Professors Subith Vasu and Jayanta Kapat are leading a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to establish a consortium that will support students who are interested in earning engineering degrees.

The PARtnership and Training for NNSA Engineering and Relevant Sciences (PARTNERS) consortium will include the University of California, Irvine and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory will collaborate and support students and faculty.

The goal of PARTNERS is to provide a training ground and talent pipeline for the next generation of nuclear engineers.

鈥淭he U.S. has a nuclear stockpile and the NNSA is responsible for the safe maintenance and modernization of that stockpile,鈥� Vasu says. 鈥淭his particular opportunity allows us to conduct research and train students. The hope is that, after graduation, these students will get a job offer from the NNSA or related industires.鈥�

This is the second NNSA consortium that 麻豆原创 has joined under Vasu鈥檚 leadership. In 2023, the university entered a $25-million, national consortium on nuclear forensics that was directed by the University of Florida.

Justin Urso 鈥�15 鈥�22PhD, a co-principal investigator (PI) on the grant, says this new consortium, led by 麻豆原创 this time, will augment the work already completed by the group of universities and national labs. On the research side, students and faculty will continue to work on projects that can predict and assess the damage from nuclear events and assist with nuclear forensics.

Students will have the opportunity to work on these projects, but they also have the chance to intern at one of the national labs in the consortium. They will be paired with a mentor and will continue to develop their research skills and train for a career in nuclear engineering under their guidance.

鈥淭he current nuclear engineering workforce is retiring but also the world is changing,鈥� Vasu says. 鈥淭he U.S. is the world police, and we need to make sure that nuclear weapons are only with responsible countries. The threats against the U.S. are also changing. Our enemies have newer, more sophisticated weapons.鈥�

About NNSA

Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semiautonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that protects our nation by designing and delivering a safe, secure, reliable and effective U.S. nuclear stockpile; forging solutions that enable global security and stability through nonproliferation, counterproliferation, and emergency response; providing nuclear propulsion to power a global U.S. Navy; and leveraging transformative technologies to address emerging challenges.

About the Researchers

Vasu received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2012. He is a member of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Vasu is a recipient of DARPA鈥檚 Director鈥檚 Fellowship, DARPA Young Faculty award, the Young Investigator grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, American Chemical Society鈥檚 Doctoral New Investigator, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dilip Ballal Early Career award, and the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational award. He has received many of the highest honors at 麻豆原创 including the 麻豆原创 Luminary, Trustee Chair Professor and Reach for the Stars awards. Several of his former students are employed by the NNSA, aerospace, energy and defense entities.

Kapat is a Pegasus Professor and the director of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research. The most significant impact of Kapat鈥檚 work stems from his vision for CATER. He brought 10 core faculty members with multidisciplinary capabilities together to solve some of the most complex research problems in turbomachinery for power generation, aviation and space propulsion. Through CATER, Kapat has facilitated graduate-level research and degrees and has established excellent success rates for internship and job placement of students at all levels. Because of the international reputation of CATER, high-caliber students from Brazil, France, Germany and India now come to 麻豆原创.

Urso is a research assistant professor at CATER. He earned his bachelor鈥檚 from 麻豆原创 in 2015 and completed his doctoral degree at 麻豆原创 in 2022 as a Graduate Dean鈥檚 Fellowship Recipient under Vasu. 聽He has over 30聽 publications and has been involved in mentoring efforts targeting undergraduate and 聽K-12 students in STEM.

However, an environmentally friendly solution may emerge within the next decade with the help of a 麻豆原创 researcher.

Engineering Professor Subith Vasu is working with commercial truck manufacturer PACCAR, owner of the Peterbilt and Kenworth brands, to create a hydrogen-based combustion engine for heavy-duty vehicles. The project is funded through a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and is the agency’s first effort to develop hydrogen combustion engines for commercial trucks.

鈥淲e鈥檙e fortunate to be part of this project,鈥� Vasu says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very prestigious effort for 麻豆原创, to be part of this project that鈥檚 highly relevant in the decarbonization of transportation efforts around the globe. It will also be a great opportunity for students to get involved with an industry-funded project.鈥�

The Demand for Hydrogen

For decades, diesel has been the fuel of choice for large commercial vehicles. But in recent years, the government has pushed for a cleaner alternative. In 2021, President Biden appropriated $62 billion to the DoE, including $9.5 billion for clean hydrogen solutions as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Over this past year, the Environmental Protection Agency also tightened its NOx emissions standards for heavy-duty commercial vehicles beginning with 2027 model year equipment.

