What happens when graduate students go beyond the classroom to tackle real-world artificial intelligence (AI) challenges facing the financial industry?

At 糖心logo入口鈥檚 , that experience comes to life in the FinTech-AI Lab.

The lab puts fintech master’s students to work on complex AI and machine learning problems alongside faculty researchers and industry mentors. Beyond technical expertise, the experience gives students a front-row seat to how AI is being used to solve business challenges and the opportunity to contribute to what comes next.

Established to bridge the gap between academic learning and industry innovation, the lab pairs selected students with leading industry organizations to develop solutions with the potential to influence products, improve decision-making and drive innovation across financial technology.

Each semester, just two to four students are selected through a competitive process based on academic performance and faculty interviews. Instead of completing a traditional capstone project, they join a faculty-led research team conducting applied AI research for industry partners.

Partnership Powering Innovation

One of the lab’s most impactful collaborations is with Equifax, a global leader in data, analytics and technology.

Together with Miller College of Business faculty, Equifax identifies high-impact business challenges, provides resources and mentors students throughout the research process. Fintech faculty members, Associate Professor Cuneyt Akcora and Assistant Professor Yafei Zhang, lead the lab鈥檚 research initiatives, meeting weekly with student teams and collaborating with Equifax to review progress and refine projects.

Students spend more than a year working on AI research, gaining an experience that closely resembles a part-time industry internship.

鈥淭he partnership shows what makes UCF鈥檚 master鈥檚 in fintech distinctive,鈥� Zhang says. 鈥淪tudents not only learn finance, AI and data science in the classroom; they apply these tools to real industry problems with guidance from faculty and industry mentors. In the AI era, that kind of hands-on, corporate-partnered experience is essential.鈥�

Turning AI Skills Into Industry Solutions

The impact of the FinTech-AI Lab comes to life through the work of its students, whose research tackles real challenges facing the financial industry.

Fintech graduate student Michael Azzi set out to help address synthetic identity fraud, the fastest-growing financial crime in the United States.

Azzi developed an address-intelligence framework that combines Google’s Gemini large language model, the Google Places API and a rule-based risk engine to identify high-risk addresses, including virtual offices and private mailbox services. The approach could help improve fraud detection within consumer credit files.

“Working on synthetic identity fraud detection at Equifax showed me how AI can be applied to real-world business challenges,鈥� Azzi says. 鈥淏eing able to combine large language models with live address intelligence to help protect consumers made this one of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on.”

Another fintech graduate student, Clare Anandra Eric Hamissi, investigated how government intervention programs, including stimulus payments and loan forbearance, influenced consumer default risk.

Her findings revealed that lower-income consumers and those with lower credit scores experienced the greatest reductions in default risk.

The projects don鈥檛 necessarily end when the research does. When a project demonstrates strong business potential, Equifax evaluates the results for possible productization or internal implementation, giving students the opportunity to contribute to solutions that could make a measurable impact across the financial industry.

Opening the Door to Experiential Learning

The FinTech-AI Lab demonstrates the Miller College of Business鈥� commitment to experiential learning while providing students with a new way to prepare for and help shape an AI-driven future.

Students gain experience working with enterprise-scale data, collaborating with faculty researchers and industry professionals, and solving problems at the intersection of finance, AI and data science.

As the lab prepares to welcome its third cohort of fintech student researchers this fall, it continues to set UCF鈥檚 Master鈥檚 in FinTech program apart. Students don鈥檛 just learn about AI, machine learning and financial technology 鈥� they put that knowledge to work alongside faculty and industry experts, solving real business challenges with the potential to influence products and business decisions.

The UCF master鈥檚 in fintech is a STEM-designated graduate program that prepares the next generation of fintech leaders through AI, data analytics and emerging financial technologies. The first program of its kind in Florida, the program is offered each fall with in-person and online options.

聽Applications are now open for Fall 2027.

In April, Logue will retire from her leading role at UCF.

鈥淭he timing couldn鈥檛 be better,鈥� Logue says. 鈥淲e have no crisis, no funding gap 鈥� just a healthy business environment [for] the foreseeable future. I can walk away with peace of mind that our 鈥榞row your own鈥� approach has become the hallmark of economic development in Central Florida.鈥�

Under Logue鈥檚 guidance, the Innovation Districts and Incubation Program has cultivated growth for hundreds of startups, resulting in thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars for the local economy from a medley of industries. Logue鈥檚 approach to her work has captured the attention of colleagues across the country, serving as a testament to her strong work ethic and humility.

鈥淚鈥檝e followed a crooked path,鈥� Logue says, 鈥渂ut I鈥檝e never forgotten where I came from.鈥�

The Farm Girl From Arkansas

Logue learned how to drive from the seat of a tractor at age 10. She can鈥檛 begin to count how many piglets she bottle-fed or the hours she spent picking, cleaning and canning vegetables from her family鈥檚 enormous garden. Logue鈥檚 granddad ran the general store. Her father earned a degree in agricultural engineering, but didn鈥檛 stray from his rural roots where everyone knew each other as neighbors and helped each other as friends.

