UCF in the News

One of Orlando’s biggest health care deals of the year came down to a unique partnership including two rival nonprofit hospital systems. Orlando Health and Altamonte Springs-based AdventHealth each contributed $5 million to the University of Central Florida tied to its new 90,000-square-foot, $68 million-plus Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion at its current Lake Nona Academic Health Sciences campus. College of Nursing Dean Mary Lou Sole said during a Nov. 16 UCF Board of Trustees meeting that last year the school graduated 275 nurses, and when it moves into the new facility, she hopes that will double. “This will allow us to have larger space and larger labs to be able to educate those nurses plus our focus on new faculty.” The Sunshine State is projected to face a shortfall of 59,100 nurses by 2035, per a 2021 report commissioned by the Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. Metro Orlando’s share of the shortfall is expected to be 4,627 by 2035, including both registered and licensed practical nurses. A new nursing building would double the amount of classroom space and provide roughly three times the current simulation and lab space at the school's Research Park campus.

The 26th annual Don Quijote Awards Gala, co-hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando and Prospera, took place on December 9th at Epcot’s World Showplace Pavilion. This prestigious event served as the platform for announcing the 26th Don Quijote Awards winners. Widely regarded as the premier event for the region’s Hispanic business community, the Don Quijote Awards honor businesses and individuals who embody the enduring qualities associated with the classic Don Quijote literary character: vision, courage, and a profound impact on the community.

Once an entrepreneur always an entrepreneur? Not necessarily, says a new study by researchers at the University of Central Florida and Purdue University. Former entrepreneurs can transition from being their own boss into successful employees within an organization, especially in roles that harness their entrepreneurial spirit, according to a recent study published in Personnel Psychology. "With today's career paths typically spanning multiple roles across a variety of organizations, understanding the transition between someone's old work self and new work self may be critical to not only the employee's success but also the company's" says Jeff Gish, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship in UCF's College of Business and the study's co-author.

Up to 43% of students lose their credits when they transfer and they take 24% more coursework on average as they stumble in the dark completing their bachelor's. UCF's DirectConnect to UCF program helps transfer students complete their bachelor’s degrees by providing individualized coaching throughout their transfer process.

Creating transportive soundscapes, here are the 2023 Orlando Sentinel honorees for best sound design as selected by theater critic Matthew J. Palm. Although it’s impossible for one person to see every local production, as the Orlando Sentinel’s theater critic, each year Palm sees a broad spectrum of dramas, comedies and musicals. Among this year's honorees for sound design is sound designer Casey Deiter, who added to the fun of Theatre UCF’s “The Prom,” capturing the bustle of the high school gym and effecting a perfect transition between a rundown motel room and a monster truck rally. Deiter has been honored in this category twice previously.

Orlando International Airport has started looking at how advanced air mobility could be incorporated into the airport. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority hosted an Advanced Air Mobility Industry Day at the airport Dec. 5 to bring leaders in the industry on-site to see how the airport views the future technology. Those include electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) technologies, which can take off and land vertically. Adan Vela, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida who has studied air transportation systems, said during a roundtable at the event that university partners will help find out the future of the technology as things get started. "We need resources in order to study what the future looks like," Vela said. "While we are walking, we need them imagining what it is to run so we can build out the plan for not the next five to 10 years, but 20 years out."

Matt Winstel went from uninterested in going to college directly after high school, to serving in the Navy, and finding meaningful work ... at a university. Not sure what to do after high school, Winstel and a friend joined the U.S. Navy on the buddy program and "the rest was 26 years of Naval lore," Winstel said. A trip to visit family in Orlando turned out to be fortuitous when a friend brought him to the UCF campus in 2018. It just happened to be the day ESPN was set up on the Memory Mall for College Gameday during the school’s undefeated football season. “I walked around the campus and I got lost, and I fell in love with this place,” Winstel said. “I went back to California, was having a frustrating day and I simply did a search for UCF jobs and six months later I was on campus.” Winstel is now the Lead School Certifying Official at UCF, a job that lined up well with his experience as a pay and personnel specialist in the Navy. If a student wants to use their V.A. education benefits, they’ll come through the Military & Veteran Success Center where he has an office.

Researchers at the University of Central Florida are using new technology they developed to inspect our infrastructure. Officials said artificial intelligence and virtual reality could one day play a role in monitoring structures. Researchers said they are working to help ensure roads and structures are safe. Necati Catbas is an engineering professor at UCF and has worked with students and colleagues for years to develop new technologies to assess the health of aging structures. “We are not just doing this for the sake of exploring technology, but there’s a really national need for better managing our infrastructure,” Catbas said. Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers releases a report card for America’s infrastructure. The 2021 results were a “C.” “Not only bridges and buildings but everything energy systems, the ports, levees, roads, rail, all of those,” Catbas said. Catbas believes the new technologies will make a major impact. The first development involves stationing cameras and sensors on and around a structure to monitor the site and continuously collect data on wear and tear. They also developed a way to use virtual and augmented reality to analyze from afar in the case of a hurricane or other natural disaster.

The University of Central Florida received a $6 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday. The school was the only one in the state to receive the money aimed at, “full-service community schools.” The money can be used to expand access to health services on campus, and support engagement and community partnerships in the Orlando area. That could look like nutrition assistance, mental health services, early-childhood education, and access to after-school summer learning and enrichment programs. Studies have shown that students do better in school, have better attendance and are more emotionally present when their whole-body needs are met. In a statement U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said, “These new investments support what I’ve heard from parents and families across the country." "We know that comprehensive, wrap-around approaches—including nutrition assistance; mental health services; early childhood education; and access to high-quality afterschool summer learning, and enrichment programs—all are crucial for accelerating our students’ academic success and their recovery from the pandemic by helping them thrive both inside and outside of school,” said Cardona.