UCF in the News

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently selected a University of Central Florida assistant professor for a highly competitive research award. The university said Stephen Hopkins received a $60,000 fellowship for his book, “The Infernal Laboratory: Vernacular Theology and Hell in the Medieval North Sea.” Hopkins said the book explores the concept of the afterlife in texts during the Middle Ages. Hopkins focuses on English subjects but also teaches linguistics, early medieval literature and mythology, UCF said. According to the NEH website, Hopkins is one of 70 NEH fellowship recipients, with a total of $3.9 million granted overall.

When you or your family calls police for help, chances are the officers who arrive are going to be men. Law enforcement agencies in Central Florida told News 6 they have been working for years to recruit more women, but many said it has been a challenge. U.S. Census numbers show women make up 51% of the country's population, but they make up only 12-14% of law enforcement, according to the latest data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. “We have different positions that we have available,” Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Cindy Zayas said. Zayas works as a field recruiter for the agency, and she spent Florida Classic Weekend at a job fair at Amway Center. Zayas said officers and deputies have an inherent skill that helps them more than men. “Research has shown that we are better with the persons harmed, especially with molestation and child abuse. We are very compassionate,” she said. “We have a really big role in law enforcement that’s very beneficial to the community, as well as our fellow officers.” “Law enforcement has been calling me since I was little, and that’s when I decided to do it,” said Madison DaSilva, a criminal justice major at the University of Central Florida. She stopped by Zayas’ booth at the job fair and expressed interest in joining OCSO. “I’m like any woman that wants to know more women in law enforcement, but it’s more important to me about who’s right for the job,” she said. “You know, you do need women so that you can connect with other women in the community, but the most important thing to me is the safety of the community -- whether that be men or women.”

The roar of engines was no longer echoing throughout the Daytona International Speedway, another thrilling Daytona 500 had ended just a few hours earlier, and I was moments from delivering a live TV report from the quiet of pit road at that hallowed venue. Save for a smattering of TV crews preparing live shots back to their respective stations, there were few of us left in the area. Buddy Pittman’s 50-year career in television ended this week with his retirement from WUCF, the University of Central Florida’s public TV station. It was a remarkable run, most of it spent here in central Florida, where Buddy became an icon at WESH. Some of us are born without talent. Buddy was born without an ego. He was a director, a producer, a terrific sportscaster. Once a news photographer. The film from the still-infamous, grisly Ziegler Winter Garden furniture store murder scene in 1975? The camera was on Buddy’s shoulder that night. To the very day of his retirement, he schlepped a camera around the state for WUCF, one-man-banding his way through brilliant interviews, then shooting his own cover video before editing the stories himself. Buddy turns 71 in May. Still no ego.

NASA is partnering with Boeing, but this time it's not about rockets. It's about airplanes and the future of flight. When we think of NASA, usually rockets, the space station or deep space exploration come to mind. But one of those A's stands for Aeronautics, and the big announcement on Wednesday was about the next generation of airliners. Like with space programs, NASA has launched a private-public program with Boeing for the next generation airliner, greener and more fuel efficient. "It's going to be able to help meet President Biden's goal to achieve net-zero aviation emissions by 2050. So congratulations to the team at NASA, congratulations to Boeing," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. NASA will invest $425 million in the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator research program, looking to cut emissions by 30%. "The design architecture is transformative. It's something that has been under study for years, many years by Boeing," Joshua Colwell of the University of Central Florida said. So while Boeing's work out on the Space Coast is focused more on the stars, the schools and aerospace talent pool will play a role in this next-gen aircraft. "Florida and the Space Coast have a huge aerospace infrastructure, UCF is a proud producer of a huge number of highly-trained aerospace engineers," Colwell said.

