At the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research (CATER), the mission is simple: CATER to the energy needs of society. For 20 years, researchers affiliated with the center have worked on groundbreaking projects in power generation, space propulsion and aviation that have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in power generation, air travel and spaceflight.
Now CATER is expanding its mission and its reach as it shifts from a center within the College of Engineering and Computer Science to an official university center on July 1. This new iteration of CATER includes structures goals for faculty success, plans for new industry partnerships and the development of new research and testing facilities for students and faculty.
"Florida has an unparallel industrial ecosystem that includes turbomachinery companies, space propulsion companies and aviation companies,” Kapat says. “CATER works at the intersection of these technologies, and strives to provide the best training to UCF students who will work for these organizations and to help these companies with fast and quality technical solutions."
Fostering Faculty Mentorship
How do you become a successful faculty member at a prestigious research university? It’s not something you can learn in a course, but new faculty can learn to navigate academia with the guidance of seasoned professors.
As part of the CATER reformation, Kapat has developed a mentorship plan that will set up early-career faculty who are affiliated with the center for long-term success in academia. Core CATER faculty members will mentor incoming assistant professors until they receive promotion and tenure. Throughout the process, junior faculty will receive guidance on the grant funding process as well as student recruitment and advising.
“The typical faculty career is 20 to 30 years and we want our faculty to stay successful over that period of time,” Kapat says. “None of this is taught in a university as a course. So in CATER we have created a very intense one-to-one mentorship plan that worked well in the previous version of CATER version.”
Although many of the CATER core faculty are focused in aerospace engineering, one member hails from the School of Modeling, Simulation and Training, paving the way for faculty members from other disciplines to join in the future.
Redefining the Research Focus
To be considered or to remain a core member of CATER, senior faculty will need to continuously meet specific metrics such as annual research expenditures, total annual awards, and the number of mentored graduate students. While CATER won’t expand beyond 15 core members and 10 research faculty members, it will increase its number of research areas to include hypersonics and national security, energy and sustainability, advanced air mobility, and space power and propulsion.
“These are the areas where we contribute to the university's overall strategic initiatives that President Cartwright implemented when he joined UCF,” Kapat says. “So this is our contribution to the university’s strategic goals.”
The faculty are already working on several research projects to support CATER’s research pillars, including the development of digital twin architecture for power plants, creating new fuels for zero-emission aviation, and investigating the possibility of building a power plant on the moon.
Expanding Industry Partnerships
CATER also supports industry needs through partnerships with major energy, aerospace and defense organizations that are based in Central Florida, including Siemens Energy. For the past decade, CATER’s homebase has been the Siemens Energy Center on the main campus. But now researchers have additional facilities that support their work.
CATER and the Aerospace Technology Group (ATG) have collaborated on the CATER-ATG Engine Research Test (CERT) facility, which recently opened at Valkaria Airport near Melbourne, is a space for CATER researchers to certify engine parts and develop new technologies that companies like Boeing or GE could incorporate into their aircraft. Professor Kareem Ahmed will use the space to conduct fuel tests for the Department of War. Professor Subith Vasu will conduct engine testing for an actual aviation gas turbine – one of the first in the world. Such experiments can’t be run on the UCF campus.
A third joint facility called the CATER Applied Propulsion and Energy Center (CAPE), is under development with start of operation in July or August 2026. This would house several mid-TRL experimental rigs on supercritical carbon dioxide cycle, molten salt systems and components, energy storage, advanced air mobility, etc.
CAPE facility will be also strategically located close to the world’s largest molten salt energy storage facility, called MOSS, and will be used to test components for thermal energy storage systems and advanced reactors. Siemens Energy would own the MOSS facility while a nuclear reactor company supplies the equipment. UCF researchers will help operate and use the facility to conduct research and train the next generation of nuclear and mechanical engineers.
“We need to train the new workforce because there is not enough people trained in nuclear engineering anymore,” Kapat says. “Mechanical engineering is a nuclear-adjacent area, so they see this as an opportunity to train the workforce by letting them run the facility. So it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Now CATER is expanding its mission and its reach as it shifts from a center within the College of Engineering and Computer Science to an official university center on July 1. This new iteration of CATER includes structures goals for faculty success, plans for new industry partnerships and the development of new research and testing facilities for students and faculty.