UCF in the News

Chung Park, director of the UCF Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, is giving back with the sound of music by helping underserved young people find their own beat through a music program for students.

Michael Kinzel, a UCF mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, is working on NASA’s Dragonfly Mission, a robotic helicopter heading to Saturn’s moon Titan. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter recently performed the first powered flight on another planet.

COVID-19 turned travel inside out – prices plummeted, travel policies became shockingly consumer-friendly, people were nice and they respected your personal space. Some, but not all, of those things will revert to pre-2020 travel norms once the pandemic fades. “Pandemic travelers have enjoyed the simplicity of travel,” says Alan Fyall, a tourism marketing professor at UCF.

For Larry Lentz Jr., a stroke survivor, the Knights on the Go Café in the Health and Public Affairs building offered a social outlet where he could work part time and also work on his physical therapy. When the pandemic shut everything down, UCF physical therapy faculty maintained contact with him regularly to help keep his spirits up.

The need for mental health professionals and substance-use specialists in the Central Florida region was urgent even before COVID. This week, the first cohort of students are graduating from a grant-funded program at UCF that trains students to fill these in-demand jobs in the region.

UCF held three graduation ceremonies Saturday, spread out across the morning and afternoon. These were in-person events, but with plenty of room for social distancing and everyone had to wear a mask.

A partnership between the Orlando International Airport and UCF for a high-tech campus at the air hub is taking the first steps toward becoming a reality. Last August, a conceptual plan for a digital-twin technology campus environment was revealed. Now, the airport is seeking an anchor user, assembling a development and marketing team, and securing other support tenants such as hotels and cargo operators.

No matter how small, any unpaid balance can prevent a college senior who’s otherwise in good standing from graduating. During the pandemic, this became a very real risk for some. Now, nearly a dozen of the nation’s largest public research universities, known as the University Innovation Alliance, are giving out “college completion grants” of up to $1,000 so students can get their diploma. The alliance includes UCF.

Rayniah Jones not only broke UCF's record in the 100-meter hurdles but she has also qualified to compete in this year’s Olympic trials