Born from the challenge of the Space Race, UCF was created to transform imagination into innovation and prepare people to launch humanity beyond its limits. Today, we are still are a place where our people 麻豆精品 S檚 curiosity drives discovery, bold questions shape the future and exploration advances life on Earth.
Founded to reach the moon, we 麻豆精品 S檙e already on our way to the next frontier. Built for liftoff, America 麻豆精品 S檚 Space University celebrates UCF Space Week Nov. 3-7.
Where Global Leaders Unite to Boldly Forge the Future of Space
Kaaliyah McGaughy still remembers the excitement that filled the room as she looked in awe at historic spacecrafts adorning the ceiling of an exhibit in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Most of her fifth-grade classmates saw a cool museum. McGaughy saw her future.
Ten years, one inspiring high school physics class and countless hours spent researching the path of an aerospace engineer later, McGaughy is contributing to space exploration as a third-year physics student at America 麻豆精品 S檚 Space University, just 35 miles west of where her dreams first took flight.
Today, as the university celebrates UCF Space Week and First-Generation Student Awareness Week, her story serves as a strong example of the determination and daring spirit of Knights to boldly forge the way forward.
Here are a few things to know about the aspiring physicist:
She Chose UCF Because of Its Strength in Engineering and Technology
SpaceU 麻豆精品 S檚 renowned engineering programs sealed the deal for McGaughy, who set her sights on studying aerospace engineering when she came to UCF in 2021. For three years, she poured herself into the major 麻豆精品 S� designing, testing and tinkering her way through classes that brought her closer to the world of aerospace that first sparked her imagination as a kid.
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Her Journey of Discovery Isn 麻豆精品 S檛 Limited to the Stars
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As a proud first-generation college student, McGaughy is breaking ground closer to home, too 麻豆精品 S� carving her own path through higher education and becoming a role model for her younger sister and family.
麻豆精品 S淚 want to continuously make them happy and proud of me, 麻豆精品 S� says McGaughy, who has received a first-generation scholarship to support her studies.
Ask her what she defines a first-generation student as, and she doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 hesitate: trailblazer. And she 麻豆精品 S檚 in the good company of thousands of them. At UCF, McGaughy 麻豆精品 S檚 surrounded by a vibrant community of ambitious leaders, bold thinkers and brilliant pioneers at a university that dares to invent the future.
She Helped Build the UCF Exolith Lab 麻豆精品 S檚 Regolith Bin
In Summer 2022, during her sophomore year, McGaughy landed a 12-week internship at UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Exolith Lab 麻豆精品 S� a premier facility for space hardware testing with simulated moon, Martian and asteroid dirt, known as regolith, used in spaceflight research and development.
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One of those hand-built projects was the world 麻豆精品 S檚 largest simulated lunar surface, housed within the lab 麻豆精品 S檚 Lunar Highland Regolith Test Bin (the regolith bin). Impressive in size 麻豆精品 S� measuring 33 feet by 33 feet and filled with 240,000 pounds of simulant soil 麻豆精品 S� it 麻豆精品 S檚 even bigger in potential, providing scientists at NASA and other space companies a realistic testbed for experiments and technologies like lunar rovers.
McGaughy 麻豆精品 S檚 fingerprints are literally part of the bin 麻豆精品 S檚 foundation. She contributed to the sketches and helped build the base by hand as one of only a handful of students involved in bringing the impressive project to life. The experience and her studies led her to a part-time senior lab engineer role, which provided her an opportunity to design and build an automated lift system for robots to enter the regolith bin for qualifying round of 2025 NASA Lunabotics Challenge.
She Recently Took a Leap and Changed Her Major to Align with Her Research Goals
As McGaughy grew as an engineering student, she found herself drawn to another path. Space wasn 麻豆精品 S檛 just a mystery to be admired 麻豆精品 S� it was a place she wanted to understand.
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With support from faculty members like Pegasus Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences Daniel Britt, who founded the Exolith Lab, she switched her major from aerospace engineering to physics on the astronomy track.
Looking back, the future physicist knows the switch was the right call as she is now a research intern at the Exolith Lab.
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She Is Proud to Be Part of the SpaceU Community
If McGaughy 麻豆精品 S檚 journey shows anything, it 麻豆精品 S檚 that curiosity and determination can take you far 麻豆精品 S� and at UCF, that same drive is everywhere.
UCF Space Week, Nov. 3-7, puts that energy on full display, celebrating all the ways Knight Nation boldly pushes space forward 麻豆精品 S� from advancing space research to supporting Florida 麻豆精品 S檚 expanding space economy to preparing the next generation of talent.
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