Carnegie names UCF a top research school

UCF is now ranked as one of the top research universities in the United States, according to a nationwide analysis recently released last week by the Carnegie Foundation.

The foundation, which revises their collegiate analysis about every five years, awarded UCF with the status of "RU/VH," meaning a university with very high research activity.

 UCF was one of 108 public and private universities — among Princeton, Stanford, Harvard and MIT — to receive this distinction from the total 4,633 colleges considered.

Carnegie's ranking arrives on the heels of several other recent honors bestowed upon the university's research and development sector.

Last year, UCF was ranked third in the nation for impactful patents by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and was the only university in Florida to appear on the list. Over the past year, research projects by UCF faculty in diverse subjects like hemophilia, nursing homes, stem cells, advertising spending, and water in space, have all received positive recognition.

The high research classification means more funding for research at UCF. In 2009-2010 the university received $75.8 million in federal funding. Additionally, researchers were awarded $133.3 million in external research funding with 41 UCF researchers earning a million dollars or more in grants. That amount represents an increase of over 9 percent in research funding and a 27 percent increase in federal funding from the year before.

Increased funding has also led to increased research opportunities in  community, undergraduate, and graduate research.

One of the more unique programs under the UCF research umbrella is the Business Incubation Program. According to the UCFBIP application, their mission is  "to nurture companies with the potential to create high wage jobs to help diversify the Central Florida economy."  

Applicants must qualify for the program in several different areas, including strong market potential, viability, first stage development, and a relatively permanent Central Florida location. Once accepted, these fledgling businesses receive a variety of benefits within the incubator, such as strategic planning, seminars, accounting assistance, legal guidance, and intern recruitment through the Experiential Learning office.

The program currently assists 100 companies, and 48 companies have graduated from the incubator since its inception. UCFBIP clients as a whole currently hold more than 286 patents.

UCF also offers significant research opportunities for undergraduates. The Office of Undergraduate Research offers many yearlong opportunities for students to participate in undergraduate research in the way of providing mentors, student research positions, workshops, travel grants and presentation opportunities.  

One highlight is the Summer Research Academy, or SRA, a two and a half-day program designed to introduce UCF students and incoming transfer students to the concept of undergraduate research.

Kimberly Schneider, the director of OUR, believes that undergraduate research is an important figure in the development of research at UCF and in the consideration of analysis done by groups such as the Carnegie Foundation.

"In a lot of the research fields, research is done by a team, so faculty are working with post-doctorate, graduate, and undergraduate students who do contribute a lot to the research that's done," Schneider said.  "On many levels, undergraduate research supports the research focus of the university, and we always have more and more students involved in research on campus."

Many of these students go on to appear in publications and presentations along with their faculty mentors and teams. They expand their resume through research and have the opportunity to be featured in the electronically published  UCF Undergraduate Research Journal.

Most importantly, says Schneider, the students gain invaluable experience.

"Students involved in research really expand their academic experience at UCF," she said. "They get the opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor on an independent project and it's an opportunity to work that does not often occur in a classroom setting."