As Florida’s Premier University for Engineering, Technology and Innovation, UCF continues to lead the way in preparing students for the industries of tomorrow — including those that reach beyond Earth.
UCF students are participating in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (Mission 21), a national competition that provides students with the opportunity to design experiments for launch to the International Space Station. The initiative is co-directed by Phil Metzger ’00MS ’05PhD, planetary scientist and director of UCF’s participation in the program, and Amy Gregory ’11PhD, associate professor and Faculty Fellow for Space Tourism at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management.
“We’ve been encouraging students to think beyond science and engineering,” Metzger says. “Working with Rosen College helps make this a true UCF collaboration — one that shows space can connect to every discipline.”
Each campus brings a unique perspective to the challenge. On the main campus, students are developing experiments ranging from “space laundry” — testing whether clothes can be cleaned in zero gravity — to studying crystal and yeast growth in microgravity. At Rosen College, students are exploring how food and beverage preparation can adapt to long-duration space travel, experimenting with tofu coagulation, texture and preservation techniques to help define what future astronauts — and eventually space tourists — might eat in orbit.
“Up to this point, space research has focused on getting there,” Gregory says. “Our students are asking what comes next — what happens when people live and work in space? Food is at the heart of that conversation because it’s nourishment, medicine and community all in one.”
Rosen’s efforts are also being integrated into the classroom through a new food and beverage in space module within the Techniques of Food Preparation course led by Chef César Rivera Cruzado, allowing hospitality students to connect research with coursework while learning how their field intersects with science, technology and human experience beyond Earth.
“This is an area that’s growing fast,” Rivera-Cruzado says. “Space tourism is coming in less than 10 years — maybe even five — and every sector will have an opportunity to contribute. For us, that means learning what food and hospitality look like off the planet.”
Rosen College has also connected with space industry figures, including engineers, astronauts and chefs, such as José Andrés — as well as representatives from Blue Origin and Axiom Space — to explore future opportunities in space hospitality and culinary equipment development.
Together, these initiatives highlight how UCF’s collaborative spirit continues to propel discovery — preparing students to help define what hospitality, comfort and daily life might look like as they reach for the stars.
