{"id":164245,"date":"2026-02-21T23:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164245\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T23:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:42:26","slug":"persistence-opportunity-at-ucf-lead-to-grads-space-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164245\/","title":{"rendered":"Persistence & Opportunity at UCF Lead to Grad’s Space Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\tHighlights<\/p>\n

Before arriving at UCF, aerospace engineering<\/a> alum Jillian Gloria \u201922 was once told she\u2019d never graduate with an engineering degree and reach her goal of working in the space industry.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the DirectConnect to UCF<\/a> program and hands-on research opportunities with real-world implications, Gloria carved a path for herself to sought-after jobs at United Launch Alliance and now Blue Origin.<\/p>\n

As a rocket scientist, Gloria is actively advancing humankind\u2019s progress in developing the infrastructure for a future generation to consistently travel to and live on other celestial bodies.<\/p>\n

Nov. 13, 2025, 3:55 p.m.\u00a0Jillian Gloria \u201922\u00a0stands on a balcony at Blue Origin headquarters in Cape Canaveral, Florida, her eyes fixed on the horizon at Launch Complex 36 \u2014 the very launchpad her grandfather helped construct as a NASA engineer in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Engines ignite. Gloria\u2019s breath catches as she wills the rocket to climb. Then she hears those crucial words: \u201cLiftoff detected. New Glenn has cleared the tower.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Origin rocket scientist has just witnessed the launch of her first NASA mission. It\u2019s a goal the Orlando native has dreamed about since childhood; one marked by visions of the space shuttle soaring upward as she commuted to school and the roar of sonic booms when it returned to Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

What makes this milestone even more rewarding is the determination, the hard work and the relentless tenacity it took her to get here.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour dreams are possible,\u201d Gloria says. \u201cAll you need is passion and persistence. As long as you keep going, you can do anything in this world. You\u2019re always going to end up where you\u2019re meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Five\"FiveJillian Gloria \u201922 and her Blue Origin teammates celebrate the first-time landing of the New Glenn rocket. (Photo provided by Jillian Gloria)
\n\u201cYou\u2019ll Never Graduate\u201d<\/p>\n

Gloria\u2019s college journey began outside of Florida despite the numerous space<\/a>-related research and partnerships available in her backyard at UCF. Like many of her peers, she thought she had to branch out from her hometown to gain the most out of her college experience.<\/p>\n

She realized quickly she had made a mistake.<\/p>\n

Not long after arriving at the University in Texas at Arlington, an academic advisor told her she would never graduate with an engineering degree if she started her academic career in algebra. She would need an additional 1.5 years of math and science classes alone before she could set foot in an engineering class.<\/p>\n

Rather than catch up on the mathematics education and credits she needed to pursue engineering, he advised she\u2019d be better off going after \u201csomething more realistic for her current path like a business degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an impressionable 18-19 year old, you listen to your adviser, right?\u201d she says. \u201cI just remember dropping the business class a few weeks in because I thought, \u2018This is not what I want to do, and I don\u2019t care how long it takes me, I\u2019m going to do get an engineering degree.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woman\"WomanSince graduating from UCF in 2022, Gloria launched over a dozen successful missions across three launch-vehicle programs. (Photo provided by Jillian Gloria)
\nOpportunity Comes Calling<\/p>\n

She course-corrected and enrolled in the DirectConnect to UCF<\/a> program at Valencia College. Valencia provided her the academic resources and tutoring she needed to overcome her initial struggles in math and science.<\/p>\n

In 2018 ahead of transferring to UCF, she applied to the Central Florida Physics Research Exchange Program, a former initiative for undergraduate students to participate in a 10-week funded research project over the summer with UCF\u2019s physics department.<\/p>\n

She remembers doubting her chances of acceptance. After all, she was an aspiring aerospace engineer<\/a>, not a true physics<\/a> major. But the program came with the promise of $5,000, and for someone who was working her way through school, what did she have to lose?<\/p>\n

As part of her application, she wrote a compelling letter to Professor of Physics William Kaden about his space weathering effects research for NASA and how much she\u2019d love the chance to work in his lab.<\/p>\n

The letter worked. Kaden would go on to become Gloria\u2019s mentor throughout her 2.5 years at UCF and kickstarted her hand in research that yielded projects on finding water on the moon, collaborations with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), work with UCF\u2019s Exolith Lab<\/a> and a co-authorship on a NASA-funded paper published in 2021 in the\u00a0Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of research at UCF<\/a> really provided me the actual work experience and opportunities to turn me into an engineer and a candidate that these companies sought after.\u201d \u2014 Jillian Gloria \u201922, Blue Origin engineer<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of research at UCF<\/a> really provided me the actual work experience and opportunities to turn me into an engineer and a candidate that these companies sought after,\u201d says Gloria, who keeps her senior-year textbook Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion, Second Edition on her office desk. \u201cI worked with industry hardware, a vacuum chamber that\u2019s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at NASA, flew a payload on a Masten Space Systems Xodiac rocket to track rocket plumes during launch and landing on the moon. I was a published author before I graduated. It all was such an amazing opportunity. That was the first time when I felt like I was actually doing the work I had dreamed about. The things I was exposed to at UCF really \u00a0just opened my eyes onto what\u2019s available out there in terms of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woman\"WomanWhile she was a student, Jillian Gloria \u201922 was heavily involved in research, which led to a co-authorship on a NASA-funded paper published in 2021.
\nBuilding a Road to Space<\/p>\n

Since graduating in 2022, Gloria launched over a dozen successful missions across three launch-vehicle programs (Atlas V, Delta Heavy, Vulcan Centaur) at United Launch Alliance as a propulsion systems test engineer.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, she joined the Blue Origin team as an integrated vehicle test engineer, specializing in the integration, testing, refurbishment, and optimization of complex fluid and pneumatic systems for her fourth launch vehicle, New Glenn.<\/p>\n

In other words, she validates the build of the rocket, ensuring its integrity and functionality through every build stage before launch.<\/p>\n

She is energized every day by the opportunities available to her to grow and learn within the company, who in addition to their rocket program is also developing a lunar lander and space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work matters. It\u2019s the future.\u201d \u2014 Jillian Gloria<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all working together for the benefit of Earth, and you feel it every day you go to work at Blue Origin,\u201d she says. \u201cThis work matters. It\u2019s the future, it\u2019s the next generation launch vehicle, and it just plays a hand in Blue\u2019s mission statement that we want to build a road to space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every milestone they hit \u2014 like the recent successful launch and first-time landing of the New Glenn rocket that ferried NASA\u2019s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft to begin their journey to Mars \u2014 helps get them closer to that goal.<\/p>\n

While current generations may not see it, she knows the work she is doing at Blue Origin is developing the infrastructure for future generations who will one day consistently travel to and live on other celestial bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stars are the final frontier. It calls to us,\u201d Gloria says. \u201cYou can\u2019t really explain it, but when you look up at the sky, it kind of touches your soul. It just makes me feel more connected to something that\u2019s so far away and so beautiful. It\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Highlights Before arriving at UCF, aerospace engineering alum Jillian Gloria \u201922 was once told she\u2019d never graduate with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[73992,78407,78408,11969,139,141,140,1769,78409,78410],"class_list":["post-164245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-aerospace-engineering","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-exolith-lab","tag-nasa","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-space","tag-space-research","tag-ucf-alumni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}