As the devastating flash floods that struck Central Texas on July 4, continue to impact communities across the state, first responders remain on the front lines, navigating both physical danger and the mental stress these disasters leave behind. For many, the emotional strain of responding to large-scale crises is made even heavier when children are among the victims.

, executive director of and trustee chair and Pegasus Professor of psychology and medical education, knows this burden well. UCF RESTORES provides clinical treatment services to first responders, front-line medical personnel, military veterans, active-duty military personnel, and survivors of mass violence and natural disasters. Since the program’s founding in 2011, Beidel and her team have treated 1,300 first responders through its innovative program, which includes elements of virtual reality. UCF RESTORES’ treatment success rates far exceed the national average, with 76% of first responders no longer meeting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criteria after three weeks of treatment.

The UCF RESTORES team has responded to the scenes of many disasters, including the Pulse nightclub shooting, Surfside condo collapse, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and many hurricanes.

Below are a few of Beidel’s insights regarding first responders helping with the Texas floods.

Having so many children as victims can have an “especially profound” psychological impact.

The most common reason first responders seek help from UCF RESTORES is trauma involving the deaths of children. Pediatric fatalities leave a lasting emotional imprint, more than almost any other type of event. When multiple children are injured or killed in a single incident, that emotional burden becomes even more overwhelming.

Trauma can hit even harder for first responders who are parents of young children.

We’ve heard from many firefighters and rescue personnel who’ve told us that, in the moment, they suddenly saw their own child in the victim. Others have shared that in their nightmares after the event, it’s their own child they’re trying to save. As a therapist, that’s a group I would want to monitor closely and support through proactive mental health care.

First responders can experience a range of emotional and psychological reactions in the weeks and months to come.

It’s not uncommon for them to struggle with sleep, appetite or intrusive thoughts about what they saw. For some, these symptoms may fade over time without the need for treatment. But for others, the distress can persist and even intensify, leading to conditions like PTSD, depression or panic attacks. When those symptoms start interfering with daily life — whether it’s difficulty focusing at work, withdrawing from family, becoming irritable or avoiding the job altogether — that’s often a sign that professional help is needed. Recovery looks different for everyone. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. At UCF RESTORES, we tailor treatment to each individual’s experience and needs, helping them regain control and begin to heal — both on the job and at home.

One of the most meaningful ways society can support first responders is by showing up for their loved ones.

Most people truly value the service and sacrifice of first responders, and saying “thank you” is always appreciated. But when possible, going beyond words can make an even greater impact. For instance, when responders are deployed to large-scale disasters, like the flooding in Texas, they can be away from home for weeks. That puts a real strain on the families they leave behind. Simple gestures such as offering to mow the lawn, pick up groceries or watch the kids so their partner can have a moment of rest can ease the load at home and give the responder peace of mind, knowing their family is being cared for. It’s in these everyday acts of kindness that we show real support, not just for the job they do, but for the sacrifices their whole family makes.

First responders who need assistance from UCF RESTORES are welcome to call 407-823-3910.

The team led by Psychology Assistant Professor Nichole Lighthall is working on exploitation susceptibility tool kits that could screen seniors’ cognitive abilities. These abilities influence their ability to think critically, a necessary skill for avoiding scams and falling victim to fraud.

The FBI estimates fraud complaints cost adults over 60 more than a $1 billion in 2020, an increase of $300 million over 2019. Common schemes like non-delivery of services, phony tech support and identity theft are especially a problem in Florida, with 20% of the population over the age of 65.

The research project will focus on identifying the factors that make victims most vulnerable, including pre-clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The research is funded by a four-year $742,833 grant from the Florida Department of Health.

“It’s important that we focus on older adults with mild cognitive impairments because they’re typically operating on their own,” Lighthall says. “They’re living independently but may have trouble remembering things, which increases their vulnerability to deception and exploitation.”

The research team includes Bonnie Levin, professor of Neurology at the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Miami, and Natalie Ebner, professor of Psychology at the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Florida.

The goal is to produce a tool kit similar to the cognitive assessments tools doctors use during office visits with senior patients. These screening tools help determine the level of cognition – the ability to remember and connect acquired knowledge to present day questions.

