At Kurd Qaburstan, an ancient site in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, a UCF-led team has uncovered the first substantial group of cuneiform tablets found in the Erbil region, along with evidence of large-scale destruction, mass graves and citywide fortifications. Together, the discoveries are providing one of the clearest archaeological records yet uncovered of siege warfare and urban life during the Middle Bronze Age.

“Our 2025 research produced clear archaeological evidence linking the site to the siege of Qabra, beginning with the first significant group of cuneiform tablets found on the Erbil Plain,” says Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, associate professor of history at UCF and director of the Kurd Qaburstan project. “Several tablets are dated within days of each other, matching the timeline of the city’s fall.”

The project is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and conducted in partnership with the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Heritage in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The funded excavations took place during two summer seasons in 2024 and 2025.

A Lost Archive Emerges

Researchers recovered 20 cuneiform tablets and more than 100 administrative sealings from destruction layers within the Lower Town East Palace. The artifacts are being studied by epigraphers Paul Delnero (Johns Hopkins șŁœÇֱȄ) and Parker Zane (Yale șŁœÇֱȄ), along with art historian Marian Feldman (Johns Hopkins șŁœÇֱȄ).

The texts include palace administrative records and a letter that may reference a high-ranking official connected to Qabra. Some inscriptions may also correspond to the destruction described on the Victory Stele of Dadusha.

“Most of the tablets are administrative and provide a snapshot of palace life and the economy of the ancient city,” Earley-Spadoni says. “One tablet appears to have been written by a high-ranking official in ancient Qabra.”

Evidence of Siege Warfare

Collapsed structures, burned layers and concentrated debris suggest a coordinated and possibly prolonged assault.

“The two superimposed destructions match the historical sequence of the siege of Qabra and its conquest by Shamshi Addu,” Earley-Spadoni says. “The charred debris, the large number of ceramic vessels and individuals who met untimely deaths and were buried in the destruction layers, provide the clearest archaeological case of Middle Bronze Age siege warfare yet discovered in northern Mesopotamia.”

The Human Toll of Conflict

Within the palace destruction layers, researchers discovered the remains of 17 individuals, studied by bioarchaeologist Andrea Zurek-Ost at Michigan State șŁœÇֱȄ.

“The individuals were not formally buried and had no associated grave goods,” Earley-Spadoni says. “Some appear to have been left where they died, including possible palace workers. One individual was found face down over a stone basin.”

Researchers also uncovered a preserved street with an engineered drainage system and domestic spaces used for food processing and textile production, pointing to sophisticated infrastructure and economic activity.

Mapping an Ancient City at Scale

“The evidence from Kurd Qaburstan shows that northern cities could be large, complex, and politically significant, with administrative systems, fortifications, and infrastructure comparable to those of the best-known southern sites.”—Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, director of the Kurd Qaburstan Project

The team also completed a magnetometer survey covering more than 80 hectares (about 180 acres). The survey, which measures changes in Earth’s magnetic field to detect buried structures, was led by Andrew Creekmore III at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Northern Colorado. The survey revealed a monumental wall with bastions encircling the site.

The fortifications correspond with those depicted on the Victory Stele of Dadusha and support the identification of Kurd Qaburstan as the ancient city of Qabra.

Rewriting the Story of Northern Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is often associated with southern cities like Uruk, long viewed as the center of early urban civilization. Discoveries at Kurd Qaburstan are helping highlight the value of northern cities, Earley-Spadoni says.

“The evidence from Kurd Qaburstan shows that northern cities could be large, complex, and politically significant, with administrative systems, fortifications, and infrastructure comparable to those of the best-known southern sites,” she says.

These discoveries build on a decade of prior excavation at Kurd Qaburstan by Johns Hopkins șŁœÇֱȄ, revealing a city long absent from the historical record.

“Laboratory investigations are underway, including isotopic and ancient DNA analyses of the 17 individuals,” Earley-Spadoni says. “This work will help researchers understand their origins and relationships.”

Each discovery brings researchers closer to understanding how this ancient city functioned and how it ultimately fell.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award No. 2344957. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. Work was conducted with the permission, support, and collaboration of the Directorate-General of Antiquities of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Director-General Kak Kaify Mustafa Ali, and the Erbil Department of Antiquities, Director Kak Nader Babakr.

On how the ocean changed him:

I’ve never been as calm as I’ve been since returning to land. I’m a kind of restless person in general, somewhat impulsive in certain contexts. I always feel the need to do something, another adventure in nature. I have this fire in me that just makes me adventurous. But I think the success of the crossing, including the three years of preparation, gave me a lot of confidence. And with confidence, I think came the calmness of knowing I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone anymore.

World Ocean Day is June 8.

On UCF’s influence in pursuing his dreams:

It was once a dream of mine to leave my home country and do research with NASA. Coming to UCF, I realized that dream. Maybe at one point I wouldn’t have been able to think rowing an ocean was possible, but achieving my dream at UCF gave me the courage to try.

