In the midst of COVID-19, Donley is assisting in the coordination of relief efforts coming out of the Homeless Services Network. The network aims to combat homelessness through funding programs and providing direct crisis recovery for agencies across Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties

鈥淟ocal agencies serving homeless individuals and families have quickly instituted major changes to ensure that everyone stays healthy,鈥� she says. 鈥淗SN is coordinating efforts across agencies. It has been a major undertaking and the work that these agencies have done is commendable.鈥�

Donley has also turned her research towards understanding the impact of unemployment and furloughs prompted by COVID-19. Donley and her students are conducting a real-time online survey of hospitality industry workers who have been directly impacted.

鈥淥ur hope it to shine a light on the impact this is having on the people who make up a major employment sector in our community, so that people feel heard and considered rather than just a statistic,鈥� says Donley.

Seeking to understand the quality of life and sociological tendencies of homeless and impoverished communities does not end with her research. Donley has a hand in many of the local agencies that have a direct impact on the wellbeing of these individuals

鈥淚 think it is important that we examine the structural reasons why so many people live in poverty or experience homelessness,鈥� says Donley. 鈥淏eing poor or homeless is a condition, not a personality trait.鈥�

Donley believes solutions are also found working with community partners, which is one reason she directs the . It produces research about an array of subjects within the social and behavioral sciences, particularly via collaboration with non-profit and government agencies.

She also serves on the board of directors for the Coalition for the Homeless where she is able to communicate what she knows and can draw direct information for her research.

Over the past several years Donley has mentored countless graduate students and played a role in plugging them into opportunities to pursue research within the community and beyond. In her role as internship coordinator within the Department of Sociology she helps students find positions with community agencies. She says it is important to show students how to hone their research skills and never stop stretching themselves through experience, especially outside of the classroom.

鈥淚 am inspired by my students, both undergraduate and graduate, who are passionate about the same things I am and that work diligently to produce quality research,鈥� she says.

Donley graduated with a doctorate degree in sociology from 麻豆原创 and has worked at the university since 2011. She became an associate professor position in the Fall 2013. Several of her publications have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Social Distress. She also co-authored the book The Homeless, with Professor Emeritus of sociology James Wright in 2011.

Much can be said about the resilient, proud and innovative spirit of the Puerto Rican people. The warmth and attentive reception we received everywhere we went was indicative of that.

After the storm, my research interest in disasters and Puerto Ricans in Florida was augmented. Then-Provost Dale Whittaker asked me to lead the efforts on how 麻豆原创 was going to address the situation, and different offices on campus, staff, faculty and students came together to work on the issue.

This amazing group of people was responsible for answering calls and providing information about admission criteria for students granted in-state tuition to attend 麻豆原创. 麻豆原创鈥檚 newly established Puerto Rican Student Association was essential in extending in-state tuition for students displaced by the storm.

My research interests were recognized by various news outlets and I was interviewed by local WMFE-FM, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Telemundo and Univision national broadcasts, and inquiries for information came from reporters from CNN and Forbes magazine. Willingly or not, I had become the source of information for the situation happening on the island and its impact on the Central Florida community.

At the personal level I was also dealing with the aftermath of the storm. I was not able to communicate with my father in Puerto Rico for three weeks and my in-laws moved to my house in Orlando and stayed with us for almost four months.

Maria had influenced my life at all levels, but I still had not seen the devastation firsthand, and four months after the storm I decided it was time to visit and evaluate the situation for myself.

In the winding-down days of the 2017 fall semester, I met with my colleagues in the Department of Sociology 鈥� Professor Tim Hawthorne and post-doctoral scholar Hannah Torres 鈥� and we decided to visit Puerto Rico. Christine Munisteri also joined us as our drone pilot to survey the damage caused by Maria. We wanted to meet with faculty colleagues at the University of Puerto Rico and also with people in the community. After our 麻豆原创 meeting, we contacted several groups and individuals, and the plan for our visit was set.

As we were landing at the airport in San Juan, my heart was pounding with anticipation. Was I ready to see the aftermath? Was I going to experience a completely different Puerto Rico?

