UCF in the News

n another market, two competing health systems likely wouldn't collaborate on an issue like a nursing shortage. But here, collaboration beat out competitiveness, said Alexander Cartwright, president of the University of Central Florida — the Orlando-based public research university. Central Florida’s nonprofit health care giants AdventHealth and Orlando Health each contributed $5 million to UCF to become two of its inaugural “Pegasus Partners.” The new partnerships fully fund the balance of the construction cost of UCF’s new 90,000-square-foot, $68 million-plus College of Nursing building at its Lake Nona campus in southeast Orlando, which will help turn out more nurses than ever.

According to those who study tourism, after disasters like the OceanGate deaths, interest often grows. "It will probably make it even more attractive. People are attracted by danger, people are attracted by extreme forms of tourism of all shapes and forms. Will this stop people going down? No, it will probably attract even more people now," said Alan Fyall, associate dean of Academic Affairs and the Visit Orlando Endowed Chair of Tourism Marketing at UCF's Rosen College of Hospitality Management. "In this particular case, I think they understand the risk, because you're going down deep, deep into the ocean. So I can't believe they don't really appreciate the risk they're going into."

Thrill-seekers don't travel to the bottom of the ocean or to the top of a mountain because it's the safe thing to do. But even by adventure travel standards, the now-missing OceanGate Titan submersible was surrounded by extreme danger. The experimental vessel took tourists to the crushing depths of the ocean. And while OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush − who is on board the missing vessel − maintained the craft was safe, even "pretty much invulnerable," he did not seek to hide that the vessel skirted established norms as it catered to wealthy thrill seekers. People know they're taking their life in their hands when they engage in these extreme experiences but it doesn't stop them, said Alan Fyall, chair of tourism marketing at the University of Central Florida. “It's just really, really unfortunate and horrible situation, but it won't stop people from going down. It will probably encourage even more people to go down. That's the irony," he said.

Climate change could have a significant impact on lower-income areas of Osceola County but as its effects increase, county sustainability goals are just getting started. In 2020, the county adopted the Osceola Green Initiative Element plan, which aimed at creating a climate change workgroup that would oversee and implement sustainability policies. The group has not been established yet. In 2021, the county created the Office of Sustainability but didn’t fully fund the office until late 2022. As these emission increase, scientists and researchers like Thomas Wahl, a professor at the University of Central Florida and a member of UCF’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, worry about the potential effects on climate. “One thing that’s happening, with especially tropical cyclones hurricanes, we have a warmer atmosphere because of global warming and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture,” Wahl said. “So, there’s a higher potential for a lot of rain being released during those extreme events because there’s simply more moisture that can accumulate in the atmosphere.”

There’s more than one Independence Day in the United States. On June 19, 1865, over two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free. Today, Juneteenth is all about celebrating Black culture, history, and life, bringing people together to honor all those who came before us and fought for the rights and privileges we hold today. “It’s important, especially today, but it was important in the past because you’re talking about a group of people who were in a society, but they were not of the society because they were enslaved,” said Kibibi Mack-Shelton, a Professor of African American Studies at the University of Central Florida.

Cislune, a technology lab working to accelerate the timeline of placing humanity back on the Moon, took home four big wins this year in the form of NASA contracts when the space agency announced the winners of Phase I of its 2023 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program on June 5. And for the STTR grants, the first, which was created in collaboration with the University of Central Florida Board of Trustees, is called “refuse-to-get-stuck rovers,” suggesting that lunar rovers must be able to drive quicker and more autonomously.

In the bowels of a Laotian cave, illuminated by faint sunlight and bright lamps, scientists have unearthed the earliest known evidence of our human ancestors making their way through mainland Southeast Asia en route to Australia some 86,000 years ago. Any trace of human remains is a delight for archaeologists – but none more so when they dust off a discovery, date it, and realize it could push back timelines of early human migration in an area by more than ten thousand years. For this new study, the team led by biological anthropologist Sarah Freidline of the University of Central Florida, turned to luminescence dating and other techniques to get an age estimate of the sediments surrounding the newly discovered fossils, the deepest of which was found at nearly 7 meters (23 feet).

Orlando-based Capacitech Energy Inc. is an Orlando Inno 2023 Fire Awards honoree. The firm ranked No. 1 in the Not Just Lucky category, companies that are 7-8 years old. The firm created a revolutionary product: a power cord that also stores energy to make batteries and renewables better. "When we are working on projects with customers, we generally start by understanding their needs and technical requirements," said CEO Joe Sleppy. What’s one big challenge your firm’s rapid growth has created? It has led to larger projects, bigger budgets and greater operating complexities. We are overcoming those through world-class partnerships with companies like Genesis Research & Development and New World Angels. We are at the UCF Business Incubation Program at Central Florida Research Park, which gives us access to engineering talent and lab infrastructure.

Artist Michael Pilato has been painting all night when a reporter calls, and he continues to paint as he talks about “Inspiration Orlando United” — a mural of those affected by the Pulse tragedy that will go on view Monday at Orlando Museum of Art to commemorate the mass shooting at the Orlando nightclub on June 12, 2016. It’s only a few days before the mural goes on display — the first time all sections of the work will be seen together — but Pilato isn’t behind schedule. Side projects also developed: The pair painted a mural at UCF of two Pulse victims and a downtown mural of Billy Manes, the gay advocate who died in 2017.