On the role a common goal can have in a team’s viability:

Our ultimate goal was to cross the ocean such that we would be willing and able to do it again in the next few years with the same team. This is the first time I am admitting out loud, I think we failed at that — none of us wishes to row an ocean again, nor are we planning another adventure with the same team.

So, though I have to admit we didn’t succeed in the ultimate holistic goal that we had, I think our crossing in general was quite successful. What I didn’t understand going into this was how strongly a common goal can influence your ability to withstand stress, interpersonal stress or annoyances from other team members. Everyone in this team had to work properly for us to be able to complete the goal. So even though we had that interpersonal tension and occasional conflicts, because of the salience of the shared goal, we were able to work through it.

On the breathtaking force of mother nature:

The ocean is so vast and so powerful. You’re nothing. We felt that the most when we had a school of whales approaching us from the stern. We saw them breaching, and then one whale swam under our boat, and we saw that it was longer than our boat, like 30 feet at least. It could have just pushed our boat over and do whatever it wanted with us. We had no power whatsoever.

And I really enjoyed the storms. During the last week we had such a strong wind coming from behind, with rain falling literally horizontally. It hurts when it hits you. The rain comes on so strong. And then the wind was so strong that it just pushed our boat. We usually did like 3 knots on our own, but the speed at that moment was 7 knots without rowing. We raised our oars and they became sails basically. We felt how the wind pushed through our oars. You’re just experiencing this unbelievable power of nature. It was amazing.

On his new motto — “Don’t fight with the ocean”:

Just don’t fight with the ocean because you can’t win. There is no point. Just let things be, let them go. I think this was one of the things that I really took back with me from the experience. I can apply this anywhere. Like at the workplace, if we have colleagues who are difficult to deal with, you can’t change them. You can’t fight with the ocean. You can only change your own reactions and thoughts.

On halfway home still being a far way to go:

After we crossed the halfway point, it became more difficult. You would expect that maybe it gets easier because, oh, half is done, only half more to go, but only half more is still 20 days. It’s three more weeks. It’s still a lot of time to be thinking about, What do you want do when you finish? What do you want to eat? What are you going to do when you get back home? I think we as a team mentally got to the finish too fast. We really had to take a step back and remind ourselves to take it two hours at a time.

On the feeling of seeing land for the first time after 39 days:

We arrived at sunrise. When the light appeared and we saw those cliffs, it’s just something so overwhelming and unique, this feeling of, ‘It’s over. It’s done — 40 days of suffering basically has ended.’ As we entered the harbor, we saw our family and friends were up there on the cliff, waving the flags and then the finish flare going off. It was the high point, definitely.

On how the experience gave insight into his research on teams in extreme, isolated and confined environments:

I think one of the main takeaways that I got from this project was really that preparation is everything. Everyone externally was focusing on the mission, the row, because of course that’s the exciting part. For us, completing the row was the goal, but it’s the smallest piece of the whole project. The three years of preparation and those difficulties that we had, this was much more important.

So now for my research, I’m thinking, we’re always focusing on the part or the actual mission. It’s not necessarily irrelevant, but the mission is the outcome. The input that we should study is before the mission, the preparations. So that informs my future research quite a bit.

On what’s next:

I graduate in the summer. Days before we started the race, I accepted a job offer, which was a relief. I was prepared to take job interviews on the boat. I’m starting as an assistant professor of industrial/organizational psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson șŁœÇֱȄ in New Jersey in August.

I realized that I don’t like this type of several-weeks-endurance events, it’s too monotonous, too dull. I was thinking that my next big thing would be skiing across Greenland, which is more than a month as well. But now, no, thank you. There’s not enough variability, or excitement, for me. I love mountaineering, summiting a mountain in a few days. I just bought new mountain boots, so I think this will be my next thing.

Name: Christopher Emrich
±ÊŽÇČőŸ±łÙŸ±ŽÇČÔ(Čő):ÌęBoardman Endowed Professor of Environmental Science and Public Administration and founding member of UCF’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research

Why are you interested in this research?
A main reason stems from my childhood in Florida — constantly being exposed to a variety of hazards and seeing how communities were impacted in different ways. Being able to study geography at a state university, the  șŁœÇֱȄ of South Florida, and then completing my Ph.D. at the șŁœÇֱȄ of South Carolina under the tutelage of leading experts in the field really helped solidify that I wanted to become an expert in both the hazards themselves and what we can do to prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and rebound from them.

My time with FEMA supporting long-term recovery in Florida pushed me further to understand what is keeping people from recovering as quickly as some might expect. Tying all of these strings together really helped me pinpoint that one of the problems is that people are thirsty for knowledge. Learning how to turn data into information in order to extract meaningful knowledge has positioned me into a place that has meaning and impact for those attempting to make real-time decisions about hazards and disasters — from before the storm through the recovery period.

