UCF in the News

UCF on Tuesday announced that its plans to return to pre-pandemic operations remain in place and are in alignment with directives from the State of Florida and Florida’s State University System. The university said it is expecting students and staff to wear masks when indoors, regardless of vaccine status.

Now a year into his tenure, UCF President Alexander Cartwright wants to establish the university as one of the nation’s top 50 public research universities. Cartwright's goals include doubling the university's federal research funds — $110.77 million for fiscal 2020 — and significantly expanding UCF’s number of patent awards, research publications and licensed products created by UCF. He also wants to get businesses more involved in the research-and-development process.

Perhaps the greatest myth in academia is that enhancing access automatically results in a loss in rigor and excellence. Universities such as the University of Texas at Arlington, Arizona State University, and the University of Central Florida have all shown that it is possible to increase access and enrollment without decreases in student success.

UCF is going statewide with its novel approach to coaching transfer students. The program has helped get UCF more transfers than any other school in the state and is credited with increasing the number of bachelor’s degrees among Hispanic students by 378-percent.

Limbitless Solutions, a UCF-affiliated nonprofit that develops functional bionic limbs, produced an arm for a 12-year-old boy, who is now using it to create a comic book with his brother. All proceeds from the comic go to Limbitless Solutions in the hopes of providing bionic arms for other children.

With coronavirus cases rising in Central Florida ahead of another school year, children might experience more than first-day nerves as they return to class. WMFE and Health News Florida spoke with UCF psychology professor Dalena Dillman-Taylor about how to talk to kids about mental health and what routines to consider.

This school year, the University of Central Florida is giving students a first opportunity in their health care education, using hologram technology to allow students to learn directly from patients without the patient needing to be present.

UCF is mentioned as a success story in this piece, for investing for years in efforts to integrate online and hybrid into its main operations. Enrollment this past spring increased 3 percent overall, and 18 percent for online programs.

UCF researchers have designed a nanoscale material that can efficiently split seawater into oxygen and a clean energy fuel — hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel derived from the sea could be an abundant and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.