Theatre students at the University of Central Florida are looking to shine a spotlight on a group of people whose story doesn’t get told very often. Rehearsals, set and costume design are underway for Theatre UCF’s performance of “Home of the Brave.” “Home of the Brave” highlights the real experiences of children whose parents serve in a different branch of the military. “It comes from a Hawaiian native playwright,” said Julia Listengarten, Theatre UCF artistic director and professor. “The process of developing this play is somewhat unique. She interviewed the children and their families and that was part of the development process.” UCF graduate student and “Home of the Brave” tour manager Bethany Post said as the child of an Air Force service member, this project is personal for her. Post said being a part of the production has been a reflection of her own childhood.

University of Central Florida student Ashley Cariño placed fifth overall at the 71st Miss Universe pageant this weekend. Cariño competed in multiple rounds at the pageant Saturday, making it to the top five finalist spot. Miss USA, Miss Venezuela, Miss Dominican Republic, and Miss Curacao joined her as finalists, according to the Associated Press. Cariño won the Miss Florida title in July 2021, her first pageant competition. She also placed third in the Miss USA competition in Nov. 2021. Last year, Cariño won the Miss Puerto Rico title and represented her heritage in Miss Universe. According to the university, Cariño was born in Puerto Rico but moved to Kissimmee when she was young. UCF said Cariño is also an aerospace engineering major. She said she hopes to finish her degree even with her duties as a Miss Florida. Cariño told UCF that she was always interested in science and astronomy.

Orange County has teamed up with UCF Global and Rosen Hotels & Resorts to offer English as a Second Language instruction to hotel workers on I-Drive. The pilot program provides twice weekly English instruction to about 65 Rosen Hotels & Resorts employees. Rosen provides the space for classes and pays employees to participate. Orange County’s Renuka Sastri said the program is a win-win for employers and employees. Employers guarantee workers can easily communicate with guests. And workers gain a new skillset and possibly a promotion. “The majority of them have said they want access to better work opportunities to have access to interact better within the community, to participate in what their children are learning," said Sastri. "There's a whole range, but really the number one reason was access to better work opportunities.”

Hurricane Ian caused billions of dollars in damage when it hit Florida in the fall of 2022. Along with $112 billion in damages, 152 fatalities, and countless uprooted lives, the fallout included at least 12 electric vehicle fires caused from lithium-ion batteries coming into contact with saltwater flooding in from the ocean. It’s an unfortunate downside to EVs’ lithium-ion power sources, especially as coastal flooding increasingly becomes the norm, but a promising new alternative could one day be available to carmakers. Thanks to novel breakthroughs at the University of Central Florida electric cars could one day embrace saltwater instead of avoiding it entirely. The result, says research lead Yang Yang, an associate professor at UCF, is a potentially revolutionary battery to “remain safe even if they are used improperly or are flooded in saltwater.” While it is still likely a while until we start seeing Ford F-150 Lightning trucks barreling down flooded roads thanks to aqueous saltwater batteries, the new innovations could soon address one of lithium-ion batteries’ most concerning hazards, thus encouraging the rapidly-approaching EV transition.

Characters like The Mad Hatter and Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" are taking patients at Nemours Children's Health on an interactive scavenger hunt as part of a traveling theatre program through the University of Central Florida. The program, dubbed The Jeanette M. Gould Traveling Theatre Fund, was made possible by Bruce and Jeffery Gould. The program is named after their mother, who had a love for theatre and was a longtime supporter of the nursing profession. UCF Associate Professor Elizabeth Horn said she is grateful for the opportunity to bring the magic of theatre to children in the hospital. “They don’t get the chance to go and see theatre,” Horn said. “For many of them, they’re having extended stays at the hospital, and we really know what the power of theatre can do to bring joy, to bring laughter, to bring a sense of acceptance and a sense of familiarity. Even just that distraction aspect, a bit of escapism, spending time in their imaginations making believe, that really has a healing power. We believe in that.” The traveling theatre program is a partnership between the College of Arts and Humanities and the College of Nursing. Department Chair for the College of Nursing Azizeh Sowan said bringing the arts to kids in the hospital will have a positive impact on their care. “It’s going to provide them a patient-centered care, it’s going to decrease that stress level, and it’s going to give them a chance to do something fun, which is extremely important for their mental health,” Sowan said.