UCF researchers continue to make groundbreaking strides.
1. Controlling Light
UCF researchers developed a way to control the speed of pulses of light, including how to speed it up, slow it down and make it travel backward. Published in Nature Communications, the groundbreaking results could one day lead to more efficient optical communication, such as alleviating data congestion and preventing information loss.
2. Garnering International Recognition
Engineering professor Sudipta Seal was named a prestigious Materials Research
Society Fellow — a first for UCF. Seal’s work blends engineering, materials science and nanotechnology for applications in medicine, space and the environment, such as using nanotech to turn a waste byproduct from coal power plants into a material to clean up oil spills.
3. Making Driving Safer
A team of UCF researchers beat out more than 50 other teams to become a finalist, along with Ford Motor Co., in a national competition held by the U.S. Department of Transportation to improve traffic safety. The program they developed uses big data to predict — and hopefully prevent — traffic accidents before they occur.
4. Building Faster Computers
UCF researchers were awarded almost $9 million from the Department of Defense.
The largest grant received will research ways to increase the complexity and speed
of electromagnets, which could lead to faster computers and highly sophisticated security scanning. UCF will lead a team of scientists and engineers from New York University, Oakland University, Ohio State University, University of California at Riverside and at Santa Cruz to conduct the research.
5. Reaching for the Stars
UCF celebrated it first anniversary of operating the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which is the most powerful single-dish radio telescope in the world and is credited with discovering the first planet outside of our solar system. In the past year, staff has helped conduct research linked to discoveries in gravitational waves and near-earth asteroids.