The team says their tool will help healthcare professionals screen for markers like an inability to read social and facial cues that betray someone’s true intentions. Other tools in the kit may include surveys and cognitive tests. Home nurses and social workers could potentially use the kit for assessments in non-clinical settings.

“The best scammers never get caught and the most vulnerable scam victims never detect their exploitation,” Lighthall says. “This is why our project is so important — because often times the deception is caught when it’s already too late.”

The idea is that if the risk factor is identified early, the elderly or their family members and friends can be alerted and take preventative measures.

The tool kit will be developed in part by following older adults over a handful of years who are already showing mild cognitive impairments and tracking their progress. Research also focuses on the exploitation risk between different racial and ethnic groups.

The researchers are working with LIFE at UCF, the Legacy Pointe at UCF senior living community, professionals in media and technology, as well as experts in elder law to optimize the tool kit for use with vulnerable older adults.

“Relationships of undue influence and identity theft scams that drain financial resources are issues that legal experts face and they want to find a better way to help prevent older adults from becoming destitute in the most vulnerable times of their life,” Lighthall says. “It’s important that we provide resources to prevent further deception and exploitation.”

Lighthall has a Ph.D. in gerontology from the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Southern California. She joined UCF in 2015 and her research focuses on decision making across adulthood. Levin has a Ph.D. in psychology and specializes in normative aging and early neurodegenerative disease. Ebner has a Ph.D in psychology and specializes in social-cognitive neuroscience in aging.

“With discoveries like this, you’re helping people get a part of their relative back,” Beidel said to the first responder. “You’ve helped them get closure. You’ve helped them get a piece of their mom back.”

He hadn’t really thought of it that way.

It’s conversations like these that Beidel, executive director of , and faculty members David Rozek and Amie Newins engaged in last week through Independence Day weekend in the South Florida town. They were on site as a mental-health resource for more than 300 first responders who had been tirelessly working since June 24 to uncover bodies. As of the afternoon on July 8, 60 victims were uncovered and 80 remain unaccounted for.

UCF RESTORES — a nationally known nonprofit trauma research center and treatment clinic — is the mental health partner of the Florida Firefighter Safety Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that educates and trains firefighters on physical and mental health. The Collaborative called RESTORES to Surfside to be on hand to help first responders. They provided psychological first aid — meeting with the search and rescue teams when they stopped for lunch or at the end of the day to check in on their mental wellbeing.

“Some were OK, and some needed to talk about what they saw. Our job is to let them know we’re there to help them and be there for them, now and down the line if they need it,” says Beidel, who alone spoke to about 100 first responders.

RESTORES has responded to other traumatic events, including the shootings at Pulse Nightclub in 2016 and in Las Vegas in 2017. The clinic has developed a number of strategies to help first responders process the stress of traumatic events like these that they work.

“There’s no one reaction to trauma, and we want them to know we’re here to help them through it.” — Deborah Beidel, executive director of UCF RESTORES

One service is a single session consultation line developed by Rozek, assistant professor of psychology, who also went to Surfside. The consultation line is free for first responders and in a 60-minute phone call, they can talk about their stressors and develop a plan with coping strategies with the help of a RESTORES therapist. For those who need additional support, RESTORES offers more intensive individualized and group therapy.

RESTORES was founded in 2011 with a mission to change the way PTSD is understood, diagnosed and treated. The organization’s unique approach to treatment, which combines exposure therapy using emerging technology like virtual reality, and individual and group therapy sessions, has resulted in 66 percent of participants with combat-related trauma and 76 percent of first responders no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD following three weeks of intensive treatment.

The high success rate has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense and the state government. This past legislative session, RESTORES was awarded $1 million to continue their research, education and delivery of no-cost PTSD treatment, thanks in large part to Rep. David Smith and Sen. Tom Wright.

“When you have people who have spent their lives being the helpers, it’s hard to ask for help,” Beidel says. “What we want them to know is that it’s OK to be OK. It’s OK to not be OK. It’s OK to be OK now, and not OK later. There’s no one reaction to trauma, and we want them to know we’re here to help them through it.”

