co-host classes. And it’s also thanks to a range of pricing options aimed at making the equipment and classes more accessible to everyone.

Before the celebrities and recordbreaking sales, Lentine was

already a successful entrepreneur.

By the age of 30, he had built a $30 million consumer products business.

Those products include items such as Christmas laser lights, which he became involved with after his father almost died hanging the decorative strings. According to Lentine, the year they were released, the lights outsold bananas at Walmart — the top-selling product at the megastore year after year.

The idea for Echelon, like the laser lights, was largely inspired by personal experiences. Lentine’s doctor told him he needed to lose weight and change his lifestyle.

“I said, ‘Let’s create a fitness product,’ and it really transformed from there,” Lentine says. “Echelon has become a global brand and an amazing

success story. We couldn’t be more blessed, but I really give a lot of credit to UCF for the help they’ve provided us in building this global brand.”

When his team decided to create Echelon, he turned to UCF’s Business Incubation Program to help refine what the company would become and to develop the platform’s app.

He also turned to his alma mater to rent space in Central Florida Research Park for the tech center and to recruit employees.

What started as a small space in Research Park has grown sevenfold, and on July 1, the company will open its 9,000-square-foot tech development center in Orlando, adding to studios in Miami, Colombia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom — and the company’s home base in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“Echelon is changing people’s lives, like it changed mine,” says Lentine. “Every day I read the social stories from our members about how Echelon trainers inspired them to not only work out, but to bring positivity into their lives.”

WHO

Lou Lentine ’93

THE PITCH

Affordable, connected fitness products that inspire and empower people from all walks of life to live happier, healthier lives

THE INSPIRATION

Lentine’s doctor telling him he needed to lose weight and lower his cholesterol

BACKERS

UCF’s Business Incubation Program, Goldman Sachs, North Castle Partners and United Talent Agency

WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT

Online and at more than 4,000 retailers, including Best Buy, Costco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kohl’s, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart

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LEADING BY EXAMPLE UCF’s new senior vice president for administration and finance was 34 when he first became a chief financial officer. He’s spent every day since helping others achieve success.

BY LAURA J. COLE

G

erald Hector has spent a lot of time thinking — and speaking to others — about what it means to be a leader.

As the host of the podcast It’s Easy Son, he has interviewed a range of influential figures, including civil rights leader Andrew Young, eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney, former president of Spelman College Beverly Tatum, and managing director of Bank of America Private Bank Richard Nichols Jr. “Every one of them to a T has said their career path was never a straight line,” says Hector, who joined UCF earlier this year as senior vice president for administration and finance. “Every last one of them spoke about what they had to overcome in their formative years and even as adults.

What they all had in common was perseverance and stick-to-itiveness.”

What does being a leader mean to you, and how does it differ from being a manager?

Managers are simply that: They’re managing something. They’re given some outcomes that they have to get to operationally. They have to get it done.

Leaders are visionaries, right? But everyone can be a leader. It takes just a small shift in focus to understand the difference between the two. Leaders are people who can get folks to see something they don’t agree with but present a vision, a platform and a path that they can then finally see. I call it the bandwagon effect. No one wants to get into the bandwagon at the very beginning. Why? They don’t know if this thing is going to work, but if as a leader you get that bandwagon moving, as soon as it starts rolling, everyone jumps in. Why? Because everyone wants to be a part of success.

Same thing that comes through when you think about leadership in organizations. There are too many people I see who are leading, but nobody’s following them. They’re

just out for a walk. Leaders always must have that presence of mind that they are to inspire but not necessarily push — and there’s a big difference.

As someone in a leadership position, how do you empower people to do their best work?

You never, ever as a leader want to have the unqualified leading the unwilling into the unnecessary for no apparent reason. I avoid that by ensuring that whoever is working alongside me, I am setting them up for success. My job is essentially to work myself out of a job.

In terms of leadership, I use the mnemonic device OATE: ownership, accountability, transparency and empowerment. The “E” is the linchpin for all the others. If my employees are not empowered, they’re not going to own their work, they’re not going to feel accountable, and they surely will not be transparent because they’re going to try to hide what they’re feeling.

So that’s the environment that I try to build. It takes time because it’s predicated upon trust, right? As a leader, I have to foster that trust and get them to see that they can be much more than they think right now.

What role does mentorship play in leadership?

They’re absolutely connected. No one is an island. We are built for relationships as human beings, and the right relationships will lay the groundwork for future success.

I was the recipient of mentoring from so many people that it’s only right for me to do the same. At the end of the day, life — and leadership — is all about our common humanity and how we live and exist together.

We can’t succeed in anything without each other.

To learn more about Hector, P visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 1

Vice President and Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir and Head Football Coach

Terry Mohajir: Gus, do you remember the first time we met?

TM: Why do you think UCF can be the best program in the country?

Gus Malzahn: You made a good impression on me. You had a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. You were excited to be [at Arkansas State]. That made me feel better.

GM: The foundation has already been laid — the great players, the great coaches, the great teams. You’re talking about a program that has played in three New Year’s Six games in the last eight years. I felt like for a long time if the right guy would ever get here and stay here and build it, it could be the best program in college football.

That’s really what my thinking was in taking the job. Now that I’m here, I believe it even more.

TM: I remember we met in a hotel in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I was interviewing for the athletics director job at Arkansas State, and you were getting prepared to play Oregon, who was No. 5 in the country.

Gus Malzahn talk about their vision for

GM: That wasn’t a good night.

UCF as the future of college football

TM: I could tell you were very focused.

and university athletics.

GM: I had my game face on. But that was a tough road trip.

Why did you call me about this job?

TM: I know with your background and us working together before that you can help this program win — and win at a high level.

GM: Right when you got hired, I told my wife, “If Terry calls, we’re going.” It was probably about 30 minutes later, you called.

We’ve talked about having a chance to be the best football program in the country. How about the rest of the athletic programs here?

TM: I think we have the resources to win a national championship in every sport we have. As we continue to build our vision for the facilities and for what [President] Alex Cartwright wants from an academic mission standpoint — we have the best coaches, I believe, in the country. They are already here and are committed to build this program.

We’ve just got a lot of dedicated people that really believe that we can be one of the best athletic programs in the country.

A lot of people ask us, how do we define success? I’ll let you go first.

MEET TERRY MOHAJIR (pronounced MO-HODGE-ER)

Age: 50 Hometown: Overland Park, Kansas Alma maters: Arkansas State University, B.S. in sport management University of Kansas, M.S. in sport management/psychology Playing time: 1990–92 Safety, Arkansas State University Résumé: 1993–97 Assistant offensive line coach and game day special teams coach, University of Kansas 1997–2004 Assistant director of athletics/ external relations, University of Missouri- Kansas City 2004–11 Senior associate athletics director/ external relations, Florida Atlantic University 2011–12 Senior associate director of athletics/chief marketing officer, University of Kansas 2012–21 Vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics, Arkansas State University

22 | SUMMER 2021

GM: Success to me is having a goal as a team and a dream ... and doing everything you can to achieve it. The

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second part is preparing for life. It’s kind of a two-part thing for me that really kind of goes hand in hand.

TM: Everybody starts out in different stages of their lives, and if someone can maximize their potential while they’re here at UCF — whether it be on the athletic fields or in the classroom — at the end of the day it’s about getting an education, getting a degree, getting a job and becoming great alumni of UCF. … We get to help produce outstanding alumni for UCF. When people ask us, “What’s your greatest failure?” I don’t think we look at any one moment as a great failure.

We look at it as a learning opportunity.

So even though people may look at it on the outside, and say “Hey, that’s a failure…,” we can learn from it and say, “You know what? I’m going to be better because of that moment.”

GM: From a coach’s standpoint, probably my biggest motivation is from losses. I don’t think about winning the past championships. I think about a couple of hard losses — even one from high school in the state championship game that I probably think about once a week. But it motivates me. I just try to use those learning experiences, those negative experiences for positives in the future.

TM: I can remember, when I was a player, we actually were playing UCF and I had an interception in my hand.

It’s probably at least once or two

times a week I think about missing that interception. There are these moments in time, but do you get better from those times that you didn’t have success? That’s how I view failure or success.

Is there anything in your office now that when you look at it, motivates you or reminds you of why you do what you do every single day?

GM: Something I’m pretty proud of right there on my desk is the national championship ring [from Auburn in 2010]. It’s also a good conversation piece for recruits. Recruits have dreams and the fact that we won a national championship — been there, done that — I think is a pretty special deal.

TM: Rings aren’t so much about the championships. It’s about the work that goes into the championships. From my previous [job at Arkansas State], I’ve got 25 conference championships [rings] from all the student-athletes

and they’re a symbolism of life: I always say be a champion on the playing surface, be a champion in life, be a champion as a citizen and represent your family well.

