UCF in the News

Cloaked by choking green vegetation, a small exposed patch of concrete caught the eye of college students and volunteers searching off an anthill-dotted dirt lane for signs of the long-lost Bumper 8 blockhouse at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. After chopping away thorny brush and thick roots with hacksaws and shears, the University of Central Florida archaeological team unearthed the 20-by-20-foot foundation of the crudely built structure at historic Launch Complex 3. This makeshift blockhouse marks where technicians launched Bumper 8 on July 24, 1950 — America's first rocket from the Cape. Since late January, the Bumper blockhouse site has been targeted by about 20 students with the University of Central Florida's Department of Anthropology. They systematically surveyed and GPS-mapped a 700- to 900-square-meter grid across abandoned Launch Complex 3, digging periodic "shovel test pits" to study what lies below the surface.

The sun is one of the cleanest and most easy to use sources of energy. Solar panels turn the free sunlight we receive every day into electricity to power our homes. Solar adoption is on the rise, with the number of residential installations up 40% in 2021, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association. A common misconception, though, is that solar panels don't work at night or when it's cloudy. "The panel is always working. The question is how much electricity comes out of it based on the amount of light," James Fenton, director of the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida, told CNET. "You will get close to zero electricity at night, but if there is a little bit of ambient light, sometimes even the reflected moonlight can do it. However, if you were to buy a solar panel, and you actually see the output on your cell phone every day, you'll see that it's close to zero at night."

When Kelly Longstreet’s family moved to Florida four years ago, she applied for a job as a classroom aide, knowing the hours would mesh well with her daughters’ school schedules. Plus, she’d once hoped to become a teacher, and the job with Orange County Public Schools gave her a taste of that teaching life. And that taste seemed enough until she received an email from the school district. The school district hopes another 30 aides, officially called paraprofessionals, sign up for a similar effort to be offered through the University of Central Florida starting in August. “The expertise they’re bringing in from being in the classroom and working with teachers is just phenomenal,” said Andrea Borowczak, director of UCF’s school of teacher education. UCF ran a small pilot program this school year for about eight aides. In the fall, it hopes 30 from OCPS and another 30 from the Marion County school district start the classes that could have them certified Florida teachers in three years.

As a child, Tricia Hinely traded letters with her father, serving overseas in the Vietnam War. But her final two messages never arrived in his hands. “I’m so sorry, dear ‘Tricia, that I won’t be able to be home for awhile yet. I miss you so and Daddy loves you so very much,” wrote Bernard Jaffe from My Tho, Vietnam, in a letter dated Aug. 20, 1965. Less than a month later, he succumbed to hepatitis. Hinely was just 13 years old. Now, Hinely is the first to be visited by Andrew Carroll in his “The Historian Who Makes House Calls” campaign. Carroll has dedicated 25 years to collecting letters from the Revolutionary War through recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan — and Central Floridians can get a “first look” at his mission Friday at UCF Celebrates the Arts.

Florida Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis sent letters to over 30 electric vehicle car manufacturers calling on them to assess and identify methods to limit the risk of EV fires. Now teams at the University of Central Florida say they may have the answers.

As NASA eyes November 2024 to send four astronauts into space on the 10-day Artemis ll moon mission, we're learning more about one of the engineers who's working to get that group off the ground. UCF alumna Amanda Stevenson is the lead for the Artemis II service module assembly in the Orion Production Operations Office at Kennedy Space Center. She oversees the technical progress for assembly, integration and production operations.

Josh Colwell, a professor at the University of Central Florida, joined Queen City News Now to discuss the new moon suits unveiled by NASA for its Artemis III mission.

David Nussbaum started Proto and developed what’s now the company’s flagship device, the Proto Epic. It’s a nearly 90-foot-tall metal box capable of fitting a human over six feet tall inside. The box is also equipped with front-facing 4K video cameras and speakers, so the box can transmit audience feedback and let the user respond in real-time (watch Ellen Degeneres do so here). Bari Hoffman, associate dean for clinical affairs and internal medicine professor at the University of Central Florida, said she’s been using the Proto Epic device since 2021.