Where UCF's full disciplinary depth meets your hardest problems and gets to work
A Strategic Response to Emerging Opportunities
Created to bring UCF's intellectual capital to the challenges shaping its five core capability areas: Space Technologies & Systems, Health & Human Performance, Energy & Sustainability, Entertainment & Immersive Experiences, and Transformative Technologies & National Security. Because the most pressing challenges facing industry do not respect disciplinary boundaries, neither does Pegasus Research Institute.
Launched as UCF's non-traditional, non-profit, applied research institute, PRI is built to move faster, leverage capabilities and talent across the entire campus, to deliver results that go beyond the lab. PRI is positioned at the intersection of academic discovery and operational reality, purpose-built to translate breakthrough research into tangible outcomes.
PRI functions as UCF's knowledge broker to match your challenge to the right mix of faculty, researchers, students, and capabilities. Whether you need a digital twin for a complex manufacturing system, an AI-driven training platform for national defense, or a next-generation simulation for healthcare workforce readiness, PRI assembles the team, accelerates the timeline, and delivers, from prototype to deployment.
We are embedded in the epicenter of the $8 Billon M&S ecosystem in Central Florida Research Park, adjacent to six DoD modeling and simulation headquarters, more than 125 commercial partners, and the nation's leading MS&T ecosystem. That proximity is a feature. It means we don't just produce research, we produce impact, fast.
Core Capabilities
Five domains. One interdisciplinary engine. Infinite applications.
The Minds Behind The Mission
Carolina Cruz-Neira
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pegasus Research Institute at the University of Central Florida and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, is a pioneer in the areas of virtual reality (VR), interactive visualization, and digital twins. Her innovations have been instrumental in facilitating data analysis, decision-making, design reviews, and training and education. Her work evolved into standard tools used in industry, government, and academia.
Wayne Fogel
Chief Operating & Growth Officer
Wayne Fogel leverages 27 years of experience and expertise in operational planning, organizational leadership, and command. Before transitioning to the private sector, he proudly served in multiple units of the U.S. Army, including the 82nd Airborne Division, participating in numerous deployments in combat roles and also held various positions of responsibility and leadership, culminating as a Battalion Commander.
Abram Walton
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer Interim Chief Research & Technology Officer
Dr. Abram Walton is a Professor in the Barry S. Miller College of Business and Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer of the Pegasus Research Institute at the University of Central Florida. He also leads the Institute's research and technology portfolio as Interim Chief Research & Technology Officer. His research and consulting focus on innovation management, technology commercialization, business analytics, leadership, and organizational development.
Winston Schoenfeld
Vice President for Research and Innovation
Dr. Winston V. Schoenfeld is the Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Professor of Optics, MSE, and ECE at the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2000, and holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida.
Featured Talent
World-class researchers driving innovation across UCF's colleges and institutes.
Dirk Reiners, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Institute for Simulation and Training
Director of the VARLab, Dr. Reiners focuses on digital twins, immersive display systems, and drone swarm integration. His work spans criminal network visualization, multi-user CAVE systems, and real-time data pipelines into VR/AR/XR environments.
Johnathan Mell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Institute for Simulation and Training
Founder of the ScionAI Lab, Dr. Mell works at the crossroads of AI, human behavior, and engineering. His research focuses on artificial negotiation, social emotions in AI, and agentic AI systems for defense, entertainment, and healthcare.
Emmanuel Urquieta, MD, MS
Associate Professor & Vice Chair, Aerospace Medicine
College of Medicine
Former Chief Medical Officer at the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health, Dr. Urquieta oversees research and partnerships in aerospace medicine, with expertise in long-duration space missions, lunar and Mars exploration medicine.
Mike Borowczak, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Director of the DRACO Lab, Dr. Borowczak specializes in hardware security, side-channel attacks, and secure IoT systems. His federally funded research spans AI red-teaming, design automation, and building a sustainable semiconductor workforce pipeline.
Mohsen Rakhshan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Institute for Simulation and Training
Director of the Laboratory for Interaction of Machine and Brain (LIMB), Dr. Rakhshan is a former Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in Neural Engineering at Johns Hopkins Medical School. His research focuses on sensory-enabled technologies and environments for training, simulation, and rehabilitation.
Kareem Ahmed, Ph.D.
Professor
Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Director of the Hypersonic and Space Center (HYPERSPACE), Trustee Chair Professor, Fellow of The Combustion Institute, and DON Distinguished Faculty Fellow. Dr. Ahmed leads $38.3 Million in research from Air Force, Navy, Army, NASA, Lockheed, GE, Aerojet, Raytheon. His pioneering work in detonation-based propulsion is advancing hypersonic, space, and next-generation power generation.
Prototype to Deployment
A disciplined pipeline that turns academic discovery into operational reality.
Challenge Definition
Every engagement begins with listening. Through collaboration and discovery, PRI works with partners to clarify objectives, define requirements and identify critical constraints while mapping the expertise, capabilities and resources needed to move from challenge to solution.
Team Assembly
PRI matches your challenge to the right combination of faculty, student researchers, laboratories and cross-institute capabilities. Drawing from expertise across UCF, we assemble multidisciplinary teams tailored to each opportunity, connecting partners with leading researchers, emerging talent and specialized facilities to address complex challenges.
Rapid Prototyping
Iterative development cycles in embedded lab facilities. From simulation to physical prototype, PRI rapidly develops, tests and refines solutions in collaboration with partners. Our agile approach supports continuous feedback, quick adaptation to changing requirements and technologies aligned with operational needs and deployment timelines.
Pilot & Integration
Field testing within partner environments. PRI collaborates with partners to validate research outcomes under real-world conditions and seamlessly integrate them into operational processes. This hands-on approach reduces risk, accelerates adoption and ensures innovations deliver measurable outcomes where they matter most.
Harness the Talent
Continuous refinement driven by new talent and fresh perspectives. PRI develops innovative solutions while cultivating the next generation of researchers and practitioners, equipping them to sustain innovation beyond the life of any project and make an immediate impact in the workforce.
Deployment & Scale
Research is only the beginning. PRI works with partners to transfer, implement and sustain new technologies, ensuring innovations move from the lab to real-world deployment with measurable value and lasting success.
Research in Action
Breakthrough research translating into real-world impact across industries.
UCF EarthXR
EarthXR combines real-time data, predictive simulations and immersive visualization to create an integrated living digital twin of Earth, space and the Moon, enabling mission planning, risk assessment and decision-making at unprecedented scale and speed.
Being There Without Being There
Blending humanoid robotics, immersive simulation and live digital twin generation, this project redefines human telepresence, enabling people to experience, navigate and operate in distant environments as if they were there in person.
The Human Digital Twin
Intelligent digital companions integrate real-time human, environmental and operational data to provide personalized, context-aware support that enhances situational awareness, improves decision-making and strengthens performance across complex operations.
Urban Digital Twins
Urban Digital Twins integrate real-time data, geospatial analytics and immersive visualization to create dynamic digital replicas of cities. By enabling planners, policymakers and stakeholders to model scenarios, evaluate impacts and optimize decisions, the platform transforms urban planning, sustainability, infrastructure development and community engagement.
Your Challenge.
Our Engine.
Whether you represent a government agency, a Fortune 500 enterprise, or an emerging technology firm, PRI is ready to match your problem to the right team and deliver results that matter.