While Tesla has developed a semi-truck that runs on electric motors, Vasu says there are some limits to the weight it holds and the distance it can travel.

鈥淭esla is developing electric supercars and semi-trucks, but there are limits to the batteries,鈥� Vasu says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e fine for driving down to the nearest town but driving from Seattle to Miami, you need significant battery power, also you don鈥檛 have time to wait until it is fully charged since most of these freightliners are under time pressure.鈥�

Building a Better Engine

Hydrogen can solve the problem of a longer-lasting battery, but PACCAR currently has more questions than answers. How will hydrogen behave in the extreme temperature and pressure of an engine? Under what conditions will it ignite? Alternatively, what conditions will prevent ignition?

Vasu and his team of researchers will find these answers through experiments run in their state-of-the-art shock tube. The data collected will be used to create computational models to share with PACCAR.

Vasu received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2012. He is a member of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Vasu is a recipient of DARPA鈥檚 Director鈥檚 Fellowship, DARPA Young Faculty Award, the Young Investigator grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, American Chemical Society鈥檚 Doctoral New Investigator, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dilip Ballal Early Career award, and the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational award. He has received many of the highest honors at 麻豆原创, including the 麻豆原创 Luminary and Reach for the Stars awards.

But the process of detecting and observing space objects, known as space domain awareness (SDA), faces challenges with the extensive volume of cislunar space.

鈥淐islunar space is vast,鈥� says Tarek Elgohary, an associate professor of aerospace engineering. 鈥淭he current SDA infrastructure, which is mostly Earth-based, is not equipped to provide the needed coverage in cislunar space. There is a need for fast and accurate solutions to quantify uncertainties to improve predictions and provide SDA information in the absence of continuous coverage.鈥�

Elgohary and his team will develop those solutions with the support of a $350,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Dynamic Data and Information Processing Program. They will create a computational framework to rapidly and accurately track space objects in real time, onboard spacecraft or satellites like the Air Force Research Laboratory鈥檚 Oracle, which is designed to increase SDA capabilities in cislunar space. The algorithms will allow Oracle and other spacecraft to operate autonomously without intervention from Earth.

Those same algorithms could also have an impact on maritime domain awareness (MDA). Just as spacecraft might need to identify space junk or track the orbit of a satellite, watercraft need to identify other vessels, predict target trajectories and detect suspicious behavior in real-time.

鈥淪pace and maritime domains share a lot of similarities in terms of the lack of continuous coverage of spacecraft or vessels, the large size of the search domain, and the need for the capability to predict maneuvers,鈥� Elgohary says. 鈥淢aritime domain awareness may require shorter time scales; however, with the expansion of space missions, space domain awareness operations have been reduced from weeks and days to hours and minutes.鈥�

Elgohary will use his expertise in space to develop a similar computational framework for the sea. The algorithms developed for uncertainty quantifications will advance MDA and allow sea vessels to detect objects in real time and predict their future location.

This work is funded through a $150,000 grant from Lockheed Martin.

About the Researcher

Tarek Elgohary joined 麻豆原创 in 2016 as an assistant professor. He manages the Astrodynamics, Space and Robotics Laboratory (ASRL) in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in mechanical engineering from the American University in Cairo and a master鈥檚 degree and doctoral degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University.

The research, published recently in the journal Physics of Fluids, comes at a critical time when schools and universities are considering returning to more in-person classes in the fall.

鈥淭he results suggest exactly what the CDC is doing, that ventilation systems and mask usage are most important for preventing transmission.鈥� 鈥� Michael Kinzel, 麻豆原创 assistant professor

鈥淭he research is important as it provides guidance on how we are understanding safety in indoor environments,鈥� says Michael Kinzel, an assistant professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and study co-author.

鈥淭he study finds that aerosol transmission routes do not display a need for six feet social distancing when masks are mandated,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese results highlight that with masks, transmission probability does not decrease with increased physical distancing, which emphasizes how mask mandates may be key to increasing capacity in schools and other places.鈥�

In the study, the researchers created a computer model of a classroom with students and a teacher, then modeled airflow and disease transmission, and calculated airborne-driven transmission risk.

The classroom model was 709 square feet with 9-foot-tall ceilings, similar to a smaller-size, university classroom, Kinzel says. The model had masked students 鈥� any one of whom could be infected鈥� and a masked teacher at the front of the classroom.