That’s what sparked Blocker’s research idea, which he turned into a project he will share during the Student Scholar Symposium, part of UCF’s annual Student Research Week, March 29-April 2.

“I noticed the dynamics of couples within my inner circle,” Blocker says. “I wanted to test my hypothesis and see if there is, in fact, a direct impact of the pandemic on intimate relationships. My project aims to correlate the impact of the COVID pandemic on intimate relationships by analyzing relationships that began before and after the outbreak.”

Blocker says that he hopes when his research is complete it will help couples identify stressors in their relationship that the pandemic exacerbates so they can develop strategies to overcome the obstacles.

He plans to finish his bachelor’s degree in psychology this year and then get his doctorate in clinical psychology with hopes of becoming an associate professor of psychology.

“I am passionate about psychology because it grants us insight into the mind, and armed with that knowledge we are able to better understand ourselves and others,” he says.

To find out more about Blocker’s work and that of other undergraduate and graduate students, check out the Student Scholar Symposium during this year’s virtual . Hundreds of students will present their work. Anyone with a valid UCF email address is welcome to attend virtually. Details and schedule of all events are available on the website.

This is the second time Hancock has received this award for his scholarly work in the area of human factors. This award is for work he published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concerning the “Future of Transportation in an Era of Automated and Autonomous Vehicles.”

The award recognizes a peer-reviewed publication that addresses a significant problem in an innovative way and its relevance to advancing the scientific field of human factors. The national organization was founded in 1990 and works to encourage human factors considerations in the development of aerospace systems.

Human factors looks at improving the intersection between people and machines to maximize human performance and enhance safety. Much of this work is conducted in the area of simulation and modeling, which is why Hancock also has a joint appointment at the Institute of Simulation and Training. Hancock has been at the forefront of this research area since the 1970s. His early work on modeling physiological systems influenced both national and international standards for occupational stress exposure and he’s been honored numerous times over the past decade for his contributions. Most recently he was inducted into the National Center for Simulation’s Modeling and Simulation Hall of Fame.

Hancock, a Pegasus and Provost Distinguished Professor in the past five years has been named to several high-profile national boards and earned multiple awards. They include:

• United States Air Force, Science Advisory Board
• United States Army, Science Advisory Board
• Paul Bert Award, Aerospace Physiology Society
• International Ergonomics Association Outstanding Educator Award
• Sidney D. Leverett Jr. Environmental Science Award, Aerospace Medical Association
• Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award

Hancock also has a joint appointment in the Departments of Industrial and Systems Engineering and in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCF.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in March, the country’s business landscape has rapidly shifted in favor of remote work, with very little time to plan for many companies. Researchers will review how companies moved to secure at-home work environments, examine remote workspaces and assess the overall impact on sensitive organizational information. What Posey’s team finds will likely have implications for companies long after COVID-19.

“In a nutshell, COVID-19 has thrown many things out of whack and prompted rapid decision-making for organizational leaders,” Posey says. “This research will be important for executives overseeing employees in non-traditional work environments.”

As businesses continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, employees are learning to share their workspaces with children, pets and housemates — all the while dealing with the resulting distractions. These unexpected working conditions can create a variety of responses among employees. Posey hopes his team’s research will uncover these behaviors and help prevent cybersecurity threats at companies large and small.

“Some employees might pay more attention to cybersecurity risks in the face of a disaster like the coronavirus because they are in a protective state of mind,” Posey says. “On the other hand, the added stress from working at home could lead other employees to pay less attention to security and take risky shortcuts and workarounds.”

Supported by the National Science Foundation’s Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program, the UCF team will identify a sample of workers temporarily assigned to their homes due to the pandemic. Participants will be surveyed over a two-week period on their daily attitudes, stressors, actions and emotions regarding cybersecurity. In-depth interviews and assessments will be performed using several pools of participants working at home. Associate Professor Mindy Shoss of UCF’s Industrial/Organizational Psychology program will co-lead the research team with Posey. The proposal was accepted by the NSF as part of its Rapid Response Research funding mechanism, which supports studies with a severe urgency.

Posey received his doctorate in business administration from Louisiana Tech şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą and joined UCF’s , part of UCF’s College of Business, in 2017. He is also a member of UCF’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Cluster.