At touchdown, the passengers starting clapping and making noise 鈥� this is a sort of an unwritten tradition of Puerto Rican passengers when they land on the island. As I stepped off the airplane, the airport operations were smooth, rental-car pickup was a breeze, and everything looked normal. We rented an apartment in Old San Juan because FEMA workers and other subcontractors had booked most of the hotel rooms.

As we drove from the airport to Old San Juan there were noticeable effects of the hurricane. Several traffic lights were not working, highways signs were facing the wrong way, and a billboard was destroyed. But overall, Old San Juan and the airport seemed to be OK.

However, as we visited other places around the island, the story was different.

The next place we visited was the island of Culebra to meet our friends Alfredo Monta帽ez and Roberto Morales.

Culebra was affected by Hurricane Irma before it struck Central Florida and the coastal erosion was compounded by Hurricane Maria. Our friends showed us how coral reefs were 聽damaged by the storm and how they wanted to collaborate to educate local children to protect this area and develop a resilient community to face the threats of future hurricanes and other climate events.

One of the striking issues in Culebra was the closure of its most famous beach, Playa Flamenco, as Maria had shifted the ocean floor and several bombs resurfaced from the island鈥檚 past as a bombing range for the U.S. armed forces. They closed the beach to make sure the bombs were not active; fortunately most of them were not.

We visited faculty and students at the Graduate School of Planning and the Center for Social Research at the University of Puerto Rico in R铆o Piedras who shared their experiences with Maria, the stoppage of classes, and the way they make sure their students continue their education and research even in the most trying conditions.

We visited Utuado in the center of the island to meet with a community group that shared their efforts in responding to the storm by organizing, communicating and activating their community. They also mentioned that some of the communities have been without electricity or potable water for 15 years or so, way before the impact of Maria.

Finally, we visited the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and met with faculty members and students from various departments. We learned about the National Institute of Energy and Island Sustainability collaborative that was put together to address the most pressing issues of energy and sustainability on the island. We also toured the damage to the coastline in the northwest town of Rinc贸n and saw firsthand the impact of Maria to this great tourist destination.

Overall, four months after Maria, Puerto Rico was still in response mode.

To the casual observer, if looked like Maria had just hit the island as debris was still on the side of the roads, downed power and telephone lines remained, and several places were without power or working with portable generators.

Puerto Rico is still in great need, and what we saw confirms it.

Even now, another three months after our visit, many of the conditions we experienced are still present.

I ask that others not forget Puerto Rico and we do everything we can to make sure that the island thrives again.

Fernando I. Rivera is an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Sociology. He can be reached at Fernando.Rivera@ucf.edu.

Students flew mini drones over a model town to simulate how GIS professionals fly drones over land to capture images and document pre- and post-natural disasters, changes to shorelines over time, and other views.

The event coincided with International GIS Day and the announcement that 麻豆原创鈥檚 Citizen Science GIS team 鈥� the host of Wednesday鈥檚 event 鈥撀爓ill take this immersive learning experience to Central Florida classrooms for free.

鈥淔ield trips are tough. Being able to take the citizen science show on the road is what it鈥檚 all about,鈥� said Timothy Hawthorne, 麻豆原创 assistant professor of GIS who leads the Citizen Science GIS group.

The classroom visit of the Citizen Science GIS group is called the Maps, Apps, and Drones Tour, and will be part of an educational outreach component of two National Science Foundation research grants of which Hawthorne is a part.

Teachers of local school districts and home-schooled students interested in the opportunity can visit citizensciencegis.org/tour to learn more and sign up.

Students on Wednesday also used online mapping tools to map out sustainable features of their school campuses. They saw a pre-existing web map 鈥� provided by international GIS company Esri 鈥� of migration data of the world, and discussed how such data opens doors for explorations on what the rate of migration means for the stability of a country, for instance. Activities using drones, online mapping and more are part of the learning experience Citizen Science GIS takes to classrooms.

Mount Dora Christian Academy teacher Laurel Steele, who attended Wednesday鈥檚 field trip, said she would welcome Citizen Science GIS鈥� immersive teaching lessons in her classroom because it showcases an up-and-coming job market to her students and the activities encourage teamwork.

Drones, online mapping and other GIS tools are used in various disciplines, such as sociology to chart movements of a culture, transportation to identify the best routes for emergencies, and real estate to identify viable and vacant land for development.