The researchers examined the classroom using two scenarios 鈥� a ventilated classroom and an unventilated one 鈥� and using two models, Wells-Riley and Computational Fluid Dynamics. Wells-Riley is commonly used to assess indoor transmission probability and Computational Fluid Dynamics is often used to understand the aerodynamics of cars, aircraft and the underwater movement of submarines.

Masks were shown to be beneficial by preventing direct exposure of aerosols, as the masks provide a weak puff of warm air that causes aerosols to move vertically, thus preventing them from reaching adjacent students, Kinzel says.

Additionally, a ventilation system in combination with a good air filter reduced the infection risk by 40 to 50% compared to a classroom with no ventilation. This is because the ventilation system creates a steady current of air flow that circulates many of the aerosols into a filter that removes a portion of the aerosols compared to the no-ventilation scenario where the aerosols congregate above the people in the room.

These results corroborate recent guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommend reducing social distancing in elementary schools from six to three feet when mask use is universal, Kinzel says.

鈥淚f we compare infection probabilities when wearing masks, three feet of social distancing did not indicate an increase in infection probability with respect to six feet, which may provide evidence for schools and other businesses to safely operate through the rest of the pandemic,鈥� Kinzel says.

鈥淭he results suggest exactly what the CDC is doing, that ventilation systems and mask usage are most important for preventing transmission and that social distancing would be the first thing to relax,鈥� the researcher says.

When comparing the two models, the researchers found that Wells-Riley and Computational Fluid Dynamics generated similar results, especially in the non-ventilated scenario, but that Wells-Riley underpredicted infection probability by about 29 % in the ventilated scenario.

As a result, they recommend some of the additional complex effects captured in Computational Fluid Dynamics be applied to Wells-Riley to develop a more complete understanding of risk of infection in a space, says Aaron Foster, a doctoral student in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the study鈥檚 lead author.

鈥淲hile the detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics results provided new insights into the risk variation and distance relationships, they also validated the more commonly used Wells-Riley models as capturing the majority of the benefit of ventilation with reasonable accuracy,鈥� Foster says. 鈥淭his is important since these are publicly available tools that anyone can use to reduce risk.鈥�

The research is part of a larger overall effort to control airborne disease transmission and better understand factors related to being a super-spreader. The researchers are also testing the effects of masks on aerosol and droplet transmission distance. The work is funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

Kinzel received his doctorate in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University and joined 麻豆原创 in 2018. In addition to being a member of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering, a part of 麻豆原创鈥檚聽College of Engineering and Computer Science, he also works with 麻豆原创鈥檚聽Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research.

Researchers at the 麻豆原创 have designed for the first time a nanoscale material that can efficiently split seawater into oxygen and a clean energy fuel 鈥� hydrogen. The process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is known as electrolysis and effectively doing it has been a challenge until now.

The stable, and long-lasting nanoscale material to catalyze the reaction, which the 麻豆原创 team developed, is explained this month in the journal Advanced Materials.

鈥淭his development will open a new window for efficiently producing clean hydrogen fuel from seawater,鈥� says Yang Yang, an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 and study co-author.

Hydrogen could be converted into electricity to use in fuel cell technology that generates water as product and makes an overall sustainable energy cycle, Yang says.

How It Works

The researchers developed a thin-film material with nanostructures on the surface made of nickel selenide with added, or 鈥渄oped,鈥� iron and phosphor. This combination offers the high performance and stability that are needed for industrial-scale electrolysis but that has been difficult to achieve because of issues, such as competing reactions, within the system that threaten efficiency.

The new material balances the competing reactions in a way that is low-cost and high-performance, Yang says.

Using their design, the researchers achieved high efficiency and long-term stability for more than 200 hours.

鈥淭he seawater electrolysis performance achieved by the dual-doped film far surpasses those of the most recently reported, state-of-the-art electrolysis catalysts and meets the demanding requirements needed for practical application in the industries,鈥� Yang says.

The researcher says the team will work to continue to improve the electrical efficiency of the materials they鈥檝e developed. They are also looking for opportunities and funding to accelerate and help commercialize the work.

More About The Team

Co-authors included Jinfa Chang, a postdoctoral scholar, and Guanzhi Wang, a doctoral student in materials science engineering, both with 麻豆原创鈥檚 NanoScience Technology Center; and Ruslan Kuliiev 鈥�20MS, a graduate of 麻豆原创鈥檚 master鈥檚 in aerospace engineering program, and Nina Orlovskaya, an associate professor with 麻豆原创鈥檚 , and Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation Cluster.