GM: I think you’re right. We won a national championship and on the field, it was as good as you’d think. It was unbelievable. And I remember getting on the bus after the game and sitting down by my wife and [saying], “That’s it.” In my mind, I built it up. And then the phone rang, and I started recruiting for the next class. So it helped me understand you’ve got to enjoy the process of everything and achieving it.

That’s the fun part. That’s what I told our coaches just the other day. I said, “Guys, we’re going to win a national championship here. And right now, there’s stuff we don’t have that we’re going to get. But the process — enjoy it. Don’t take anything for granted.”

TM: You’ve been at different places, whether it’s been high school, Arkansas State, Auburn, Tulsa — isn’t it amazing

to [build] the foundation as opposed to just being the caretaker?

GM: That’s what makes me tick, and that’s what motivates me. This situation [at UCF] fits me perfect. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder, our program has a chip — TM: Me too.

GM: You definitely have a chip on your shoulder. So that’s why I think us all coming together at the right time just feels special and I think everybody around can kind of feel it and that’s what’s really exciting for me. … I want to win a national championship right here. That’s what I want to do. We say the future of college football is here.

That’s not a marketing deal for me.

That’s real life.

To watch the full conversation between Mohajir and Malzahn, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

MEET GUS MALZAHN Age: 55 Hometown: Fort Smith, Arkansas Alma mater: Henderson State University, B.S. in physical education Playing time: 1984–85 Wide receiver, University of Arkansas 1988–89 Wide receiver and punter, Henderson State University Résumé: 1991 Defensive coordinator, Hughes High School 1992–95 Head coach, Hughes High School 1996–2000 Head coach, Shiloh High School 2001–05 Head coach, Springdale High School 2006 Offensive coordinator, University of Arkansas 2007–08 Assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, University of Tulsa 2009–11 Offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, Auburn University 2012 Head coach, Arkansas State University 2013–20 Head coach, Auburn University

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 3

TYPE: messenger RNA (mRNA)

A UCF graduate led the charge to create Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and opened up possibilities for the future of medicine.

Big S In late December 2020, Darin Edwards ’97 ’10MS ’11PhD was in the middle of another marathon work day from his home office in Boston when he received a text message from his sister in Orlando.

He gazed at the photos on his screen of his 80-year-old parents, whom he had not seen in a year, receiving their first doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine — the very vaccine that he led the research and development for as director of immunology at Moderna.

Nearly every day in 2020, Edwards worked with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and always at the forefront of his mind was the promise of being able to hug his parents again.

The day his sister sent those photos — and with it the knowledge that within 10 days after their first dose his mother and father’s chances of dying from coronavirus were basically nonexistent — he wept.

“Honestly, it was one of the best moments in my life,” says Edwards, who stirs with emotion even now at the memory. “I never expected to be involved in an effort like this let alone lead a critical aspect of it. When I think about what I’m going to remember most from this last year, it’s that moment of satisfaction of knowing that my parents were going to be OK and knowing I helped protect people.”

While this certainly wasn’t the first time in history humanity faced a pandemic, it was the first time that we possessed the technology to change our fate while it was still happening. Edwards held the first vials of Moderna’s vaccine in his hand two months before the World Health Organization declared SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19, a pandemic. The real test is what came next: condensing an approval process that typically takes a decade into a year, and still checking all the boxes for safety and effectiveness along the way.

Yes, what transpired over the last year to get the vaccine made was nothing short of miraculous. But it was also the result of good science and hardworking people. Edwards wasn’t just one of them. He was a leader who rolled up his sleeves and changed the world.

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STATUS: Emergency Use Authorization

SIGNIFICANCE: COVID-19 VACCINATION

BY JENNA MARINA LEE

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Shot.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 5

OUTCOME: COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

“Darin was critical for not just the overall direction of the work that’s being done, especially now on the variants, but critical for organizing the work and making sure all the pieces and gaps were filled so the drug development process would not have any stuttering,” says Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health. “I would say now he’s looked at as one of the leaders of this program. UCF should be very proud of him. He worked like a superhero last year.

We all did.”

Edwards moved to Orlando just prior to his senior year of high school. He received a full scholarship to attend UCF for his bachelor’s degree in biology and — after working as a computer programmer for nearly a decade — went on to pursue his master’s degree in molecular biology and doctorate in biomedical sciences, with an emphasis on neuroscience.

Edwards says what he most appreciated about his experience at UCF was the freedom he was given to explore independently, embrace curiosity and think critically to innovate and discover answers. He points to that time as the building blocks that helped him guide Moderna through the unprecedented process of developing and licensing a vaccine within 11 months without a road map.

“I had to pull from experience in the past in developing new approaches to situations that were part of a vaccine development process. Without that kind of foundation — that ability to explore and develop myself in the way that I did at UCF — I would not have been prepared encountering those situations,” Edwards says. “It really established who I am.”

His interest and expertise in vaccine development expanded when he accepted a position as a scientist for Sanofi Pasteur, one of the four major vaccine developers in the world. As he climbed the ranks in his nearly eight years with the company, he worked on a wide number of vaccine projects, including dengue, Zika, yellow fever, staph, flu and respiratory syncytial, which allowed him to learn every step of the process of creating a safe and effective vaccine.

“My passion really grew and developed, not only in the work but in the mission,” Edwards says. “It’s a really nice idea to develop something that when you give it to somebody, it will protect them from something they’ll never know they would have been exposed to; to prevent them from ever getting sick. I always wanted to help people.

That’s been my goal and objective, and getting to the position I had while at Sanofi and now at Moderna, it’s beyond what my expectations were in terms of making an impact.”

While at Sanofi, he also gained a critical understanding of messenger RNA through partnerships with Translate Bio and Germany’s CureVac, two mRNA vaccine developers. At the time, mRNA vaccine science was just breaking ground. Edwards worked closely with the companies in studying, developing and leveraging the same technology that years later would be a crucial tool to surmount an effective and swift response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In short, he had molded himself to be exactly the type of scientist we needed when the world came to a crashing halt in the spring of 2020.

26 | SUMMER 2021

“

[W]ho would we be as scientists, as researchers, as global citizens to not give whatever had to be given in order to make [the vaccine] happen?

“I preach to my students all the time, if you’re in this lab, you are going to have the skills to be able to change the world,” says James Hickman, a professor of chemistry at UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center, where Edwards worked as he pursued his doctorate. “All I have to do now is point to Darin as proof.”

Today, Moderna is a household name. But in June 2019 when Edwards accepted a position as an associate director of infectious disease, few outside of the field knew about the small startup that began in 2010.

He says his first six months were relatively normal — weekends were still his own. And then rumblings of reports from China about a mysterious respiratory illness started surfacing.

“We started talking to NIH immediately, and the theory was it was likely a coronavirus,” Edwards says. “We already had the idea that there might be a need for a vaccine even before January 2020.”

Edward Holmes, a professor at the University of Sydney in Australia, posted the virus’ genetic sequence online on Jan. 10, 2020, on behalf of a consortium led by Fudan University Professor Yong-Zhen Zhang in Shanghai.

Halfway around the world, Edwards woke up the next morning to the revelation, a meeting was convened with his collaborators at NIH, and the sprint to create the vaccine began.

Traditionally, most vaccines use weakened or inactivated versions of the virus to stimulate the body’s immune response to create antibodies. In contrast, mRNA vaccines — such as Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines — take advantage of the natural process that cells use to make proteins in order to make a virus protein that triggers an immune response, building immunity against the virus.

In other words, Moderna didn’t need to have the actual virus to get to work. Edwards says within 48 hours of reviewing the sequence that was shared online, Moderna had designed its vaccine and started the process of making it.

In those early weeks, he says the project felt more like one of their research activities. In March, the stakes elevated when the United States began implementing stay-at-home orders to flatten the curve, a global pandemic was declared, and Moderna and NIH started their phase 1 clinical trial.

“The mindset shifted,” Edwards says. “It turned into ‘There’s a global need. There’s something that has to be done or else people are going to continue to die.

Businesses are going to continue to be closed.’ It became an all-consuming endeavor where there was no sacrifice too big or too small that we were willing to make personally in order to make this happen.”

His team committed themselves to the mission and were prepared to do whatever was possible to make the vaccine as rapidly — but as comprehensive and as perfect — as they could because all three of those aspects were required to make the effort a success.

When he says do whatever was possible, he’s not understating the undertaking. There was a period of six months when Edwards worked 13 to 16 hours a day without a single day off.

When he visited his parents in May this year, it was just his third day off since the vaccine project started.

“I think my head hasn’t stopped spinning since then, but you can’t say no if it means we could cut a day or a week or a month off our developmental process in order to get what was needed globally,” Edwards says. “There were several times when we were all daunted. But we were not stopped. No matter how many moments where tears were shed, we pushed forward, and we made it happen. Because we knew we had the solution, and we knew that people needed that solution. So who would we be as scientists, as researchers, as global citizens to not give whatever had to be given in order to make it happen?”

