Rob Ferl
Assistant Vice President | Professor University of Florida
- Gainesville FL
Rob Ferl studies how plants respond to spaceflight and gravity to support future space exploration and biological research in space.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
A year after liftoff: UF scientist reflects on historic space flight and the future of biology beyond Earth
UF News online
2025-08-29
Rob Ferl, a professor in UF’s Horticultural Sciences Department, Director of the Astraeus Space Institute, and Assistant Vice President of Research, became one of the first space biologists to fly alongside his own experiment — a moment that marked a new era in researcher-led missions. His suborbital journey provided a rare opportunity to study how terrestrial biology responds to the very first moments of spaceflight.
UF’s Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul Talk About Blue Origin Spaceflight and Space Biology Experiments
WUFT News online
2024-09-22
This episode features University of Florida Assistant Vice President of Research and astronaut Rob Ferl and Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and Research Professor Anna-Lisa Paul. Ferl is an internationally recognized expert in the field of space biology, specializing in studying how plants respond at the molecular and genetic level to extreme conditions found on Earth and in outer space. He is also the inaugural director of the UF Astraeus Space Institute. Paul is a molecular biologist, geneticist and space biologist. Together they co-direct the UF Space Plants Lab.
First NASA-Supported Researcher to Fly on Suborbital Rocket
NASA online
2024-08-28
For the first time, a NASA-funded researcher will fly with their experiment on a commercial suborbital rocket. The technology is one of two NASA-supported experiments, also known as payloads, funded by the agency’s Flight Opportunities program that will launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket system on a flight test no earlier than Thursday, Aug. 29.
