When Xiayu Summer Chen left home in Canton, China, where she grew up — first for college in Beijing, then for graduate school in New York City — she faced a problem familiar to students everywhere: How do you stay close to family from thousands of miles away

Her challenge came with an added complication. Chen was raised by her grandparents, who had never used social media or FaceTime.

So she turned to the technology she knew best: painting. She drew step-by-step instructions showing them how to use both. When her grandmother died during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen began creating video tutorials her grandfather could watch on his phone.

She didn’t call it research. It was just what you do for the people you love.

“I went from seeing my grandparents as very independent people to watching their functional capacity decrease, and I wanted to do something to help,” says Chen, assistant professor of social work in UCF’s College of Health Professions and Sciences.

That instinct — helping people remain independent, safe and connected — now drives Chen’s research at UCF. She’s using generative artificial intelligence to help older adults and their caregivers navigate an increasingly digital world.

Approximately 60% of adults age 50 and older feel that technology isn’t designed with their age in mind.

By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, outnumbering children under the age of 18 for the first time in history, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections. At the same time, more older adults are adopting new technologies. Yet 60% of adults age 50 and older feel that technology isn’t designed with their age in mind, citing a lack of confidence in their digital skills and concerns about technology’s design, according to AARP’s 2026 Tech Trends and Adults 50-Plus report.

“We are living in the digital era,” Chen says. “As we use AI more in our daily activities, we have to provide ways for aging populations to learn and adapt just like everybody else.”

Improving Digital Literacy for Older Adults

After graduating from New York ����ֱ�� in 2019, Chen worked as a patient ambassador at Maimonides Cancer Center. A few months later, COVID-19 hit.

“All of a sudden, our services transitioned from face-to-face to being online, but a lot of my patients were older adults and immigrants who had low digital literacy,” she says.

Beyond navigating diagnoses and treatments, patients had to learn how to log in to a telehealth portal, order prescriptions and pay their bills. Chen’s job shifted with them, and she spent much of her time walking patients through screens, one click at a time.

“That’s when it occurred to me to explore the digital divide and help equip older adults with digital literacy,” she says.

Over the past two years, Chen has authored nine journal articles and book chapters examining the digital divide among older adults and the use of technology to address dementia, loneliness and mental health.

That work has culminated in Wise to AI, a gamified learning platform Chen built with generative AI. Alongside lessons introducing AI and chatbots, the platform teaches users how to recognize when AI is being used to scam them, guided by a trusty animated dog modeled after Chen’s own Shiba Inu, Rumi.

The stakes are real and growing. Americans age 60 and older reported losing $7.7 billion to online scams in 2025 alone — up 59% from the previous year, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Actual losses are likely higher, as many victims never report being scammed.

“I created this game to teach older adults some of the tricks and scams they may experience.”

One Wise to AI module tackles the growing problem of AI romance scams. Users choose a persona, such as Rose, and enter a scenario in which Robert, a charming older man she has been talking to online, tells her he’s making money by investing in cryptocurrency. A few days later, he offers to help her get started.

Would she send him $500?

Users must decide whether to send the money, think it over, or say no. If they choose incorrectly, the Rumi-inspired avatar steps in and suggests they call a family member first. The family member then warns them not to send a dime.

After completing enough lessons, users earn a certificate.

“I created this game to teach older adults some of the tricks and scams they may experience,” says Chen, who plans to pilot the platform in senior living facilities.

Using AI to Support Caregivers

Chen’s work extends beyond older adults to the people caring for them.

Last January, Chen and a team of researchers published a study in the Journal of Technology in Human Services investigating how AI could support caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Drawing on interviews with caregivers and a review of 20 studies on interactive AI in dementia care, the team concluded that realistic AI-generated human avatars “hold considerable promise as supportive tools.”

The findings build on a review Chen co-authored earlier this year in the Aging & Mental Health journal, which found that AI-based conversational agents show strong usability and acceptance among older adults.

To test those findings, Chen is using generative AI to pull information from sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Alliance for Caregiving into a series of YouTube videos presented by AI avatars. The videos will cover topics such as shared caregiving and coping with grief and guilt. The team plans to start recruiting caregivers for feedback this fall.

