Department of Materials Science and Engineering News

Ethanol fuel cells, in which alcohol can be poured directly in as fuel, offer cleaner emissions than fossil fuels and no charging times compared to electric vehicle batteries.

The research findings are important since developing life-saving medicines can take billions of dollars and decades of time.

The rankings place UCF ahead of leading public and private institutions such as Yale University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Florida State University.

Ammonia is an essential ingredient in many fertilizers for food production, but its primary production method is energy and fuel intensive. UCF researchers are working to change this by increasing the efficiency of a more sustainable method.

The technology replaces the volatile and highly flammable organic solvents found in electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries with saltwater to create a safer and more efficient battery.

A new report ranked UCF No. 27 among public universities in the nation in 2021 and No. 60 worldwide for producing patents, placing the university ahead of Carnegie Mellon, Texas A&M University and Pennsylvania State University.

The device could be used to monitor heat stress in firefighters as well as in law enforcement, agricultural workers, astronauts, military personnel and even people working outside in hot climates such as Florida’s.

Using a technique that models drug and target protein interactions using natural language, researchers achieved up to 97% accuracy in identifying promising drug candidates.

The material science and engineering and medical faculty members experimented with a material that has antiviral properties that are activated by white light, such as sunlight or LED lights.