(music)
"If you had told me when I was a kid that I would be studying rocket science,
I would have told you that you were crazy."
"To be able to make an effect,
you know, thousands of years down the road, to me that's really big and
I really believe that people here at UCF can actually do that."
"And we do cool stuff! That includes virtual reality, augmented reality,
robots, pen and touch tutoring... essentially, we're broadening our
horizons, and a lot of students can come in and do whatever they want."
"If you want to leave your mark, that's what ucf is looking for you to do."
"Welcome to the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University
of Central Florida. My name is Manoj Chopra and I serve as
the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Just a quick safety message before i start; I have my mask with me,
and we are practicing social distancing as we record this message.
We are excited that you're looking at UCF and a possible major in engineering
computer science, or information technology. During this
presentation, we will be providing a broad overview of
information about the college, and the academic programs we currently offer,
to prepare students for their career choice.
We will also be telling you about some of the unique opportunities that UCF offers you
to be successful in research. The College of Engineering and Computer Science at
UCF is one of the largest engineering colleges in the nation.
The college is comprised of six academic departments
and offers bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering,
aerospace engineering, materials science and engineering,
industrial engineering, civil engineering,
environmental engineering, construction engineering,
elctrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science,
and information technology. These college departments offer a total
of 11 bachelor, 17 master, and 10 doctoral degree programs.
We also are a part of a joint bachelor's
degree program with the College of Optics and Photonics,
with a bachelor's degree in photonics science and engineering.
A unique program that we offer to academically talented students is an
accelerated bachelor's to master's program,
a very popular program with our students. It allows students to take
up to 12 semester hours of graduate level courses.
This allows as little as two more semesters after completing your
bachelor's, to obtain both degrees.
The College of Engineering and Computer Science welcomes a diverse student population.
For our undergraduate students, we have a college Office
of Diversity and Inclusion that offers scholarship
and mentoring programs for underrepresented student populations
in STEM majors. The college also supports student organizations for these
underrepresented populations: National Society of Black Engineers,
Society of Hispanic Engineers, and Society of Women Engineers.
I will now introduce you to miss Kim Small, our director of advising for the college,
who will tell you more about us."
"Thanks, Dr. Chopra. I am so excited to tell
you that UCF and the College of Engineering and Computer Science
attracts some of the best and brightest students.
Our Undergraduate Admissions office posts a freshman
profile on their website with the average SAT, ACT, average
high school GPA, and the number of National Merit
students who choose UCF as their university of choice.
I would encourage you to review that information, and you can verify the
credentials of students who are choosing UCF as their university of choice.
Some points of pride that i would like to share with you that are very unique to
UCF are: Aviation Week Magazine has named UCF
the number one supplier of graduates to the United States aerospace and defense
industries for the past 5 consecutive years.
UCF is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in cyber defense
education and cyber defense research by the
department of defense. This is a very difficult designation to
receive, and we're very proud of our college for this accomplishment.
We also house the Engineering Leadership and Innovation Institute
that prepares students for leadership roles in industry.
Industry knows that they're getting a great technical education,
but they're also looking for those other skill sets that
students can acquire while they're here, and leadership is one of those.
We have an exciting location for students in our Engineering 2 building
in the atrium, it's the Texas Instruments Innovation Lab.
It provides students a unique space to build
prototypes for their design ideas, and is equipped with
manufacturing tools, electronic tools, laser cutters, and
3D printers. Your imagination is the only thing that
limits you from being able to use this facility.
Our college is very fortunate to have corporations and individuals that believe in what we do
here in the college, and they give generously to assist our
students with the cost of their education.
The scholarship funding each year that's provided by these individuals and
corporation averages about $200,000
in scholarships, awarded to students who are studying
engineering, computer science, and information technology.
This is a great way to augment funding that you already have.
Education is expensive and i can tell you,
any scholarships that you can get, go for it.
We are very fortunate to be located in the middle of a high-tech corridor of
industry that hire engineers, computer scientists, and information
technology professionals. Some of our industry partners include
Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Corporation, Duke Energy,
Boeing, NASA, Northrop Grumman, and Disney, just to name a few.
Our long-standing partnership with Lockheed Martin includes 500 students per year
who intern at the company. UCF graduates represent 27% of the Lockheed Martin
Orlando workforce. NASA's Kennedy Space Center has reported
that 30% of its employees hold UCF degrees, mostly from our college.
And we also have very close partnerships with both Siemens and Universal Studios.