鈥淎s a public scholar and a parent, I see these technologies that are in demand but they鈥檙e not at the forefront of schools,鈥� Hawthorne said. 鈥淜ids get so excited about this, so we want to foster that excitement further and to make 麻豆原创 the school of choice for GIS.鈥�

Beyond classroom visits, Hawthorne hopes to soon have a Geo Bus that expands the team鈥檚 ability to take this technology straight to the students at their schools. Hawthorne envisions a 鈥渕obile educational lab鈥� with interactive stations of maps, images captured by drones, and more. He鈥檚 looking for grants and community donations to launch the Geo Bus.

鈥淲e want to provide a fun environment for the kids, and to be able to step back and let them use the technology,鈥� Hawthorne said. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 about connecting a practical use with this awesome technology.鈥�

DARPA awarded $6.3 million to a team led by Associate Professor Wingyan Chung of the 麻豆原创鈥檚 Institute for Simulation and Training, and another $6.2 million to a second team led by Assistant Professor Ivan Garibay, director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory in the College of Engineering & Computer Science.

It鈥檚 part of a new SocialSim program from DARPA that鈥檚 been in the works for more than a year. The federal agency has contracted with nine teams from universities and research institutes across the country to gain a deeper grasp of social network dynamics. 麻豆原创 was the only institution to have two teams funded.

The researchers are tasked with developing accurate and scalable simulations to provide DARPA with a better understanding of online social behavior and its evolution. Potential applications include countering the spread of misinformation by terrorists and malicious hackers, profiling online populations for social research, and forecasting online sales and activities for e-commerce.

鈥淒ifferent users take advantage of social media and other media channels to spread their ideas,鈥� Chung said. 鈥淏y accurately modeling and simulating such activities, our techniques will enable better understanding of such behavior and inform the development of policies and strategies.鈥�

Chung鈥檚 team will develop a suite of models, tools and techniques to illuminate socio-behavioral properties and network interactions in large online populations. He will collaborate with co-principal investigator Elizabeth Mustaine, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology, who specializes in social theories, criminology and cyber stalking.

Chung, who is director of the Institute for Simulation and Training鈥檚 Cyber Intelligence Lab, has done extensive research on social media analytics, covering such topics as border security, e-commerce business intelligence and the spread of infectious disease. Mustaine has researched cyber bullying, and supervises graduate students to conduct this research.

Garibay鈥檚 team will create and train thousands of AI 鈥渁gents鈥� to think and act like humans on social media networks. Garibay compared it to a hurricane prediction model, but instead of a storm鈥檚 path and speed, it would predict how far and how fast propaganda would spread on social networks.

鈥淒ARPA considers how information is propagating in social media an issue of national security. The core area of interest for DARPA is how foreign states can affect the opinion of people in the United States,鈥� said Garibay, of the聽聽Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.

The AI agents created by Garibay鈥檚 team have varied traits that govern how they would interact with one another online. Some are more emotional, some more rational, some more social, and together they will react like humans do on social media. When scaled up with the help of massive computing power, the AI network will be able to simulate how quickly information of different types will spread. Armed with a better understanding of propaganda propagation, researchers could potentially counter it more quickly.

鈥淭his will be like a test bed 鈥� a human-like network modeling with human-like behavior that replicates the phenomenon that occurs in real social networks,鈥� Garibay said.

Garibay and his colleagues used a similar approach in earlier research, developing a model to determine what led to the population decline of the Anasazi people in the Southwest in the last millennium.

Garibay鈥檚 麻豆原创 team on the DARPA project includes Associate Professor Gita Sukthankar of the Department of Computer Science; Stephen M. Fiore, professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for Simulation and Training; and Assistant Professor Alexander Mantzaris of the Department of Statistics.

While 麻豆原创 is the lead institution on both teams, others are subcontracting. Researchers from the University of North Carolina Charlotte, Florida Institute of Technology and Cornerstone Software Solutions, a company in Central Florida Research Park, are subcontracting for Garibay鈥檚 team. And researchers from the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and the State University of New York at Albany are subcontracting for Chung鈥檚 team.