Academics and entrepreneurs from around the world have joined the faculty at the UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science for the Fall 2026 semester.
A total of 16 new faculty from Mexico, Colombia, Germany and the U.S. bring a wide range of expertise to six of the college’s seven academic units. This group, which includes industry scientists, research faculty and UCF alumni, specialize in topics such as nuclear engineering, robotic systems, coastal hazards, efficient computation, biomechanics and system optimization. Two of these faculty have joined the UCF Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Edgar Gutiérrez-Franco
Associate Lecturer
Franco joins UCF from the Universidad Externado de Colombia, where he led applied research initiatives and graduate programs in digital transformation, business analytics and information technology. He serves as the president of the Latin America and Caribbean chapter of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). In 2025, he led the winning team of the INFORMS CODE program, a competitive international award recognizing impactful research on operational challenges in emerging economies. His research focuses on the use of advanced analytics, optimization, simulation and artificial intelligence to improve decision-making in complex operational environments, and he has published more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and books.
Junfeng Ma
Associate Professor
Prior to joining UCF, Ma spent 10 years at Mississippi State University, focusing on the design and optimization of complex systems with applications in logistics and transportation, advanced design and manufacturing, and human-robot teaming. To date, he has secured more than $12 million in research funding from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation. He earned his doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University in 2016.