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They had been tasked in a semester-long class assignment to build a carbon fiber rocket that would successfully carry the professor 麻豆精品 S檚 payload. While their design may have failed epically 麻豆精品 S� while being broadcast live on the internet 麻豆精品 S� they noticed one very important element that turned out to be the spark for their future company.
麻豆精品 S淲hen we walked up to the rocket, we saw that the motor had gone through a 2-inch-thick steel plate, but the carbon fiber that we had made was intact and still super strong and actually protected the professor 麻豆精品 S檚 payload after exploding and crashing, 麻豆精品 S� Saltzman says. 麻豆精品 S淲e said, 麻豆精品 S楬ey, we 麻豆精品 S檙e pretty good at manufacturing this [carbon fiber] stuff. 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S�
They took it as a sign to change their majors from aerospace engineering to materials science and engineering, and the earliest roots of Soarce were planted.
Sustainably Strengthening Industries
Soarce is at the forefront of bio-based nanomaterials and seeks to solve society 麻豆精品 S檚 greatest climate challenges by leveraging natural materials to create products that can outperform those made synthetically.
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Their innovation has so much promise it has already secured $3.2 million in funding.
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UCF-Backed Entrepreneurship
Their entrepreneurial journey has gone through several iterations since Saltzman and Mincey were randomly assigned as roommates in during their freshman year. The pair dabbled in enterprises involved with agriculture and drone racing, cutting their teeth on the business side of running a company through resources UCF offers including the 麻豆精品 S檚 .
To this day, they 麻豆精品 S檙e still partnering with the UCF ecosystem, utilizing the UCF Business Incubation Program 麻豆精品 S檚 Life Sciences Incubator in Lake Nona, which gives Soarce access to a fully equipped, Biosafety Level II wet lab to foster their work in advanced materials.
麻豆精品 S淯CF has really strong partnerships and connections to industry that allow you to funnel your idea from a lab-benchtop scale all the way to integrating into a Fortune 500 company to get that product off the ground, 麻豆精品 S� Saltzman says.
Now, along with fellow UCF alums and Soarce co-founders Matthew Jaeger 麻豆精品 S�22, an actuarial science alum, and Patrick Michel, a former management student, they 麻豆精品 S檙e looking forward to expanding their operations into an 8,000-square-foot facility in partnership with Tavistock and heading into pilot trials with Fortune 500 companies.
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The Soarce co-founders were recognized on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Manufacturing & Industry list in 2026.