On the days when the pressure was too much to handle, his 9-year-old son or 7-year-old daughter would pop into their dad’s home office for an extra hug; his wife would offer a hand to hold.

Prior to the start of the pandemic, Moderna employed less than 1,000 people. By comparison, the staffs of

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CONNECTION: Parents receiving vaccine

Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer ranged from 75,000 to 100,000 people. There were certainly challenges in being the small startup in this race.

Moderna needed to scale up their manufacturing process to meet the future demand at a commercial level.

They needed to bolster their clinical and regulatory affairs team because prior to the pandemic, Moderna hadn’t needed a robust one.

But in other ways, Edwards says, their small size was an asset. He can pick up the phone and call his CEO at any time. As a project team, they’re able to debate and identify a course of action quickly.

“The people that I work with are without exception incredibly brilliant, talented and motivated,” Edwards says. “Having that unique motivation, talent and drive through an effort like this enabled a small team to do what should have taken a much, much larger team.”

Moderna’s partnership with NIH was critical to make the process quick and comprehensive. The two formally entered a research collaboration agreement on pandemic preparedness in 2017 and had previously studied another coronavirus — Middle East Respiratory Syndrome — which gave them a solid foundation of knowledge for their COVID-19 response.

When the pivotal phase 3 trial started in July 2020, Moderna reviewed the demographic data about those most heavily affected by the disease, namely members of the Black, Latinx and Native American populations. Moderna intentionally slowed the trial by a few weeks to make sure more people of color were included. In their trial group of over 30,000 participants, 20% were Hispanic or Latinx, 10% were Black and 5% were Asian.

The results were exactly what they hoped for.

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were found in the real world to be 94% effective against COVID-19 hospitalization among fully vaccinated adults ages 65 and older in the United States, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in April. Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that among 417 employees at New York’s Rockefeller University who were fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna shots, only two of them (0.5%) tested positive for COVID-19 later.

“They’ve completely redefined the way we are going to do vaccines,” says Stephen Lambert, professor of medicine at UCF who served as a mentor to Edwards.

“If you look at when the polio vaccine was first made in the 1950s, improper inactivation of the live virus led to 40,000 children actually catching polio from the vaccine. With the mRNA technology, this is not even an issue. You could not have made a vaccine that fast using traditional methods. This technology has probably saved tens of thousands of lives. What they’ve done is a huge leap forward.”

For all of the distress COVID-19 caused, it also broke down barriers that helped lead to those scientific breakthroughs.

“Everybody was willing to work with everybody else — competing companies working with each other or government agencies and commercial companies working together,” Edwards says. “That’s the biggest lesson learned in this experience — that we can really do a lot more in everything if we can just keep those barriers at a minimum.”

Edwards says arriving at the finish line first with an approved vaccine would have been the cherry on top for the sacrifices he and his team made. But make no mistake, when Pfizer presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a week before Moderna for approval of emergency use authorization, Edwards says he was absolutely rooting for his competitor.

“I’m sure they were rooting for us just as strongly,” Edwards says. “I worked directly with Dan Barouch, who led the team that designed the vaccine for Johnson & Johnson, and as soon as the committee was over I called him up and said, ‘Congratulations, great work.’ We legitimately were rooting for and continue to root for the other companies because no one company can make 7 billion doses of the vaccine.”

Right now, Moderna’s main focus is still on the pandemic and responding to the virus’ evolution. Edwards is helping develop potential booster shots that may cover the variants of the virus that popped up after the initial vaccine was greenlighted for distribution.

Graham also stresses the importance of getting the vaccine distributed in developing nations.

“As a relatively new technology and as something that didn’t really have a supply chain developed for high-scale manufacturing, it’s still relatively expensive compared to some other technologies,” Graham says. “I’d like to figure out how to get the cost down or at least get the technology exported into the developing world, so we can get more of this made in more places.”

Last spring, in an effort to help address that very issue, Moderna announced it would not enforce vaccine patents during the pandemic.

Although mRNA vaccine technology had been studied for decades before the pandemic, the COVID-19 vaccine was the first to make it through the FDA’s approval stage for distribution. Last year has proven the technology’s safety, viability and possibilities.

Edwards says he looks to grow Moderna’s infectious disease team and resources to enable the development of more vaccines against more targets and extending to therapeutics, cancers and other rare diseases. For instance, Moderna has already received positive interim data for a cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate that is entering a phase 3 trial, and has a robust investigational clinical vaccine pipeline that includes a promising HIV vaccine, Edwards says.

Despite succeeding in his goals in the most challenging year of his life, Edwards still approaches each day of his job with a hunger to continue to do and be better.

And on the days when it’s harder for him to believe he can make a difference, he looks at a small sign his wife gifted him that reads, “Don’t forget how awesome you are.”

“I tend to get down on myself and don’t give myself credit,” Edwards says.

He might not.

But now the rest of the world can.

To watch and hear more of Darin’s story, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

“

When I think about what I’m going to remember most from this last year, it’s that moment of satisfaction of knowing that my parents were going to be OK and knowing I helped protect people.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 7

GATEWAY TO THE GALAXY

Knights are leading the team helping to create NASA’s Gateway — an outpost that will orbit the moon to advance deep space travel, research and habitation.

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17

J

enny Lyons ’92MS recalls watching shuttle launches with her father when she was in high school and asking him, “Why are there no women in the control room?” He didn’t know, but what he said next changed her life: “Why don’t you do something about that?”

Three decades later, Lyons is now the deputy manager for NASA’s Gateway Deep Space Logistics — an outpost that will orbit the moon and

is a part of the Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and person of color to the moon by 2024. Gateway will be a crucial element for the next wave of space exploration that will not only establish a sustainable presence on the moon but also play a major role in landing astronauts on Mars in the 2030s.

“The future of humanity depends on the efforts that we’re doing,” says Lyons. “We’ve been demonstrating

how to evolve humans off of Earth to live and work in space continuously at the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, but I think this is the natural evolution that takes us out farther. Being part of building the highway that’s taking us out into space to live is really awesome.”

In Greek mythology, Artemis is the goddess of the moon and twin sister of the sun god, Apollo. The current program name mirrors the Apollo program from the late ’60s and early ’70s when the United States landed 12 men, including Neil Armstrong, on the moon. The Artemis mission marks the United States’ return to moon landings since astronaut Eugene Cernan left his footprints on the surface in 1972.

AN INTENTIONAL DESIGN Mark Wiese ’11MS, manager for Gateway Deep Space Logistics and one of 20 Knights on the project, has no doubt NASA can do it. The technology has been there since the last century. The biggest obstacle, according to Wiese, comes down to something far less scientific — public approval.

“NASA knows how to do this,” says Wiese. “The problem has been communicating to our stakeholders — the general public who funds us — that doing this is the right thing to do for our country given the competing economic, environmental and public health priorities right now.

Investing in what NASA is doing will eventually open up ways for us to live differently on Earth and advance technologies for all of us.”

THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY DEPENDS ON THE EFFORTS THAT WE’RE DOING. —J enny Lyons ’92MS, Gateway Deep Space Logistics deputy manager

Decades ago, the Apollo program, which cost about $283 billion when adjusted for inflation, came to an end when the government could no longer afford to fund the program. NASA estimates the Artemis program will cost $86 billion through the 2025 fiscal year, with Gateway accounting for about $3.8 billion of that cost. To avoid past funding issues, NASA is partnering on certain aspects of the projects with the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and American commercial companies.

A critical part of NASA’s deep space exploration plans, Gateway will help prepare astronauts for missions to the moon, including deliveries of critical cargo and supplies.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 9

“We didn’t have Gateway when we had Apollo, but Apollo was limited to where on the moon we could go,” Wiese says. “Gateway gives us a way to access any point on the surface of the moon … It’s humbling to sit there and realize we’re standing on the shoulders of all the people behind us.”

“NASA is the research and development leg of the people of the United States, so when the government invests in NASA, it buys down the risk for things that commercial companies can’t [afford] the resources for,” says Wiese. “We have found ways to let space be a platform for new ideas, companies, entrepreneurial ways of doing things and mobility that is beyond the reach of what we initially thought.”

Gateway is comprised of three pieces: The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) will fuel its orbit and is being managed out of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) will provide housing for astronauts as well as space to store supplies and conduct experiments. It is being developed

by Northrop Grumman and will be managed out of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. And the Human Landing Systems (HLS) that astronauts will use to reach the moon’s surface was awarded in April to SpaceX. PPE and HALO will come together at Kennedy Space Center under the supervision of the Deep Space Logistics team, led by Wiese and Lyons. After these two elements are launched in 2024, HLS will join them closer to the moon landing mission. Deep Space Logistics is also responsible for delivering the supplies needed for Artemis missions to Gateway prior to the crew arriving, which differs from previous moon landing missions.

