The University of Central Florida brings innovation and solutions to some of society’s most pressing problems through research and the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge and avenues for progress.
Wed Jun 17
New research argues the pandemic will widen pre-existing inequities in the academic community if preventative measures aren’t taken. The 17 authors of “In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solutions to ensure gender equity,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, say it’s not enough to provide a one-size-fits-all solution to relaxing tenure…
Wed Jun 17
A new article in Nature Climate Change suggests that experts must work together to combat the negative effects that occur when extreme events become connected. When extreme climate conditions interact with stressors to social systems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences could be severe unless experts from diverse backgrounds work together to develop comprehensive…
Tue Jun 16
The group is celebrating World Sea Turtle Day today by continuing his research legacy. This is the height of sea turtle nesting season and more than 6,000 sea turtle nests have been counted by UCF on the Brevard County portion of the refuge since March with many more expected throughout the summer and early fall.…
Tue Jun 9
Nine faculty members will work on five research projects related to COVID-19, As COVID-19 continues to impact the world, UCF College of Medicine researchers are doing their part to fight it. The medical school recently awarded $20,000 in start-up grants to each faculty research team seeking to better understand and treat the disease. “COVID has…
Thu Jun 4
UCF researchers have created new technology to display color that uses nanoscale structures inspired by butterflies and other animals. Taking inspiration from nature’s nanotech that creates the stunning color of butterfly wings, a University of Central Florida researcher is creating technology to make extremely low-power, ultra-high-definition displays and screens that are easier on the eyes.…
Tue Jun 2
Hickman, Roche Pharmaceuticals and Hesperos Inc. -the company Hickman cofounded to take the technology to market – conducted a study to see if the Human-on-a-Chip platform could successfully mimic the body’s response to diseases that overwhelm the immune system and attack multiple organs. Credit: Hesperos Inc. Scientists trying to make pharmaceuticals that combat multi-organ diseases…
Tue Jun 2
Patents highlight the important role universities play in discovery and bringing inventions to the market where people can benefit from the research conducted around the world. UCF’s first patent was for a novel way to compress and decompress large amounts of stored digital data on computers. For the seventh consecutive year, UCF has ranked in…
Tue Jun 2
UCF Physics Professor Enrique del Barco’s area of expertise includes: fundamental low-temperature magnetic and transport properties of low-dimensional systems, including molecular nanomagnets, magnetic nanostructures and graphene and its 2D crystal relatives. An international team with ties to UCF has cracked a challenge that could herald a new era of ultra-high-density computing. For years engineers and…
Mon Jun 1
Artist rendition of construction of the moon. (Photo courtesy of NASA) The 49ers who panned for gold during California’s Gold Rush didn’t really know where they might strike it rich. They had word of mouth and not much else to go on. Researchers at the University of Central Florida want to give prospectors looking to…
Thu May 28
The UCF-developed coating material for medical devices is planned to be multifunctional so that it can both resist infections and blood clots, as well as stop biofilm formation. AUniversity of Central Florida researcher is part of a recently announced $1.4 million National Institutes of Health grant to help develop a new coating material for catheters…
Fri May 22
A College of Medicine researcher is using moldy breakfast cereal to fight one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Dr. Debopam Chakrabarti, an infectious disease specialist at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, recently received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to use fungus-derived compounds to develop better treatments for malaria. He…
Thu May 21
Team members from the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group collect data about sea turtles, which nest along Central Florida’s eastern coastline. Credit: Rebecca Smith (UCF MTEG, FL MTP-186) While uncertainty reigns for Floridians due to COVID-19, there’s one thing they can count on: sea turtles are nesting on our local beaches as nesting season heads…
Wed May 20
A new study from the University of Central Florida has confirmed and quantified, for the first time, the presence of microplastics in terrestrial and aquatic birds of prey in Florida, including hawks, osprey, and owls. Microplastics are small plastic pieces – less than the size of a pencil tip – that come from larger pieces…
Wed May 20
University of Central Florida researchers are working with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in a National Science Foundation-funded project to understand the effects of COVID-19 crisis communication on undergraduate STEM education. The researchers will examine crisis communication messages from randomly selected universities across the country and see how those messages affected teaching and learning experiences of faculty…
Wed May 20
UCF research community, COVID-19 has impacted all of us in some way. The disruptions shut down most of our research operations in March, and I know you have been eagerly awaiting word on when you can get back. I appreciate your patience. Since April I have been working with a dedicated team of faculty researchers,…
Wed May 13
Assistant Professor Kawai Kwok and his team look at the diverse behavior of flexible structures and materials with micro-architectures, and to propose new designs by exploiting novel material and geometric characteristics. UCF engineering Assistant Professor Kawai Kwok studies the way insects fly and land on plants to inspire his understanding of deployable structures, which could…
Wed May 13
Three researchers are exploring the connections between access to clean water and the spread of the global coronavirus pandemic. In a recent blog post stemming from a scholarly paper exploring the effects of rights constitutionalization and democratic governance on water access, the authors argue that recognition of the human right to water is central to the coronavirus response. Drawing…
Tue May 12
UCF postdoctoral researcher Jonathan Reyes uses high-speed cameras to characterize the patterns and distance traveled of droplets emitted from sneezing and coughing, including those that have been altered by candy or starch. Ateam of University of Central Florida researchers is looking at changing people’s saliva to help manage the spread of COVID-19 as the nation…
Mon May 11
Students from Harrington’s lab work in the UCF Arboretum. The company responsible for the online video game hit Fortnite has awarded a UCF assistant professor a grant to develop an immersive technology to take virtual experiences to new levels of reality. Epic Games provided UCF information scientist and artist Maria Harrington a $25,000 grant to expand her…
Wed May 6
Alicja Copik is a cancer researcher at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Medicine. Acell-based cancer immunotherapy that utilizes a nanoparticle developed at UCF to stimulate a patient’s natural cancer-killing cells has just received the green light to proceed directly into a Phase II clinical trial. College of Medicine Associate Professor…