The need is urgent. Caregivers of people with dementia report greater emotional, financial and physical challenges than their peers, according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2026 report. In Florida alone, more than a quarter of dementia caregivers report experiencing depression, the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2024 report found.

“Some caregivers are quitting their jobs to become full-time caregivers without pay and are experiencing a lot of stress, loneliness, and self-neglect,” Chen says. “Instead of having users search for answers via text, we’re hoping AI-generated [avatars] can better deliver the content they’re looking for.”

“If AI is designed in a humanized way, it [could]  provide the comfort and companionship … we all need.”

Across both projects, Chen is exploring a bigger question: Can AI help address some of the complex challenges facing the growing elderly population and their caregivers?

For Chen, the answer isn’t simply about making technology smarter. It’s about making it more human.

“More and more older adults are living alone and feeling lonely,” she says. “It’s getting hard for them to go out and visit community centers and participate in social activities. There are valid concerns about the ethics, equity and transparency of AI, but if AI is designed in a humanized way, it may be able to provide the comfort and companionship that we all need.”

As artificial intelligence (AI), virtual assistants and robots become increasingly woven into everyday life, more researchers are asking this question: What happens when technology stops being just a tool and becomes something we can communicate with?

UCF faculty have spent years helping create a field dedicated to finding the answers.

“Human-machine communication is about studying how humans perceive and interact with technology as a communicator rather than simply as a tool.”

This summer, human-machine communication (HMC) reached a major milestone when the International Communication Association (ICA) elevated it from an interest group to an official Division, recognizing it as an established area of communication research. The achievement reflects the rapid growth of a field exploring how emerging technologies are reshaping the way people communicate, form relationships and make decisions.

“Human-machine communication is about studying how humans perceive and interact with technology as a communicator rather than simply as a tool,” UCF College of Sciences Professor Jihyun Kim says. “It’s about communicating with machine agents as interaction partners.”

Among those who helped shape the field are faculty members Kim and Professor Patric Spence, whose leadership has contributed to HMC’s development both at UCF and within the international research community.

When Technology Becomes the Communicator

Traditional studies of technology-mediated communication typically examine technology as a channel connecting people. HMC shifts the focus to interactions between people and technologies such as AI assistants, social robots and virtual companions.

Researchers explore how these interactions can influence everything from trust and relationships to decision-making and communication.

Although scholars have studied human-computer interaction for decades, HMC is a relatively young field within the communication discipline. It formally emerged in 2015, bringing together researchers interested in studying machines not simply as tools, but as communicators.

Since then, the rapid adoption of generative AI has accelerated both public interest and scholarly research.

Kim, who recently completed a four-year leadership term with ICA’s Human-Machine Communication Interest Group, witnessed that growth firsthand.

“During my four years in leadership, I saw a drastic increase in the volume of HMC research,” she says. “I also saw scholars from interpersonal communication, organizational communication, public relations and many other communication specialties begin collaborating to better understand AI from their own perspectives.”

“We’re studying how humans perceive AI and communicate with it for good outcomes.”

But as public conversations increasingly focus on whether AI could replace human work or relationships, Kim says that’s a common misconception about human-machine communication research.

“A lot of times people assume we’re glorifying AI, but that’s not what we study,” Kim says. “We’re studying how humans perceive AI and communicate with it for good outcomes.”

Her own research explores how people perceive and interact with AI or machine agents and how people can instead use AI to strengthen, rather than replace, human relationships.

“I’m studying augmentation,” Kim says. “How can AI help strengthen the relationships we already have? How can we communicate with AI more effectively, so it enhances our social relationships instead of replacing them?”

Building a Scholarly Home

As interest in HMC grew, so did the need for a dedicated scholarly community.

Spence was among the founding members who organized the first HMC post-conference in 2016, creating one of the first formal spaces where researchers with shared interests could collaborate and exchange ideas.

“Through our research and leadership, we’ve helped put UCF on the international stage.”

He later helped establish the journal, which launched in 2020 and is hosted under a UCF domain. Before its creation, researchers published HMC studies across broader communication journals, as no publication was dedicated exclusively to the emerging field. The journal provided a central platform for sharing HMC research and scholarship, building an international academic community, and further positioning UCF as a leader in the discipline.

