UF MURP Student Anand Bhatia Attends Lake Nona Space Forum
Anand Bhatia, a second-year MURP student at the University of Florida, recently participated in the Lake Nona Impact Forum. Representing the College of Design, Construction and Planning, Anand engaged with top space exploration leaders, including the COO of SpaceX and the NASA Administrator, discussing future lunar missions and the integration of space in urban planning.
April 16, 2024
Last month, one of our second-year MURP students, Anand Bhatia, represented our department and the College of Design, Construction and Planning by attending the Lake Nona Impact Forum. Anand was selected as one of 50 UF students to attend the event and heard from COO of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson about the current state of space exploration and the upcoming race back to the moon.
Being previously known in the department for his passions in space and planning made Anand the perfect candidate to attend this event. He shared his thoughts with other UF students from various departments about space planning and was able to ask administrator Nelson a question during a UF-only small group session.
This event came totally out-of-the-blue to me, but it changed a lot of my thoughts on the topic. After attending the forum, my main takeaway is that I think space planning is coming a lot sooner than most people think. I had a great time and can’t thank my department enough for helping me attend this!