UCF in the News

UCF alumni Anthony Roberson and Jordan Johnson were featured on NBC’s “TODAY” show Thursday as part of the show’s Season of Giving. The two former football players created the non-profit One Kid Orlando in 2017 while students at UCF. The segment highlighted how the two bonded off the field, and with support from the community and the UCF fan base, have held a series of holiday toy drives to help local youth. The group served more than 400 children last year, distributing gifts through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. The Today Show filmed the One Kid Orlando toy drive held ahead of the men’s basketball game at Addition Financial Arena on Dec. 11.

Orlando is the best college city in the entire Southeast United States and No. 4 nationwide, according to a new analysis by WalletHub. The city’s social environment — also deemed tops in the Southeast and No. 4 nationally — is the factor that propelled it toward the top of the list, released this week. “The City Beautiful. Home to world-class entertainment, advancements in technology and innovation, and a place where opportunity is boundless,” the University of Central Florida crowed on its website after the rankings were released. The giant among Orlando’s higher education offerings, UCF enrolls over 70,000, the largest student body of any public university in the United States. Gainesville captured the No. 6 spot overall, and Tampa came in at No. 12.

A lawsuit alleges that the proximity of construction at Eighty Seven Park caused the collapse, although it does not specifically point to the damage along the perimeter wall as the reason. “Had the [developers] not ‘purchased’ 87th Terrace from the City, the construction would have occurred approximately 60 to 70 feet away from CTS,” the lawsuit states. A matter of feet can make a big difference when it comes to the impact of vibrations from driving sheet piles like those installed in 2016 as part of Eighty Seven Park’s construction, said Manoj Chopra, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Central Florida. Driving piles 13 feet rather than more than 50 feet from a structural element, Chopra said, is “definitely significant, from just a comparative point of view.” “The wave is highest in its magnitude closest to the source, and with distance it dissipates,” he said.

Sneezing? Feeling congested? Coughing? Are these signs of flu season, a cold or allergies, or are they symptoms of COVID-19's rapidly spreading omicron variant? (Or delta, delta's still out there...) Without testing, it is difficult to determine whether the congestion is more than the flu, but either way, don't panic, say medical experts, just take proper precautions. "If you feel sick, don’t diagnose yourself," said Dr. Deborah German, Vice-President for Health Affairs and Dean, University of Central Florida College of Medicine. "Call your healthcare provider – don’t just show up to the clinic. Your provider can determine if you need to be tested for COVID-19 and what treatments you need."

Dec. 7, 2021 marks 80 years since the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It claimed the lives of 2,403 Americans and launched the United States into World War II. University of Central Florida’s Barbara Gannon, a professor of military history, spoke with WMFE’s Joe Byrnes about the American veterans of that war and what her students can learn from them. She leads the UCF Community Veterans History project, which records their stories.

Just a day after South African scientists first announced the discovery of the Omicron variant, Europe reported its first case: The new coronavirus variant was in Belgium. Before the weekend was out, Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Italy and other countries had all found cases. But in the United States, scientists kept searching. “If we start seeing a variant popping up in multiple countries across the world, usually my intuition is that it’s already here,” said Taj Azarian, a genomic epidemiologist at the University of Central Florida.

UCF has accepted an invitation to the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl and will face the Florida Gators on Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. inside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the team announced Sunday. This will mark the first time UCF and Florida will meet in a bowl.

University of Central Florida researchers have developed a device that detects viruses like SARS-COV-2 in the body as fast as and more accurately than current, commonly used rapid detection tests. The optical sensor uses nanotechnology to accurately identify viruses in seconds from blood samples. Researchers say the device can tell with 95% percent accuracy if someone has a virus, a significant improvement over current rapid tests that experts warn could have low accuracy. Testing for viruses is important for early treatment and to help stop their spread. The results are detailed in a new study in the journal Nano Letters. The researchers tested the device using samples of Dengue virus, a mosquito transmitted pathogen that causes Dengue fever and is a threat to people in the tropics. However, the technology can easily be adapted to detect other viruses, like SARS-COV-2 , says study co-author Debashis Chanda, a professor in UCF's NanoScience Technology Center.

Protecting the Earth from celestial threats took a big step forward Tuesday night with the launch of a mission to move an asteroid. The mission headed by NASA, Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), was sent on its journey with a launch of the first SpaceX mission that sent a payload into deep space. Dr. Kerri Donaldson Hanna, a planetary geologist at the University of Central Florida who will study samples of the asteroid Bennu when they return to Earth, said getting the opportunity to study these asteroids up close will provide invaluable information — on top of what NASA may learn while attempting to alter the course of an asteroid. “It also tells us about the property and the surface materials, which is what I’m most excited about and what we study here at UCF,” Donaldson Hanna said. “And so, this will give us a better understanding of how porous the rock is and the structure of the rock, and that will certainly tell us more about other asteroids in the main asteroid belt and the near-Earth population.”