UCF in the News

In a historic $26 billion settlement with four of the biggest pharmaceutical companies, billions of dollars will likely be heading toward various states to address what leaders call a worsening opioid crises. Barbara Andraka-Christou, an assistant professor with UCF’s School of Global Health and Informatics, says the claims were that these companies made opioids “too readily available, and on the side of Johnson & Johnson, its inappropriate marketing practices.”

Kyle Coon, a UCF alumnus and elite para triathlete, lost his sight at age 7 after he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. Ranked seventh in the world among para triathletes, Coon will be one of the 290 members of Team USA in Tokyo for the Paralympic games.

UCF Knights returned to campus for the fall semester with many of those classes now back in person, and there are new security measures in place to prepare for potential threats on campus like an active shooter or hurricane. New lockdown buttons were installed on UCF’s main campus in the 2020-21 academic year that can lockdown all access-controlled doors on a particular campus, while first responders can still gain access to the building.

“Get Vacci-Knighted and Beat Covid,” that’s the message University of Central Florida leaders are strongly spreading throughout campus as thousands return for the fall semester.

College ranking and review website Niche has released its annual lineup of the best colleges in the country for 2022, analyzing 4,100 colleges and universities. The University of Central Florida ranked the highest in metro Orlando, coming in at No. 148 nationwide and No. 5 in Florida. Niche also credited UCF with the distinctions of being No. 3 in Best Hispanic-Serving Institutions in America, No. 17 in Best Colleges for Culinary Arts in America and No. 28 for Best Colleges for Education in America.

Classes are beginning at UCF and the university is back operating at pre-pandemic levels. The university has their own vaccine campaign called Armor Up. Students can quickly sign up for vaccine appointments through QR codes on physical and digital signs across campus.

Hurricanes in Florida are not unusual, but the science behind them can teach us a lot about the environment. Without the occasional hurricane, what would our coastal landscape and the ecosystem around it look like? Kelly Kibler, associate professor of water resources engineering at UCF, discusses the impact of hurricanes on the environment.

The University of Central Florida will host the Hula Bowl at its Bounce House Stadium in 2022. The game is set for January 15 and will be the ninth NCAA bowl game in Florida during the upcoming college football season.

A team from the University of Central Florida - UCF RESTORES - was deployed to Surfside to make sure first responders had the mental health support they needed. Deborah Beidel, the executive director of the PTSD treatment clinic and research center, discusses the use of exposure therapy and virtual reality in treatment.