Who inspires you to conduct your research?
Seeing the suffering that takes place following disaster — suffering that could be avoided if society (people, governments and organizations) took the right steps to prepare for disasters — is what really drives what I do. I think that we can make simple changes to the way we do business that could lead to really impactful positive outcomes for disaster survivors.

How does UCF empower you to do your research?
UCF has given me space and opportunity to explore the different aspects of hazard threat identification and vulnerability assessment.  Partnering with experts at DIST, and partners at FDOH, and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (among others)  we have been able to create open access websites like hazardaware.org, vulnerabilitymap.org, hazardrisk.org, and the Florida Public Health Risk Assessment tool (flphrat.com).  Each of these share the common goal of translating data into knowledge to support better emergency management decision making and preparedness planning.

What major grants and honors have you earned to support your research?
Since arriving at UCF, I have been awarded $10.8 million across 34 different extramurally supported grants and contracts. This includes grants of over $300K from funders including the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, the State of Florida, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Along the way, I have been awarded UCF’s Research Incentive Award twice (2021 and 2026) and UCF’s Luminary Award.

Why is this research important?
American political philosopher John Rawl’s once said, “The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position.”

I think it is a responsibility of each person, each organization, each governmental entity  — and society as a whole —  to support those who need the most help among us. If we do not, how can we ever hope to move our society into a better position? My research supports making decisions that help those in most need, including those most at risk and with the least resources, to be better positioned for the next disaster.

±á±đ°ùÌęresearch, backed by a five-year $813,130 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant, found that an antimicrobial peptide naturally found in cows weakens the biofilm defenses of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria and destroys it.

Now in their fourth year of research, Fleeman and her lab have discovered exactly how the peptide works in findings published in PLOS Pathogens.

“Our research is very advantageous for healthcare because about 80% of bacterial infections being treated in the clinic are bacteria living in a biofilm state, which makes them resistant to virtually every antibiotic available,” she says.

The results represent a critical step to potentially applying this peptide as a therapy and eventually treating patients, as the findings show they can and kill biofilm-embedded bacteria in animal models.

Parsing out the Peptide

K. pneumoniae is found in the intestines and is usually harmless, however, the bacterium develops resistance over a person’s lifetime as they are exposed to antibiotics. The bacteria also can spread from the intestine to other parts of the body in immunocompromised patients and those who have internal ruptures or exposure to contaminated medical devices. That exposure can lead to pneumonia, urinary tract or wound infections.

“What happens is the bacteria infects the wound, proliferates, and then invades through the bloodstream where it travels to the liver, kidneys and spleen,” Fleeman says. “We found our peptide was able to decrease the bacteria at the source while limiting the bacteria’s ability to move through the blood.”

Fleeman and her lab’s most recent study found that the peptide triggers a dual stress response that tricks the bacteria to break out of their protective biofilm.

They discovered the genetics of a specific protein in the bacterium when turned on in the germ causes it to break from its own protective biofilm. The peptide, in effect, damages the protection and then stresses the bacterium into shedding its protection, making the germ more sensitive to antibiotics and the body’s immune system.

“By hitting the membrane as well as protein synthesis at the same time, it’s a double punch that triggers a genetic change in the cell to make it think it needs to break out of the biofilm as a response to our peptide,” Fleeman says.

The team says their sustained research aims to demonstrate that their peptide can work synergistically with existing antibiotics. They envision long-term applications could involve a topical cream that weakens the bacteria’s defenses and allows standard antibiotics to work more effectively.

“We’re moving our research forward and we’re very hopeful,” Fleeman says.

Preparing for the Post-Antibiotic Era

The first author of this new work is Robert Beckman ’23, who graduated from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in health sciences, managed Fleeman’s lab and is now on his way to the șŁœÇֱȄ of Michigan for his Ph.D.

His previous work as an EMT gave him firsthand exposure to infectious diseases and their impact on patients. He says helping to lead the study and working with Fleeman helped prepare him for a career in medical research.

“I have developed a strong foundation in research and gained insight into the many components that define an effective scientist,” he says. “My long-term goal is to remain in academia and eventually lead my own research lab. I plan to continue focusing on bacteriology, with a particular emphasis on pathogenic bacteria and drug discovery applications.”

Funding and Disclosure:

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R00AI163295. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

A newly published study in  is taking a broader look at how societies have organized power across history, combining archaeological and historical evidence to better understand governance over time.

Coauthor Sarah “Stacy” Barber, professor and associate chair for UCF’s , says the project was driven in part by the growing availability of archaeological data and a need to think more expansively about human history.

“Archaeology has been a scientific area of study for about a century, so we now have 100 years of aggregate data about ancient societies,” Barber says.

She explains that many past societies are often excluded from research because they did not leave behind written records the way most European, South Asian and East Asian societies did. Incorporating archaeological evidence ensures that the interpretation of ancient governance is not limited to societies with written history but instead allows for the reflection of an array of human experience.

