UCF in the News

NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will be the premier exoplanet-hunting space telescope once it launches sometime in the 2040s. This large infrared/optical/ultraviolet space telescope will be the first observatory specifically designed to search for rocky planets orbiting within their parent stars' circumsolar habitable zones (HZs) and characterize their atmospheres. Its powerful suite of instruments will also enable cutting-edge astrophysics research to address the greatest cosmological mysteries astronomers face today. To carry out its objectives, the HWO will require exceptional stability and precision, particularly in measuring and controlling the wavefront of light as it propagates through the telescope and coronagraph system. Researchers at the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) are developing this technology to help the HWO and other next-generation telescopes detect habitable planets.

College student Ashley LaFlamme had been studying the Troubles when she got an opportunity to see history firsthand. She was one of the University of Central Florida students who recently returned from an eight-day trip through the school’s new Conflict Transformation Program to learn more about Northern Ireland’s peace. “Being in person and seeing the neighborhoods where this historical event was happening … it makes what you’ve learned real,” said LaFlamme, 19, a rising junior from Longwood. “That is a whole other level than just sitting in a classroom and learning about something. The UCF students got to meet and talk with Bertie Ahern, the former Irish Prime Minister, and hear from the people who fought on both sides.

Artificial intelligence is now emerging as a strategic priority across higher education, but many institutions are still determining how to move from experimentation to institution-wide adoption. According to the 2025 EDUCAUSE AI Landscape Study, 57 percent of institutions now view AI as a strategic priority, yet only 22 percent have implemented an institution-wide AI strategy. This gap reveals a broader challenge facing colleges and universities as they modernize technology and rethink the student experience. As institutional priorities, student expectations and AI capabilities continue changing, technology strategies also need to evolve. Governance works best when leaders revisit technology portfolios, evaluate adoption, clarify ownership, and retire tools no longer delivering meaningful value. Those conversations help institutions reduce complexity before it becomes technical debt and ensure new investments continue advancing the digital experience. The University of Central Florida expanded digital services across departments over time instead of treating implementation as the end of the journey. The ongoing review process helped the university build on existing investments while introducing new capabilities in a deliberate, coordinated way.

More than a decade after capturing national attention as the young boy who received a 3D-printed 'Iron Man' arm with help from actor Robert Downey Jr., Alex Pring is celebrating a new chapter. This January, Pring will attend the University of Central Florida, where he plans to study aerospace engineering — returning to the same campus where Limbitless Solutions helped change his life as a child. Born without part of his right arm, Pring received a custom-designed, 3D-printed bionic prosthetic from the UCF-based nonprofit. The moment became an international sensation when Downey, best known for portraying Iron Man, surprised Pring by delivering the device himself. Now, Pring is earning recognition for achievements beyond his childhood story. He recently set two national records at The Hartford Nationals, one of the nation's longest-running track and field championships for athletes with disabilities.

Space is one of the harshest places humans can experience. Beyond the protection of Earth’s atmosphere, the body faces powerful radiation, weightlessness, and other conditions it never evolved to handle. Scientists have long known these challenges affect muscles and bones, but new research suggests the liver may also reveal something important about how the body ages. Looking for answers in the liver The study was led by Professor Michal Masternak at the University of Central Florida.

At the University of Central Florida’s CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, Research Assistant Professor Joshua Kaufman’s work combines physics, materials science, and imagination. Few centers in the region represent the connectivity of academic and industry innovation with the scale and reach of CREOL, where Kaufman is part of a new generation of faculty leader whose students are gaining hands-on experience through the Corridor’s Matching Grants Research Program, just as he did when he earned his PhD at UCF more than a decade ago. Kaufman has been a part of projects that range from futuristic textiles to high-performance optical systems, including ambitious collaborations with longtime UCF partner L3Harris Technologies and research developing technology for military and medical applications. Having led seven MGRP projects as principal investigator, several of Kaufman’s students have gone on to work for the defense tech company or have taken on roles at other leading tech firms in the region.

Quantum computers could one day solve problems beyond the reach of even the world’s most powerful supercomputers, accelerating everything from drug discovery to the development of advanced materials and cleaner energy technologies. But the fragile quantum states that make such machines possible are notoriously easy to disrupt. Even tiny changes in the environment – such as stray radio waves, small fluctuations in temperature or slight physical vibrations – can interfere with calculations, introduce errors and disrupt quantum coherence. To help address this challenge, UCF Assistant Professor of Physics Han Zhao is developing a new approach that combines superconducting quantum systems with nanomechanical devices to make quantum operations more resistant to noise and errors.

The University of Central Florida College of Medicine and HCA Florida Ocala Hospital’s Internal Medicine Residency Program are honored to announce a new partnership with Ocala Family Medical Center. This partnership expands opportunities for resident physicians’ education while increasing access to high-quality primary care services for the Ocala/Marion County community.

Could a trip to Mars leave an astronaut's liver looking decades older than it should? Researchers at the University of Central Florida believe they may have found exactly that, and the implications reach far beyond the astronauts themselves. Led by Professor Michal Masternak, the team set out to understand what prolonged exposure to microgravity and cosmic radiation actually does to the body at a molecular level. Within just twenty four hours of radiation exposure, the liver showed a wave of genetic changes strikingly similar to those seen during the natural ageing process. The organ displayed increased cellular senescence, a state in which cells lose their normal function, alongside rising inflammation and fibrosis, changes that, left unchecked, can eventually push an organ toward failure. Masternak's team focused specifically on the liver because of its central role as one of the body's key metabolic organs, making it a particularly sensitive early indicator of wider physiological stress.