“Whenever we do something meaningful in this field, UCF is represented alongside that achievement,” Kim says. “Through our research and leadership, we’ve helped put UCF on the international stage.”

Kim continued that work during her tenure as vice chair and later chair of ICA’s Human-Machine Communication Interest Group.  She focused on mentoring early-career researchers, expanding the field’s international presence and helping prepare the review dossier that ultimately led to HMC’s elevation to Division status.

From Momentum to Milestone

For Kim, the new designation signals more than organizational growth.

“[The recognition] especially matters for junior scholars because they’re contributing to a discipline that’s formally recognized by the world’s largest communication association.”

“Having this formal recognition within the International Communication Association sends the message that human-machine communication is now an established field,” Kim says. “It especially matters for junior scholars because they’re contributing to a discipline that’s formally recognized by the world’s largest communication association.”

The milestone is expected to create new opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration, including partnerships with researchers studying AI from technical, behavioral and social perspectives.

And as AI continues to evolve, Kim believes HMC will continue growing alongside it, helping researchers better understand not only the technologies themselves but also the people who use them.

“We want to make sure it’s not about studying bad things,” Kim says. “It’s about how we can leverage what AI offers to improve our lives and how we can communicate more effectively.”

Now a global project manager for wire technology at Alleima Advanced Materials, the materials science and engineering alum has earned the company’s 2026 Innovation Prize for her work advancing wires used in critical medical devices such as continuous glucose monitors, hearing implants and pacemakers. The annual award recognizes excellence in product development.

“The work I do is very rewarding. Every day, I get to contribute to advancing medical care and treatment,” McDorman says. “If it’s a medical device and it has a wire, Alleima is likely contributing to it somehow.”

McDorman earned her doctoral degree from UCF under Associate Professor Swaminathan Rajaraman, who directs the , where researchers develop micro- and nanoscale solutions spanning biotechnology, pharmacology, plant sciences and medical devices.

“I chose UCF because the [materials science and engineering] program was highly rated … and had a wide variety of research areas …”

Before coming to UCF, McDorman earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics, but discovered a passion for applied research that required a deeper focus on materials.

“When I decided to pursue a Ph.D., materials science and engineering was a natural choice,” she says. “I chose UCF because the program was highly rated, small and had a wide variety of research areas that I was interested in.”

Through her doctoral studies, McDorman found a more biology-focused side of materials science. Her work with biosensors in Rajaraman’s lab ultimately inspired her to pursue a career in the medical device industry.

She credits her research experience at UCF with preparing her for work at Alleima, where 90% of her unit’s business supports medical device manufacturing.

“The company has a rich history of materials innovation in steel and nickel-based alloys,” McDorman says. “Since we produce wire, I am constantly using base materials science knowledge to process the material in a way that achieves a specific set of properties in the end product.”

She says she has always aimed for a position that would allow her to make a positive contribution to society, an opportunity she is grateful to have at Alleima.

For new graduates considering a similar path, McDorman encourages them to connect with UCF alumni on LinkedIn and to explore job opportunities in Florida’s growing manufacturing industry, particularly in Volusia and Flagler counties.

“We put a lot into our work every day because we truly care about ensuring the best possible patient outcomes,” she says. “It is great that our efforts have been recognized by the business.”

The same curiosity that once led Jeonghyun Song to shape clay with his hands now drives him to engineer materials at an atomic level, combining chemistry and creativity.

He began his college journey in the arts, drawn to pottery. But as he worked with ceramics, his attention shifted beneath the surface — to the chemistry of the materials and the possibilities within them. That shift in perspective pushed him from the art studio into the lab — and now to a national fellowship.

A materials science and engineering major, Song will join the ����ֱ�� of Notre Dame this summer as a recipient of its Nanoscience and Technology Undergraduate Research Fellowship, hosted from May 18 through July 24.

“I chose to attend UCF because of the opportunities it offers — especially in research — along with its strong engineering program.”

The opportunity marks a turning point in his journey from an arts major to an engineering major, which he began when he transferred to UCF in Fall 2025.