Yang holds joint appointments in 麻豆原创鈥檚 NanoScience Technology Center and the聽, which is part of the university鈥檚聽College of Engineering and Computer Science. He is a member of 麻豆原创鈥檚聽Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation (REACT) Cluster. He also holds a secondary joint-appointment in 麻豆原创鈥檚 . Before joining 麻豆原创 in 2015, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. He received his doctorate in materials science from Tsinghua University in China.

The selection, which was , is part of a year-long initiative known as the Breakthrough,聽Innovative and聽Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, in which undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to design, build and test new technologies that mitigate dust or are dust tolerant, based on proposals they submitted to NASA.

The 麻豆原创 team鈥檚 proposal is a design for a new type of material to cover the exterior of spacesuits.

The material鈥檚 nanostructure design is based on how honeybees and other pollinators can manipulate tiny pollen using both microstructures and electric fields. The researchers are also incorporating techniques from the Japanese art of paper-folding, origami, to increase the material鈥檚 range of motion and also longevity by reducing the stress the material would face through repetitive movements.

鈥淭his research is trying to tackle one of the unsolved problems from the Apollo missions 鈥斅� lunar dust,鈥� says David Fox, a doctoral candidate in 麻豆原创鈥檚 who is helping lead the 麻豆原创 team.

鈥淭his tiny dust clings to everything through static electricity and ends up coating the astronaut’s spacesuits and equipment,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he health dangers of this dust, and the damage to astronauts, their spacesuits and their equipment, could be detrimental to the upcoming Artemis missions.鈥�

Fox says that since the Artemis lunar missions will be longer than the Apollo missions, they will involve astronauts living and working on the moon.

鈥淥ur research aims to remove dust from spacesuits easily and before it has a chance to enter the lunar habitats where they will be stationed,鈥� he says.

The researchers got their idea for the pollinator-inspired design by thinking about how nature deals with small particles. They began looking at origami designs when considering how to decrease the amount of stress the material would face from repeated movements and the cold temperatures of the moon.

The seven selected teams, which includes the California Institute of Technology, the Colorado School of Mines and the Georgia Institute of Technology, will receive funding from NASA to develop their designs and will work through 2021 to build, test, and present them to NASA.

The 麻豆原创 team鈥檚 proposal is titled Lunar Dust Mitigating Electrostatic micro-Textured Overlay, or LETO. The team includes Nilab Azim 鈥�20MS, doctoral candidate in the Department of Chemistry; Yuen Yee Li Sip 鈥�17 鈥�19MS, doctoral student in the Alex Burnstine-Townley 鈥�16, doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry; Trisha Joseph 鈥�20, a recent graduate with her bachelor鈥檚 in physics; Adam Rozman, an undergraduate researcher in the ; Nicholas Alban, undergraduate researcher in the ; and Lei Zhai, director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 and a 麻豆原创 Department of Chemistry professor, as the team鈥檚 advisor.

They are also working with leading Dutch nanoimprint and microreplication technology company to help produce the material and get the innovation, if successful, rolled out to industrial-scale manufacturing.

The challenge is supported by NASA鈥檚 Space Technology Mission Directorate鈥檚 Game Changing Development Program鈥檚 efforts to mature innovative and high-impact capabilities and technologies for use in future NASA missions.

The team鈥檚 next steps will be to assemble and test its designs after further consultation with NASA鈥檚 BIG Idea Challenge team.

Zhai received his doctorate in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. He joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Chemistry, part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 , in 2005.

Her most recent project came out of her involvement with 麻豆原创 physics Assistant Professor William Kaden鈥檚 Research Group where she had the opportunity to study water evolution processes that take place on the moon. Within this group, Gloria focused on developing hardware used to study the changes in chemistry on models of the moon and increase efficiency in thin film growth. These models were made of aluminosilicates minerals that play an important role in finding water on the moon.

The lab simulated the effects of space weathering on the moon by growing aluminosilicate thin-films in a vacuum in the lab and exposing them to different forms of radiation testing. This work led to a co-authorship on a NASA-funded paper recently published in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. The understanding of such processes gleaned from this type of work will help NASA plan exploration missions by providing an improved map to search for water on the moon, says Kaden.

鈥淯nderstanding how water evolves on the moon is one of the big questions scientists must answer as we look to move life off Earth,鈥� Gloria says. 鈥淭his research could have big implications in the future of solar radiation as it pertains to using the moon鈥檚 surface water to create a stable environment for human life there.鈥�

Gloria also will be expanding her research alongside Professor Seetha Raghavan in partnership with the German Aerospace Center. Gloria will study materials that experience stresses during flights that hit Mach 5 or more, specifically spacecraft. She begins her work this semester at 麻豆原创 thanks to a National Science Foundation Research Fellowship, and she expects to complete her work in Germany this summer.

