Questions asked at UCF rarely stay put.
The answers travel — making highways safer, informing disaster planning, shaping conversations about life-changing technologies and more. Behind that reach are brilliant minds, including eight faculty members — Haitham Al-Deek, Andrea Blanco-Redondo, William Crampton, Alan Fyall, Ivan Garibay, Claire Connolly Knox, Abdul-Akeem Sadiq and Mel Stanfill — whose research and scholarship are being celebrated at the 2026 Luminary Awards. Their achievements demonstrate how UCF expertise reaches beyond campus to address challenges facing Florida and the world.
Now in its 10th year, the annual awards honor faculty whose work brings UCF national and international recognition while elevating the university’s influence across disciplines and communities.
Selected from nominations by deans, directors and department chairs across UCF, the 2026 awardees will be celebrated Oct. 20. Joining the ceremony will be President Cartwright; John Buckwalter, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; Winston Schoenfeld, vice president for research and innovation; and Kelly Ferris Lester, vice provost for faculty excellence.
Learn more about Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems honoree, Ivan Garibay.
Ivan Garibay
Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Ivan Garibay is advancing artificial intelligence (AI) to confront challenges ranging from social media misinformation to disease.
He uses AI to model and predict complex human behavior and develops data-driven strategies to counter misinformation and propaganda. This year, he co-founded a biotechnology research company to commercialize AI research aimed at accelerating the search for cures for diseases – an effort supported by a patent filing.
Since joining UCF in 2016, Garibay has secured more than $36 million in research funding and testified before Congress about AI’s challenges and opportunities. The master’s program in data analytics he founded has produced 240 UCF graduates for the workforce.
His work has attracted media attention on four continents, including on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. His honors include election as an associate member of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida.
“[Garibay] exemplifies the externally recognized, world-changing scholarship the Luminary Award celebrates,” says Waldemar Karwowski, chair of the UCF Department of Industrial Engineering and Management.