It has been with him since childhood and now hangs in his office more than 40 years later, among an assortment of accolades and awards. The framed poster displays a picture of the Space Shuttle surrounded by a gallery of 20 or so embroidered emblems honoring astronauts and personnel from past NASA missions. While some kids collect baseball cards, Corey Frazier ’04 ’07MS treasures spaceflight patches.

“It means a lot to me,” Frazier says, reflecting on his dad’s time in the U.S. Air Force and how he would pass down the patches he collected during his travels. “The Space Shuttle was always on my mind. It was my childhood dream.”

UCF Day of Giving is April 10. Consider supporting UCF students pursuing STEM studies by making a gift. 

The Air Force brat fulfilled his aspiration and sense of wonder by graduating from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. He then landed a job as a lead engineer on NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, where he worked for seven years on 13 successful missions, including frequent trips to the International Space Station and the last journey to the Hubble Space Telescope.

“I have a hard time calling myself a rocket scientist these days,” says Frazier, who’s more focused on stoking the ambitions of others than discovering cosmic mysteries. “I see myself as a philanthropist who wants to do a lot of good, impactful things with technology to make the world a better and cooler place.”

Desire to Give Back

This percolating desire led him back to his alma mater and an opportunity to make a real impact on students in Central Florida, who were venturing into unknown territories and experiencing new possibilities of their own here on Earth.

“I always wanted to start a scholarship, [but] I just thought it was such a hard thing to do,” says Frazier, who, with the help of a UCF Development Officer, established the Dr. Corey A. Frazier First Generation Endowed Scholarship Fund for engineering students who are the first in their family to attend college. “It turned out to be simple, and I was thrilled to create an opportunity to enable people to have the education to live the life they want to live.”

“I was thrilled to create an opportunity to enable people to have the education to live the life they want to live.”

Although Frazier was not the first in his family to attend college, he has been out front in many other pursuits. While Hubble orbited Earth, Frazier broadened his horizons from spacecrafts to computer chips. He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at UCF, followed by a doctoral degree at Texas A&M University. He then took a position at Intel, where he builds and manages strategic relationships with business units, parts and equipment manufacturers, startup companies, academia and community organizations to address technology equity while driving business impact.

Among his assignments at Intel, Frazier worked on the development of a cooling system for the Aurora supercomputer, which occupies the space of two professional basketball courts and weighs 600 tons. Until last year, Aurora was the second-fastest supercomputer in the world, capable of performing more than a quintillion calculations per second. Considering the immense amount of heat generated by such a powerful machine, a robust cooling system is necessary for Aurora to function effectively and efficiently.

The good doctor in Frazier is also the catalyst behind an Intel collaboration with UCF’s College of Community Innovation and Education to provide cutting-edge hardware and software technologies that will inspire students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). Under the partnership, Intel committed 35 AI PCs — laptops with a special chip for running artificial intelligence (AI) workloads — 33 gaming notebooks, XBOX PC controllers, wired headsets and mice to UCF’s Center for Community Schools. These items were distributed to Jones High School and the Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) Academic Center in Orlando.

Bolstering AI Competency

By outfitting the classrooms with computers that are ideal for AI development, training and high-powered applications, high school students are introduced to responsive and adaptive video game experiences that will serve as a springboard to careers in gaming or other STEM specialties. Educators and administrators can also use AI PCs to explore how AI can save time in lesson planning and other administrative tasks.

“I want to give back, and I like how UCF has embraced my desire for impact,” says Frazier, who actively contributes his time as a STEAM advocate. He promotes a youth-focused approach to learning that uses science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue and critical thinking. “[I know] the [hearts and mindsets of] people in the College of Community Innovation and Education … are [dedicated to] driving impact and helping people.”

As part of the project, Intel and the Center for Community Schools will host training programs and workshops for Jones High School and OCPS administrators, students and their families. The goal is to use the Community Schools partnership as a model for academic achievement that can be replicated throughout Florida and across the nation.

“But philanthropy is more rewarding because I get to see the impact. I get to help people and be [a] part of change.”

“A lot of kids relate more to athletes because they’re already playing and being athletic,” says Frazier, who also represents Intel in social responsibility initiatives. “But kids are also interested in video games, comics and art, which all have a STEM component. We need to demystify what STEM careers are like for them. So, when they see me as an engineer talking to them about supercomputing and space and a career in these cool things, I try to relate what I am doing to what they are doing and the life that they can have.”

Frazier has known his career goals since he was 19, when he sat in a church pew and wrote them down on a paper program, including earning a doctoral degree by age 26. It’s what motivated him at first. Now, having worked on two of the most complex and significant technical achievements in human history — space shuttles and semiconductors — his outlook has shifted.

“When I was younger, I wanted to achieve for the sake of achieving,” says Frazier, an avid gamer, streamer, comic artist and author of a book on superheroes, which boasts its own line of apparel and merchandise. “But philanthropy is more rewarding because I get to see the impact. I get to help people and be [a] part of change.”

 

UCF Day of Giving is April 10. Consider supporting UCF students pursuing STEM studies by making a gift.