Alain Berinstain has been appointed as the new director of the Florida Space Institute (FSI) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Berinstain brings nearly 30 years of experience in both public and private sectors of the space industry, having held leadership positions at organizations such as the Canadian Space Agency, Virgin Galactic, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and Moon Express Inc. He has also served as chief strategy officer at CSS Inc.
Berinstain’s background includes managing large budgets and negotiating international partnerships for major NASA missions while at the Canadian Space Agency. His work there included involvement with projects like the James Webb Space Telescope, OSIRIS-REx, and Mars Phoenix Lander. He also contributed to developing the Global Exploration Roadmap to align international partners on exploration goals.
In his new role at FSI, Berinstain plans to expand funding sources beyond traditional government grants by pursuing private and commercial partnerships. “Since I’ve spent time in other sectors and made contacts, I look forward to mining those to help collaborate and redevelop those relationships,” he says. “I aim to show people how FSI can help meet their goals and come up with new opportunities that we can respond to, and, in the end, raise the research profile in space at UCF, in Florida and in the world.”
Berinstain describes his leadership style as guided by trust and teamwork: “It sounds funny,” he says, “but what it really means is guided leadership. I’m very team-oriented. I’m resilient. I deal with situations head-on.” He emphasizes building on existing strengths within FSI: “There are people here who’ve been doing amazing work for a long time. I want to build on that.”
Winston Schoenfeld, vice president for research and innovation at UCF, said about Berinstain’s appointment: “Alain is a daring innovator internationally recognized for his leadership throughout space’s public and private sectors. His experience, bold vision and strategic pursuit of partnerships will elevate the impact of our research at America’s Space University and further strengthen Florida’s rapidly growing space economy.”
FSI supports research across civil, defense, and commercial aspects of Florida’s space economy while collaborating with researchers from various colleges within UCF as well as other state universities through initiatives like the new Florida Space Research Consortium.
Berinstain aims for FSI to grow into areas such as microgravity research, pharmaceuticals development in space environments, and defense applications—fields considered important nationally and economically.
He sees success not just through increased funding but by aligning efforts with institutional priorities: “I prefer to think of research funding as impact,” he says,“as contributions to UCF,to Florida,and to our country.Let’s meet our own prioritiesand help others meet theirs.That’ll help in our growth.”
Berinstain calls his position a “dream job” as he looks ahead toward strengthening FSI’s role both locally in Florida’s expanding aerospace sector—and globally—in advancing space science.
