UCF in the News

The University of Central Florida and representatives from Mistubishi Power met Thursday on campus to address the role of hydrogen in clean energy. This was part of the Hydrogen: The Time is Now forum, where both presidents emphasized what needs to be done with representatives in research, industries and the government. UCF President Alexander Cartwright and Mistubishi Power America President Bill Newsom discussed ways to achieve net zero by 2050. “UCF [is] among the nation’s largest producers of engineers and computer scientists,” Cartwright said. “[And] in partnership with Mitsubishi Power and others, can play a key role in educating and training the talent pipeline required for a hydrogen-based energy economy.”

You spend your whole life waiting to go to college, but sometimes, you get there and it’s not exactly what you expected. You might realize that you want to be closer to home, there’s another school out there that aligns better with your academic pursuits, or you don’t think it’s overall the right environment for you. Luckily, you have the option to transfer to a different college or university. It’s not a quick and simple decision. “More than anything else, prepare early, conduct research and plan ahead,” Pam Cavanaugh, Ed.D., Associate Vice Provost for UCF Connect at the University of Central Florida, says. “College is an incredibly unique and rewarding experience, filled with the chance to explore new ideas, meet new people and pursue your professional ambitions and passions. Each school offers different opportunities — whether that’s living on campus, studying abroad, holding an internship, or joining a student organization. The sooner you can find your ‘fit,’ the more you’ll be able to maximize your experience.”

Evence Eliassaint is working to prevent teen suicides by raising mental health awareness. His work began out of his own mental health struggles. He organized a flag football game on September 10th, where influencers – TikTokers versus YouTubers – will play each other. They’ll be competing, but they’re all on one team when it comes to raising mental health awareness. Each player chose a specific message. “One chose men’s mental health because he felt that it’s not talked about enough in this day and age and in fact, it’s frowned upon for men to talk about their mental health,” said Eliassaint, showing a t-shirt for one of the players.

Sayid Yasin, 28, comes from a family of nurses including his parents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Growing up, he remembers his father, wearing scrubs, coming home from his job as an emergency department nurse in New York City, where he still works today. Yasin applied to the University of Central Florida’s Accelerated Bachelor’s in Nursing program and, in early August, joined 67 other career changers and walked across UCF’s stage to receive his degree. Nurses in the shorter program complete the same amount of clinical hours and hospitals are eager to hire them, said Kelly Allred, director of both the traditional and second-degree programs. “Hospitals all over our area are letting us know that they need nurses; they have a shortage,” Allred said. “They would like us to graduate as many nurses as we can in a quality way.”

This fall, there will be a new class of students at the University of Central Florida. A group of about 750 members will join the Learning Institute for Elders at the University of Central Florida. These students, who are 50 years and older, are passionate about lifelong learning, no matter what age they are. The group will hear about groundbreaking research and other topics from UCF faculty, national experts and international experts .

The joy and wonder of watching a massive sea turtle crawl onto the beach and drop her soft, ping pong ball-sized eggs into a deep hole in the sand never gets old for Kate Mansfield, even after 28 years of research. Even more fun for her is watching the faces of University of Central Florida interns seeing their first turtles and learning how to inspect them. “It’s probably one of my favorite things,” said Mansfield, director of the university’s Marine Turtle Research Group.

According to NASA, the Artemis program will impact all of humanity. But not only will the first mission launch from Central Florida, the scientific connection here runs deep. UCF has long been tied to NASA and many of its missions and that goes for the Artemis program. Dozens of researchers, students and alumni are working on the 'return to moon' project.

Making an advanced vehicle-safety model or researching requires a highly accurate annotated dataset. The dataset also must contain certain events that are critical to safety. CitySim, developed by University of Central Florida researchers, contains highly accurate vehicle trajectory and several features. The videos from drones in highly intense locations contain several critical safety events. CitySim uses multiple drones over a target area to capture wider observations and stitches all video outputs into a single video.

Iryna Usova is grateful to her University of Central Florida music family for a concert in support of her after leaving her country, Ukraine. "I'm very grateful to everyone who supports me in this situation," the violinist said prior to the concert that took place in St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Oviedo. “I was glad to see her but I’m sorry it was under these circumstances,” said George Weremchuk, a UCF saxophone professor. Weremchuk met Usova when she was a graduate student at UCF in 2016, but after earning her master’s degree in music, Usova went back home to Ukraine. “I haven’t heard her play since she was a student here and I’m so happy to hear the wonderful sound she’s producing,” Weremchuk said.