UCF in the News

The University of Central Florida is embracing the future of robotics and introducing a cutting-edge robot dog named “Tape Measure” to expand research opportunities for UCF students and faculty. The doglike robot, manufactured by Boston Dynamics, will be used by students to research concepts such as human and robot interactions and to develop new robot tasks and applications that benefit humanity. “It allows our students to see how their work can be applied in different ways,” mentioned Grace Bochenek, Ph.D., director of UCF SMST. “Research is often not a linear line, and we build on each other’s work. This robot, although different than our other projects, integrates many of the same principles. It is a continuation, not a culmination, of the technology.”

Former UCF football coach Gene McDowell and former school president John Hitt are among six former administrators, coaches and athletes named to the athletic departments’ 2023 Hall of Fame class Thursday. Kyle Bono (baseball), Marc Daniels (broadcaster), DeLaina Sarden (volleyball), Shelby Turnier (softball) and the 2007 national champion UCF cheer team are joining McDowell and Hitt in the class. The group will be inducted into the HOF during a banquet on Friday, Nov. 1. Hitt spent 26 years as UCF’s fourth school president from 1992-2018, building up the university’s academic standards while bolstering its national reputation. He was integral to getting an on-campus football stadium built and championed for the school’s admittance into the Big 12 Conference. Hitt died on Feb. 20, 2023, at the age of 82.

Researchers from the University of Central Florida (US) created the first environmentally friendly, large-scale and multicolor alternative to pigment-based colorants, inspired by butterfly wings. Common paints and colorants are pigment based, which means new molecules need to added for every color present. In nature, such as butterfly wings, on the other hand, colors are structural, and typically two colorless materials produce all colors with their geometrical arrangement. With this, they control the way the light is reflected, scattered or absorbed. These structural colors use only metals and oxides, and tare therefore more environmentally friendly than pigment-based colors that use artificially synthesized molecules.

A research team from the University of Central Florida and Hesperos, a pioneer in human-on-a-chip technology, has developed the first human model to study the effects of an opioid overdose and reversal with naloxone. The study, "Human IPSC-Derived PreBötC-like Neurons and Development of an Opiate Overdose and Recovery Model" ( doi.org/10.1002/adbi.202300276 ) was published in Advanced Biology on September 7, 2023. The paper describes the development of human preBötC neurons from induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs) and the establishment of a human model that mimics opioid overdose with four opioids and the recovery of neuronal activity with naloxone treatment. “I am incredibly proud of our team's groundbreaking work that will provide invaluable insights into understanding opioid addiction and recovery, paving the way for more effective treatments and ultimately saving lives. We hope this exciting first step will play a significant role in understanding and developing treatment solutions for this devastating crisis.”

The US Naval Research Laboratory has funded a groundbreaking project to develop a new hypersonic engine capable of morphing its shape during flight to optimize power, thrust and efficiency. It's now entering experimental testing in Florida. Now, a team from the University of Central Florida is applying a similar concept to the inside of the scramjet engine. The team is led by Professor Kareem Ahmed, whose work we've covered before – back in 2020, Professor Ahmed and his team produced the world's first stable operation of a rotating detonation engine.

A recent coup in the Central African nation of Gabon is the latest nondemocratic transition of power on the continent, following a July coup in Niger and 2022 coups in Burkina Faso and Mali. “If you’ve had a coup attempt in the last three years, controlling for a bunch of different factors, there are various studies that point to your probability of having a coup in the current year to be something between 25 and 40 percent, which is really, really high when you think about how rare these events are otherwise,” Jonathan Powell, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, told Vox in an interview. That can also inspire coup plotters in other nations that might have similar challenges or contexts, like in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, which all to one extent or another struggle with Islamist insurgencies. A coup attempt can seem appealing in “circumstances where the government might be seen as providing ineffectual leadership or is not giving the military the tools and the resources that it needs to be able to successfully fight a counterinsurgency,” Powell said.

At the intersection of military medical technology development, academia, and industry sits the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity. No other venue gives so bright a spotlight on that convergence than the recent Military Health System Research Symposium, hosted by the Defense Health Agency each year in Kissimmee, Florida. MHSRS is a forum to bring together professionals from three distinct yet connected worlds to share ideas, drive synchronization of efforts, and build cross-organizational relationships. As attendees gathered to tour, network and learn, they may have noticed a novel and perhaps curious sight for such an august exhibition featuring medical technologies under development for America’s Warfighters: 18-year-old UCF student, Kavan Paul.

Health experts are urging caution as people dip into Florida waters this weekend after reports of 31 cases of humans contracting flesh-eating bacteria in coastal waters this year, according to the Florida Department of Health. Six patients died. The bacteria known as Vibrio vulnificus is endemic to Florida’s brackish waters and has lived there for many years. The bacteria can cause skin tissue to deteriorate, but infection is rare in humans. Still, experts like Salvador Almagro Moreno, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Central Florida, are concerned about more infections this year due to the bacteria's liking for warm water. This summer, Florida’s waters have been historically warm. “The waters are close to being the temperature that we use in the lab to incubate the material to make it happy. So we put out 37 degrees (Celcius) so they can grow fast and we can study it in the lab. Now we're seeing some temperatures like 32 degrees in the water," he said. “So if you give them food and water in warm temperatures they grow. That's it. It's simple, right? That's their mathematics. That's how they exist."

UCF Football made a powerful statement in its Big 12 debut. The team hammered visiting Kent State 56-6. "Playing your first game, you learn a lot about your team," Head Coach Guz Malzhan said.