UCF in the News

A new partnership at the University of Central Florida plans to unleash the potential of Hispanic graduate students who want to become leaders in the tech workforce. Thanks to a $250,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the academic consortium wants to cultivate engineering and science opportunities plans to increase the success rates of Latino graduate students in stem majors. UCF wants to increase the number of Latinos in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs to raise the number of Hispanics working in tech around the country.

For the first time, a NASA mission is setting off on a distant journey to visit a metal world in our solar system. Getting up close with the asteroid known as Psyche is the only way to determine whether it’s the rare exposed core of an early planetary building block, according to scientists. “Psyche is something of the poster child of the M-type asteroids,” said Dr. Zoe Landsman, science adviser to the Exolith Laboratory at the University of Central Florida, via email. “Of a group of weird and mysterious asteroids, it is the biggest, weirdest, and most mysterious.”

Sean Snaith expects a slowdown or recession ahead for the national economy in late 2023/early 2024— but he said Florida is better prepared than before. The director of the University of Central Florida Institute for Economic Forecasting said in the institution’s recently released forecast that he is unsure if it will rise to the level of a recession — and it would come after a projected early 2022 recession the institute forecast and is waiting on data to confirm. However, he told Orlando Business Journal that Florida and the Orlando region are much better suited to weather this slowdown than the recessions in 2008-09 and 2020. Factors that bode well for both the state and metro area include the lack of a housing market collapse — with prices rising for a different reason — as well as population growth and a strong labor market.

Lainie Fox Ackerman has seen the positives of Orlando Health's paid internship program to create more access at the health care system. The assistant vice president of external affairs and community benefit with the nonprofit system told Orlando Business Journal the We Build program has grown from a pilot to a two-cohort-a-year program. Those who go through the program — created in partnership with the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida and the UCF Center for Independent Living — are age 18 or older, have a high school diploma or equivalent, and are people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. More than 16 people already have gone through the program, including two who were employees with Orlando Health. Of the 14 non-employees, more than eight have been hired — and all have remained employees with the system.

The University of Central Florida is finding success as a Hispanic-serving institution. An “HSI” is a federal designation given to colleges and universities whose undergraduate student population is at least 25% Hispanic. However, the university’s commitment to the Hispanic community goes beyond academics. Carlos Bohorquez is a Spanish play-by-play broadcaster, and he works alongside Leonardo Rodriguez and Sergio Ruiz Torress in the booth for UCF Football. UCF added the Spanish radio broadcast for home football games last season and now they expanded and are covering away games as well. Terry Mohajir, the VP and Director of Athletics for UCF, came up with the idea. “The data shows it’s the fastest growing demographic in the United States, and why wouldn’t we want to attract new fans and new interest by speaking the language for the sport we all love? People are listening and loving every minute, showing UCF’s commitment to Central Florida’s Hispanic population.”

Education in Central Florida plays a pivotal role in shaping the community’s future. It empowers individuals with knowledge and skills, unlocking doors to opportunities and fostering personal growth. A well-educated populace contributes to a thriving economy, attracts businesses, and ultimately enhances the overall quality of life in the region. Moreover, education fosters a sense of civic responsibility, promoting community engagement and social cohesion. UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright, Founding Dean of the College of Medicine Deborah German and CEO of the UCF Lake Nona Hospital Wendy Brandon are among this year's most powerful people in education.

Asteroids are frequently targeted as civilization killers. But long period comets that approach Earth from high orbital inclinations have historically blindsided our planet as impactors. Mercifully, such cometary interlopers appear to be infrequent. Yet only in the last few decades have astronomers had the tools to fully characterize such comets. All of today's comets are fragments of what were once planetesimals billions of years ago in the protoplanetary disk, Yan Fernandez, a University of Central Florida astronomer who was not a co-author, told me via email. Most of the planetesimals got incorporated into planets or got flung out of the Solar System entirely, he says. A few were thrown into the Oort Cloud, and comet ZTF is presumably one of those, Fernandez says.

In June, Colorado-based Wilson Aerospace sued aeronautics giant Boeing for allegedly stealing trade secrets and violating intellectual property rights. The case involves Boeing’s work on NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, a rocket designed to eventually land astronauts and cargo on the moon. Wilson claims Boeing’s actions cost Wilson “hundreds of millions of dollars” and placed astronauts at risk. Still, there are documented concerns with the effectiveness of NASA’s integrated testing (where components of a mission are tested together), and the agency’s own Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has expressed concerns regarding its safety culture. Roger Handberg, a professor at the University of Central Florida who specializes in space, technology, and defense policy, told me that as mission infrastructure is increasingly outsourced to companies outside of NASA, sometimes those within the agency charged with the supervision of mission components “are technically competent, but they are not familiar with exactly what’s going on, because they haven’t built rockets before.”

Last week, the Orlando Sentinel published an article referencing a report that I recently authored (“Opioid overdoses fall in Central Florida for the first time in years”). This report detailed how overdose deaths in Central Florida declined 11% between 2021 and 2022, but this only tells part of the story. As a researcher deeply entrenched in the field of addiction and overdose, I have witnessed the devastating impact of the opioid crisis up close. In my role as a researcher, I am driven by a profound sense of purpose. The overdose crisis is not just a statistic; it’s a harrowing reality that demands our unwavering dedication. With medical advancements and harm reduction initiatives on the horizon, my mission is to contribute to the knowledge base that will save lives. I devote my efforts to educating and bringing awareness and expertise to help inform the public health response for prevention and treatment to save lives. I encourage others to do the same, get involved to prevent overdoses, and save lives. The media must play its part, shedding light on the magnitude of this crisis and pushing for the changes needed to combat it effectively. Together, we can make a difference and turn the tide on this silent epidemic. - Kendall Cortelyou is the interim director of the School of Global Health Management and Informatics at UCF.