Students studying at UCF can gain a competitive advantage
by participating in high-impact practice opportunities
that include internships, undergraduate research,
and study abroad. Our location and these unique partnerships set UCF apart from
other institutions, and providing students internship
opportunities at the undergraduate level.
With the Research Park in our backyard with hundreds of companies and even
each branch of the military, who are here because Orlando is the nation's
epicenter for modeling and simulation, UCF
is a great choice for opportunities outside the classroom.
Student organizations in every major discipline in our college also offer
students the opportunity to compete in regional, national, and worldwide platforms.
Our computer science programming team
has finished in the top 3 in the region for the past 36 years.
What an accomplishment for an institution that's only been around for 50 years!
The team has been ranked #1 in North America,
and #10 in the world.
This places UCF among the elite, top 1% in the world."
"UCF made it onto my radar because of
their national merit program, but then what actually pulled me into it was the
programming team, just seeing the stuff that they're doing."
"The UCF Cyber Defense team won the 2018 Department of Energy Cyber Force
national competition. The team has also placed first in the
2014, 2015, and 2016 Raytheon National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.
In all, UCF appeared 7 out of 8 times
in the national cyber competition, and no other competitor has won as many trophies as UCF."
"Now let me tell you about some of
the amazing research that is conducted at UCF, which
provides students, including undergraduates,
opportunities to gain experience in cutting-edge research.
UCF is a national leader in space research,
and has researchers tied to major space missions;
exploring Pluto, Saturn, the Kuiper Belt, Mars, the Moon, comets, asteroids,
Jupiter, and exoplanets. UCF also leads the management of one of the world's
largest active radio telescopes, the iconic
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. UCF recently established a
center for artificial intelligence. Additionally, research for undergraduates,
REU, funded by the national science foundation,
has significantly enhanced the research capabilities of
our students in the areas of computer vision,
photonics, planetary, atmospheric, and space sciences
at the Arecibo Observatory. Next, UCF houses the Center for Advanced
Turbo Machinery and Energy Research with dedicated faculty and students working
in areas of aerodynamics, alternative fuels, composites,
compact turbo machinery, and energy storage. According to the 2020
academic ranking of world universities, UCF's Transportation Science and
Technology program has been ranked #5 in the United States
and #29 in the world,
ahead of institutions such as Georgia Tech, Maryland, Purdue,
and Carnegie Mellon, and surpassed only by
MIT, Berkeley, Austin and Ann Arbor. It focuses on smart cities,
self-driving cars, and big data. Finally, we have established clusters
in energy autonomy and sustainable coastal systems.
The college hired more than 80 people in the last five years
who are passionate about research and want to engage
undergraduates in their research experiences.
Lastly, during these extraordinary times, the entrepreneurial spirit of our
students and faculty has been demonstrated in many ways,
such as UCF's home-grown Limbitless Solutions,
which has been making 3D-printed bionic arms,
has moved quickly to partner with the health industry
and hospitals to manufacture 3D-printed, disposable face shields
and mask extenders to be used by our healthcare heroes.
I want you to Google Limbitless to see what Robert Downey Jr. said about them,
and, you know what? This group started off as
a group of students, including a freshman, that started designing these 3D arms.
Student and faculty innovations have led to the development of nano materials for
cough drops to control the spread of COVID-19, and
UCF students have started an organization
called Orlando Against Coronavirus."
"At UCF, the expectation is that you're going to get your degree,
and along the way, you're going to do something amazing."
"The information provided to you today is an overview
of the great opportunities a student will have choosing UCF
and the College of Engineering and Computer Science as their choice to
further their educational pursuits. Because we're big, we like to say there
are big opportunities here. We often hear people say that UCF is
like a city; if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere,
and that's certainly true for our amazing alumni."
"At least, like, once a week, I'll walk
outside and it kind of hits me; this is my university, this is my home,
this is where I'm really finding who I am; and finding not just myself, but my
career and my career path."
"We have astronauts, CEOs of large companies,
entrepreneurs with incredible stories."
"We have an alumni in Amazon, Snapchat
Microsoft, Facebook..."
"Have you ever heard of the game, Words With Friends?
That was created by UCF computer science alumnus.
I think you would agree that our student demographics and accomplishments are a testimony
that we attract the best and brightest students to UCF.
We wish you the best as you make the important decision
on where you want to continue your education.
We hope you choose UCF. Go Knights, Charge On!