UCF reflected on these moments in the “Best of 2018” video. To learn more about what you see in the video, read the stories listed below.

2018 was a year of making moves.

We went from a program to a powerhouse…

UCF Defeats Auburn to Win Peach Bowl

We honored a visionary who took us places we never dreamed of…

John Hitt Says Goodbye

And welcomed a leader who will take us even further.

Get to Know UCF President Dale Whittaker

We extended our reach from around the globe to out-of-this-world…

UCF-led Consortium to Manage Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

But we didn’t forget what’s most important in our own backyard.

Nemours, UCF Transform Education for Hospitalized Children through PedsAcademy

UCF Gets an A+ for its Bee Campus USA Designation

UCF Launches National Center to Find Big-Picture Solutions to Coastal Threats

UCF Student Studies Algal Blooms Impact on Sea Turtles in Indian River Lagoon

We made great, new friends…

Bill Gates on What Sets UCF Apart

Couple’s $6.6M Gift Will Boost Many UCF Programs

And even greater heroes.

Shaquem Griffin Drafted by Seattle Seahawks

We asked the right questions…

UCF Student Hannah Sage Finishes 3rd in Jeopardy! College Championship

And searched for groundbreaking answers.

New Laser Technique May Help Detect Chemical Warfare in Atmosphere

UCF PTSD-Treatment Clinic’s 2nd Location Opens in Brevard County

We laughed together…

PHOTOS: UCF First Day of Fall 2018 Classes

We cried together…

Knight-Thon Raises $1.5 Million for Children’s Hospitals Across the Nation

We celebrated what makes us unique…

UCF is a Hispanic Serving Institution

And then came together as one family.

10HANA

We had big wins on the playing field…

UCF Men’s Soccer: A Season to Remember

UCF Volleyball Ranked No. 13 For First Time in Program’s History

Knights Take 2nd in National Cheerleading Championships

And in the classroom.

UCF Programming Team Places 1st in North America, 10th Worldwide

UCF Cyber Defense Team Wins National Championship

UCF Ranks Among the Nation’s Top 10 Most Innovative Universities

We embraced time-honored traditions…

Relive UCF Homecoming 2018 Through These 16 Awesome Photos

And savored the spotlight.

4th UCF Celebrates the Arts to Feature Tributes to Bernstein, President Hitt

Thanks for the Best Weekend Ever, College GameDay

We passed the torch…

Josh Heupel Named UCF Football Head Coach

UCF Names Metzger as New Police Chief

Announcing Our Provost, Elizabeth Dooley

We expanded opportunity…

UCF Extends In-State Tuition Rate for Puerto Rican Students Through 2023

And we kept the streak alive.

Back-to-Back: UCF Football Wins AAC Championship

And while we enjoyed looking back on 50 years of classes…

Tales from UCF’s Very First Day of Classes

As Knights, we will always look to the future…

What UCF Downtown Will Look Like in August 2019

Partners Break Ground for New UCF-HCA Hospital

And continue to reach for the stars.

Not only did UCF hit a record $183 million in research funding, it also made positive impacts on the world. Space was the winner this year with multiple stories in the top 25 appearing on UCF Today, including UCF taking on the Arecibo Observatory. The Arecibo story was one of the most popular research-related stories on the website. Other notables included stories about research in history, life sciences, optics and engineering, such as a piece about the mechanics of squirting citrus skins featured in the . Here’s our Top 10 research list based on web traffic and media success:

1. There are several topics that can split families – politics, religion and the status of Pluto. After 12 years of being on the out, UCF research shows that Pluto should regain its status as a planet. UCF’s story resulted in media outlets picking it up. The internet loved the research generating more than 85 million views across multiple media outlets including Teen Vogue, Yahoo News and Geek.com in addition to more scholarly sites.

2. Stories about staying healthy are always popular, and a story about the potential danger of milk was a big attention grabber. UCF College of Medicine researchers found that drinking milk infected with a specific bacteria may be associated with developing rheumatoid arthritis. Further studies could determine if the relationship is causal. The research was shared through news and websites around the world and translated into multiple languages.

3.ĚýWant to buy some Martian dirt? UCF researchers are selling a simulated version for just $20 a kilogram so scientists can test how to grow food in it and perform other studies in preparation for a trip to the Red Planet. The reach was more than 71 million, with articles appearing everywhere from Mashable to Forbes.

4.ĚýComputers can be programmed to spot lung cancer better than humans, according to UCF’s Center for Research in Computer Vision. Identifying the disease early could save lives. This is a hot topic among the medical and tech community, generating more than 5 million views from just a few of the news stories, which included Fox 35 locally, Gadgetsnow.com and News-medical.net, which is aimed at the medical and science community.

5. UCF has a successful track record of helping veterans and first responders overcome post-traumatic stress by using virtual reality as part of therapy in the RESTORES clinic on campus. This year the program began to expand across the nation. A grant allowed the expansion into military installations in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina. This story was shared hundreds of times and resulted in more stories about the program overall, accounting for dozens of stories nationally after the initial grant was announced.

6. Ignorance isn’t bliss in the arena of chemical warfare. That’s why UCF researchers in the College of Optics and Photonics have developed a way to alert people early to the presence of an invisible chemical attack by using lasers. The story drew the attention of laser and tech audiences appearing on research and development websites and photonic news sites across the web.