With any proposed change comes resistance. Critics of Gateway note that the Apollo program didn’t require an orbiting outpost, and that NASA made it to the moon just fine without a pit stop. But Wiese makes the comparison to tourists visiting Central Florida. Their first stop isn’t the theme parks. It’s a hotel or resort from which they can visit all the attractions Orlando has to offer.

GATEWAY GIVES US A WAY TO ACCESS ANY POINT ON THE SURFACE OF THE MOON …

IT’S HUMBLING TO SIT THERE AND REALIZE WE’RE STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF ALL THE PEOPLE BEHIND US. —M ark Wiese ’11MS, Gateway Deep Space Logistics manager

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THE RIGHT TEAM AT THE RIGHT FACILITY NASA has 18 major centers and facilities across the nation, but Kennedy Space Center (KSC) remains the top spot for launches with more than 90 commercial partners on-site. It’s one reason Associate Manager for Integration and Analysis Johnny Nguyen ’01 ’05MBA says it makes sense for Gateway’s Deep Space Logistics to be based there.

“For Deep Space Logistics, we’re delivering all this stuff to the lunar vicinity, and it all has to come together at the very end,” Nguyen says. “Some supplies, like clothing, you could pack years ahead of time, and some cargo supplies, like batteries, have to be packed at the very last second. Having all of the hardware and supplies, the different missions and projects happening at Kennedy Space Center, and the diverse and deep experience of the people here creates a really strong community to draw upon. So it’s a really vibrant center.”

KSC was selected as the hub for Gateway specifically because of the employees who work there. Nearly 30% of KSC employees graduate from UCF, which has long been the top supplier of aerospace and defense graduates in the nation. For Nguyen this includes a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering that gives him technical insight, as well as a master’s in business administration that helps him manage the contracts and finances, which are a major part of Deep Space Logistics’ work.

“The team at KSC has vast experience executing commercial contracts for launch services and with the commercial crew program, so it’s a natural fit to bring that expertise to Deep Space Logistics,” says Dan Hartman, Gateway program

manager, based at Johnson Space Center. “Mark and Jenny have provided exceptional leadership for Deep Space Logistics efforts, constantly challenging our entire team to maintain focus on simplicity and commercial innovation.”

Although in different cohorts, Lyons and Wiese pursued master’s degrees in industrial engineering at UCF through the Professional Engineering Management program, which is one of several degree programs at UCF that hundreds of KSC employees have benefited from.

With bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering from other universities, Lyons and Wiese’s master’s degree studies at UCF focused more on management aspects related to engineering.

“They offered us classes outside of our traditional bachelor’s because understanding aspects of the business including human resources were not anything we had exposure to,” Lyons says. “People from all different organizations at [KSC], such as the chief financial officer organization, were also represented in this program and got the technical classes while we got some of the business classes, and all of us were stronger for it.”

Tim Kotnour, director of UCF’s Professional Engineering Management program since 2008, says Lyons and Wiese are natural leaders who have enhanced their core leadership and management skills through their studies and work experience. In the classroom, Kotnour says Wiese was a forward thinker who pushed those around him to produce greater outcomes.

While Lyons didn’t take any courses with Kotnour, the two have worked together for more than 23 years, and he says she has advanced the strategic evolution of KSC while using a servant leadership approach to mentor other women in the aerospace industry.

“Mark and Jenny have the unique ability to balance focus on performance, process and people to translate the big-picture strategy into specific action,” says Kotnour, Lockheed Martin St. Laurent Professor of industrial engineering.

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“Their presence in the room makes a difference. They bring calmness to situations while also driving accountability, which is a tough balance for other leaders — but they do this well. Folks follow their lead not because of their formal positions, but because of the people they are.”

TESTING TECH INNOVATION With a range of diverse skill sets, the Deep Space Logistics team is able to leverage every member’s strengths to develop innovative solutions for challenges with fuel sources, propulsion methods and radiation protection — all of which have the potential to advance life off and on Earth.

So far, humans have only been able to explore about 5% of the moon. Accessing more of the lunar surface will allow scientists to take advantage of a discovery made in the past decade: millions of tons of water ice found beneath the moon’s surface that can be mined and split into liquid hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.

The water can also be consumed by astronauts and used to maintain temperatures of spacecrafts.

“Now that we have [liquid] hydrogen and oxygen as another fuel source, we can use that to power deep space travel, so we don’t have to bring everything from Earth,” Wiese says. “Also, locating an energy source in space is a great way for us to look at continuing to reduce our energy consumption on Earth, so we can continue to protect our own planet.”

While liquid hydrogen creates a chemical propulsion that propels spacecrafts, such as Gateway, into space, NASA plans to test the ability of a different fuel source — the sun — to actually power the lunar outpost’s orbit. Once the agency is ready to send astronauts to Mars, Gateway will be programmed to complete the six-to-nine-month journey to the red planet — with abort capabilities in case anything goes wrong.

“The backbone of Gateway is demonstrating new solar electric propulsion technologies, which is the utmost importance for us to go to Mars since we can’t bring huge fuel tanks with us,” says Wiese. “Solar electrical propulsion isn’t as strong of a push, but … it’s more sustainable and can actually tug heavier masses over longer periods of time.”

While the sun will help propel spaceships farther, the powerful energy force becomes increasingly problematic for hardware and astronauts the deeper they go into space, says Dawn Trout ’12PhD, element architecture senior discipline lead for Deep Space Logistics.

NASA has developed reboot programs, structures and spacesuits to protect against radiation. But the ability to conduct experiments hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth will allow the agency to develop better protection methods as they prepare to travel almost 200 million miles to Mars. And it will provide commercial companies with insight on how to better shield humankind.

“Because the technologies developed for NASA are developed by the U.S. government, a lot of time the space agency’s intellectual property becomes available to commercial companies that produce spinoffs,” says Ray Lugo ’79, director of the Florida Space Institute and industrial engineering graduate. “Over time, we as humans get a lot of exposure to radiation from different kinds of activities, [from using our cellphones] to X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans.

So developing those technologies for deep space travel will actually [help] protect humans [on Earth] during normal activities and medical procedures.”

While many of the technologies used for Gateway aren’t necessarily new, the way they’re being applied and modified showcases the subtle difference between invention and innovation. Having the vision and willingness to do things differently, to find better approaches to old problems and foresee emerging issues with new methods takes curious minds who remain inspired to rise beyond the call to action.

“My dad may have laid down the initial challenge, but it was my UCF education — along with many other opportunities provided to me

by NASA — that has allowed me to pursue a career beyond my wildest dreams,” Lyons says. “After all, that’s what NASA was built to do — to inspire, create and achieve the seemingly impossible.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NASA

KNIGHTS WORKING ON DEEP SPACE LOGISTICS MARK WIESE ’11MS Manager JENNY LYONS ’92MS Deputy manager ROBERT ASHLEY ’94MS Mission manager JONATHAN BAKER ’07 Business analyst KAREN BROWNRIGG ’88 Safety and mission assurance engineer KATHERINE COOK ’06’ 10MBA Operations analyst DYLAN GLADNEY ’20MBA Intern RYAN HOLMES ’04 Launch vehicle mission assurance manager JUSTIN KARL ’13PHD Subject matter expert TERESA KINNEY ’11MS Senior engineer DAVID KRUHM ’84 ’93MS Senior project engineer MICHAEL MATTHEWS ’10 Computer engineer JENNIFER MORGAN ’05MS Fleet engineer JOHNNY NGUYEN ’01 ’05MBA Associate project manager for integration and analysis DAVID OLSEN ’96MS Electrical engineer RUDY SANTAMARIA ’04 ’07MS Air revitalization subsystem manager for crew vehicle systems CHRISTINE SHEPPERD ’07 Integration and analysis lead RICHARD SUAREZ ’14 Safety and mission assurance engineer DAWN TROUT ’12PHD Element architecture senior discipline lead MARIA WILSON ’90 Configuration manager, contract representative, and budget for spacecraft services

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OF ACADEMIA THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD ARE LOOKING AT THE MCNAIR SCHOLARS COMING OUT OF UCF AND ASKING: HOW CAN WE MAKE A UNIVERSAL IMPACT LIKE THAT?

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BY ROBERT STEPHENS

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s director of UCF’s academic advancement programs, Michael Aldarondo-Jeffries has attended his share of graduation ceremonies. At one, however, he came not as a UCF staff member but as a guest. Next to him sat his host, the mother of a graduate, squeezing Aldarondo-Jeffries’ hand so tightly that his fingers turned white. Through tears, the mother said of her daughter, “Look at her. A first-generation college graduate. First generation.

Do you know what this means?”

And then, over and over, she whispered loud enough for Aldarondo-Jeffries to hear, “You did this for her. You did this for us.”