“I chose to attend UCF because of the opportunities it offers — especially in research — along with its strong engineering program,” Song says. “The MSE (Materials Science and Engineering) Program is relatively new and rapidly growing, which gives students more chances to get involved and grow.”

He didn’t waste time getting started.

As a new Knight and burgeoning materials researcher, Song set his sights on working with Assistant Professor Kausik Mukhopadhyay, whose research bridges materials, chemistry, biology and engineering to develop solutions for surfaces, coatings, electrochemistry and more.

Now in Mukhopadhyay’s , Song studies clay-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

“As a student who comes from a ceramics background, Dr. Mukhopadhyay’s research was the most interesting to me,” Song says. “Based on his work in chemistry and materials science, I knew his lab would be a place where I could grow and actively engage in research.”

The lab quickly became more than a workspace — it became a launchpad, which Song says he’s grateful for.

“I would like to thank Dr. Mukhopadhyay and the people in our group for their support,” he says. “If it wasn’t for them, I would have had a hard time blending into the UCF community.”

His perspective as a researcher is evolving, too.

“I find it more interesting to study how common … materials can be engineered to achieve similar or even more useful properties.”

Once drawn to examining rare and expensive materials for their unique characteristics, Song is now focused on factors in materials costs and environmental impact.

“While studying rare materials is interesting due to their distinct properties, I find it more interesting to study how common and inexpensive materials can be engineered to achieve similar or even more useful properties,” he says.

That mindset will guide his work at Notre Dame.

His project, “Prototyping High-speed Synthesis of Gold Microplates,” tackles a key challenge in nanotechnology: efficiently producing ultrathin gold coatings. These coatings are useful in technology like biosensors and electronics, but current synthesis methods are slow, and controlling their size, shape and placement is challenging.

Song will help explore faster synthesis methods using a reaction chamber to study the process through three activation approaches: light, temperature and merging chemical streams.

As he prepares to spend the summer in Indiana, Song acknowledges some anxiety — the kind that comes with stepping into something bigger — as he looks ahead to what could be a pivotal moment in his journey as a researcher.

“I would like to meet new people, learn from them and also expand my vision for research,” Song says. “I think this summer will be the most important for me in terms of deciding my future.”

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 ����ֱ��, the ����ֱ�� of Notre Dame and the ����ֱ�� 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.

Justin Press ’24, a UCF photonic science and engineering major, may have developed a solution that benefits both employers and applicants. His brainchild, Hire Match AI, is an analytics layer that integrates with existing applicant tracking systems to better analyze and interpret hiring data.

“We reparse resumes, structure candidate data more accurately and use statistics to identify which combinations of skills and experiences tend to stay longer and perform better in a company over time,” Press says. “That helps teams look past what I call ‘checklist champion’ resumes, where a candidate appears perfect on paper but is really just optimized for a filter.”

Press says what sets his digital tool apart is its focus on analytics, fit and compliance.

From Frustration to Framework

He developed the idea as head of professional development for the Engineering Leadership and Innovation Institute — part of UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science — where students develop professional skills through a certificate program, specialized courses, maker spaces and mentorship. In that role, he helped students optimize their resumes for job listings and quickly realized the process wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed.

“At UCF, I was going through hundreds of applications and postings each year, and it became obvious how much of the process was turning into a game,” Press says. “That gave me a firsthand look at how inefficient and frustrating the process was for both applicants and the people trying to help them.”

Launching What Hiring Lacks

From that frustration came Hire Match AI. Press brought the idea to the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, where he received guidance on turning the concept into a business. Now, as he prepares for launch, several businesses have already expressed interest in using the platform to analyze their hiring data more deeply. Press says the goal is to make data analytics more accessible, no matter which ATS a company uses.

“The bigger vision is to make hiring more data-driven, more transparent and less dependent on surface-level filtering.”

“We want Hire Match AI to plug into every major ATS so companies can get better visibility into candidate fit, hiring patterns and compliance risk without having to switch the systems they already rely on,” he says. “Down the line, that means expanding into larger platforms like Workday and other major enterprise systems. The bigger vision is to make hiring more data-driven, more transparent and less dependent on surface-level filtering.”