鈥淚 am so grateful to be at 麻豆原创,鈥� Gloria says. 鈥淚t has given me the chance to work on real NASA missions, but even more importantly provided me the opportunity to work with the very scientists I look up to.鈥� She documents her research on an Instagram account, @enjillneer, which she started to encourage others to pursue a STEM degree.

鈥淚 strongly believe there is a huge gap in the STEM initiative between inspiring kids at a young age and when they get to college and begin pursuing a STEM degree,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o often they begin to fail classes and want to drop out.鈥� Her own hard work as a student transfer from Valencia College is a testament to the intentional effort and intensity with which she has pursued STEM.

It is with this in mind that she participates in various STEM outreach opportunities in the community and beyond, including with Orange County Public Schools, the Central Florida STEM Education Council, Barnes & Noble, and NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex, as well as a LinkedIn commercial and Fox’s Xploration Outer Space TV show. At the show, she was a finalist in an annual student astronaut contest.

In her involvement with OCPS she has the opportunity to speak to K-12 students about their interests in STEM as well as share her story in hopes of inspiring students of all ages and demographics to pursue a STEM-based degree.

She views herself as a hard-working dreamer who has had many doors opened. Those who work with her say she鈥檚 opened most of those doors through her hard work and enthusiasm.

鈥淛illian has deep enthusiasm for space and that motivates her to seek out opportunities to build the science and engineering that the space program needs,鈥� says Phillip Metzger, a researcher at the Florida Space Institute (FSI) at 麻豆原创. He had the opportunity to work alongside Gloria on a NASA-funded project at the Exolith Lab at FSI. 鈥淪he is already making a strong contribution to space, even before graduating.鈥�

Gloria plans to continue her contribution to the exploration of space with the hope of someday landing on a planet and discovering new life. She hopes to seek her master鈥檚 degree at 麻豆原创 after she graduates next summer.

Research engineer Anthony C. Terracciano and Associate Professor Subith Vasu have developed a model that will help engine designers, fuel chemists and federal agencies determine whether certain biofuels should be implemented as an alternative fuel for vehicles.

The research was conducted as part of the DOE鈥檚 Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines initiative, better known as Co-Optima. Findings were recently published in .

鈥淲e worked with scientists from various U.S. government labs to come up with our research strategy,鈥� Vasu says.

In prior Co-Optima research, Vasu and his team tested five of the most promising biofuels, including ethanol. For this research, Vasu and his team studied the biofuel diisobutylene (DIB), a natural byproduct of sugar.

鈥淒IB has been down selected due to its promise as a potential drop-in biofuel for gasoline engines based on a variety of factors including its cost of production, compatibility with existing infrastructure, fuel and combustion properties,鈥� Vasu says.

Using the Advanced Light Source, a powerful particle accelerator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, they were able to identify 46 molecules that are present in the flames of DIB during ignition. This is the first time that DIB has been studied with this equipment.

鈥淥ur work specifically identifies the quantity of 46 molecules present within the DIB combustion environment just after ignition,鈥� Terracciano says. 鈥淭his provides an unprecedentedly rich framework, which engineers and scientists can use to craft a complete understanding of the reaction environment using these DIB fuels.鈥�

The researchers investigated the two most common sources of DIB, which are the alpha and beta strands. They created a combustion event in a jet-stirred reactor, a volume that is continuously stirred, at fixed conditions. The chemical reactions were then inhibited to create a molecular beam that was bombarded with ultraviolet light from the ALS to generate ions.

This model may be readily implemented by any agency, and the knowledge will help fuel developers manufacture a product much quicker.

鈥淔uel chemistry for vehicles is complex from the design and considerations of engines, support infrastructure and emissions,鈥� Terracciano says. 鈥淔uel engineers need to ensure that the sold fuels fit within the envelopes of the octane standard. By knowing the combustion properties of specific fuel components, blends can be manufactured with less empirical testing.鈥�

The research was completed in collaboration with Sandia National Lab and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Co-authors from 麻豆原创 include Sneha Neupane, a recent graduate of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering doctoral program who is currently at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Richard Blair, a researcher at the Florida Space Institute; and Denisia Populan-Vaida, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry.