As the daughter, Geena Ildefonso ’15, walked up to accept her diploma, she was also en route to her next stop: Vanderbilt, where she’s nearing completion of her doctorate in biochemistry. It is not overly dramatic to say there’s no telling where Ildefonso would be if she hadn’t

walked into Aldarondo-Jeffries’ office as a UCF undergraduate.

“I was working two jobs, coping with the fact my dad had been diagnosed with bladder cancer, and my grades were suffering because I couldn’t handle it all,” Ildefonso says.

Bhimsen Shivamoggi, UCF professor of mathematics, told Ildefonso something she didn’t expect to hear: that she’d be great at mathematical modeling for biomedical research.

“I don’t know what that even means,” she said.

“It means,” Shivamoggi explained, “you could be a candidate for a Ph.D.” Ildefonso didn’t know what that meant either. She was the first in her family to go to college, which, until she arrived at UCF, was also an ethereal concept — college. Her affinity for math only pushed her deeper into obscurity because there were so few women majoring in the subject.

Shivamoggi walked Ildefonso over to the McNair Scholars office and introduced her to Aldarondo-Jeffries.

“When Michael asked me what I wanted to do, I broke down,” says Ildefonso. “Nobody had really asked me that. I had so much going on and told him, ‘If I could just focus on my academics and learn about research …’”

Aldarondo-Jeffries recognized a star in his presence. He also knew more questions loomed: What if she can’t focus on her academics?

What will happen to this untapped brilliance?

“He made some calls and helped me find a paid research position on campus,” says Ildefonso. “I’d never heard of the McNair Scholars Program, but that’s what opened a future for me.”

Ildefonso is now one of more than 200 UCF graduates who have completed or are working toward their postgraduate degrees at the

I’m often reminded of the sacrifice that the parents of my students make every day so their children can dream with other big dreamers.”

— Natalia Leal Toro ’17EdD, assistant director of academic advancement programs

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world’s most prestigious universities because of the McNair program. Prior to applying for a spot in the program, most of the students didn’t know what it looked like to “do research” or for people from their backgrounds to have a career in academia.

“I met Geena in 2015 but wasn’t aware of her backstory until now,” says Don C. Brunson, assistant dean of Vanderbilt University Graduate School. “We didn’t pursue her as a gesture of sympathy. What we saw was an ambitious researcher who’d been prepared to succeed. That’s what sets UCF’s McNair Scholars apart: grit and determination.”

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and offered at 151 institutions across the nation, the McNair Scholars Program helps prepare first-generation and traditionally underrepresented college students for doctoral

5 STANDOUTS IN UCF’S MCNAIR FAMILY

studies. UCF’s program has become the model of “what could be” for underrepresented communities in higher learning.

“The name ‘McNair Scholar’ has opened so many doors for me,” says Melonie Williams-Sexton ’07, who became UCF’s first McNair Scholar to earn her Ph.D. in 2013. “It becomes like a secret code word. The people who run the program at UCF provide a pathway we didn’t know existed.”

Natalia Leal Toro ’17EdD had worked in various roles at other colleges before working with the UCF McNair program as assistant director of academic advancement programs.

She has very personal reasons for calling it the most rewarding job she could ever imagine.

“These students are capable of thriving academically,” Leal Toro says, “but they need a support system

to guide them through challenges.”

Sometimes a student can’t focus because there’s a child to support or a family member is seriously ill. At the same time, the student cannot ignore this expanding reservoir of academic curiosity. Many people in their community have not completed college, let alone grad school, so who can relate to the value of this distant concept known as postgraduate research?

“I’m often reminded of the sacrifice that the parents of my students make every day so their children can dream with other big dreamers,” Leal Toro says.

This is where it becomes personal for Leal Toro. Raised in Colombia, she came to the U.S. at age 11 with her parents. With their encouragement and her own self-discipline, Leal Toro became a first-generation college graduate. But the piece of paper she

I’m not shy about telling everyone that UCF is the gold standard for the McNair program.”

— Anitra Douglas-McCarthy, senior director of recruitment at Cornell

received on graduation day left her with a difficult reality check: This diploma has been my singular focus, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do next.

“I’ve been on the same journey as many students who are driven by the deep sense of responsibility to give back to their families and communities,” Leal Toro says.

HARDEO CHIN ’17 ’20MS Major at UCF: Aerospace Engineering Postgraduate: Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at UCF “When you come from an immigrant family, you’re earning a degree for the entire family. It’s a very big deal. My father is from Jamaica and my mother is from Guyana, so their circumstances prevented them from going to college despite their intelligence. Dad always built model planes and cars in the garage, which might have something to do with my interest in supersonic travel. But if I hadn’t known about the McNair program, I wouldn’t have gotten this far. It’s like a second family to me.”

GEENA ILDEFONSO ’15 Major at UCF: Mathematics Postgraduate: Ph.D. in Computational Biology at Vanderbilt “When my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer during my freshman year at UCF, I’d go with him to the medical appointments, but we didn’t know what the doctors were talking about. It made me as curious as I was frustrated. I found out through McNair that I could use math to open doors to an understanding of medicine. Now, when my mother is sick, I ask questions on her behalf, and some doctors look at me stereotypically and wonder how I know all of this.”

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“They’re brilliant. They just need to be part of a community that understands their burning desire to grow in knowledge and that guides them towards their goals.”

And that’s the power of UCF’s deep base of McNair Scholars.

“What they have at UCF is the national model,” says Damon Lewis Williams, assistant dean of diversity and inclusion at Northwestern University. “I travel the country to recruit graduate students for our research programs, but I know the McNair Scholars from UCF will come with extra layers of readiness for the rigors of a Ph.D. program. Everyone in the country knows it, so we have to compete for [UCF students].”

UCF’s McNair Scholars are courted by institutions like MIT, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Cornell. Some choose to continue their academic pursuits

at UCF. Whether they stay or go, they never completely leave UCF’s McNair family. They refer to AldarondoJeffries and Leal Toro as “my academic dad and mom.” They call “home” on a regular basis. And they become big brothers and sisters to current UCF students in the program.

“I’m not shy about telling everyone that UCF is the gold standard for the McNair program,” says Anitra Douglas-McCarthy, senior director of recruitment at Cornell. “They’ve built a real community of current and former scholars. When students come here from UCF, we know they’ll have the two qualities necessary to be a successful graduate student: They’re resilient and resourceful.”

Deans from around the country and the world find Aldarondo-Jeffries at conferences or they call to ask him how they can build a pipeline McNair program like UCF’s.

“The truth is, there’s no formula or software to make it happen,” says Aldarondo-Jeffries. “It takes people who are willing to invest in each student’s life, to listen to their challenges and to coach them. For Dr. Toro and me, our work always hits very close to home.”

Aldarondo-Jeffries mentions his two children, and how he wants for them what any parent wants: opportunities to grow.

Leal Toro talks about watching her son’s kindergarten teacher in an online lesson say something as simple as, “You’re doing a great job.”

“Those few words make my son realize he doesn’t have to be perfect,” she says. “He’s smart. He’s valued.

That’s what Michael and I get to do every day for students who will someday cure viruses and explore the limits of space.”

The McNair family of students will also influence the communities where their journeys started: low-income and underserved neighborhoods where just one postgraduate degree can show young students how far school can take them.

“Just like an athlete who goes on to fame, they become all-stars in their communities,” says AldarondoJeffries. “They show everyone what is possible with advanced education.”

The father of one recent Ph.D. recipient was inspired enough to enter college decades after putting his own academic dream on hold. After watching her daughter fall in love with research, the mother of another McNair Scholar is looking to enroll at UCF and start her own journey. More bright stars ready to emerge.

“Stories like those,” says Aldarondo-Jeffries, “are what excite me when I wake up every morning.”

MELONIE WILLIAMS-SEXTON ’07 Major at UCF: Psychology and Political Science Postgraduate: Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience Psychology at Vanderbilt

GEORGE WALTERS-MARRAH ’20 Major at UCF: Molecular Microbiology Postgraduate: Pursuing Ph.D. in Biophysics at Stanford

“In the classes I teach at Valencia, students will say, ‘You seem so happy. How did you become a professor?’ They don’t typically see an African American woman with a Ph.D. teaching 100- and 200-level courses. I love being a role model of what they can be. One student from Colombia wasn’t getting much support from friends and family, so I asked the McNair team at UCF to give us a tour of campus. She entered the program and is now starting work toward a Ph.D. I love being at the front end of journeys like that — journeys similar to my own.”

“I’m not sure anyone in my family or community saw this coming. Me? A scientist? My mom still asks me, ‘Do you enjoy what you’re doing?’ I assure her, ‘Yes, I really do enjoy it.’ My enthusiasm is even greater because of the people in UCF’s McNair program. They’ve always supported my dream. They’re the reason I’ve made it this far. So I’m always available to do for others what they’ve done for me. A lot of students just need to know about the program. If they’re like me, they’ll be amazed at where it can lead them.”

