Dr. Campins Selected as 2013 Pegasus Professor

Dr. Humberto Campins’ impressive list of accomplishments ranges from discovering water ice and organic molecules on asteroids to being a part of NASA and European Space Agency teams, but he can now add UCF Pegasus Professor to that list. Campins was among seven faculty members who were honored this year with the prestigious Pegasus Professor award. The award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the UCF community in the areas of research, teaching and service.

Campins’ research area is astronomy. He studies comets, asteroids and other small bodies in the solar system using a variety of ground based, airborne and space based telescopes. This research is funded by NASA and by the National Science Foundation. Students at the University of Central Florida have benefited from his expertise and passion since 2002, when he joined the UCF faculty as Provost Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy and head of the Planetary and Space Science Group

Campins is not only a leader in his planetary science, but he has the ability to communicate his finding to the general public and get people excited about space science. He gives talks around the world about asteroids as resources and hazards, the origin of life on Earth, space research and the future of space exploration. He is regularly quoted in the national and international press regarding space events and he is currently part of two space missions that plan to launch vehicles to recover samples from an asteroid flying in space.

“Dr. Campins has the record of first-rate scholarship, teaching and contributions to the university community,” said Michael Johnson, dean of the college.