Author: Jerry Jackson
Publisher: Florida Trend
Date: August 31, 2012
With cutbacks at the Kennedy Space Center and the retirement of the shuttle fleet, the Florida Space Institute has returned from KSC to its original home in Orlando and the University of Central Florida. University officials say the move allows the research and education consortium, founded by UCF in the 1990s, to strengthen its ties to the campus community and better pave the way into the commercialization of space.
A broader range of fields, faculty and students will be able to interact with the institute at its new base in Central Florida Research Park, says M.J. Soileau, UCF’s vice president for research and commercialization. “As the nature of the space program changes, it makes sense for us to more closely align FSI with all areas of campus that have an investment in space,” Soileau says.
Central Florida Research Park, adjacent to the campus, is filled with companies working in high-tech fields from laser optics and simulation to electrical engineering. Moving to the park offers opportunities for joint research projects, says S. Alan Stern, a former NASA administrator serving as interim director. Read more here.