SHEKINAH FASHAW-WALTERS ’15 Major at UCF: Biomedical Sciences and Public Affairs Postgraduate: Ph.D. in Health Services Research at Brown “There were times when I questioned my pursuit of a Ph.D. because of imposter syndrome. It takes a mental and physical toll to be a first-generation, lower-income woman of color in an Ivy League environment. I’d call Michael and Natalia at random times to hear them remind me that I belong. Now I’m taking a faculty position at the University of Minnesota in health policy and management. As excited as I am about research, I’m even more excited to mentor underrepresented students so they can see what’s possible in the world of research and academia.”

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BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17 rom franchises such as HBO’s True Blood and Game of Thrones to Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, chances are Mike Monello ’92 has played a role in promoting — or rather, expanding the experience of — one of your favorite TV shows.

As the founder and creative director of transmedia marketing firm Campfire, Monello has created dozens of innovative campaigns over the years. But the film grad’s interest in marketing was actually driven by the success of one of his first movies, The Blair Witch Project.

In the mid-’90s, Monello worked with five other UCF film alums — Robin Cowie ’93, Gregg Hale ’95, Dan Myrick ’93, Eduardo Sánchez ’94 and Ben Rock ’95 — to help create the movie. By launching a website with a backstory for the film, many thought the movie was a documentary rather than part of the promotion, causing Blair Witch to go viral before doing so was really a thing. Building on that buzz, the team was able to drum up a strong fan base before the horror flick even had a final cut.

And while Blair Witch remains the fifth highest-earning independent film of all time, having grossed around $250 million worldwide, Monello says Hollywood wasn’t ready to invest in projects that spent money online.

However, marketing firms across the nation recognized the success and wanted to replicate it. So many reached out for other projects that eventually Monello and Hale co-founded Campfire in 2005.

“Marketers weren’t looking for a business model, they just wanted attention, and we were getting budgets to basically tell stories online,” says Monello, who accessed the internet for the first time at UCF. “That was so much fun and fascinating because it felt — and still feels — like basically every time we did something it was the first time.”

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How one of the minds behind the ’90s viral sensation The Blair Witch Project continues to evolve transmedia storytelling.

While no two projects are alike, Monello has learned some basic principles that help get people’s attention.

Blur the Lines Between Fact and Fiction Just like with Blair Witch, Monello’s work often leaves people wondering if what they’re experiencing is actually reality. This includes a fictional pirate radio station for Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, which takes place in an alternate post-WWII universe where the Axis powers won. “In 2017, we created a pirate radio station that broadcast from a neutral zone in the middle of the states and included original music and characters talking about the resistance,” Monello says. “It really resonated at the time because a lot of people felt America was taking a wrong turn, and some even thought it was a real, modern-day station.”

Let Viewers Participate Monello says there is a recurring theme that has proven to be successful for every project — the importance of leveraging participatory storytelling. Across multiple seasons of Game of Thrones, Campfire created opportunities for fans to be a part of the story. “For

the show’s first season, we created a campaign around the senses, including pop-up food trucks in New York with a Game of Thrones-themed menu,” he says. “For the DVD release of season two, we created a site where fans could take a communal pledge of service to the Night’s Watch.”

Consider All Types of Fandom Campfire’s work centers on thinking about their audience in three segments: skimmers, people who pay attention to something only when it appears in their day-today life; dippers, those who enjoy some aspects of something, but their fandom is dependent on social rewards; and divers, hardcore fans whose interest is deep and self-motivated. “When we first launched True Blood with HBO, we incorporated aspects of gameplay, a fake documentary, websites, and print and billboard ads to create a campaign that was multifaceted and appealed to people with various levels of attention,” he says.

Expand Storytelling Opportunities As binge-watching and streaming at home have become more popular, Monello says series creators and producers are realizing they need

to create content that keeps the fans engaged between releases, such as his work for the new children’s series Ghostwriter on Apple TV+.

“During the pandemic, we filmed a socially distant bonus vlog with one of the characters to teach children about storytelling and worked with five state library systems to develop programming,” he says.

Prioritize Physical Experiences As we’re coming out of the pandemic and people are looking to get out more, Monello says he sees the return of physical marketing experiences, such as the one Campfire worked on for Amazon’s Hunters. “Hunters has this ’70s grindhouse movie vibe and takes place in New York,” Monello says. “For six days, we took over two blocks in Los Angeles, with actors in clothes, music and cars from the time, and altered 16 stores, a bowling alley and movie theater to look like they were from ’70s New York. It was a new way for people to explore a block they were familiar with and a fun way to experience the vibe of the show.”

Have Your Own Sandbox While Monello’s career has heavily revolved around other creators’ stories, he’s recently been working with a team to create his own narrative with the horror podcast Video Palace. After a successful first season, he’s worked with several authors to publish Video Palace: In Search of the Eyeless Man, a collection of short stories that expands on the podcast. “We had been world building for so many stories we didn’t develop and wanted to take what we learned to create our own myths and stories that linger with people longer,” he says.

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To view some of the projects Monello has worked on, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID VOGIN

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Class Notes UCF has certainly changed the landscape and mindset of Central Florida — and me. We were pioneering students back then, when the Reflecting Pond was at the heart of a new oasis in the middle of a pasture and pine forest, where pioneers often find themselves.

For more than 50 years, Gene Kruckemyer ’73 has played a key role in shaping UCF’s story — and being a critical part of our history. As one of the university’s first students, Kruckemyer worked in the library and on the student newspaper. He went on to become a writer and editor for the Orlando Sentinel and to teach journalism at his alma mater as an instructor. And for the past 10 years, he’s worked as the news editor for the university, a position he’ll retire from at the end of July. Read his favorite 23 recollections from over half a century as a Knight at ucf.edu/pegasus.

1975

1983

Charles Meeks retired from teaching for Volusia County Public Schools.

Orva Graham ’86 ’87MS is lead senior auditor for the Florida Auditor General.

Lawrence Neely was appointed town clerk for Stratford, NY.

1977 R. Arnold Lanier retired after 42 years with the Hardee County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, where he spent the past 12 years as sheriff.

1978 Jerald Bryant was elected as Okeechobee County (FL) clerk of the circuit court and comptroller in November. He previously retired as an Okeechobee County court judge.

1979 Joe Clark retired after 41 years, most recently as a district and regional manager of sales and operations at Goodyear.

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1985 Bethany (Keyes) Owen is procurement manager for the city of Winter Haven, FL.

1989 Charles Brown ’07MS retired after 28 years with the Ocoee Police Department, the last 12 as chief of police.

1992 Susan (Ellis) Tribit ’95MA was a finalist for 2022 Teacher of the Year in Osceola County, FL. She teaches math and science at Lakeview Elementary School.

Tony Moore is president and CEO of Trinity Park Conservancy in Dallas.

Thomas Raulen ’13MS is undersheriff of Indian River County, FL.

1993 Juan Garcia is laboratory director for AccuScience Laboratories.

1995 Charlie Sheerajin is managing director at Novacyl, a pharmaceutical company in Thailand.

1996 Audrey Young was elected to the Texas State Board of Education. She is currently the director of student support services for Nacogdoches Independent School District.

1997 Diana Fleming Gardner is president of property management at The Solomon Organization.

Diana (Imanuel) Gardner is vice president of communications at Kellen. Her position was incorrectly listed in the Pegasus Spring 2021 issue.

1999 Justin Badgerow released his debut solo album, Reminiscences of Brazil, which is comprised of piano music

by Brazilian composers. He is an associate professor of music at Elizabethtown College.

Joseph Throneberry is manager of enterprise security and investigations at Cox Enterprises.

He served as a presidential elector for Nevada.

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2000 Heather Bailey won a Suncoast Regional Emmy for her work on a story about firefighter cancer scans for WTSP TV in Tampa. She is currently a producer and editor for First Coast News in Jacksonville.

2003 Brie Sachse is vice president and head of government affairs for Siemens USA.

2004 Cory Czyzewski ’06MBA was promoted to managing director of investment banking at Bank of America.

2005 Tramaine Berryhill was scenic director for A Raisin in the Sun, which ran at the Garden Theatre in March.

He is associate creative director at PSAV and mentors at Boys 2 Men in Orlando.

Jenn DeVitis is director of operations at SIX The Agency in Orlando.

Laurel Norman is director of marketing at Celebration Title Group.

2006 Joe Fontana was promoted to senior vice president for corporate and middle market clients at Hancock Whitney Bank.

2007 Alicia Lenfest ’09MA is a speechlanguage pathologist and rehab service manager at Signature Healthcare of Port Charlotte, FL. Jennifer Wakefield is president and CEO for Greater Richmond Partnership.

2009 Meghan Gay is the owner of Pawsative Paws, a dog-walking and pet-sitting service in Orlando.

Amy Howell is vice president of digital content operations at Cape & Bay, a marketing agency in Tampa.