“When we forget about huge swaths of our past, we are weakening our ability to make decisions in the present, so anything that broadens our knowledge of how people can be people is a good thing,” Barber says. “It opens paths to other options that may be more sustainable or more just in the future.”

Challenging Assumptions About Power

One of the study’s key findings challenges the assumption that population size determines how power is organized.

Although very densely populated societies are more likely to align with an autocracy — one person ruling with absolute power — Barber says the study found there are other options for managing large populations that do not require autocratic governance.

Instead, access to resources and funding play a more critical role in shaping governance structures.

“When the governing entities are relying on funding that comes from taxation and the general population, the population is going to have more influence in governing decisions, and leaders are constrained in how they can decide to use those resources,” she says.

The study also points to a connection between governance and potential for imbalance.

“The less your governing regime has to answer to the populace, the more your governing regime can amass wealth for its own interests as opposed to the interests of everyone,” Barber says.

Expanding the Definition of Governance

The study approaches governance as a spectrum rather than a set of fixed categories, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of how societies function and the wide range of ways that humans organize themselves. To analyze governance across societies, the research team developed an index focused on two key factors: how concentrated power is and how much of the population is involved in decision making.

“We broke it down in terms of how many individuals or entities were involved in making decisions for a general population, and what proportion of the population was involved or had a voice in governing decisions,” Barber says.

Looking Ahead

Barber says the team’s plans for future research could expand the number of cases studied to determine whether findings shift as more societies from additional world regions are included.

More broadly, she says the work creates space for scholars to revisit fundamental ideas about governance.

“This research offers opportunities for scholars across the social sciences to reconsider what we mean by ‘democracy’ and to try and refine our understanding of how different aspects of governance affect the well-being of everyday citizens,” she says. “We have the choice to reframe the way we live and redirect our futures, if we as a society deem it necessary. The future is not inevitable, and history shows us that.”

The funding for this project was provided to the project leads by The Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis, the Amerind Foundation, and the Field Museum of Natural History provided the funds to hold two workshops at the Amerind Foundation in Dragoon, Arizona. Publication support was provided to co-author David Stasavage by Arts & Science at New York șŁœÇֱȄ.

Dinender Singla, professor and head of the College of Medicine’s Division of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Sciences, developed a system that turns exosomes — vesicles that cells secrete to communicate with one another — into delivery vehicles for medical treatments.

This innovative technology, for which UCF is seeking patent protection, places therapeutics inside exosomes and coats them with cell-specific markers that direct them to an exact area of the body to deliver the drug.

“I call these smart tiny bubbles,” Singla says. “Millions of people have heart disease, and they take multiple drugs in extremely high doses. But we have no way to be certain these drugs are getting to where they need to go. We need innovative technologies to get treatments exactly where they need to go to cure the problem.”

How the Therapy Works

This discovery is part of Singla’s work to provide therapies to treat and prevent heart disease, including heart damage caused by cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and targeted radiation to the chest. That heart damage seems to be caused by inflammatory factors that treatments use to kill cancer cells. Technology developed by Singla encapsulates anti-inflammatory heart treatments in exosomes and then delivers the drug to the exact area of heart damage.

“They can treat cancer and protect the heart.” — UCF Professor Dinender Singla

As part of this research, Singla’s team also developed technologies to deliver cancer-killing drugs inside exosomes. They chose triple-negative breast cancer for their research, the deadliest form of the disease, with a 77%–78% five-year survival rate. In the lab, the therapy showed significant promise in killing cancer cells – at much lower doses that are used in chemotherapy – while also protecting the heart. So the exosome therapy could help cancer patients without the severe side effects of chemotherapy.

“These therapies can work hand-in-hand,” Singla said. “They can treat cancer and protect the heart.”

Financial Investment is Key for Drug Development

The next step will be manufacturing the therapy for clinical use and advancing into FDA clinical trials for heart disease and cancer treatment. To help accelerate that path, Singla partnered with Orlando investor and UCF donor Chakri Toleti, a healthcare technology entrepreneur focused on building category-defining businesses through AI and agentic platforms, biomedical innovation and ambient intelligence including most recently care.ai, which was acquired by Stryker in 2024.

Through his innovation fund, TCapital, Toleti backs transformative technologies designed to improve healthcare delivery and reduce human suffering at scale. Together, Singla and Toleti invested in and formed Exomic to fund continued research, clinical development, and commercialization of the technology.

“This was an opportunity to do something truly innovative in cancer and cardiovascular treatment.” — Chakri Toleti, UCF donor

Toleti says his passion for advancing cancer research is deeply personal after losing his father to the disease.

“This was an opportunity to do something truly innovative in cancer and cardiovascular treatment,” he says. “Dr. Singla’s work represents a fundamental shift toward new biomedical platforms not only in how targeted therapies are delivered in the human body, but in how we think about treatment and healing itself.”

