Accelerating Innovation
At UCF, we believe bringing people’s ideas to life by leveraging engineering and technology in new and creative ways is the key to solving the world’s greatest challenges and improving the human experience for all.
By leveraging our metropolitan location and proximity to industry, we create strategic partnerships that drive both industry advancements and cutting-edge research across fields. Through our focused and interdisciplinary integration of engineering and technology, we create strong career trajectories for our students and an in-demand talent pipeline for the communities we serve — all aiming to answer the talent demands of today and anticipate the needs of tomorrow.
Educating Engineers at Scale
(State University System)
increasing our capacity by 50%
Shin-Tson Wu
Trustees Chair Professor, Optics and Photonics
EEE, OSA, SID, SPIE and National Academy of Inventors Charter fellow
Carolina Cruz-Neira
Agere Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science
IEEE fellow
Kareem Ahmed
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
AIAA fellow
Harnessing AI for Better Healthcare
When interdisciplinary researchers combine their expertise, the result stands to benefit many. UCF researchers Sudipta Seal and Ozlem Garibay ’01MS ’08PhD created an Al-based prediction method that helps develop life-saving medicines and treatments for various diseases with up to 97% accuracy.
Using a unique two-step approach, the method enhances drug design accuracy and efficiency when identifying critical protein binding sites. Their development can further help improve any deep learning-based prediction model and ultimately lead to quicker, lower-cost medication design. The goal is to provide the possibility for swift treatments, disease prevention and longer, healthier lives for patients.
Sudipta Seal, a recognized Material Research Society and AAAS fellow, is a professor and chair of UCF’s Department of Materials Science.
Olzem Garibay is a computer scientist and assistant professor in UCF’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Partnerships That Power Industry
UCF is a driver for economic development and business growth throughout Central Florida.
A Launchpad for Economic Growth
directly contributing to our region’s economic vitality
(Economic Impact Study)
UCF is a university without borders. As a metropolitan research university, we leverage our strategic location and powerful partnerships within industry to achieve growth and prosperity for all. Our mutually beneficial and longstanding relationships underpin our role as a catalyst for industry growth and enable us to connect skilled graduates with industry careers.
[UCF’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy] continues to be a major source of talent for our EA development studio in Orlando and an important talent pipeline for Florida’s growing experience economy.”
Connecting Talent with Industry Needs
Our longstanding relationships and growing network of powerful partners reflect mutually beneficial outcomes — with students gaining hands-on internship experience and companies collaborating with our faculty on curricula to develop the most skilled graduates.
Learn more about why aerospace engineering student William Hidalgo chose UCF to achieve his career goals.
Fueling Talent for the Tech Economy
earned UCF degrees
earned UCF degrees
Creating Pathways for Academic Success
The nation needs more technologists to shape a prosperous future — and we believe the dreamers, thinkers and doers at UCF will help meet that demand. With students who have different backgrounds, journeys and needs, our role is to create access to exceptional education to foster their success. By opening up pathways to opportunity at scale, we inspire the brightest minds from all walks of life to reach for the stars.
Our goal to educate 25,000 engineering and technology students compels us to reimagine how we support and prepare a student population at a scale beyond most universities.
For more than 40 years, Lockheed Martin has helped thousands of UCF students build careers in global security and aerospace engineering through a College Work Experience Program (CWEP). A nationally unique partnership program in terms of its size and longevity, CWEP provides paid work experiences for approximately 430 students across various disciplines through a longstanding partnership — often leading to full-time job offers.
[UCF’s College Work Experience Program] did a couple things for me. It cemented my desire to work in engineering as a career, and it also gave me a perspective while I was getting an education of how that was going to be used in the future.”
Access to Excellence and Opportunity
among public universities (U.S. News & World Report)
Explore more about how our students, researchers and industry partners are working together to fuel innovation in some of our nation’s most impactful disciplines below.