7. Not all sunscreens are created equally and, in fact, some can be very damaging to the beautiful ecosystems we visit. UCF research helped uncover this problem, which led to a ban of the dangerous sunscreens in tropical destinations such as Hawaii. The state was the first, but following the publication of this story, others followed.

8. The reach of Limbitless Solutions, a UCF-based nonprofit that creates bionic arms for children, expanded in 2018. That’s because clinical trials for the devices were announced this year, which could open up the technology to more people. The story about clinical trials was the most popular, but the group received a lot of other attention this year. From being part of ESPN’s piece on UCF alumnus and Seahawks football player Shaquem Griffin ’16 to Limbitless leadership speaking at the United Nations, this student-initiated group has received a lot of attention. Next phase – research.

9. Research should make a difference in people’s lives and that includes giving parents tools to help raise their children. UCF researchers in the College of Engineering and Computer Science published several studies that looked at the best way to keep a child safe online. The researchers suggest that empowering children to be agents of their own safety is likely a good way to keep them safe online. Their research showed that parental-control apps designed to keep kids safe may actually be associated with them experiencing more online risks. The initial story and the media stories that followed propelled this story into the list.

10. Most people scratch their heads when it comes to quantum mechanics. But at UCF, researchers are bringing the world into the quantum age. This could make our computers faster and more energy efficient. The research from this group generated a lot of interest among scientists and tech gurus.

The clinic currently uses third-party software. However, the new grant will allow RESTORES to develop its own software to address a wider range of scenarios, such as those faced by first responders and survivors of mass shootings or sexual assault as well as situations veterans and active duty personnel face. The grant will also help test ways to increase the software’s effectiveness.

“We are honored that the Department of Defense has recognized the success of our treatment program and continues to entrust us with funding that allows us to provide cutting-edge treatment based on rigorous clinical science,” says Deborah Beidel, director of the RESTORES clinic.

RESTORES began in 2010 with the purpose of treating veterans and active-duty military personnel with combat-related PTSD. After the Pulse night club shooting, services expanded to include first responders and survivors of mass shootings.  Since opening, it has treated more than 450 combat veterans and first responders.

In September 2018, the PTSD clinic at UCF RESTORES became known as the Rosengren Trauma Clinic, after a generous donation from Julia and Jim Rosengren ’81, whose son benefited from the clinic’s treatments.

Results have shown that 66 percent of combat veterans and 73 percent of first responders no longer met the clinical definition of PTSD after treatment.

RESTORES’ PTSD treatment includes a three-week program that combines virtual reality and group therapy sessions on guilt, anger, resocialization, insomnia and more. The virtual reality sessions expose patients to videos of scenes of traumatic situations, such as war, and couple these images with the sounds of gunfire and explosions along with the smells of smoke and gunfire.

The idea is that exposing patients to the traumatic experiences will help reduce their stress about them.

RESTORES is located in the psychology building on UCF’s main campus in Orlando, and it also has a recently opened Brevard PTSD Clinic located in the UCF Cocoa building on the Eastern Florida State College campus. The treatment program currently provides treatment at no cost to Florida residents. The program has been awarded more than $10 million worth of grants in the past few years.

Beidel received her Ph.D. and M.S. in psychology and M.Ed. in rehabilitation counseling from the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Pittsburgh and her B.A. in psychology from Pennsylvania State şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą. She has been with UCF since 2007.

The U.S. Army is funding RESTORES to establish programs at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Georgia, Naval Medical Hospital Portsmouth in Virginia and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to take this program to active-duty military personnel and treat them on their own bases, right where they are,” said Deborah Beidel, a UCF Pegasus Professor of psychology and medical education, who leads the clinic. “Our early research results show our program to be more effective than traditional PTSD treatment, and this gives us the opportunity to get some additional data to demonstrate it on a larger scale, while providing treatment in a convenient way for our patients.”

Beidel and her team developed a compressed three-week program that combines virtual reality and exposure therapy with group treatments for anger, depression, guilt, and social isolation. The team established the RESTORES clinic in 2011 on the main UCF campus and has been helping veterans and their families. The clinic has treated 300 veterans and active-duty personnel, first responders from 20 states and Pulse survivors. Early research results demonstrate that the intensive treatment has significantly improved symptoms in most patients, with about two-thirds no longer showing the clinical criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, Beidel said.

The grant allows Beidel and her team to establish and run the program at the three military facilities. The overall objective of this study is to determine if the compressed program, can be used as an effective alternative treatment for PTSD and to compare its impact on social, familial, and occupational impairment that often result from PTSD treatment.

PTSD affects more than the individual; it affects families and communities. UCF’s program is the only treatment for PTSD that directly targets these additional areas of functioning.  Other programs are specifically directed at decreasing PTSD symptoms.

“Our program is more comprehensive – not only do we target symptoms, but we also directly target impairment in these important areas of everyday life,” Beidel said.

Three hundred active-military personnel – 100 at each site – will be recruited for the study. The candidates will need to meet several criteria including diagnosis of PTSD or other trauma.

The study will evaluate the effectiveness of the program when delivered in an intensive outpatient format compared to a treatment called prolonged exposure, which consists solely of exposure therapy without the virtual reality component, and which is delivered in either a compressed daily or standard weekly fashion.