We write the code for an exceptional computer science education. Our mission is to advance human understanding of Computing, both through teaching and research.
In teaching, our mission is to educate our students so that they have the fundamental knowledge, and the interpersonal and technical skills they need to succeed and excel. In these efforts they often work closely with local and national companies, such as Lockheed Martin, Harris Corp., and SAIC. Computer scientists study phenomena connected with computers and computation including: software (algor
ithms, data structures), hardware (design of computers), and many diverse applications of computational thinking and techniques. Our faculty have internationally recognized expertise in several application areas, including: Computer Vision, Image and Video Processing, Virtual Reality, Systems, Mobile Computing, Computer Security, Digital Forensics, Bioinformatics, and Systems Biology. They also have strength in more fundamental areas of Computer Science, such as: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interfaces, Computer Graphics, Software Engineering, Parallel Computation, Networking, Graph Algorithms, Theory of Computing, Algorithms, Quantum Computing, and Computer Architecture. In both kinds of areas you will find some of the most interesting and challenging practical and intellectual problems of our day, which hold a key to continued technological progress and expanding the human intellect. UCF has the oldest Computer Science Ph.D. program in Florida, which was also the first Ph.D. program at UCF. This indicates the centrality of Computer Science at UCF, and the strength of our research. The Computer Science department has five faculty members who are fellows of the IEEE, one of whom is also a fellow of the ACM; two of these five are also fellows of the AAAS and some are also fellows of other professional societies). Three of our faculty (Drs. Shah, Hughes, and Hua) have received the Pegasus Professor award, the highest honor given to a faculty member at UCF, and during the last five years five of our young faculty members have won the prestigious NSF CAREER award. We are very proud of our National Collegiate Cyber Defense Championship (CCDC) team, which won the national championship in 2014. Most of the team members are undergraduates in either Information Technology or Computer Science. We are also very proud of our programming team, which has won many Southeast Regional contests and successfully competes at the ICPC world finals. Most of the team members are undergraduates. The department also offers opportunities for undergraduate research, including an active honors program and a "Research Experience for Undergraduates" in Computer Vision (funded by the NSF for more than 25 years). Digital Forensics is primarily taken by law enforcement officers, who use its specialized tools and techniques to better investigate crimes and find evidence for prosecution. Since computers are used in many different ways, such investigations not only involve computer crimes, but also the analysis of computer activities and files associated with more traditional criminal activities. Information Technologists work to provide better service and value to businesses. Businesses rely on information technologists to drive efficiency and productivity throughout their enterprises, not only by maintaining computer equipment and software, but also by improving business processes, and discovering innovative ways to use an enterprise's information resources to serve its customers. Gary T. Leavens
Chair and Professor
03/12/2026
On April 8, the Orlando AWS User Group is hosting an AI-focused AWS GameDay experience at Downtown UCF.
🎮 What is AWS GameDay?
Think hackathon meets workshop. It's a hands-on, interactive, team-based experience where you solve real-world cloud challenges in a live AWS environment. You earn points, and the top 3 teams will win prizes courtesy of AWS, HashiCorp, and New Relic.
You and your team (2–4 people) will:
Deploy and troubleshoot live AWS workloads
Solve architecture and operational challenges
Earn points on a real-time leaderboard
Compete in a friendly but intense cloud showdown
This is a beginner-friendly event - even if you have never seen the AWS Console before, you have the chance to win. Strategy and problem-solving skills can trump AWS experience.
While studying at UCF, Ilkin Isler ’22MS ’25PhD helped develop an artificial intelligence model to quickly and accurately assess cancerous tumors.
Now an AI engineer at Universal Creative, she analyzes complex white papers and developing state-of-the-art AI systems from scratch — all for the purpose of improving the safety of park guests.
Congratulations to Professor Joseph LaViola Jr.! He has been inducted into the Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction Academy.
LaViola manages the Interactive Computing Experiences Research Laboratory at UCF, where his work with 3D user interfaces, 2D and 3D gesture recognition and sketch- and touch-based interfaces contributed to his induction: https://bit.ly/3OMRczA
03/03/2026
Computer science alumnus Kenny Nguyen '25, a cyber analyst for Deloitte & Touche, credits UCF Career Services in helping him shape his professional path.
He took advantage of summer appointments, interview strategies, and also printed business cards to hand out to the company representatives at the Internship and Career Expo: https://bit.ly/4seMkSb
02/25/2026
After decades of pushing the boundaries of how computers think, Pegasus Professor Yan Solihin has earned the highest professional distinction in computer architecture: he has been named a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery: https://bit.ly/4sfRpKi
02/13/2026
Late last year, an AI security system detected a potential threat at a local middle school. Authorities responded to a call for a suspected weapon. Thankfully, the "weapon" turned out to be a clarinet.
Oviedo Community News investigated the incident further to learn more. They reached out to Assistant Professor Yogesh Rawat, a member of the UCF Institute of Artificial Intelligence, who shared his insights as an expert in video understanding. He emphasized that human verification is a crucial element in the use of AI security systems: https://bit.ly/4crPf5i
02/09/2026
What an honor! ✨
We're proud to share that computer science alum Lawrence Oaks '21 '22MS made this year's 30 Under 30 list! He will be honored at an award ceremony in May for his efforts in continuing to reach for the stars.
02/06/2026
“Our best days of C3 aren’t behind us; they are in front of us ... I will continue to give back to the program and help it improve, and I hope more alumni do the same."
What started as competition has become a lifelong commitment as Martin ’20 ’22MS and Michael Roberts ’19 ’21MS help shape what’s next HackďĽ UCF.
Yu Tian and research team at AI and Imaging in Medicine are advancing medical AI to help everyone live a quality life into their 100s. See how their innovative work can help ensure we can all live longer, healthier lives: https://bit.ly/4agHAUX
02/04/2026
“I want to help everyone have a quality life to 100 — or longer. My family. Me. All of us. I love the possibility. I love being here, at this turning point, with the opportunity to make a huge impact.”
UCF computer scientist Yu Tian and his team are working to discover real solutions for longer, healthier lifespans at the AI and Imaging in Medicine lab. Learn more about their work: https://bit.ly/4agHAUX
01/21/2026
Computer science senior James Love was recognized as an Honorable Mention Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher by the Computer Research Association. 🎉
A student of Professor David Mohaisen, Love focuses his research on improving artificial intelligence’s (AI) ability to uncover vulnerabilities in code to prevent bugs and security breaches in real systems. His work can be applied to real-world vulnerability scanners to identify potential weaknesses and also ignore false positives.
“I was motivated to pursue this research because it was challenging and would allow me to explore a cutting-edge field in cybersecurity,” he says.
This summer, Love have the opportunity to pursue hands-on industry research at Sandia National Labs in the Center for Cyber Defenders, focusing on security and AI projects.
“I was overjoyed to receive this award. It is awesome to be recognized for all the work I put into this research.”
03/12/2026
03/05/2026
03/03/2026
03/03/2026
02/25/2026
02/13/2026
02/09/2026
02/06/2026
02/04/2026
02/04/2026
01/21/2026
01/09/2026