Engineering with Purpose

Press says he was drawn to the field of photonic science and engineering by a desire to create technology that improves people’s lives. His advice to students with similar ambitions: focus on what makes their idea unique.

“For engineering students especially, having a wide range of experiences is a huge advantage,” Press says. “A lot of the best ideas come from [understanding] how technical problems connect to business problems, user behavior or broken systems in the real world. That matters even more now, with tools like large language models making it easier to build quickly.”

Companies interested in using Hire Match AI can or sign up for early access.

AdventHealth Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation Gregory Welch has made countless contributions to the fields of virtual, augmented and mixed reality as an inventor and researcher, but some of the ones he’s most proud of aren’t documented in patent applications or peer-reviewed publications.

For more than two decades, Welch has extended his passion into purposeful action within and beyond the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Visualization and Graphics Technical Community (VGTC) to empower future generations, foster collaboration and growth, and advance the fields of visualization, computer graphics, and virtual/augmented reality. Through his dedication and leadership, he has made a sustained impact on the global community.

His service includes volunteering at dozens of IEEE VGTC conferences since 2000 and serving as general chair for three international events, each drawing hundreds of attendees.

“… I had the idea to bring VR demonstrations from Florida universities to the conference site, making it a fun evening where [attendees] … could experience VR technology.”

One of the most memorable was the 2013 Virtual Reality Conference in Orlando, which he co-chaired and where he created the Florida Academic VR Showcase (FLAVRS).

“Conferences typically bus attendees to the host institution for demonstrations, but nobody enjoys long bus rides late at night,” Welch says. “With FLAVRS, I had the idea to bring VR demonstrations from Florida universities to the conference site, making it a fun evening where [attendees] could bring their families and experience VR technology.”

Welch, IEEE VR 2013 co-chair, joined ����ֱ�� of Florida Professor Benjamin Lok and a group of student volunteers to transform the event ballroom into the makeup of Florida, complete with cities, lakes and well-known landmarks. Twenty-two demonstrations from researchers across the state were arranged by their institutions’ geographic locations.

Attendees received “passports” to collect stamps at each demonstration and earn prizes.

“I still have people tell me that it was the best VR conference event they have ever attended,” Welch says.

Mentoring the VR Researchers of Tomorrow

To further advance the field, Welch serves as an associate editor for two journals and has organized several professional development opportunities for students, researchers and developers, including international research retreats focused on specific topics.

He has also focused on inspiring future generations of virtual reality researchers. One of the contributions he’s most proud of is the creation of the XR Future Faculty Forum, or F3.

“It’s been so rewarding to see the knowledge sharing between generations … and to build a community among future faculty.”

Launched in 2023 with UCF computer science doctoral student Matthew Gottsacker, F3 connects faculty volunteers with graduate students through panels, talks and one-on-one mentoring to prepare future scholars for careers in academia. What began as an idea has grown into an annual event supporting hundreds of participants, with plans to continue expanding. F3 will take place again at the 2026 IEEE VR Conference in Daegu, Korea, where Welch will be honored for his service.

“It’s been so rewarding to see the knowledge sharing between generations, to help reduce fears about research funding and tenure, and to build a community among future faculty,” Welch says. “It’s been so gratifying to see this idea impact real people and expand to other conferences.”

His impact on future generations extends to his work at UCF, where he has advised and mentored dozens of students from undergraduates to postdoctoral scholars.

Driving Discovery in Simulation and Technology

Welch has made sustained contributions to the field through innovative research in virtual/augmented reality, virtual beings, motion tracking display and healthcare technology.

He currently leads the development of the , supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. VERA, which is the first large-scale system for extended reality research, aims to create a powerful platform for human subjects research and behavioral data collection in VR. IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Lifetime Achievement awardee and Agere Chair Professor of Computer Science, Carolina Cruz-Neira, is also working on the project, which is a collaboration across multiple universities.

To date, Welch has authored more than 150 publications and his work has contributed to 25 patents. His 1995 Introduction to the Kalman Filter has been cited more than 12,500 times. His patented innovations span a wide range of applications, from projection mapping — like what’s used on Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom — to physical-virtual patient simulators, “smart” wound simulators, sterile field detection mechanisms, directional electrodes for deep brain stimulation, tactile telepresence for isolated patients and spatially explicit auditory cues for enhanced situational awareness.