Shoss earned her doctorate degree in industrial and organizational psychology from the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Houston. She joined UCF in 2015.

About UCF College of Business Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business— AACSB International. The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. Learn more at .

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 and students in undergraduate STEM education; how faculty and students reacted to the changes; and will use the findings to develop recommendations for universities to protect the integrity of their STEM education programs.

NSF awarded the researchers $113,316 for the project.

“We realized that institutions may differ in the degree to which they were ready for the transition to remote instruction and in the resources that they have available to help this transition go smoothly,” says Kristin Horan, an assistant professor in UCF’s and principal investigator of the project.

“We began to hear stories of ways that institutions communicated changes or provided resources that reduced stress among faculty and students, and we wanted to explore how we might give voice to these experiences across the country so that we could all learn from this crisis,” Horan says.

The researchers specifically are focusing on STEM disciplines since students in these fields often need hands-on, in-person training and education, which may be difficult to do remotely.

“This unexpected change in instructional methods could represent many challenges and opportunities in the education of our future workforce, and ultimately, their preparedness for work,” Horan says.

The researchers will use surveys and interviews with undergraduate students and faculty in STEM disciplines to find out their experiences and obtain organizational policies and communications related to COVID-19 from universities. They want to understand what STEM faculty and students felt worked and didn’t as a result of the way their university communicated their COVID-19 policies, including plans for moving to remote instruction.

The findings of the one-year project will be made available online and disseminated to institutions of higher learning.

The research team includes Mindy Shoss, an associate professor in UCF’s Department of Psychology and co-principal investigator; and Chelsea LeNoble and Allison Kwesell, assistant professors in Embry-Riddle’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Horan received her master’s and doctorate in industrial organizational psychology from Bowling Green State şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą and joined UCF’s Department of Psychology, part of UCF’s , in 2017.

Shoss received her master’s and doctorate in industrial organizational psychology from the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Houston and joined UCF’s Department of Psychology in 2015.

“If I didn’t win this year, none of this [hard work] was really worth it,” says Perry, who walked away from the sport at age 13 but an opportunity with UCF Sport Clubs brought him back.

The psychology major in the College of Sciences led the Knights by taking first place in his weight class. Ironically, the wrestler began his career in the hopes of improving his chances of success in another sport: football. But along the way, many wrestling experts recognized his wrestling talent.

After walking away from wrestling for three years to try other sports, Perry went to American Top Team, a martial arts and athletic training facility in Orlando for some casual fun. Perry says he missed the individuality of wrestling, unlike other sports he participated in. American Top Team owner Jayson Patino spotted Perry and told him that he could be a valuable attribute to the Wrestling Club at UCF.

“He told me I would do very good right off the bat,” Perry says. “Five years later I am an undefeated national champ.”

Perry’s athletic success as a freshman was enough to solidify his confidence in being a leader in the Wrestling Club. He described his freshman year involvement in Sport Clubs as a turning point for his wrestling career. He thanked coaches J.D. Robbins, C.J. Cook, Jason Balma and David Setner and his many training partners throughout his collegiate career.

He also credits his competitive personality in separating himself from other athletes.

“I love winning so much,” he says, “but the biggest thing is that I hate losing so much.”

Perry hopes to continue to be involved in wrestling for the rest of his life. His advice to his successors is not to focus so much on the start, but to focus on the finish during their wrestling careers.

This is the 19^th individual national title for a UCF Sport Clubs member. UCF also has 20 club national titles.

But maybe that can only be expected of the UCF psychology graduate who works as the announcer of the CBS game show Let’s Make a Deal, and who often gets involved during the show doing improv with host Wayne Brady and contestants.

“Live improv is still my favorite thing to do,” says Mangum, who has been friends with the show’s host since the two worked together at Orlando’s SAK Comedy Lab in the ’90s. “I’ve been touring with Wayne Brady for almost 20 years now, doing a two-person Whose Line-style show,” referring to the televised improv series Whose Line Is It Anyway?.

