During a tour at UCF this week, U.S. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent met with university leaders, faculty, staff and students to see firsthand how UCF is strengthening talent pipelines, expanding industry partnerships, and advancing research that addresses some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
U.S. Department of Education (ED) Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent meets with Chanda Torres ’98 ’00MA ’08EdD, assistant vice president of the Dixon Career Development Center.
Torres shares an overview of the Kenneth G. Dixon Career Development Center, which empowers UCF students and recent graduates to successfully connect academic and career pathways — often through industry partnerships — that lead toward professional success and fulfillment.
Kent (center), ED Deputy Under Secretary James Bergeron (left) and ED Special Advisor Ethan Good (right) listen to an overview of the Lockheed Martin College Work Experience Program (CWEP).
Launched more than 40 years ago, CWEP provides paid internship experiences to about 500 UCF students annually — including about 60% of graduating Knights who are offered full-time jobs after completing the program.
ED and UCF staff in front of the Kenneth G. Dixon Career Development Center welcome sign.
Left to right: Assistant Secretary of Labor Henry Mack; Associate Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs for the State University System Tony Lee; UCF Associate Vice President for Federal Relations Eric “Tubby” Shwedo; Torres; UCF Dixon Career Development Center Program Manager Erica Hutton; Director of Career Services at UCF Lynn Hansen; Director of Experiential Learning at UCF Quynh Dang; and UCF Director of Academic Advancement Programs Michael Aldarondo‑Jeffries.
UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright joins Kent, Harding, Senior Campus Recruiter for BNY Tatiana Manzanares and Shwedo as they tour BNY’s Next‑Gen Client Technology and Operations Center in the SPRK building on UCF’s main campus.
In Fall 2025, UCF and BNY, a leading global financial services company, launched a groundbreaking $5 million Pegasus Partnership that established a co-located educational innovation hub on UCF’s main campus — the first-of-its-kind in Florida.
Kent also had the opportunity to meet and interact with students in the current BNY cohort.
At the heart of this collaboration is the 8,400 square-foot Next-Gen Cybersecurity Technology and Operations Center Lab, which reimagines how universities and global enterprises can work together to prepare the workforce of the future.
ED and UCF staff at the BNY Next-Gen Cybersecurity Technology and Operations Center Lab.
Left to right: ED Special Assistant Cristian Clementi, Good, Associate Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs for the State University System Tony Lee, Mack, Kent, Cartwright, Manzanares, Harding and Dang.
Vice President for Research and Innovation Winston Schoenfeld discusses UCF’s research enterprise and emphasizes the benefits of its adjacency to Central Florida Research Park, where defense‑focused organizations support research collaborations and workforce development.
Institute for Stimulation and Training (IST) Director Carolina Cruz‑Neira offers an in‑depth overview and demonstration of IST advanced technological capabilities, with lab visits that included the Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab (VARLab).
Kent explores the CAVE system — a technology Cruz-Neira pioneered in the 90s — at the VARLab, where IST demonstrates how it develops immersive simulation systems for industry, government and research collaborators.
Cruz‑Neira provides an in‑depth demonstration of IST’s VARLab and overview of how UCF is preparing the next generation through modeling, simulation and training.
