By focusing on key areas of study, harnessing the proceeds from scientists working in those areas and encouraging faculty partnerships with regional industry, UCF continues to find ways to improve quality of life for all Floridians, especially in these trying economic times. Some recent examples include:
» Greater chances for business success
The award-winning UCF Business Incubation Program has expanded to eight locations. Now, residents of St. Cloud/Osceola County, Lake County and Winter Park are benefiting from services that have been shown to greatly increase the likelihood of success for business startups. Since the program’s inception in 1999, companies launched here have created more than 1,000 jobs and generated $500 million in revenue per year.
Academic researchers and industry scientists alike have processed nearly 25,000 intricate jobs on UCF’s supercomputer. |
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Cleaner energy
Funded by the Department of Energy’s Solar America initiative, researchers at UCF’s Florida Solar Energy Center helped design and continue to monitor the Southeast’s largest rooftop solar photovoltaic system. Situated atop the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, the system generates 1,300 to 1,400 megawatt hours of electricity per year — an amount equivalent to the power used by 100 homes — without producing greenhouse gas emissions. This unique system was built in part with a
$2.5-million grant from the state of Florida; it was scheduled to be fully
operational in May 2009.
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More power to see by
A new microscope at UCF’s Materials Characterization Facility offers researchers from multiple academic disciplines and private industry the opportunity to see, analyze and write on the nanoscale — the order of a million times magnified. Recognizing the distinct advantage such a powerful microscope would give to UCF and area industries, engineering professor Yongho Sohn, a faculty member at UCF’s Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, teamed up with UCF researchers, colleges and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council to secure the necessary funding.
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Faster calculations
A new supercomputer at UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training has helped more than 100 engineers, physicists and mathematicians from the university and nearby industries process nearly 25,000 intricate jobs. Purchased in 2008, specifically for the purpose of helping the Army develop large-scale simulations, the IBM System Cluster 1350 is used on a wide range of projects.
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