Before joining 麻豆原创 in 2012, Vasu was a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratory. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in 2010. He is a member of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research at 麻豆原创, is an associate fellow of the American Institute of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the International Energy Agency鈥檚 Task Team on Energy.

Vasu is a recipient of DARPA鈥檚 Director鈥檚 Fellowship, DARPA Young Faculty Award, young investigator grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, American Chemical Society鈥檚 Doctoral New Investigator, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dilip Ballal Early Career Award, and the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. He received many of the highest honors at 麻豆原创 including the 麻豆原创 Luminary and Reach for the Stars awards.

Heading to space was not an option for me at the time, so the change in worldview that I sought, as a student, came in the form of studying abroad in Toulouse, France. With no knowledge of French, I was headed for three months of intensive language training followed by a master鈥檚 in aerospace engineering at Institut Sup茅rieur de l鈥橝茅ronautique et de l鈥橢space , one of the leading aeronautical institutions in the world.

What was I thinking?

It was perhaps the moment the airplane took off that excitement quickly turned into panic as I struggled to repeat unfamiliar phrases playing in my ear. What followed was intense immersion interspersed with experiences of getting completely lost in the city, discovering the beauty of the Pyr茅n茅es, memorizing 20 possible essay responses for a flight mechanics oral exam, getting kicked out of a 产辞卯迟别, or nightclub, in Paris, making lifelong friends and so much more.

Armed with my walking guidebook, I spent days in awe of the history surrounding the very places where I stood. Then there were tears of homesickness coupled with a coping mechanism that resulted in a large pile of handwritten letters, complete with drawings of my room layout, still in the possession of my then-fianc茅-now-husband.

Until just one day, I vividly remember sitting in the Paris RER train on my way home from work, making small talk with a stranger about the beautiful pink sky at sunset, when realization hit me. In two years, I truly became part of this society that I had come to adopt. Although I had to leave eventually, something in me had changed forever and would never be the same.

Home is not one place but all the places where the opportunity to make a difference provides a sense of purpose and pervades a sense of belonging.

In the end, my shift in paradigm was that home is not one place but all the places where the opportunity to make a difference provides a sense of purpose and pervades a sense of belonging.

In the meantime, scientists and engineers are pioneering new technology in space flight so that we might all one day experience the overview effect and learn more about ourselves through earth observation and space exploration. The most significant part is that these efforts represent some of the largest and most successful examples of international cooperation.

Experiments on the International Space Station, for example, come from researchers in 108 countries and areas around the world. Even within the atmosphere, major aircraft programs such as the development of the F-35 stealth combat aircraft demonstrate that the most ambitious engineering innovation is best achieved through global partnerships.

Yet, STEM fields continue to be the most underrepresented in study or research abroad. This is mostly due to intensive academic programs that leave little time to spare or to acquire the related language training as well as an overall fewer number relevant programs organized and offered.

My first international collaboration was initiated with a simple phone call reaching out to scientists in the United States and Germany with my ideas of joint research on propulsion and energy. Fast forward nine years and three successful National Science Foundation International Research awards later, 20 students have had three-month research experiences with the German Aerospace Center in Cologne and Stuttgart with the collaboration growing to six faculty members on either side.

Teams from both countries have come together to conduct some of the most unique experiments together with scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. It was our ability to leverage strengths in the different ways we approach scientific challenges that has brought us outcomes we could not have achieved individually.

Subsequent Fulbright awards provided some of these students with opportunities to extend their experience over a year. Many have pursued graduate research where their skills in resilience and adaptability from their international experience have proven indispensable. All have gained invaluable mentorship from scientists here and abroad.

Their outreach has been focused on sharing experiences and dispelling the myth that scientists and engineers only learn within the confines of a classroom or laboratory. This has been a crucial part of ensuring these experiences benefit many more.

If these past months have brought anything to stark clarity, it should be that we are all more intricately connected than we imagine and that we have more to gain working together to overcome the biggest challenges we face today than we do disparately.

So, until we all get to experience the life-changing view of our collective home from space one day, it remains a goal of mine to continue delivering that higher perspective I once was afforded 鈥� one international experience at a time.

Seetha Raghavan is a professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She can be reached at seetha.raghavan@ucf.edu.

The聽麻豆原创 Forum聽is a weekly series of opinion columns from faculty, staff and students who serve on a panel for a year. A new column is posted each Wednesday on 麻豆原创 Today and then broadcast on W麻豆原创-FM (89.9) between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday. Opinions expressed are those of the columnists, and are not necessarily shared by the 麻豆原创.