University of Central Florida Researchers Leading Healthcare and Engineering Breakthroughs Awarded $3M to Advance Work

ORLANDO, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Five faculty members at the University of Central Florida are the recipients of National Science Foundation CAREER grants to continue finding innovative ways to solve challenges in healthcare and engineering. The recipients – all working on potentially game-changing research - will share $3 million over five years.

Assistant Professor Salvador Almagro-Moreno with UCF's College of Medicine is identifying the genetic and environmental triggers that lead some seemingly harmless bacteria to go rogue and become infectious and often lethal to humans. He works with the agent of the severe diarrheal disease cholera as a model system and conducts extensive studies on Vibrio vulnificus, more commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria.

Assistant Professor Samik Bhattacharya with UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science focuses on the maneuvers of marine animals. His research on their mechanics can lead to improvements in the maneuverability of unmanned water vehicles used to seek underwater gas and oil deposits and explore the depths of the ocean. Such vehicles are also used in situations too dangerous for people, such as detecting or destroying underwater mines.

Assistant Professor Yanjie Fu with UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science seeks to equip machines with the intelligence needed to bridge the gap between understanding what will happen and solving how to change it in a dynamic system. Fu is making artificial intelligence systems street smart, so they can make sound real-time decisions that could avert disasters such as a national black out when the electrical grid system is overloaded.

Assistant Professor Lorraine Leon with UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science designs materials that mimic the properties of natural biomaterials. The new biomaterials could be useful for designing carriers for potentially life-saving drugs and nucleic acids that can help patients battling diseases such as cancer, as well as building new biomaterials used to create dynamic ecofriendly reactors.

Assistant Professor Robert Steward, Jr. with UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science and UCF's College of Medicine is dissecting cell mechanics to better understand disease. Steward looks at the cells that line inside of blood vessels to examine the mechanics at work and better understand the forces behind heart disease and diabetes.

The NSF awards recognize early-career professionals with promising research. UCF has had more than 50 awardees in the past 10 years. 

Contact:
Heather Smith
Heather.Smith@ucf.edu

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SOURCE University of Central Florida