Category: In the Headlines

New research reveals that expertly timed lasers shined at an approaching lidar system can create a blind spot in front of the vehicle large enough to completely hide moving pedestrians and other obstacles. The deleted data causes the cars to think the road is safe to continue moving along, endangering whatever may be in the attack’s blind spot.

Juan Gilbert, Ph.D., the Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor and department chair of CISE, has spent 19 years inventing “the most secure voting technology ever created.”

The National Institutes of Health announced this fall a new program to expand the use of artificial intelligence in biomedical and behavioral research. In this episode of the From Florida podcast, Azra Bihorac and Barbara Evans discuss the program and the University of Florida’s involvement.

The University of Florida is increasing its focus on artificial intelligence, from the classroom to campus events. UF is holding its inaugural AI Days starting Thursday to showcase how it is building an AI-focused university. The events come as UF is integrating AI into its curriculum, providing students with a growing number of options to develop AI-related skills to prepare them for the workforce.

Juan Gilbert, Ph.D., has pledged to help create a more supportive and inclusive computer-science environment for Black students, and continues that work as chair of the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering. He thinks that vision is why the university ranks top in terms of the number of computer science PhDs awarded to Black students, and why it boasts the largest proportion of Black computer-science faculty members at any predominantly white institution in the United States.

For scientists, Hurricane Ian, which roared onto Florida’s southwest coast on September 28, 2022, as a Category 4 storm with winds of 250 kilometers per hour, has been both a research opportunity and an ordeal.

Florida is among the first states to adopt a K-12 artificial intelligence, or AI, education program designed to prepare its youth for the growing global demand for an AI-enabled workforce. The framework for the public school coursework was designed with help from UF faculty, including Christina Gardner-McCune, who modeled it after the Artificial Intelligence for K-12 Initiative, or AI4K12.

Patrick Traynor, Ph.D., Professor and John H. and Mary Lou Dasburg Preeminent Chair in Engineering in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), and Logan Blue, a Ph.D. student in CISE, write in The Conversation about why detecting audio deepfakes may be even more important than catching video deepfakes.

University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI), in collaboration with the Florida Department of Transportation and campus and city partners, will study a suite of emerging technologies that can save lives by providing timely warnings to drivers and pedestrians about one another — before an encounter becomes fatal.

Jeremy A. Magruder Waisome, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education, says, “My journey at UF could be summarized by community.”