Jamie Kirsch ’11 was promoted to department team lead for research and verification at SGC, a grading and authentication service for sports memorabilia.

2013

Jessica Rooney is the executive chair for UCF’s New York alumni chapter.

Brianna LaBarge is a senior process engineer at Nike, earned a certificate in athletic and outdoor product management from Portland State University, and received a 2021 New ELiTE (Emerging Leader in Technology and Engineering) Award from the Society of Women Engineers.

2010

2014

Brad Krygier is director of finance and operations at Memorial Health Partners in Savannah, GA. He is also chair of the Athletic Advisory Board at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Melissa (Bowles) Christino is director of leasing administration at ACRE Commercial Real Estate in Orlando.

Leah Lilly is marketing manager at SchenkelShultz Architecture.

Kristen (Parson) Bardin is director of special events at the Center for Family Services of Palm Beach County.

John-Patrick Haney ’15MS received the NBCUniversal GEM Award from Universal Parks & Resorts leadership in March. He is a human resources technology analyst for the company.

2011

Dianne Turgeon Richardson is a marketing specialist at Wright-Pierce.

Alyssa (Badalamenti) List is director of marketing and communications at Wilson & Girgenti, an engineering firm.

2015

Brittany Carbaugh earned a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Cleveland State University and is now a resident at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System.

Jarett Morrow ’13MS is a senior site reliability engineer at Apple.

Dan Rowe earned a master’s degree in conflict management from Kennesaw State University and is the domestic mediation coordinator at The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire in Savannah.

Hallie (Wage) Griffin is a resident artist with New Light Theater Project in New York.

Elizabeth Fay ’19MA is a youth services specialist at the Coalition for Independent Living Options, a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to providing disability and support services to the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast communities.

Antonio Orosa is an electrical engineer at NextEra Energy Resources, where he focuses on battery energy storage, solar photovoltaics and wind energy.

Jessica Sirianni is an associate attorney with ShuffieldLowman, specializing in real estate transactions, commercial lending, banking and finance.

2016

2012

Carvis Durr is an area operations manager at Amazon.

Jennifer (Black) Farinella earned her doctorate of education from Florida State University in December. She is the graduate programs manager for FSU’s College of Social Work.

Nicole Hammer ’18MA is deputy campaign manager for Aarika Rhodes, who is running for Congress in California.

Eric Flowers was elected sheriff of Indian River County, FL.

Luke Steinberg earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Brynn (Snyderman) Drew ’15MS is a manager in the internal audit and financial advisory practice at Protiviti in Tampa.

Melissa Feliciano is an assistant account executive at WSB-TV in Atlanta.

Fady Ghaly is an associate attorney at Miller & Martin in Chattanooga, TN. Ellie Hodgkins is a communications strategist at Curley & Pynn.

Francesca Morales earned a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Palm Beach Atlantic University in April.

Denarius Williams-Sisco is a hybrid and student success coordinator at Fortis Institute in Pensacola, FL.

2018 Christopher Atkinson is a physical therapist at Select Rehabilitation.

Nicholas Chase is a musician for Walt Disney World Resort.

2019 Michael Bryant ’20MSW is a clinical social worker at Osceola Regional Hospital.

Sarah Kelliher is an associate communications strategist at Curley & Pynn.

Gabriela Mercado is a creative associate for the Executive Incubator Program at ABC Entertainment.

2020 Danielle Benghiat is a communications specialist at Curley & Pynn.

Avery Engelman is the event manager at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida.

Deidre Hall is human resources manager at Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Ashley Johnson is an assistant wedding planner at The Balcony in Orlando.

Maylynn Jones is a case coordinator at the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association.

2017

Adrian Showalter is a biology instructor at Southern Arkansas University.

Kimber Davis is a senior financial analyst at Speedcast.

Julie Tanner is a revenue management analyst at Hertz.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3 9

Class Notes CHARLENE KORMONDY ’14 Physical Scientist U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

MAKAILA NICHOLS ’20 Founder Blatantly Honest Foundation UCF’s annual 30 Under 30 program recognizes alumni age 30 or younger who have made a significant impact in their profession or their community. We congratulate the 2021 award recipients.

To read more, visit bit.ly/ucf-2021-30under30.

Archival Coordinator Bethune-Cookman University

SYDNEY ALEXANDER ’15

QUENTIN FOULIARD ’19PHD

Litigation Associate Holland & Knight

Post-doctoral Researcher UCF

RACHEL ARCHAMBAULT ’13 ’16MA

KADI GASHLIN ’19

Speech-language Pathologist Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

ETHOS Flight Controller NASA

BIANCA BECKER ’17 Detective UCF Police Department

KIMBERLY BOGERS ’18 ’20MSN Pediatric Nurse Florida Hospital Fish Memorial

D’BRIA BRADSHAW ’14 Director of Public Policy Curastory

ASHLEY CULBRETH ’13 Physician Assistant Moffitt Cancer Center

BRANDON NIGHTINGALE ’16 ’19MA

NICHOLAS GRANDCHAMPS ’15 Foreign Service Officer U.S. Department of State

BRADLEY GULLETT ’13 Governance Manager Raymond James Financial

CARLEE HETICO ’14 ’15MS Lead Systems Engineer Naval Air Warfare Center

TASI HOGAN ’15MA Government and Public Affairs Consultant The Southern Group

ADEDEJI OLUSANYA ’14 Physical Therapy Resident UT Health San Antonio

SARAH PISCITELLO ’13 Nurse Anesthesia Resident University of North Florida

KELLY QUINTERO ’13 Director of Advocacy and Government Relations Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

CYNTHIA RAMKELLAWAN ’11 Visiting Instructor Florida A&M University

CHARLES RICHARDSON-GONGORA ’15 Scientist Amentum

LUKE STEINBERG ’16 Developmental Engineer U.S. Air Force

JILL DUTMERS ’15 Associate Attorney Moyer Law Group

JORDAN FELIX ’15 Client Advisor Alex. Brown

CARLY (MCCARTHY) HOLLOWELL ’14 ’20MA Social Media Manager UCF

DWAYNE HOUSTON ’15

MATTHEW WAGENER ’15 Deals Manager PwC Nederland

Commercial Strategy and Sales Director Procter & Gamble

DAVID WOODSTEIN ’14

NATACHA JEROME ’16

JAMIE WRIGHT ’15

Volunteer Services Manager Give Kids the World Village

YASMIN FLASTERSTEIN ’17 Founder Peer Support Space

Associate Zone Business Manager PepsiCo

40 | SUMMER 2021

Wealth Management Advisor Merrill Lynch

PEGASUS

CLASS OF 2020 ALUMNI AUTHORS Robert Knauer ’74 wrote Murder Florida Style.

Jane (Wills) Elzey ’82 wrote Dying for Dominoes and Dice on a Deadly Sea. J. Scott George ’84 wrote Blindsided: How to Get Up When Life Knocks You Down.

Michael Kloss ’99 wrote Five Days with the Mouse to Be a Better Event Planner.

TIME TO TURN YOUR TASSEL

Marc Chernoff ’04 co-wrote Getting Back to Happy: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Reality, and Turn Your Trials into Triumphs.

Jewlana Smith-Hunter ’07 wrote Equity Outside the Box: A Framework for Engaging Diverse Learners.

Tyler Gillespie ’10 wrote The Thing about Florida: Exploring a Misunderstood State.

Kim Donovan ’13 wrote ScareActor: A Quarter-life Dramedy Inside Orlando’s Most Fatal Attraction.

Nour Zikra ’14 wrote Divinity Falling.

Zach Sabra ’16 wrote Land of Demons: A New Age Dawns.

Heriberto Rivera-Beltran ’18MS co-authored the fourth edition of Clinical Guidelines in Primary Care.

In Memoriam

Larry Johnson ’75 died June 16, 2020.

Maria-Celia Natividad Bergmann ’87 died March 1, 2020.

James Flanagan ’88 died February 25, 2021.

Timothy Lovelock ’92 died January 4, 2019.

Neil Petagno ’99 died March 19, 2021. A radiotelevision graduate, Neil was a video producer, both for local news and sports and for the Golf Channel, where he worked for 12 years. He leaves behind his wife, Carolyn, who is the director of communications and marketing for the College of Nursing, and his daughter, Noelle.

Senior Lecturer of English Patricia Angley died September 4, 2020.

Patricia joined UCF in 1998 and made a positive impression upon countless undergraduate students as an advisor and through her courses, which included Native American literature and the American novel.

Paul Wehr died March 19, 2021.

Paul joined UCF in 1969 and taught at UCF as a professor of history for 25 years. As part of his research, he helped record the history of Slavia, a small town near Oviedo founded by Slovakian immigrants in 1911, which resulted in the book Like a Mustard Seed: The Slavia Settlement.