A Legacy of Service

For his outstanding contributions and career achievements, Welch has earned numerous honors, including being named to the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida. He’s also a fellow of IEEE, a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a Pegasus Professor — UCF’s highest faculty honor.

“[My] unique blend of analytical and creative thinking [inspires] my work to … create interactive experiences that … solve challenges and help people.”

Welch sees value in real-life events that bring people together. He attributes his dedication to service and success as an innovator to his family and upbringing.

“My mother was a mathematician and computer programmer, and my father was a musician, so I have this unique blend of analytical and creative thinking,” he says. “That has inspired my work to use computer science to create interactive experiences that feel like the real world to solve challenges and help people.”

Welch’s commitment to helping others began long before his noteworthy career, with involvement in service organizations dating back to high school. For him, service is a way of life — not an obligation, but an opportunity to make an impact.

“There is so much that we can and should do to help our communities,” he says. “It takes people to step up, commit and invest time to make things happen. I hope my service and leadership inspire others.”

Interim (IST) Director Carolina Cruz-Neira’s career in virtual reality (VR) began as a backup plan.

She spent her childhood training as a ballet dancer. When a knee injury at 21 ended her professional dance aspirations, she leaned on the engineering degree her father had encouraged her to pursue.

While earning her doctoral degree in electrical engineering and computer science at the ����ֱ�� of Illinois Chicago, she discovered the Electronic Visualization Laboratory — and with it, a way to merge art and technology.

“My philosophy as a researcher has always been to take on projects that are a little risky.”

In 1992, she unveiled the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), an immersive VR system that transforms a room-sized cube into an interactive 3D digital world. Unlike early VR headsets that isolated users, the CAVE allows multiple people to step inside the same digital environment, fostering shared exploration and real-time collaboration.

Today, CAVE systems are used worldwide, from gaming and art installations to military training and automotive design, helping industries visualize complex problems, improve safety and refine products before building them in the real world.

Powering the Future of Simulation

Over nearly four decades, Cruz-Neira has made significant contributions to the fields of VR, interactive visualization, high-performance computing and digital twins, which are dynamic virtual replicas of real-world objects used for simulation and testing across industries. Her innovations have influenced training and research for NASA, the U.S. military and U.S. National Laboratories.

By the Numbers: A Lasting Impact

• Secured more than $200 million in research funding
• Authored more than 100 publications
• Elected to the National Academy of Engineering — one of the highest professional distinctions for engineers in the U.S.
• Named an IEEE fellow and Forbes’ 50 Over 50 honoree for innovation
• Inducted into the inaugural Augmented World Expo XR Hall of Fame and the Orlando Tech Community Hall of Fame for her contributions to Central Florida’s tech ecosystem
• Recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record for the national impact of her work

“My philosophy as a researcher has always been to take on projects that are a little risky,” says Cruz-Neira, UCF’s Agere Chair Professor of computer science. “I tell my students that we do research with a purpose. And yes, it’s challenging. But if we have that vision of where this thing is going, our talent and creativity have a terrific playground.”

That bold spirit of exploration drew her to UCF in 2020 — a university recognized for its strength in computer science and deep partnerships and collaborators across several sectors, including space, defense, entertainment and healthcare.

“There’s a whole community of researchers, faculty and students here who are passionate about this kind of work.”

Since arriving, she says she has found something even more powerful: a culture that pairs high-level excellence with a nurturing environment — where ambitious ideas are energized, challenged and brought to life through collaboration.

“There’s a whole community of researchers, faculty and students here who are passionate about this kind of work. That has allowed us to expand our ideas tremendously,” Cruz-Neira says. “We’re now collaborating with teams across the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College of Medicine, the College of Arts and Humanities and the , which broadens what we’re able to do. It’s nice to have a tribe around you, where everyone helps each other and works together.”

Among those collaborators is longtime colleague and IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Service awardee, Gregory Welch. Cruz-Neira says they first met as “Ph.D. babies,” beginning a collaboration that has now spanned nearly 38 years. Since joining UCF, she has continued working closely with Welch and his team on several joint research projects and publications.

