UCF in the News

The University of Central Florida (UCF) is helping fight the nursing hiring shortage and is slated to get nearly $15 million from the state’s Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funds for those efforts. The PECO dollars will help the university build a new, larger school of nursing building at its Lake Nona campus near UCF’s medical school. “We are grateful to the Florida Legislature for including our request for the funding of a new UCF College of Nursing building in their final budget,” said UCF president Alexander Cartwright in a statement this week.

The University of Central Florida slowly is climbing back in the number of patents assigned after a 15-year low, taking third place among the state's universities. Despite this placement, the university is satisfied with its progress toward achievements necessary to be one of the top 50 public research universities in the country. UCF firmly holds the status of top research university in the area, with no other Central Florida university coming close to publishing as many patents. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach comes closest, with 24 recorded patents since 2007. The university must have at least 100 patents awarded in the most recent three-year period as it is a requirement for the preeminent state research universities program. UCF is well above that number, at about 165 patents awarded from 2020-2022.

Research shows the bonds between children and their caregivers is key to brain development and long-term mental health. Kimberly Renk, a proud mother of two, puts her research and clinical services to work as she advocates for children and families to ensure healthy outcomes. A recognized leader in infant and early childhood mental health worldwide, Renk works to mediate the challenges in establishing strong family bonds, especially in the face of changes in caregivers, substance abuse, trauma and neglect. And she is grateful to those families who have placed their trust in her. “These families have allowed me to provide intervention to their children, consult with them on their parenting, and watch their children grow and mature,” says Dr. Renk, who also teaches and mentors undergraduate and graduate students. “It is such a privilege to watch my own and other families’ children make such fine achievements, particularly when families have had to struggle with significant difficulties overall,” she adds.

Since launching in 2016, Get Up And Go Kayaking has racked up hundreds of millions of social media views, thousands of five-star reviews, 20-plus franchises in Florida, and now earned the No. 33 spot on Entrepreneur's Top New & Emerging Franchises list. Owner Justin Buzzi explains how it all got started. What's your background? "I got my marketing degree from the University of Central Florida and was kind of pursuing a rap music career, but I ended up working for the Golf Channel in Orlando, first as a client support person, and then as a pricing analyst. I started Get Up And Go Kayaking while I was working there, so at night I would give bioluminescent tours where the water lights up as you paddle over it. I would get home around 3 a.m., be the weird guy washing off kayaks at 4 a.m., get to bed at 5 a.m., and then have to wake up and get to work by 8 the next morning. I did that for two summers, and then thankfully the business was at the point where I could quit the full-time job and focus on giving tours."

Billowing flames and clouds of smoke are typical for rocket launches. Destroyed launchpads and wreckage strewn far and wide across surrounding wetlands, however, are most definitely not. Then again, the April 20 test flight of SpaceX’s gigantic Starship—the largest vehicle ever flown—was no typical rocket launch. Expectations for Starship are sky-high because SpaceX intends the system’s unprecedented power and planned routine reusability to revolutionize spaceflight itself while also landing NASA astronauts on the moon as early as 2025. But the bar was much lower for this test flight, which sought to send Starship on a near loop of Earth: SpaceX officials stated simply clearing the launchpad would be a success. Starship exceeded that goal in more ways than one. Mounted atop its massive, 33-engine Super Heavy booster, Starship cleared the pad with such force that it left behind little more than a smoldering crater and far-reaching showers of pulverized debris. Observers were stunned by the sheer size of the dust cloud raised by the launch. “At first, I didn’t realize it was an anomaly of the launchpad—I thought it was just the nature of this rocket,” says Philip Metzger, a physicist at the University of Central Florida, who used to work on launchpad technology at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. “The amount of dust and smoke that came up from the launchpad was wild. I had never seen something that voluminous.”

Winter Park's streets and crosswalks could get major upgrades over the next two decades to make them safer for pedestrians and more efficient for drivers. The technology is called CAV infrastructure, which stands for "connected and autonomous vehicle." Basically, it means that all the traffic lights, crossing signals, road sensors, cameras, and even smart vehicles on the road can communicate with each other electronically. Basically, it means that all the traffic lights, crossing signals, road sensors, cameras, and even smart vehicles on the road can communicate with each other electronically. They send signals on when to stop or go, even letting vehicles know when there's something in the way that they can't see. Professor Yaser Fallah, who teaches computer engineering at UCF says the technology is closer than we think. "If this becomes reality it's going to have a big impact," he said. The technology can recognize cars and objects on the road, and switch signals or even prompt smart vehicles to stop. This will make crosswalks and intersections less risky for people and traffic. "What we envision is that all of these are connected together and talking to each other," Fallah said.

Do you like to offer your partner kind words and compliments? Or do you prefer to express your affection with gifts, or by taking care of the daily chores? A few years ago, in a bestselling book, Gary Chapman identified five different "languages of love" that we all unconsciously use: words of affirmation, physical touch, receiving gifts, acts of service, and quality time. But are some of the five particularly compatible with others or especially ill-suited? And how can you learn them? Helping out with daily tasks, to make your partner's life bit easier, is a powerful symbol of affection for some. Sejal Mehta Barden, executive director of the Marriage and Family Research Institute at the University of Central Florida, told Newsweek that these tasks could be as simple as filling the gas tank in your partner's car, doing the dishes or taking out the trash. "Acts that make us feel loved," she said. Barden recommends that couples discuss their love languages so they can work out how to spend time together in a way that makes both feel loved. "A classic example might be one of the partners has quality time as a love language and another partner has physical touch," she says. "You can easily put both of those together of having quality time, watching a movie, and making sure that you're not sitting on separate chairs, but you're choosing to sit on a sofa where you can also have physical touch associated together."

he University of Central Florida’s Ph.D. in Nursing program takes the top spot in the country, according to a ranking by RegisteredNursing.org. The nursing advocacy organization said the programs were judged on factors like how well a program supports students during school, towards licensure, and beyond.

Gloria Palacio with UCF Global was teaching a class full of Rosen Hotels and Resorts employees how to greet visitors in English. The class is part of a free program that helps workers better communicate while on the job. Mery Judith Sarmiento from Colombia told News 6 the class is helping her boost her confidence when it comes to speaking English. The program was funded through an Orange County grant after officials realized some companies were having trouble finding and retaining employees, adding that the language barrier was part of the issue. “