Jeff Kauffman

Jeffrey L. Kauffman serves as Chair of the UCF Faculty Senate. He is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department within the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He also serves as the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, leading the BSME and BSAE programs. Jeff’s experience in and approach to leadership is rooted in service. He has been active in a variety of committees at the department, college, and university levels. Most recently, he served as Chair of the Undergraduate Council for five years and Vice Chair of the Senate for two years.

Jeff conducts broad research in the areas of structural dynamics and adaptive structures, with particular emphasis on multifunctional and energy-efficient structures for vibration reduction, structural morphing, and energy harvesting. His projects, funded by the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, Department of Defense, NASA, and industry partners, range from developing high-bandwidth, high-authority actuators for vibration testing in jet engines, to characterizing the safety of repair methods in critical structures, to discovering new ways of decontaminating surfaces by taking inspiration from how mosquitos eject drops from their wings before flight.

Jeff enjoys teaching a variety of courses, from large lectures to hands-on labs. He especially appreciates the opportunity to interact with students and witness their “aha!” moments in the smaller lab and group settings. He is fortunate to advise a fantastic research group with a great mix of graduate and undergraduate students who keep him on his toes (like hiding 250 miniature glow-in-the-dark ducks in his office). He also is the director of HYPER, an NSF REU Site that has provided summer research experiences in hypersonics to over 100 undergraduate students since 2019.

Beyond UCF, Jeff is an AIAA Associate Fellow, past chair of the Adaptive Structures Technical Committee, and Deputy Director of the Aerospace Design and Structures Group. He frequently writes the committee’s annual “Year-in-Review” article for Aerospace America, which allows him to highlight and advertise the exciting research his colleagues are conducting.

Jeff earned a BS in Engineering & Applied Science with a concentration in Aeronautics at California Institute of Technology, followed by MS and PhD degrees in Aerospace Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University before joining UCF in 2012. Jeff lives in Oviedo with his wife and their four children.