Such public-private partnerships are one of the goals of , which drives innovation, enterprise, and collaboration across disciplines.

“Dr. Singla’s groundbreaking exosome delivery system perfectly exemplifies how university innovation translates into significant, life-saving benefits for society,” says Winston V. Schoenfeld, vice president for research and innovation. “As demonstrated by the creation of Exomic, industry partnership is essential for driving such pioneering technologies towards successful translation and real-world clinical use.”

The effort is also providing exciting learning opportunities for College of Medicine graduate students. Jonatas De Mendonca Rolando ’23MS ’26PhD earned his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences earlier this month. He is staying at UCF as a post-doctoral researcher to continue creating the exosome therapy.

He helped develop protocols and procedures for the delicate technology and saw its impact in the lab. He’s excited to have a financial supporter who can help take the therapy from lab to, he hopes, patients.

“It’s been amazing to part of a high-tech project and see leadership in science,” he says. “I am very excited for my future.”

Researcher Background

Singla is the AdventHealth Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Sciences at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and is a faculty fellow with the UCF Office of Research. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Punjabi șŁœÇֱȄ, Patiala, India, and his Ph.D. from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and has continually been funded by the American Heart Association and/or the National Institutes of Health since 2004.

About TCapital

TCapital is an AI, Frontier Tech and Life Sciences innovation fund investing in category-defining platforms and infrastructure. Founded by healthcare technology entrepreneur Chakri Toleti, T-Capital invests in companies shaping the future of treatment, care, and biomedical innovation. For more information, visit TCapital.com.

Some of the nation’s most promising scientists can be found in Will Furiosi ’13 ’14MAT’s Oviedo High School classroom.

Spend five minutes talking to Ankan Das, Angela Calvo-Chumbimuni and Moitri Santra about their research innovations in robotics, mental health and agriculture, and one truth becomes quite clear: These teens are the real deal.

Backed by UCF associate professors Ellen Kang (physics and NanoScience Technology Center) and Candice Bridge ’07±Êłó¶Ù (chemistry) and researcher Max Kuehn ’22 (Exolith Lab), the Oviedo High trio recently earned recognition as the top three projects at Seminole County’s regional science fair.

With Oviedo’s proximity to main campus, the collaboration highlights UCF’s steadfast commitment to supporting STEM education across Central Florida.

They went on to represent the county admirably at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, where they took home several prizes against more than 1,700 high schoolers from around the globe.

Most notably, Santra took home first place and $6,000 in the Plant Sciences category and received the EU Contest for Young Scientists Award. She will represent Regeneron ISEF at the EU Contest for Young Scientists to be held this September in Kiel, Germany.

“Working in Dr. Kang’s lab played pretty big role in choosing materials science and engineering as my major for college because I was exposed to just how many different things someone can do in the area I work with, nanotechnology,” says Santra, a senior bound for Stanford who has worked with Kang since she was a freshman. “The lab provided a lot of resources — not just the instruments, but also mentorship, advice and support.”

A Will to Succeed

The hallway leading to Furiosi’s classroom is decorated with rows of blue, red, white, green, yellow and pink paper accomplishment ribbons. More ribbons, pennants and certificates adorn his walls, along with eight Science and Engineering Fair of Florida best-in-fair grand award senior division trophies — more than any other high school in the state.

During his own primary education, Furiosi attended eight schools over 12 years. As a seventh-grader at Stone Magnet Middle School in Brevard County, he was initially prohibited from participating in science fair because officials couldn’t verify Furiosi was capable of the coursework from his transfer transcripts. He would later go on to earn Order of Pegasus as a Burnett Honors Scholar majoring in biomedical sciences before earning his master’s degree in teacher education.

Every day, he saw a wall of ribbons, much like the ones in his classroom now. And every day he would tell himself, “I want to be one of those kids.”

That experience fundamentally shaped how the UCF grad runs his program today.

“What keeps me motivated is knowing that I have the opportunity to get people to be really prepared, informed citizens who are good thinkers, and who, when faced with a problem, smile and tackle it instead of running away,” Furosi says.

Infusing Life into Science

Furiosi began teaching at Oviedo High School in 2013 as he pursued his accelerated master’s degree, made possible by the College of Community Innovation and Education’s Resident Teacher Professional Preparation Program. The program, funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant, was created in response to the growing need for skilled workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Four years later, he took over the school’s science fair program and was determined to breathe new life into it, which at the time involved just four kids.

He cold called students in his AP Biology and Honors Chemistry courses, begging anyone who had shown a glimmer of interest during class to sign up so they wouldn’t have to fold the program.

Today, he’s at 46 students, with some, like Calvo-Chumbimuni, interested in joining the program as soon as they arrive at Oviedo High.

