{"id":117920,"date":"2021-02-23T10:44:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T15:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=117920"},"modified":"2021-02-23T10:44:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T15:44:10","slug":"from-lighting-shows-at-universal-to-supporting-space-launches-at-ksc-ucf-grad-shines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/from-lighting-shows-at-universal-to-supporting-space-launches-at-ksc-ucf-grad-shines\/","title":{"rendered":"From Lighting Shows at Universal to Supporting Space Launches at KSC, UCF Grad Shines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many Central Florida teens, Jonathan <\/strong>Kessluk \u201920<\/strong> got a summer job at one of Universal\u2019s theme parks in 2014. Little did he know that a job working lights for some of the park\u2019s shows, would lead him to a UCF engineering degree and a job at Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n

Kessluk, who graduated in August 2020, is a telecommunications engineer for the Launch Services Program for KSC. He helps NASA minimize risk when working with launch service providers since every spacecraft has different requirements that need to be met. Part of his job is to help provide services for missions that need a launch vehicle to get to space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was at Universal, it was my job to install and maintain lighting equipment for concerts and special events,\u201d Kessluk says. \u201cI would run power and data cables, install lighting equipment, and drive heavy machinery. Many events required and benefited from intelligent lighting and computers to control movement, color, shape, etc. Once you get enough of these lighting devices together in one place, electricity requirements can become a problem too. I noticed that electricity and computers were important parts to that industry and began learning more because it was interesting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His curiosity peeked, he soon discovered he wanted to make electronic devices and that meant majoring in computer engineering<\/a> when he arrived at UCF in 2014.<\/p>\n

After taking a few classes, the Florida native realized research was a great way to gets hands-on experience making things. Although he was studying engineering, Kessluk ended up meeting physics Professor Joshua Colwell. The Pegasus Professor runs UCF\u2019s Center for Microgravity Research<\/a> that studies how dust and other ingredients came together to form our solar system. The lab, on the fourth floor of the physical sciences building, is always busy with students working on experiments.<\/p>\n