Rescheduled Commencement Ceremony

NOV. 5

L E A R N M O R E AT bit.ly/ucf-rescheduled-commencement

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407.823.2586 U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 4 1

Weddings & Births 1

Christine Becker ’90 married Tom Goodman on December 21, 2020.

2

Bethany Beaman ’00 married Victor Wise on September 21, 2020.

3

Lydia (Chang) White ’01 and husband Josh welcomed Parker on June 4, 2020.

4 Cari (Mutnick) ’04 and Alex Charcas ’05 welcomed Callan Campbell on January 20, 2021.

5

Kelly (Otto) Norton ’05 and husband David welcomed Caroline Ansley on November 19, 2020.

Heather (Pearson) ’06 ’08MA and Eric Elomaa ’06 welcomed Owen on February 8, 2021.

6

Stacey (Brannan) ’07 ’08MBA and Jason Schaitz ’07 ’09MBA welcomed Sydney Stacey on October 29, 2020.

7

Amie (Conner) Lugo ’08 and husband Luie welcomed Codie on July 22, 2019.

Crystal (Rurut) Mudd ’08 and husband Andrew welcomed Thomas Willem on February 25, 2021.

8

Bridget (Biederman) Pate ’09 and husband Alan welcomed Lila Grace on October 18, 2020.

9

Audrey (Turpening) ’09 ’11MS and Paul Wills ’13MA welcomed Celeste Annabelle on November 14, 2020.

10 Britanny (Moore) ’10 and Jeremy Pinkerton ’08 welcomed Ryan on October 5, 2020.

11 Monica Friedman ’11 ’15MSW married Gregory Potts ’11 on October 24, 2020.

12 Emily (Grant) ’11 ’13MA and Jeremy Glass ’10 welcomed Carolyn Ela on July 7, 2020.

13 Marissa Hatcher ’11 married Jason Beaty ’05 ’06MS on September 19, 2020.

14 Sammy (Boada) ’12 and Dan Rowe ’11 welcomed Ruby on July 21, 2020.

15 Sarah (Elifson) ’12 and Alexander Fackler ’11 welcomed Alexander Jr. on November 27, 2020.

16 Jillian (Fink) ’12 and Nick Candaffio ’11 ’15MBA welcomed Cecilia Elain on February 23, 2021.

17 Lindsay (Howley) ’12 ’14MA and Richard Wellbrock ’12 welcomed Logan McKenzie on February 15, 2021.

18 Brynn Snyderman ’12 ’15MST married Ethan Drew on January 30, 2021.

19 Eva (Horne) Chiu ’13MA and husband Peter welcomed Julia Rose on December 26, 2020.

20 Tony Cummings ’13 married Candice Torres ’11 on February 12, 2021.

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Weddings & Births

21 Eliana (Sarria) ’13 and Anthony D’Angelo ’10 welcomed Anthony Joseph on February 7, 2020.

22 Yasmine (Benlulu) ’14 and Derek Cornelius ’13 welcomed Isabella Sarai on August 22, 2020.

23 Michael Carulli ’14 married Angela Hernandez on January 21, 2021.

24 Megan (Fratello) ’14 ’20MBA and Tyler Hudson ’14 welcomed Isla Dominique on January 11, 2021.

25 Taylor Harmon ’14 married Luke Pompos ’14 on October 10, 2020.

26 Lacey Poulson ’14 married Caitlin Trost ’14 on September 25, 2020.

27 Zak Brownlee ’15 and wife Mireya welcomed Samuel Scot on February 21, 2021.

28 Rebecca Capell ’15 ’19MAT and Ash Davanlou ’13MS ’15PhD welcomed Zara Rose on August 27, 2020.

Amy Gilliam ’15 married Mark Stampfle on February 23, 2020.

29 Nicole Hamm ’15 married Cole Walters on November 14, 2020.

30 Nick Leyva ’15 married Anahi Muñoz on February 26, 2021.

31 Valerie Martins ’15 ’18MA married Daniel Nolan on September 17, 2020.

Kelsey Surman ’16 married Graham Hawkins ’14 on September 12, 2020.

32 Caitlin Poer ’17 married Doug Stewart ’15 on March 13, 2021.

33 Charles Tapounet ’17 and wife Mackenzie welcomed Vincent James on December 25, 2020.

34 Brennan Turner ’17 married Christopher Walker ’19 on October 31, 2020.

35 Adam Welsh ’17 married Samantha Scheeler ’11 on October 30, 2020.

36 Nicholas Chase ’18 married Allison Mignardi ’17 on June 25, 2020.

37 Jessica LaVigne ’18 married Joshua Goodridge ’17 on October 19, 2020.

38 Cody Ford ’20 married Jenna Vincitore ’14 on December 20, 2020.

39 Jennifer Wells ’20 married Timothy Siekkinen on October 10, 2020.

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will always remember 9/ll Why I _____________________

BY CHRISTINE MOUTON ’98 ’01MS 9/11. The day 20 years ago this September that changed my life forever. My experience working in nearby New Jersey after that event taught me a lifelong lesson in the capacity to give unconditionally.

That morning, as I was preparing for a meeting of crisis responders in Titusville, Florida, someone rushed into the room and said to turn on the TV. We watched in horror as the World Trade Center’s twin towers burned and collapsed, and everyone around that table knew we would be supporting the recovery effort in the days, weeks and months ahead.

At the time, I worked for State Attorney Norman Wolfinger but was also a trained volunteer for the Florida Crisis Response Team, a nonprofit that provides crisis intervention to trauma victims of both mass casualties and natural disasters.

Our team director, also a board member of the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), deployed immediately while those of us left at the table developed a plan of action. During the next few months, many of us would deploy to New York or New Jersey as part of the NOVA Crisis Response Team to support those who had lost family members, co-workers, friends — and those who had narrowly survived.

As all planes were temporarily grounded, five of us drove to New Jersey in a minivan, where we worked in the New Jersey Family Assistance Center, a multi-agency, one-stop location that was set up to assist survivors of 9/11 who were Garden State residents.

We were strangers at the start of our journey, but by the time we completed our two-week rotation and returned to Orlando we were friends for life, having shared an experience no one would understand if they had not been there.

During those two weeks, we provided counseling support, served meals, processed expedited death certificates, and helped pay bills with funds provided by government agencies and nonprofit organizations, such as the Red Cross.

We worked 14-hour days with barely any time to reflect or sleep, before starting again the next day in the mammoth task of trying to help others understand how to move forward after such personal and community devastation.

Through it all, we listened to the stories shared by victims and survivors: A family who fled unspeakable horrors in their former country only to have two children

die from gun violence and to receive a call from their only remaining child, who was trapped behind the wing of one of the airplanes, right before the building collapsed with her in it. The father who blamed himself for the loss of family members he had recruited to join him at the company in the tower where he worked. The wife who never had to personally put gas in her car, who lost the husband who took pride in taking care of her. The parents who struggled to put their child through college, only to lose him as the towers crumbled. The police officer who stood on a street corner for two weeks honoring those in his law enforcement and firefighting family who were lost in the towers. He stood there working stoically every day, being rained on by granite dust falling all around as the debris-removal trucks lumbered by with gigantic steel beams crushed like tissue paper.

Every person who came to the New Jersey center came in defeated but left with hope. As they left, we shared parting hugs and made sure they received support that continued in the months that followed. Some came back just to reconnect, share another story about their loved ones and to feel supported by complete strangers during this overwhelming moment.

By the time we started our long drive back to Orlando, I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted.

Returning to a more normal life required some reflection and integration of those experiences in my life.

It made me realize that we all respond to traumatic events in different ways, and that there is no right or wrong way to grieve or memorialize the deceased.

I will always remember the lesson that sometimes just being present without saying or doing anything can provide its own sense of comfort. Those in mourning and experiencing grief often just need to share their personal memories with someone willing to listen. I remember each recollection like it was just yesterday.

I will always remember my team members, but every 9/11, I recall how we supported the victims and each other. Some team members were stronger than they thought possible; others struggled for a long time after we returned.

This response had such an impact on my life that I have spent a significant part of my career involved in both planning for and responding to mass casualty events.

Today, every time I respond, I remember the lessons I learned from 9/11 — and again feel immense privilege to share time and space supporting victims and survivors.

Christine Mouton ’98 ’01MS is the director of victim services at UCF. In addition to 9/11, she has responded to the Las Vegas shooting and coordinated the initial advocacy response after the Pulse nightclub shooting.

46 | SUMMER 2021

ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF HAINES

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PREPARING FOR LIFTOFF Before returning to the moon in 2024, NASA must finalize everything on land, which recently required the space agency to ship the backbone of its tallest rocket from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Kennedy Space Center. Traveling on the Pegasus barge, the 212-foot Space Launch System’s core system will help propel supplies and astronauts to Gateway — a lunar orbiting outpost many Knights are helping create. Learn more on page 28 or at ucf.edu/pegasus.