United Launch Alliance’s Tory Bruno visits Florida Tech

Salvatore T. “Tory” Bruno, president and chief executive officer of United Launch Alliance, spent several hours Monday and Tuesday on the Florida Tech campus.

At ULA, considered the nation’s most experienced space launch company with 132 consecutive launches and a 100 percent mission success rate, Bruno serves as principal strategic leader. He oversees all business management and operations.

Monday evening, Bruno was the featured speaker for the F. Alan Smith Distinguished Lecture at the Hartley Room of the Denius Student Center. The event was co-sponsored by the Melbourne Regional Chamber of East Central Florida, Missile, Space and Range Pioneers and the National Space Club Florida Committee.

His presentation, “ULA’s Transformation and Vision for the Future of Space Launch,” examined how ULA is transforming the future of space launch with the goal of making it more affordable and accessible. According to a ULA summary, the company’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket will make the “impossible possible with capabilities that will allow a thriving lunar economy and extend the reaches of space exploration for generations to come.”

Tuesday, Bruno had breakfast with faculty leaders and more than a dozen students, and later spent about an hour at the Harris Student Design Center, learning about the cutting-edge facility and interacting with students, including several working on a project with the assistance of ULA.

He praised the work of the students and emphasized the importance of more educational experiences like the capstone design programs at Florida Tech. He also discussed the importance of offering programs before students enter college.

“Typically, engineers show an interest in STEM when they’re still in middle school,” Bruno said. “Then they come to a great institute like Florida Institute of Technology where they can get a hands-on education, work on projects, work with industry. We love to have them on our projects, we have a great internship program in the summertime, and that is really our pipeline for employees to come and join our team.”

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