UCF in the News

After pedaling his bicycle to the barrier-island dunes in Melbourne Beach, Florida Institute of Technology professor J. Travis Hunsucker watched NASA's mighty Artemis I moon rocket arc a fiery path across the post-midnight sky last month, twinkling into a tiny dot over the Atlantic Ocean. Now, the ocean engineering and marine sciences assistant professor has reported to the Navy amphibious transport ship USS Portland in San Diego. On Sunday, he'll help forecast and analyze wave dynamics to guide NASA officials as they retrieve the rocket's bobbing Orion capsule after it splashes down into the Pacific Ocean. While attending the University of Central Florida, Jones recalled getting a February 2003 phone call from her mother, Sue Hutchinson, who was standing at the 15,000-foot-long Shuttle Landing Facility waiting for shuttle Columbia to return to the Cape. “She called and woke me up, and she said, ‘Get up and turn the news on.’ And she hung up. And she was out there the rest of the day,“ Jones recalled. Columbia had tragically broken apart over Texas during atmospheric reentry, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

Following a loss at Tulane in the AAC championship on Saturday, UCF coach Gus Malzahn stressed the importance of the Knights’ opportunity to earn the team’s 10th win of the season in a bowl. “What’s next is a bowl game and we need to win a bowl game to get some momentum for next year,” Malzahn said after his team fell 45-28 against the Green Wave in New Orleans. It marks the seventh straight year that UCF will play in a bowl, which extends a program record. “Bowl games are very important,” Malzahn said. “Just like it was last year. We’ll put everything we can into getting a bowl victory.”

With the holiday season in full swing, you may be looking forward to your parties, dinners, and other cheer-filled festivities. But for many people, this time of year is also an opportunity to practice gratitude and spirituality. Established in 1966, Kwanzaa is celebrated for seven days every year from December 26 through January 1. The word Kwanzaa comes from the word "first" in Swahili and is inspired by the start of the harvest season in Africa. The holiday was created with the intention of connecting with the past to prepare for the future while acknowledging culture and identity, says Donald Harrell, an adjunct Africana Studies professor at University of Central Florida. However, it wasn't recognized as a mainstream holiday until the 1980s. The shift in acceptance was revolutionary for the Black community. "Your identity with yourself gives you power that was [against] the goals of those who sought to oppress, marginalize, and keep people in a second class position," explains Harrell.

Fun fact from the files of “there’s a job for that”: there are multiple companies that specialize in making fake Moon dirt. One of the simulant companies, Exolith Lab, lets you just… order their fake Moon dirt on the internet. So we did*! We examined both the raw materials and finished products in our studio and spoke to Exolith about how they make their simulant on a semi-industrial scale. We also tried our own demonstration involving a baking pan full of simulant and a model rocket — to see how that turned out, check out the video above.

UCF President Alexander Cartwright has set a number of goals to boost the college's research and staffing during its fiscal year 2023. The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees approved unanimously the president's goals across four areas during a Nov. 17 meeting at the Lake Nona Wave Hotel. The goals align with the university's strategic plan, which runs through the 2026-27 year. Why this matters: New research generates jobs, investment and can lead to new innovation.

Exoplanets have become quite the sensation over the last decade-plus, with scientists confirming new exoplanets on a regular basis thanks to NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions, along with the James Webb Space Telescope recently examining exoplanet atmospheres, as well. It’s because of these discoveries that exoplanet science has turned into an exciting field of intrigue and wonder, but do the very same scientists who study these wonderful and mysterious worlds have their own favorite exoplanets? As it turns out, four such exoplanet scientists, sometimes referred to as “exoplaneteers”, were kind enough to share their favorites with Universe Today! “My favorite is actually a system of exoplanets: the HR 8799 system,” said Dr. Theodora Karalidi, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida. “The system has four planets that are giant and are still warm enough and far enough from their parent star so that we can see them with our telescopes. Seeing the planets rotating around their parent star is fascinating.”

All day today, we're showing you the impact of your donations to Share Your Christmas. Of all the Second Harvest Food Bank programs we feature, the ones that hit a lot of us the hardest are the ones involving kids. Children are facing so much today, and knowing that some of them are doing it on empty stomachs just feels wrong. That's why we love to highlight programs and people who team up with Second Harvest to bridge the gap for kids and their parents. Like the program Jason Guy recently visited: Soldiers to Scholars. The program was created in 1995 in partnership with the University of Central Florida.

A seemingly small obstacle can have a big effect on a student’s education. “If you come to school hungry, you can’t focus if your stomach is churning,” said Lauren Fuentes, the regional executive director for Children’s Home Society of Florida. “You can’t focus if you’ve got a toothache, if you’ve got a headache,” she continued. That's why her agency is joining three others in Palm Beach County — the school district, the Health Care District and Florida Atlantic University — in signing a 25-year commitment to two local schools. Those partnerships, along with funding from the state Legislature, are overseen by the University of Central Florida. UCF co-founded the model with help from Orange County Public Schools and Children's Home Society of Florida.

Through a volunteer program at the University of Central Florida, students are raising puppies to go on to work as service animals. The program, called Service Dog Training and Education Program (STEP), partners with the national nonprofit Canine Companions to raise the dogs. Meredith Rome, a sophomore at UCF, picked her puppy up from St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport on Sept. 7. Pegasus, named after the UCF mascot, is a mix between a lab and a golden retriever. On a walk, Rome practiced commands with Pegasus, whose attention wandered constantly. “They are so curious about literally everything,” said Rome. “But it is so rewarding, when they actually do get it, they’ll be so proud of themselves that they’ll do it every time." For the next year, Rome will take care of Pegasus, raising the puppy to have the focus and discipline required of a service animal — then, she will pass the puppy off to professional trainers, who will help Pegasus learn specific skills for her job as a service dog.