Sixty-six University of Central Florida students are conducting research alongside professors and working with emerging business leaders this summer thanks to a partnership with WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA.

WCF provided more than $110,000 to support the students as they gain valuable work experience in UCF laboratories and with high-tech companies affiliated with the university’s Business Incubation Program.

Students’ on-campus projects include research related to neural networks, which are computer models that function similarly to the human brain, and developing a field test for how to best clean water discharged from construction sites.

In one of the high-tech company projects, an aerospace engineering student interning with RINI Technologies is working on a project related to the development of diver suits that regulate body temperature through an automated heating and cooling system.

“The goal is to have these students in an environment where they see what they’re learning, but they also see what life outside of that degree is going to look like,” said Gary Earl, president and CEO of WCF. “Students can imagine themselves as a professor, researcher, engineer or scientist and have experience under their belts at 18 or 19.”

To continue reading about this summer research program, click here.