What’s Next: Blending Physical and Virtual Worlds

As IST director, Cruz-Neira is helping broaden UCF’s modeling and simulation legacy while leading several cutting-edge research projects in collaboration with talented students and faculty. One such project explores humanoid robots as extensions of the human body, allowing a person to navigate remote or inaccessible locations in real time. Using artificial intelligence, the robot captures its surroundings and transmits a live digital replica into the CAVE, where a human operator’s movements control the robot, creating a seamless exchange between physical and virtual worlds.

“This project opens a lot of possibilities and aligns with where we want to go at IST and UCF,” Cruz-Neira says. “We do a lot of work with defense, first responders and healthcare professionals, and in many cases, we see the need for a human [presence in locations] that aren’t feasible. By combining mature technologies available in the commercial world with some of our more advanced algorithms and system designs at UCF, we’ve finally been able to come together to make this prototype and showcase it in December 2025 at [the Interservice/Industry Training Simulation and Education Conference], a major defense training environment.”

Cruz-Neira continues to push boundaries, bringing people together and asking questions like, “What can we create next?” and “How far can we take this?”

And despite a lifetime achievement award, she’s clear about one thing: “I’m not done yet.”

For computer engineering major Kamalakkannan Ravi ’20MSCpE ’25PhD, the goal was never to just earn a doctorate — it was to build artificial intelligence (AI) systems people could trust in the moments that matter most.

That bold vision found its momentum at UCF. As a student, Ravi was drawn to a university that encouraged big questions and interdisciplinary thinking, along with strong engineering fundamentals — the kind UCF is rapidly becoming known for as a rising force in engineering and technology. The university’s dynamic research environment gave him the freedom to explore where machine learning, biomedical applications and human-centered AI converge, while mentorship in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering helped sharpen his purpose.

Now, he’s carrying that UCF-driven determination to Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, where he’ll begin a research fellowship with the Division of Genetics and Genomics to advance trustworthy AI for clinical decision-making in healthcare.

At Harvard, Ravi will work on a project that aims to help physicians identify rare diseases earlier and respond more quickly. His research focuses on developing and evaluating clinical decision support tools that analyze electronic health record data and natural language processing to detect patterns that may signal a rare condition. These tools are designed to support clinicians in identifying patients who may benefit from further genetic evaluation, testing or a specialist referral. Ravi’s role centers on creating trustworthy, transparent AI methods that align with clinical systems, helping ensure these technologies are used responsibly in real-world healthcare.

Overcoming Obstacles Without a Blueprint

Ravi’s path to this opportunity was shaped by his persistence and commitment to making an impact long before he arrived at UCF.

Originally from Chennai, India, he’s a first-generation college student who entered higher education without a family blueprint to guide him. That experience influenced how he navigated graduate school and advanced research environments, reinforcing the importance of mentorship, community and resilience.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Anna ����ֱ��, Ravi worked as a research assistant at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. There, he gained early exposure to data-driven modeling and applied systems research at the intersection of engineering and medicine — experiences that shaped his interest in applying computational methods to biomedical and societal challenges. He’d take this interest on his pursuit of graduate education abroad.

Finding Interdisciplinary Opportunity at UCF

Ravi chose UCF specifically for its strength in engineering combined with opportunities for interdisciplinary, human-centered research.

Within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he found an environment that encouraged him to explore machine learning, biomedical applications and ethical AI.

Under the mentorship of Pegasus Professor Jiann-Shiun Yuan, who oversees the NSF-sponsored Multi-functional Integrated System Technology Center and specializes in developing the next generation of smart systems, Ravi refined his research, which bridges technical innovation with societal impact.

At UCF, Ravi’s research focused on trustworthy and comprehensible AI in critical settings, including healthcare and public safety. His dissertation, “Artificial Intelligence for Social Wellness: Threats and Ideology Detection in Online Texts,” examined how scalable and ethically grounded AI systems can be designed for real-world applications. His work emphasized interpretability, reliability and evaluation with human decision-makers in mind.

