Aerospace Engineering Student Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

What you need to know: This U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship program is among the most prestigious honors possible for students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in STEM fields around the U.S.

Why this year is significant for UCF: From the 13,000 graduates who applied for the fellowship nationwide, the NSF awarded only 1,500 (about one in nine). Those honorees receive financial support for advanced education and a stipend for their research. Six of them are UCF alums who are now set up to advance research in the areas of interest they discovered as undergraduates.

If you only remember one item: The NSF considers these six graduates among our nation’s next high-achieving scientists and engineers. Darrell Nieves Lugo ’24, an aerospace engineering alumnus, was among the six who were awarded the fellowship.

Darrell Nieves Lugo ’24

Aerospace engineering alum and graduate student

The B.S.-to-M.S. aerospace program at UCF allowed him a seamless transition to begin focusing on his rotorcraft research, with plans to share his research with aerospace professionals through the NSF Fellowship.

Research Interest: Helicopter and tiltrotor blades can be unstable. So, I’m using computational fluid dynamics and machine learning to show that instability can be mitigated through a novel approach.

Research Inspiration: As kid from Puerto Rico, I visited KSC with my family in 2015. That experience filled me with awe and instilled a desire to be an aerospace engineer.

How UCF has Provided a Path: As a sophomore, I participated in a quadcopter design project through my engineering club (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) … and got hooked. Making FPV (first-person view) drones became my hobby, which grew into a specific interest in computational methods.

Career Vision: I’d like to advance the technology of rotorcraft, planetary vehicles, and in the emerging field of air mobility. With God’s favor, perhaps I can inspire the next generation, especially those from Puerto Rico, to push the boundaries of what is possible.