“My seventh grade science fair teacher knew Mr. Furiosi and spoke highly of him,” says Calvo-Chumbimuni, who earned fourth place ISEF’s biochemistry category this year. “When I came to Oviedo High and met him, I immediately understood why. The research program stood out to me as a valuable opportunity.”

Furiosi fosters a safe space to fail, learn and grow from the research. There are no barriers to entry; no project deemed too insignificant. And he stresses the merits of high-quality mentorship, like the ones Das, Santra, and Calvo-Chumbimuni formed with UCF faculty and STEM labs.

Some of his students have earned thousands of dollars in prizes — one alone pulled in $70,000 and is now studying at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Glasgow — at prestigious competitions sponsored by some of the tech industry’s biggest names, including Regeneron and Lockheed Martin, a UCF Pegasus Partner.

His alums have gone on to top research institutions including Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Stanford, and of course, UCF. One of those Knights is aerospace engineering grad Daniel Dyson ’21 ’22MS ’25PhD, who studied in Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Subith Vasu’s lab and now works for Relativity Space at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, America’s largest rocket propulsion test site.

“Mr. Furiosi really pushes you toward excellence,” says Das, a sophomore building a tensegrity robot with shape memory alloys that he tested at UCF’s Exolith Lab.

Supporting Excellence

An award-winning researcher who has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Kang is not easily impressed. Still, Santra made an immediate impression as an eighth grader when she first popped up Kang’s inbox, asking if she could present her idea on a nanoparticle treatment for citrus greening disease in Florida.

“I could clearly see that she had a firm understanding of the material and just thought, ‘Wow, she is really a force.’ I actually wanted to have my undergrad students see her presentation because of how professional she was, even at that young age,” Kang says. “She has this creativity, passion, persistence and resilience — all the key elements that you need as a successful STEM field researcher.”

Similarly, Bridge immediately noticed Calvo-Chumbimuni’s persistence and go-getter attitude when she initially connected with her two years ago. Driven by her interest in the intersection of neuroscience, psychology and analytical chemistry, Calvo-Chumbimuni pitched her idea to develop an electrochemical sensor and biosensor to improve diagnostic methods for mental health disorders.

“I’ve always appreciated her sense of humanity,” Bridge says. “I thought, ‘If you can foster someone who has this sort of compassion already, there are infinite possibilities for what they can do to benefit the community.’ ”

The two have been dedicated, active participants in their labs, regularly conducting research multiple days per week during the school year and, at times, daily over the summer.

The faculty and their doctoral students have mentored the high schoolers through instrumentation methods, analyzing data, the literature review process and their presentations.

Both presented continuations of their projects at ISEF — Calvo-Chumbimuni for her second-straight year, Santra for her third — while Das made his first time at the competition memorable with his fourth-place finish in the engineering technology: statics and dynamics category.

Kuehn, who is an engineer at , is accustomed to working with a variety of researchers and scientists who test their experiments and equipment at the Highland Regolith Test Bin. He says he was quickly intrigued by Das’ project, a lightweight and nimble robot that can expand, contract and move through electric current.

Das wanted to test the robot in lunar regolith — simulated moon dirt — because he envisions the tech behind his robot one day being utilized in lunar missions or search and rescue efforts in unstable environments.

“Max noticed that sometimes the motion was a little slow, so he gave some suggestions,” Das says. “Working in the lunar regolith chamber was a very insightful and eye-opening experience. I know I’m still in high school, but I’ve learned I want to do research for as long as I can because I really find this interesting.”

Which, at the end of the day, has been Furiosi’s mission all along.

“Research is not just in science. It is in all disciplines. There’s a lot of cool things that need to be discovered in all fields,” he says. “UCF’s expertise has been so invaluable in preparing my students for the future. A lot of these kids have wonderful ideas, and I really hope we can continue growing more professional support for them in any capacity.”

A future nurse adjusts their cap, preparing to enter a hospital where the need for care continues to grow.

An engineer looks out into the crowd, knowing the next step leads into an industry building what’s next.

At UCF, these moments don’t happen one by one. They happen all at once — thousands of stories, each with a different starting point, moving forward together.

Opportunity, Provided at Scale

At UCF, scale has always meant more than size.

It means access. It means opportunity. It means students who arrive with ambition and leave with proof.

More than 10,000 Knights make up the Spring Class of 2026.

Additionally, about 37% of bachelor’s degree recipients are eligible for Pell Grants, and about 22% are the first in their families to earn a college degree  — reflecting a university built to open doors and help students move through them.

This is scale with purpose.

Where Talent Meets Demand

UCF graduates move directly into high-demand fields — from hospitals and schools to tech firms, startups and public agencies.

This is a workforce built not just in classrooms, but for real-world impact.

Each year, the university awards nearly 19,000 degrees — more than any other institution in Florida — including leading the state in bachelor’s degrees in engineering and nursing. These two fields are essential to sustaining Florida’s economic growth and meeting the needs of an expanding population.

