Tag

Rob Ferl

University of Florida To Launch Space Mission Institute With $2.5 Million in Strategic Funding

Faculty at the University of Florida are joining forces to form the UF Space Mission Institute, with $2.5 million in funding from UF President Ben Sasse. The Institute will be managed by UF Research and will be a hub in which scientists and scholars from across UF can collaborate, conduct research, and innovate. The institute will work to enhance existing relationships with Space Florida and the Space Life Sciences Laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center, and seek new partnerships with the International Space Station National Laboratory. The institute will also work to leverage UF’s proximity to the growing commercial space ecosystem in Florida. Throughout the next five years, the total economic impact of the commercial space industry in Florida is expected to be more than $5.3 billion.

Rob Ferl Receives NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal

Rob Ferl, distinguished professor in the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department and assistant vice president for UF research, has received one of NASA’s most prestigious honors, the Exceptional Public Service Medal.

UF Plant Experiment Flies on Virgin Galactic Spaceship

UF project, funded by NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, was the only science experiment on the Virgin Galactic mission, meant to study the impact the transition to and from zero gravity has on gene expression in cells, and, more broadly, to develop protocols for “human-tended” suborbital flights.