Mangum moved to Orlando after his first year at LSU to work at Disney World. He said he liked Orlando and working at the park, so he enrolled at Valencia College to earn his associate degree. After Valencia, he earned his bachelor’s degree at UCF while he taught, performed and honed his improv skills at SAK.

His first TV job was at the Nickelodeon TV network in Orlando when he appeared on the show Clarissa Explains it All as a pizza-delivery driver. Then after moving to Los Angeles in 1995, he appeared in hundreds of commercials, , appeared in several movies, and became part of the cast of the Whose Line is it Anyway?. His scripted TV appearances were both comedy and drama, as he appeared in such shows as The Drew Carey Show, Reno 911!, Just Shoot Me!, ER and NCIS.

“I eventually landed the Let’s Make a Deal job after Wayne asked for me personally to fill that spot. I had never announced anything before that,” says Mangum, who has been the show’s announcer since 2009. “He’s a super loyal guy and I love him for that.”

While a student at UCF, Mangum says he loved creative writing classes and playing saxophone in the jazz band.

“Many of my friends went to UCF including the Blair Witch guys (Ben Rock ’95, Dan Myrick, ’93, Greg Hale ’95 and Ed Sanchez ’94). I got to be in many of their student films,” he says. “I thought it was a well-run school with great teachers and staff. After coming from LSU, it still felt big, but not too big.”

He made it back to Orlando for Wayne Brady Day on Oct. 12, as declared by Mayor Buddy Dyer. Mangum joined Emmy winner Brady, who graduated from Dr. Phillips High School, to perform at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando.

Mangum is making some nice deals of his own these days.

His Let’s Make a Deal schedule calls for shooting three episodes a day, four days a week for about four months, netting 175 hour-long episodes. This gives him eight months to pursue other projects, he said.

In addition to roles in several film and TV projects this year, he writes and produces a fun short animated program about a southern man called Cooter’s News on Facebook @cootersnews, and soon will be in his first drama feature film, A Patient Man, a project with two other UCF graduates produced by Jason Moyer ’98 and written/directed by Kevin Ward ’00. For more release information follow @apatientmanmovie on Instagram.

What comedy/acting/TV advice does Mangum have for UCF students?

“It’s all networking,” he says. “Don’t expect to be successful after a year or two. Look more at 10-year time lines. The people you hang out with in your 20s will be writers, directors, producers and agents in their 30 and 40s — and they’ll be your friends.”

Here are a few photos that capture the event :

With this being the second year UCF has hosted this particular project, 28 out of the 30 total trees included were sponsored by colleges, departments and organizations at the university. The proceeds raised from these sponsorships will be used to create a supply closet managed by VARC in the spring. These supplies include items student-veterans need, such as audio pen recorders, blue books, USB drives, notebooks and planners.

“The symbolic wrapping of trees with a yellow cord is echoing the song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” by Tony Orlando and Dawn, [which helped spark the tradition of using yellow ribbons to show support for veterans]. This is generations of a tradition that symbolizes welcoming home veterans and accepting their changes, whether they have severe PTSD or they’re just coming back from a more civil job. Just being there for them through that transition is very important,” Walsh says.

There are currently 1,500 student veterans enrolled at UCF, says Tiffany Rivera, assistant director for educational and training programs in UCF’s . The  is a an oral initiative that collects, preserves and honors our nation’s heroes by taking time to listen to their experiences.

Walsh studied psychology and was in ROTC at the university from 2010 to 2014. Her appreciation for the military developed as a child because she has had family members serve in all five branches of the military. “When I was in college here I intended to go into the military but because of health reasons I was not able to pursue that. So this is a way for me to show that support and camaraderie for those soldiers,” says Walsh.

Two students stop to check out a macraméd tree and a sign indicating which department at UCF sponsored it.

Two students work on wrapping up a tree.

While a student, Walsh spent some of her free time learning to macramĂ©. She intended to work with veterans through art therapy after graduation. Now she helps to support veterans and other communities throughout Central Florida through her macramĂ© work. “I like to share macramĂ© so that we can all come together for a purpose,” Walsh says. “Tying a cord around a tree has usually been a bow, but the act was always a hand knotted bow and macramĂ© literally means hand-knotting, so we’re doing that same thing but in a more impactful way.”