His doctoral work led to the development of several datasets and frameworks, including:

• RICo, a large-scale dataset analyzing ideological discourse in online communities
• ALERT, a threat detection framework that combines active learning with AI to support transparency and reduce labeling burden
• TRuST-M, a human-subject study exploring how explanation quality affects user trust in AI-assisted moderation systems.

Portions of this work were supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — a testament to its national relevance and real-world value.

Growing Through Leadership, Mentorship and Community

Beyond his studies, Ravi immersed himself in the UCF graduate community, taking on leadership roles that reflected his commitment to service and mentorship.

He served as senator for the in student government, director of professional development for the Graduate Student Association and president of the . He also led Alpha Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for first-generation college students, advocating for the success of first-generation graduate students.

Mentorship remained central to his experience through his involvement in the NSF-funded L.E.A.R.N. (Learning Environment and Academic Research Network) program, a STEM-focused living-learning community for first-year and transfer college students, and his service as a senior design project judge.

Ravi’s academic excellence, leadership and mentorship at UCF were recognized through multiple awards, including the ORCGS Doctoral Fellowship, the Graduate Presentation Fellowship, the Graduate Research Mentor Award, the UCF Alumni Fellows Leadership Scholarship and the Reuel Buchanan Aspire to Inspire Scholarship. These honors provided valuable support and enabled him to focus on research throughout his doctoral studies.

Advancing Impact Beyond UCF

As Ravi prepares to begin his fellowship at Harvard Medical School, he credits UCF with shaping both his research approach and his sense of responsibility as a scholar. He hopes his journey encourages other students, especially first-generation scholars, to pursue ambitious, interdisciplinary work while remaining grounded in mentorship, ethics and service to the broader community.

Founded to reach the moon, we’re already on our way to the next frontier. Built for liftoff, America’s Space ����ֱ�� celebrates UCF Space Week Nov. 3-7.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

When humans return to the moon, they won’t be alone. NASA will send robotic machines with them, and like all relationships, trust will be critical.

Through a partnership with Cislune Inc., UCF is using immersive technologies to improve trust between humans and artificial intelligence for decision-making in space when circumstances are changing and data remains uncertain — ultimately ensuring astronaut safety and mission success.

Led by UCF Associate Professor Gerd Bruder as principal investigator, Phase I of the project was funded through a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant in which UCF collaborated with Cislune to design and build a moon mission simulator. The system was used to refine human decision-making behavior and optimize interactions between astronauts and autonomous systems across the mission timeline.

The project aims to help reduce cognitive workload for astronauts while enhancing critical data, such as breathable oxygen levels, propellant stores and rover range. It’s also an example of how Knights are developing tech solutions that will propel humanity’s possibilities in space, which UCF was founded to fuel.

“In future lunar missions, humans will be working in concert with highly autonomous machines — and both will be making decisions while inundated with data from an ever-growing network of sensors and computers,” says Hiroshi Furuya, a UCF computer science doctoral student and graduate research assistant who worked on the project.

Cislune provided insights into space mission operations from previous work with space robotics and rovers, while experts from UCF’s supplied expertise in using virtual reality (VR) to create immersive simulations. The collaboration highlights how UCF often works with industry to generate collective impact.

UCF’s team leveraged interdisciplinary knowledge from computer science, engineering and human factors in healthcare — examining decision support systems designed for nurses and medical professionals.

“The healthcare research gave us an insightful window into how practitioners evaluate systems when risk and time pressure are critical features of the workplace, which has important connections for space health and missions,” says Furuya, who was previously awarded a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship for his graduate studies.

AdventHealth Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation , co-director of SREAL, provided insights into factors that influence trust and the design of human subject experiments.

“I find it fascinating how seemingly subtle changes in how relevant information is conveyed can impact trust and decision making,” says Welch, a computer scientist and engineer in UCF’s College of Nursing.

The team studied how human-machine trust, uncertainty and decision-making intersect by using VR simulations. The resulting simulator prototype immerses users in a realistic, mission-relevant environment.

The simulator could be crucial not only for the Artemis program, but also for future lunar and deep space exploration missions.

Cislune and UCF have submitted a proposal for Phase II of the project, which will expand the simulator and conduct research studies to improve the way machine assistants can help astronauts make decisions under stress and uncertainty.