From creating premier vacation experiences to optimizing daily life in thriving cities, UCF is recognized as a leader in education that powers industries that enhance the human experience.

For seven consecutive years, the Rosen College of Hospitality Management ranks No. 1 in the nation for Hospitality and Tourism Management Programs, according to ShanghaiRanking’s 2026 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.

“The ranking recognizes what Rosen College has accomplished over the past two decades,” Rosen College Dean Cynthia Mejia says. “What excites me most is how we build on that foundation. Our goal is to influence the future of hospitality through the students we educate, the research we produce, the partnerships we create and the solutions we help develop for the industry’s most important challenges.”

Additionally, UCF ranks No. 2 in the nation for Transportation Science and Technology — and in the top 10 for the seventh year in a row. The recognition reflects the breadth of research underway across UCF to develop solutions and advancements for the future of the transportation industry while improving safety and mobility on the nation’s most critical and busiest roadways.

“I am happy that our hard work and expanding our transportation faculty have paid off in this continuous recognition,” UCF Pegasus Professor Mohamed Abdel-Aty says. “We have opened new fronts in transportation systems, technology and ideas looking to the future. We balance traditional transportation research with cutting-edge and high-impact new directions.”

The rankings represent significant industries that drive international economies with travel and tourism contributing to a global GDP (gross domestic product) of $11.6 trillion and supporting about one in every nine jobs around the world, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2025 report.

The ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects evaluates universities by academic discipline using research-focused indicators, these include measures related to research output, research quality, international collaboration and academic influence.

A Global Leader in Hospitality and Tourism Research

Located in the nation’s top tourism destination, Rosen College students, faculty and staff are embedded in industry, allowing them to directly explore emerging areas in the field.

“This ranking reflects the depth, quality and consistency of the research being produced by our faculty,” Manuel Rivera, associate dean of research at Rosen College says. “To be recognized once again among the world’s leading hospitality and tourism programs is a testament to the collective efforts of our faculty, students, alumni and industry partners. The ranking recognizes the foundation Rosen College has built over the past two decades. Building on that foundation, Rosen College is helping shape the future of hospitality through impactful research, innovation, industry partnerships and the development of future leaders.”

Faculty research spans areas including tourism, lodging, events, food service, consumer behavior, technology, and the management of destinations and hospitality organizations, including:

  • HFTP Professor of Hospitality Financial Management and Technology Mehmet Altin’s study on entrepreneurial ecosystems in hospitality and tourism with a comparative analysis across economic contexts, which was published in Tourism Economics.
  • Associate Professor Yun Ying Zhong, a research faculty member of UCF’s Disability, Aging and Technology faculty cluster initiative, completed a systematic review of 30-year research on hospitality in healthcare, which was published in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
  • Assistant Professor Frank Badu-Baiden’s study of the factors influencing consumers’ acceptance of drone food delivery, including the role of usefulness, emotions and perceived risk, which was published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.

The No. 1 ShanghaiRanking placement builds on Rosen College’s continued excellence in curriculum, research and workforce impact as Universal Destinations & Experiences (UDX) joined UCF as a Pegasus Partner in June to establish the Universal School of Experience Leadership & Innovation. Through this partnership, UCF and UDX will further explore:

  • Service robotics and human-centered approaches to shape guest and employee interactions
  • AR and VR simulation technologies for training, operations, and immersive environments
  • AI and digital twins for optimizing and personalizing the guest experience

Advancing Transportation Safety and Technology

With more than 23.4 million residents in 2025, Florida is the nation’s third most populated state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the same year, the Sunshine State welcomed 143.3 million visitors as America’s No. 1 domestic travel destination, according to Visit Florida.

As residents and tourists navigate around the state, UCF researchers are working to improve transportation challenges related to roadway safety, emerging mobility technologies and other areas.

Abdel-Aty and Associate Professor Shaurya Agarwal lead multiple projects funded by U.S. and Florida Departments of Transportation to develop safety plans and demonstrate technologies across various Florida counties.

One examines Florida’s Regional Advanced Mobility Elements, or IFRAME, project along Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa. The study is evaluating the performance of advanced transportation technologies to inform decisions about future investments to enhance safety and mobility.

Research Assistant Professor Zubayer Islam and Abdel-Aty’s Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) project — the first of its kind in the nation — evaluates the effectiveness and enhancements of flexible lanes on expressways. It is the latest development in UCF’s longstanding partnership with the CFX.

For nearly 14 years, UCF has worked to make highways safer by tackling wrong-way driving, one of the nation’s deadliest roadway hazards. An international expert in transportation engineering, planning and operations, Professor Haitham Al-Deek, in partnership with CFX, invented the first U.S. technology designed to detect and deter wrong-way driving on high-speed roads. Deployed across the CFX system, it has achieved an 88.5% driver self-correction rate, the highest known worldwide, which is well supported by the largest amount of data collected on the performance of the invented technology.

Al-Deek and his students also invented the nation’s first algorithm to help transportation agencies identify wrong-way driving hotspots and prioritize improvements for greatest safety impact with maximum economic efficiency. Through competitively won contracts at state and national levels, this algorithm was implemented for five transportation networks throughout Florida and Idaho.

“According to the data we collected, the deployed lifesaving technology on CFX transportation network helped 2,541 out of the detected 2,870 wrong-way drivers self-correct and turn around safely as of June 2026,” Al-Deek says.

Research That Translates to Daily Impact

UCF’s performance in transportation science and technology and hospitality and tourism management reflects two distinct research strengths while also demonstrating how the university is improve daily life across the region, state and nation. The 2026 ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects also show UCF is making an impact in Public Administration as the No. 11 program in the nation and Law as the No. 25 program across the U.S.