Now on their third annual virtual exchange (VE) project implementation, Dr. Luis Mejia-Puig, Assistant Professor in the UF Department of Interior Design, and one of his VE partners, Prof. Edgar Martínez, Director of the Industrial Design Program at Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Colombia, were recently interviewed by UNICollaboration, a European-based VE network. They describe their VE project, which requires students to exchange knowledge on their local communities so they can design building interiors for each other's contexts. 

To check out the interview and article for the full story, click here

The University of Florida International Center (UFIC) Office for Global Research Engagement hosted the Global Fellows Program Final Symposium today at the Reitz Union, bringing together faculty fellows, mentors, and research experts for a dynamic morning of cross-disciplinary dialogue and global research engagement. This culminating event marked the conclusion of the 2025 Global Fellows Program, which aims to build institutional capacity for international research and collaboration.

Themed "Building Capacity for International Research and Collaboration," the symposium featured an innovative format inspired by the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Each of the 17 faculty fellows delivered a concise and engaging three-minute presentation of their proposed international research projects using only one static slide. These short but impactful "elevator pitches" emphasized research significance, international context, methodologies, and anticipated global impact while... READ MORE

The Ukraine Rebuilding Initiative (URI) began as a UF student organization in August 2023 with a mission to help rebuild and heal the city of Nizhyn, Ukraine. With projects across a range of academic areas - from engineering to business to agriculture and more - the organization has attracted students of all majors who want to contribute their expertise to this humanitarian cause, some of whom also have personal ties to Ukraine and Russia. This semester, URI has launched a new virtual exchange (VE) initiative as one of its projects, with the goal of supporting dialogue between UF and Nizhyn Gogol State University students and providing a space for them to share about their respective cultures.

The VE project is being organized and facilitated by graduating seniors Mikhail Mikhaylov and Grace Wright, who also lead URI. To prepare UF students to participate in this exchange, Grace and Mikhail organized workshops in collaboration with UF’s English Language Institute (ELI) and... READ MORE