Daynalis Reyes
UCF’s strengths in empowering student success, achieving social mobility and fostering impactful industry partnerships have elevated the university to become one of the nation’s top five most innovative public universities, according to the U.S. News & World Report.
“UCF’s rise in prominence as one of the nation’s most innovative universities is a reflection of the collective boldness, creativity, and excellence of our people,” said UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright. “Together, our students, faculty, staff, and partners are making an incredible impact as we transform lives, solve societal challenges, elevate our community and state, and invent the future.”
UCF stands tall alongside other top public schools in innovation, including the Georgia Institute of Technology, MIT and Purdue University – and ahead of UC Berkeley, Harvard and Virginia Tech.
UCF continues to advance toward becoming a top 50 public research university overall and earned recognitions in several other categories:
- Top 20 public university nationally for best undergraduate teaching.
- Top 25 public university nationally for student outcome measures, including graduation and retention rates.
- Top 30 public university nationally for social mobility, best value and nursing.
- Top 50 public university nationally for engineering and computer science.
Students at America’s Partnership University benefit from the strong connections the university and its talented faculty have developed with leading innovative companies such as Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Northrop Grumman, L3 Harris, Duke Energy, NASA, AdventHealth, Orlando Health, Nemours Children’s Health and Electronic Arts.
Elevating Student Success and Well-Being
One of UCF’s newest initiatives is known as BEAM – Belonging, Engaging, Achieving and Meaning, which provides a framework to transform student aspirations into achievements.
BEAM encourages students to explore opportunities to connect intentionally, actively and meaningfully with others, both inside and outside of the classroom; discover and utilize campus resources to support them on their journey to success.
UCF is also transforming student success in other ways. Every undergraduate student can connect with an academic success coach. The university’s academic success coaching blends traditional academic advising with coaching and innovative technologies to set goals, create realistic success strategies, and monitor success over the course of a student’s UCF career.
A Top Innovator and Employer in Engineering
Orlando — a national hub of aerospace and defense innovation — provides UCF students with opportunities to get real-world experience with top industry partners.
For more than 40 years, the Lockheed Martin College Work Experience Program (CWEP) has provided one of the world’s leading global security and aerospace companies with a vast talent pool of undergraduate and graduate students studying engineering, business, finance, communications, mathematics, computer science and other disciplines. Hundreds of UCF students participate each year. Many get full-time job offers from Lockheed Martin and other companies after participating.
UCF also is the nation’s No. 1 provider of graduates to the aerospace and defense industry, according to Aviation Week.
World-Class Faculty as Leading Innovators
Many of UCF’s world-class faculty members are top innovators in their fields, and their expertise and passion for helping students learn give students an edge as they pursue their careers.
Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and recent inductee into the Augmented World Expo XR Hall of Fame. She is a pioneer in the areas of virtual reality, interactive visualization and digital twins.
She is known world-wide for being the creator of the CAVE VR system and for leading entrepreneurial initiatives to commercialize research. She has over 100 publications and has been awarded over $250 million in grants, contracts, and donations.
“It is not well known that UCF has one of the, if not the, largest concentration of VR researchers in the U.S.,” she says. “At this point in my career, the opportunity to have daily interactions, idea exchanges, and stimulating conversations with colleagues and students is the best environment for me to be in.”
Many of her former students are now doing leading work in VR at places such as Unity Labs, Intel, Microsoft Research, Google, DreamWorks, EA, Deere & Company, Boeing, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Argonne National Laboratory.
A National Leader in Preparing Nurses for Practice
UCF’s College of Nursing and the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion under construction at Lake Nona are ideal examples of both student success and an innovative portfolio of industry partnerships.
Through innovative technology and educational excellence, UCF continues to lead in educating future nurses to build a talent pipeline and address the nursing shortage.
UCF has educated more than 16,000 Knight nursing alumni to date — 85% of whom live and work in Florida. Each year, UCF graduates over 260 newly licensed nurses. With the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion expected to open in Fall 2025, UCF also will be able to graduate an additional 150 new Knight nurses annually.
This effort would not come to fruition if not for UCF’s partnerships with many generous philanthropic donors: the Florida Legislature, Dr. Phillips Charities, AdventHealth, Orlando Health, Nemours Children’s Health, Martin Andersen-Gracia Andersen Foundation, the Helene Fuld Health Trust, the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, Addition Financial Credit Union, Roslyn and Jody Burttram, Parrish Medical Center, VNA Foundation and many other individual donors.
“To be ranked, once again, among the nation’s best undergraduate nursing programs demonstrates UCF’s excellence in preparing future nurses for clinical practice and is a testament to our faculty and staff’s commitment to student success,” says Mary Lou Sole, dean of UCF’s College of Nursing. “UCF will build upon these strengths to unleash potential in the new Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion, addressing the nursing shortage and providing increased access to a high-quality nursing education for more future Knight nurses.”
Social Mobility and Economic Progress
UCF is frequently recognized for its commitment to advancing social mobility and providing students the tools needed for career and financial stability. The university is focused on eliminating barriers for students of all backgrounds, especially first-generation students, and those from disadvantaged families. These efforts help break the cycle of intergenerational hardship, benefiting students, their families, and future generations.
Each year, UCF graduates over 3,200 first-generation students and 7,000 Pell Grant recipients, producing the most Pell Grant graduates among public universities and ranking second among all schools nationwide. The university’s dedication to making education accessible helps transform lives and uplift communities.
“I literally remember getting lost every day my first week,” says two-time alumna Aliyah Gonzalez ’21 ’23. “As a first-generation student, I didn’t have anyone to lean on for questions and to get that guidance. Navigating UCF, learning study skills, and learning how to be an efficient college student was a big learning curve.”
“Once I graduated with my first degree from UCF, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else truthfully,” says Gonzalez, who earned her bachelor’s degree in health sciences and immediately returned to UCF in the accelerated second-degree nursing program. “I had found my people, my comfort, and so many opportunities.”
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