{"id":125573,"date":"2022-01-26T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=125573"},"modified":"2025-06-25T14:44:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T18:44:25","slug":"1-million-grant-to-help-strengthen-ucfs-modeling-and-simulation-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/1-million-grant-to-help-strengthen-ucfs-modeling-and-simulation-program\/","title":{"rendered":"$1 Million Grant to help Strengthen UCF\u2019s Modeling and Simulation Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of tomorrow\u2019s jobs haven\u2019t been imagined yet, but those well versed in cutting-edge technologies, such as modeling and simulation will have the competitive edge.<\/p>\n

UCF\u2019s School of Modeling, Simulation and Training<\/a> (SMST) is already a national leader in modeling and simulation research and education. The Department of Defense employs many of our doctoral graduates as do a range of commercial companies. Now, thanks to a Department of Education $1 million grant, UCF will strengthen its existing graduate program, create a new undergraduate modeling and simulation curriculum and launch outreach programs for high schools, all to create a pipeline of talent that will help lead the nation in this exploding area of innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential to build a future workforce with the critical skills and competencies in modeling and simulation so that we retain our competitiveness in national security and space,\u201d says Grace Bochenek, the school\u2019s director and a co-investigator on the grant. \u201cThe new skills are going to be necessary across many industries from security and space to education and healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congress declared modeling and simulation a National Critical Technology as early as 2007. It has only become more important since then as the technology has advanced. At UCF, modeling and simulation<\/a> research has helped train firefighters, co-pilots, fighter pilots, law enforcement, teachers, clinicians and military medics, among others. There\u2019s also ongoing research using simulation that focuses on teams that will travel together on long missions to other planets and asteroids.<\/p>\n

Even some of the most popular video games kids are playing are simulations \u2014Fortnite, Halo, etc.  One of the hottest holiday toys of 2021 was the Oculus, a virtual reality home system that transports users into a simulated world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t lose sight of the human element in the design and use of intelligent machines for training and education,\u201d says SMST Professor Roger Azevedo, the lead investigator on the grant. He specializes in intelligent system design \u2014 the intersection of intelligent machines and how humans use them.<\/p>\n