The University of Central Florida announced on Mar. 30 the recipients of its 2026 Reach for the Stars awards, recognizing six assistant professors for their significant contributions to research and creative work with national and international impact. Each honoree will receive a $10,000 annual research grant for three years, making this award UCF’s second-highest faculty honor.
The Reach for the Stars awards highlight early-career faculty whose work opens new possibilities across disciplines. The university said these awards aim to foster innovative ideas that can have far-reaching effects beyond campus.
This year’s honorees are John Bush (management), Ana Carolina de Souza-Feliciano (Florida Space Institute), Shyam Kattel (physics), Kevin Moran (computer science), Soyoung Park (teacher education), and Hao Zheng (electrical and computer engineering). Their fields range from workplace ethics to planetary science, sustainable energy, software reliability, special education interventions, and advanced artificial intelligence systems.
Bush said his research focuses on ethical decision-making in organizations: “A big part of what makes my work unique is that I focus on an important puzzle: how things we typically think of as ‘good’ can promote unethical behavior.” De Souza-Feliciano studies small bodies in our solar system to better understand planetary formation. She said she is motivated by unanswered questions about how planets formed: “Every observation has the potential to reveal something completely new about its history.”
Kattel uses computer simulations to design catalytic materials for clean energy production. He noted his fascination with using machine learning and AI tools in sustainability challenges. Moran leads efforts in user interface engineering aimed at improving software reliability; he described software as “the ultimate engineering medium.” Park’s research supports students with disabilities through evidence-based interventions backed by federal funding. Zheng develops hardware-software solutions to make AI systems more efficient, stating: “Defining a new computing paradigm…can have a far-reaching impact across society.”
The UCF community is invited to celebrate these achievements during the Founders’ Day Faculty Honors Celebration from 3-5 p.m., Wednesday, April 1, in the Student Union Pegasus Ballroom.
Looking ahead, each recipient outlined plans to expand their projects or explore new directions within their respective fields.
