Category: Research & Innovation

Some of our most popular stories this year.

Led by Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D., professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Dr. John Lednicky, Research Professor at the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Department of Environmental and Global Health, an interdisciplinary team at the University of Florida has developed a game-changing diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 that is fast, reliable, low-cost and capable of differentiating between COVID-19 and influenza.

University of Florida Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS) Associate Director David Kaplan, Ph.D., and a team of CCS-affiliated scientists and engineers from UF, the University of South Florida, North Carolina State University and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation have received $2.3 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study how water and nutrients flowing from Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River watershed interact with tides, currents, and waves at the coast to affect coastal water quality.

Christina Gardner-McCune, Ph.D., an associate professor in Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering, is expected to receive the 2022 AAAI/EAAI Outstanding Educator award for her work with the Artificial Intelligence for K-12 Initiative (AI4K12.org).

The NSF has awarded $1.4 million to the University of Florida for a collaborative project to optimize operation of undersea robots (ROVs) for offshore industries and workers. Led by Eric Jing Du, Ph.D., a civil associate professor within the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment (ESSIE), the project leverages the combined research of an interdisciplinary team within the University of Florida.

A team of researchers at the University of Florida will explore ways to increase trustworthiness and interpretability of artificial machine learning in healthcare under a new $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The team will also investigate ways to use AI to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases earlier.

“Everybody is calling it the new electricity,” said Diego Alvarado, M.E., an instructional assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. “It’s under the hood of almost everything. We need to be able to understand it.”

The first annual student Internet of Things (IoT) Design Competition recently wrapped up after nearly two months of competition. The national competition, hosted by the University of Florida IoT Students Club, required teams to design, build, and demonstrate the functionality of an IoT edge device to solve a real-world problem.

A multidisciplinary research team that includes Alina Zare, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Daisy Zhe Wang, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, is developing ways to understand the changes taking place in forests and protect the ecosystem benefits trees offer.

Damon Woodard, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), is using AI methods to develop algorithms that can detect deepfakes, while Sanjeev Koppal, Ph.D., an assistant professor in ECE, is building cameras that are intelligent about capturing data in order to preserve people’s privacy.