Turning Studies Into Real Skills

Before they graduate, Knights are already building career-ready experience.

That same hands-on approach extends into high-impact research across fields from computer vision to biotechnology to pediatric prosthetics.

Career Prep From the Start

Support starts early, and it’s designed to carry students all the way through.

From day one, students connect with career counselors who help them build resumes, practice interviewing, find internships and connect with employers.

And when it’s time to take the next step, campus-wide career fairs open the door. They’re a gateway for students to explore a wide range of career paths, get real insight from industry professionals and stay ahead in a fast-moving job market.

Retaining Talent Across Florida

The impact of a UCF education doesn’t leave with its graduates. In many cases, it stays — and grows.

But where graduates go next tells an even bigger story.In and around Orlando — the No. 2 Best City to Start a Career in America (WalletHub) and one of the fastest-growing hubs for innovation — that talent doesn’t just fill jobs.

It builds industries. It strengthens economies. It accelerates growth.

More Than a Milestone

Commencement is what everyone sees.

The walk. The tassel. The celebration.

But at UCF, it’s also something more.

Before students cross the stage, they’ve already built experience. By the time they graduate, they’re aligned with real-world demand. After they leave, they power the industries shaping Florida’s future and beyond.

Each commencement adds thousands more to that momentum. Each graduate strengthens the pipeline.

And across the state — and far beyond it — you can already see what they’re building.

As drones, air taxis and emergency aircraft begin to fill city skies, the biggest challenge may be invisible: how radio signals move through dense urban environments.

That future depends on reliable communication systems that can function reliably amid buildings, materials and interference, a problem UCF postdoctoral researcher Saumya Gupta is working to solve.

“Collaborating with NASA through the MUREP MPLAN program provides an opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research that supports the future of aviation and air mobility.” — Saumya Gupta, postdoctoral researcher

Gupta received a NASA Minority șŁœÇֱȄ Research and Education Project (MUREP) Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) award to study and model how radio signals behavior in complex urban environments. She is working with co-principal investigator , an associate professor in UCF’s , on a project titled “A Digital Twin for AAM Communication Channels.”

Gupta’s research focuses on urban air mobility, where drones, emergency response aircraft and potential air taxis depend on reliable communication networks to operate safely in dense cities. The work builds on a growing body of AAM research at UCF, including prior simulation efforts led by Professor Vela, by focusing specifically on how communication signals move through crowded cities.

“Collaborating with NASA through the MUREP MPLAN program provides an opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research that supports the future of aviation and air mobility,” Gupta says. “It allows our team at UCF to work on problems that are directly relevant to NASA’s AAM (advanced air mobility) mission while also benefitting from guidance and collaboration with NASA researchers. This partnership helps ensure that our research addresses real-world challenges in integrating new air vehicles into the national airspace.”

Building the Digital Twin

Traditional radio frequency prediction models often rely on simplified formulas that estimate how signals weaken over distance. While useful, these models lack the spatial and material detail needed to represent dense urban environments where glass, steel and concrete significantly affect signal behavior.

More advanced simulation tools can model signal reflection, absorption and diffraction using digital maps. Most maps include building shapes but not detailed material data, a factor that strongly influences how signals are transmitted.

To address this limitation, Dr.Gupta and Professor Vela, along with their research team, are developing a simulation-based digital twin, a virtual model of an urban communication environment that incorporates artificial intelligence to improve prediction accuracy.

“Reliable communication is essential for future systems such as drones, emergency response UAVs and urban air taxis.” — Saumya Gupta, postdoctoral researcher

Rather than relying solely on static maps, the system trains neural networks using signal data collected by uncrewed aerial vehicles. By analyzing how signal strength changes across locations, the system can infer building material properties and refine the model accordingly. Over time, this approach allows the digital twin to become more adaptive and better aligned with real-world conditions.

“Reliable communication is essential for future systems such as drones, emergency response UAVs and urban air taxis,” Gupta says. “By using a digital twin to model how buildings and materials affect radio frequency signals, this research helps identify where signals may weaken, become blocked or experience interference. These insights can guide safer routing, real-time coordination and the scalable airspace management that future urban air mobility will depend on.”

Strengthening Industry-Academic Partnerships

NASA’s MUREP program aims to broaden participation in aerospace research while strengthening partnerships between universities and NASA centers.

Through the MPLAN initiative, faculty researchers work directly with NASA scientists to develop technologies aligned with the agency’s long-term missions while also expanding opportunities for students to engage in aerospace research.

“We plan to expand student involvement as the project progresses,” Gupta says. “We also look forward to engaging with NASA researchers to provide mentorship and collaborative learning opportunities.”

In addition to Gupta’s project, UCF researcher Justin Urso also received a MUREP MPLAN award supporting research on communication and sensing systems for advanced air mobility, further reflecting UCF’s role in NASA’s urban initiatives. Urso is a research assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who conducts work in Professor Subith Vasu’s laboratory.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the Minority șŁœÇֱȄ Research and Education Project (MUREP) Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) program. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA. 

