Category: News

Gator Motorsports, the University of Florida’s Formula SAE team, raced to the podium for the first time in seven years at the annual Formula SAE Michigan, held May 18-21 in Brooklyn, Michigan. Gator Motorsports competed against more than 90 teams and placed third overall in the international competition where students design, manufacture, assemble, test and race a small Formula 1-style race car.

University of Florida Engineering undergraduates Marion Hagstrom and Parker Kotlarz were selected to present their research on AI in early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease at the Annual “Posters on the Hill” competition, hosted by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). The two-day Posters on the Hill event is an advocacy outreach to promote federal legislative support of groundbreaking undergraduate research.

Nancy Ruzycki, Ph.D., instructional associate professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, is leading multiple K-12 engineering education initiatives to develop the teachers and the students to help fill prospective job openings in AI related fields.

The University of Florida’s Eckhoff Steel Bridge team placed first in the American Institute of Steel Construction’s (AISC) Student Steel Bridge National Competition for the second year in a row. The competition was hosted by Virginia Tech on May 27 and 28, 2022, with more than 140 participating schools internationally.

University of Florida researchers have confirmed their artificial intelligence system, known as MySurgeryRisk, is at least as accurate as physicians in predicting surgical complications and sometimes more so. Developing and testing MySurgeryRisk has been a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort involving experts across the UF campus. A group of 22 engineering and medical researchers initially helped to develop and test the algorithm, and researchers from the UF departments of anesthesiology, medicine and electrical and computer engineering contributed to the latest findings.

Jennifer Nichols, Ph.D., assistant professor in the J. Crayton Pruitt Department of Biomedical Engineering, and collaborators have been awarded a $2.2 million R01 grant from the NIH National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) for her project titled “Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis: Understanding the Intersection of Muscle Mechanics, Joint Instability, and Pain.”

Damon Woodard, Ph.D., director of the Florida Institute for National Security and associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is leading a $1.2M research effort to use artificial intelligence for the purpose of hardware security.

A recent grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention will allow Benjamin Lok, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering, to train healthcare students and practitioners on how to express empathy when interacting with patients who have suicidal ideation. The project is titled “Virtual Interaction Training in Emotional Self-Awareness for Working with Suicidal Patients.”

As a veteran educator, inspiring, empowering and charting a pathway to success for students is something Nancy Ruzycki, Ph.D., instructional associate professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, has been doing for decades. Now, on the heels of her EQuIPD Grant success, Dr. Ruzycki is launching a middle school summer camp geared toward expanding the presence of underrepresented students in engineering and computer science.

Alumni from the University of Florida have created and guided some of the fastest-growing businesses in the world. The Alumni Association is proud to recognize these amazing business owners and entrepreneurs through the Gator100. Congratulations to our talented Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering alumni who made the 2022 list for leading one of the world’s Fastest Growing Gator Companies!