Research
Be at the center of extraordinary breakthroughs.
Uncovering the story of America’s first settlement. Analyzing cybersecurity’s role in national security. Working throughout the Gulf of Mexico to mitigate one of the worst oil spills in our country’s history. These are a few of the many research opportunities unique to the University of West Florida.
At UWF, research is our way of putting our mind, power and resources to work for the region. Here, scholars, students, business leaders, community members and government experts collaborate on real-world problems. We believe big ideas can become even bigger solutions to local, regional, state and global issues.
Push through limits with us so that we can all move into a brighter future together.
Undergraduate Research
As an undergraduate at UWF, you will conduct research reserved for grad students at other universities. Our Explorers Program pairs you with research faculty according to your interests. We provide dozens of project awards each year to fund your research. We grant 150+ travel awards per year to present that research at national conferences. You can even get paid to conduct research with our Federal Work-Study research assistantships.
UWF study of suicide and opioid death rates in US pinpoints geographical areas of concern
An analysis by a University of West Florida team identified areas in the contiguous United States where suicide and opioid death rates are high and where the deaths overlap.
UWF professor partners with BIOPAC to develop early Alzheimer’s detection device
Dr. James Arruda, professor in the University of West Florida Department of Psychology, recently signed a consulting and licensing agreement with California-based company, BIOPAC Systems Inc., to collaborate on the development of a device that could be instrumental in the early detection of Alzheimer’s.
Student Scholars Symposium & Faculty Research Showcase
Each spring, we host a symposium to highlight scholarly and creative works produced through collaboration between students and faculty.
Research Support and Resources
In classwork, there are usually just a few set ways to do things. In the lab, when you are presented with a problem, you are not given any steps or sets of directions. It brings creativity into the normally rigid scientific process.
It never crossed my mind that I could travel to the Antarctic and look at interactions among organisms in an extreme environment. I’ve spent a lot of time working with samples from the previous trip, and now I’ll be on the other side—gathering samples, studying growth rates and analyzing what we collect.
Research News
The All of Us Research Program invites campus and community to take part in the future of health research
The Wright Institute for Global and Population Health, housed in UWF’s Usha Kundu, MD College of Health, will sponsor the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Journey, a traveling educational exhibit that raises awareness about the All of Us Research Program from Oct. 22-25.
UWF Center for Cybersecurity awarded $750,000 NCAE-C Grant to Lead National Cybersecurity Workforce Development Task Force
The UWF Center for Cybersecurity was awarded a $750,000 grant from the National Security Agency National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C) Program to lead the National Cybersecurity Workforce Development Task Force. The task force will bring together the eight NCAE-C-funded workforce development programs, including CyberSkills2Work, an intensive cybersecurity education program led by UWF and designed to help individuals launch or advance cybersecurity careers.
Research by UWF professor uncovers how our brains stay ready
A University of West Florida Department of Mathematics and Statistics professor’s brain research was recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications. Dr. Shusen Pu’s study focused on the prefrontal cortex, a key area of the brain responsible for higher-order functions like decision-making and memory. The research, conducted in collaboration with Vanderbilt University and published in August, revealed that this part of the brain is actively working even when we’re not consciously engaged in a task.