Four outstanding undergraduate students are redefining the boundaries of STEM through their high-impact research — and in doing so, placing the university among the nation’s top producers of Goldwater Scholars.

The prestigious Goldwater Scholarship identifies and supports the nation’s best student researchers in the fields of engineering, mathematics and natural sciences.

This year’s honorees — all expected to graduate next spring — have propelled UCF into an elite tier of research institutions, surpassing several Ivy League institutions and tying for fourth in the nation in total Goldwater Scholars produced alongside Stanford șŁœÇֱȄ, the șŁœÇֱȄ of Notre Dame and the șŁœÇֱȄ of Chicago. Their impactful work reflects UCF’s commitment to building a high-level research environment that empowers students to lead projects addressing significant global and scientific challenges.

Supporting Space Exploration

Goldwater Scholar: Keanu Brayman

Major: Mechanical engineering

Ultimate Goal: To develop robotic systems to support human exploration on Mars.

Keanu Brayman’s passion for space began early.

“One of my earliest memories is watching a Space Shuttle streak across the sky from a beach in South Florida,” Brayman says. “I remember being amazed there were people on board and feeling drawn to one day help explore the stars and discover what lies beyond our planet.”

At UCF, Brayman has refined that dream with the support of faculty and mentors — including Department of Physics Chair and Professor Adrienne Dove, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Tarek Elgohary and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Engineer Christopher Proctor — as well as through programs like the .

He plans to pursue a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering to support lunar exploration and NASA’s Artemis program, as well as develop robotic systems that can extract resources and build infrastructure to support human exploration on Mars.

Engineering the Brain

Goldwater Scholar: Kyle Coutray

Majors: Computer engineering and biomedical sciences

Ultimate Goal: To research ways to restore communication, movement and cognitive function to the brain through engineering methods.

Kyle Coutray is focused on the intersection of neuroscience and technology.

“I’m interested in building systems that interact directly with the brain,” Coutray says. “In the lab, 
 [I’m] blending [both majors] into one approach.”

He aims to pursue a doctoral degree in neural engineering to further his research on brain-computer interfaces that translate complex brain activity into useful functions.

A 2026 Order of Pegasus inductee and a Burnett Honors Scholar, Coutray credits his success to disciplined focus and strong mentorship, particularly from Charles N. Millican Professor of Computer Science Joseph LaViola and Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Helen Huang.

Advancing Patient Care

Goldwater Scholar: Varun Nannuri

Major: Molecular and cellular biology

Ultimate Goal: To pursue a career as a physician-scientist.

Varun Nannuri is driven by a desire to understand why people experience different health outcomes and improve care.

“Through my clinical experiences, I have seen how much patients and families rely on physicians during some of the most difficult moments of their lives,” Nannuri says. “My research experiences have shown me that better care depends on asking better questions.”

Nannuri plans to pursue a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree and become a physician-scientist. His ambition earned him recognition as a 2026 Order of Pegasus inductee while also completing his Honors Undergraduate Thesis. Nannuri is also a member of the Burnett Honors College as a Burnett Medical Scholar, a program that offers guaranteed admission to the UCF College of Medicine upon completion.

“UCF has given me opportunities to grow as a student, researcher, leader and future physician,” Nannuri says.

Restoring Human Senses

Goldwater Scholar: Trevor Overton

Majors: Electrical engineering and biomedical sciences

Ultimate Goal: To improve the lives of people with disabilities through advanced robotic prostheses.

Burnett Honors Scholar Trevor Overton’s work centers on neuroengineering and next-generation prosthetics.

“I’ve always had a passion for building things, and I also love reading and watching sci-fi,” Overton says. “When UCF offered me the opportunity to join the MEDD [ 
 I knew I had to take it.”

UCF’s MEDD program provides scientifically driven students like Overton with a unique opportunity to integrate engineering principles into medicine.

Much like the development of cochlear implants, Overton imagines similar breakthroughs with vision and touch.

“I envision a future where robotic prostheses are so advanced that they could completely replace or enhance the abilities of humans,” Overton says. “It’s not entirely impossible.”

After earning a doctoral degree in electrical engineering with a focus on neuroengineering, he hopes to inspire the next generation — just as his professors inspired him — emphasizing that UCF’s strength lies in professors who actively invest in their students.

A Growing Research Powerhouse

With four 2026 Goldwater Scholarship recipients, UCF continues to strengthen its position as a leader in undergraduate research. The achievement reflects both students’ immense dedication and a university-wide commitment to driving innovation, mentorship and hands-on discovery. As these Knights prepare for the next steps in their academic journeys, they carry forward a shared mission: to turn research into real-world impact.

Students interested in applying for the Goldwater Scholarship or other major national awards should contact the Office of Prestigious Awards at opa@ucf.edu.