UCF in the News

It is estimated that thousands of COVID-19 patients who recover after a stay in intensive care still experience significant complications for months. A new study by University of Central Florida researchers hopes to change that. Over the past two years, critical care nurse Dr. Brian Peach noticed that once a ventilator was removed from many patients, including COVID-19 survivors, other problems began.

UCF will develop and create innovative technology to support NASA’s Artemis program. The university was one of seven awarded a $500,000 grant by NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Space Technology Artemis Research, or M-STAR initiative because it’s a Hispanic Serving Institution, meaning a quarter of its student population are Hispanic. UCF faculty and students who are experts in engineering, physics and medicine will work together to develop scientific and educational efforts in robotics; materials for extreme environments; and entry, descent and landing technologies.

Finding a job can be difficult if a person lacks the right clothes, and organizations in Central Florida are trying to address that problem. Rubuta Morency is a senior at UCF and Assistant manager of the “Knights Helping Knights” Pantry, an on-campus resource for students needing assistance.

The University of Central Florida has moved more tenants into the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, with another one nearly done with buildout construction. The university has a committee made up of leaders from UCF and the center's tenants, with plans to eventually name someone to lead the entire center following the completion of all construction there. UCF's goal for the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center is to bring together cancer research and treatment organizations in one site to collaborate and provide patient services for the 64-bed UCF Lake Nona Medical Center, which opened in March in partnership with Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA).

A UCF alumna and two UCF researchers have created a disinfectant that can continuously kill viruses on a surface for up to seven days. “My group has been working on nanotechnology for almost 20 years now, and we have developed a lot of materials,” said Sudipta Seal, UCF professor of bacterial science and engineering. “And we started thinking that if we could modify them or engineer them, make them eco-friendly, can you really look into killing pathogens?”

UCF is part of a new coalition of more than 60 public and private organizations charging forward to address the electric transportation market and infrastructure challenges in the Southeast region of the U.S.

In this Q&A with members of the University of Central Florida physics bridge program team, students and faculty talk about bridge programs and the extra support they offer students to strengthen their training in preparation for a PhD program. Bridge programs have developed academic, research, and more holistic mentoring communities to support the needs of students with high potential and help them develop the foundation for a successful career in STEM.

A team of University of Central Florida researchers is helping people who live in downtown Orlando learn more about the air they’re breathing. After waiting out a pandemic delay, the plan is underway to install 100 sensors in neighborhoods across downtown. It took less than 10 minutes for the team to install its most recent solar-powered sensor, one of three installed this week and the 17th so far for the study. “We can make a lot of them so we can basically deploy a lot, and (at) a lot of locations, so we can take a look at the comparison among different places,” said UCF researcher Dr. Haofei Yu. The sensors are now compiling data, and by the end of the year they’ll be sending it to an app that gives residents direct access to the quality of the air where they live. “Then we’ll be able to see, hopefully, some real differences in attitude, in values, and air quality in the city of Orlando,” said UCF researcher Dr. Thomas Bryer.

Execs from Electronic Arts, Luminar, and Stax told Insider that Orlando's big talent pool made it easier for them to recruit in the area. "We have all these great colleges that are literally in our backyard," Suneera Madhani, founder of Orlando-based SME payments platform Stax, said. These include the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, and Valencia College. Electronic Arts vice-president Daryl Holt said its Orlando studios had more than 850 employees - some from the area, including many UCF graduates, and some who relocated.