鈥淢y upbringing close to the Earth prepared me to work with entrepreneurs even back when I had other plans,鈥� Logue says.

Those plans were supposed to include medical school, however, along the way she discovered the world of technology at the University of Arkansas library, where early online databases fed her hunger for knowledge. From there, Logue鈥檚 route bounced around the south 鈥� to Louisiana State University for a master鈥檚 degree, back to Arkansas to teach and eventually to the University of Florida (UF) in 1984 where she helped run an information center with rocket scientists.

鈥淎griculture is the original STEM field,鈥� Logue says of the connection between farming and technology.

While at UF, she would attend occasional business conferences in Orlando, and each time she became more intrigued about the blossoming potential of the area and the young university on its east side. At one conference in the aftermath of 9/11, she heard a new strategy outlined 鈥� for the region, for UCF, and, as Logue believed, for her own career.

鈥淭he ground had shaken after 9/11,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t forced every business and municipality to change. During that conference, I heard how technology and young startups in Orlando were poised to diversify the economy beyond tourism. Everyone wanted to participate 鈥� the city, the county, private enterprise. And at the center of it all: UCF. It wasn鈥檛 just talk. Innovation would drive entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship would grow the greater community. I鈥檇 always wanted to be in a place where I could see those kinds of long-term results.鈥�

Laying the Groundwork for Orlando’s Economic Boom

When Logue arrived at UCF a few months later, she saw the equivalent of a big field 鈥� one incubator in one building. She felt at home. Working with entrepreneurs reminded her of planting seeds. Developing partnerships with the city and county was like watering and fertilizing.

鈥淛ust like it is when you鈥檙e growing crops, you keep watch, knowing there will be factors outside your control,鈥� Logue says. 鈥淏ut you keep nurturing, keep fending off pests and focus on the harvest ahead.鈥�

Orlando鈥檚 business culture today is very different than it was in 2002. The region once known for a busy airport and theme parks now garners global attention for technology and innovation clusters that feed a robust local economy. There鈥檚 expertise in virtual reality, augmented reality, digital twinning, modeling, simulation, gaming and theme park advancements. All of this has been spun into a wide range of business interests: education, hospitality, medicine, real estate, smart city planning and the space program. Trace any of the vendors back to their roots and you鈥檒l probably find yourself still standing in Central Florida.

This is the fruit reaped from sowing locally, and it鈥檚 due in large part to UCF 鈥� and to Logue.

鈥淐olleagues from around the country ask how we do this,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 tell them UCF always has a seat at the table. During conversations, you can鈥檛 tell who works for government, who works for industry and who works for UCF. It鈥檚 truly collaborative, which is helpful for entrepreneurs. At the heart of it, we share a goal to drive a better quality of life from within.鈥�

RINI Technologies, one of the first businesses in the incubator program when Logue arrived in 2002, now offers leading research and development from a 12,000-square-foot facility just one mile from UCF鈥檚 main campus. It鈥檚 among the companies Logue and her team have helped grow from laboratory to marketplace.

The successes gained so much attention from the U.S. Department of Defense that when it recognized a need for rapid innovation in 2019, it launched the Central Florida Tech Grove and appointed Logue as director. Five years later, 11 government entities now collaborate with Tech Grove, where the primary mission to grow the defense industrial base for each entity has expanded overall economic vitality. Business leaders from around the world see the ease of integrating with other companies and government and want to know how to be a part of it.

They call the person at the center of the progress: Logue.

鈥淚t isn鈥檛 me,鈥� she says with down-to-earth modesty. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the vibrant economic environment here. I know it will be sustained long after I leave.鈥�

Her Ambitious To-do List for Retirement

Logue plans to take online courses in history, photography and possibly artificial intelligence. There are books to read and documentaries to watch about people, WWI and WWII. She鈥檒l vacation in Eastern Europe and visit her grandkids in Alaska. But near the top of the list is a trip she鈥檚 been thinking about for a long time. This trip will be to the pastures of Lexington, Kentucky, and the foothills and flatlands of Arkansas 鈥� home.

鈥淏ack to the place that prepared me in ways I never saw coming,鈥� she says.

Then Logue and her husband, Ed, will return to Florida and take a breath before she makes time for a once-familiar hobby.

鈥淚鈥檓 going to have a big garden,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd I look forward to spending a lot of time in it.鈥�

The Joust New Venture Competition is UCF鈥檚 premier startup showcase event hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in UCF’s College of Business and the Blackstone Launchpad. The event celebrates student entrepreneurs from various majors and all types of venture proposals, introducing them to community leaders and providing key resources to help launch their ventures. Competitors present their models for a viable business and compete to win money and other vital resources to pursue their venture. Previous competitors have gone on to appear on ABC鈥檚 Shark Tank and have launched successful businesses.

A panel of expert professionals representing corporate partners, area businesses and alumni will assess the students鈥� business plans. This year鈥檚 final judges will be Jacques Fu 鈥�08, founder of PETE Learning; Kevin Miller, president and CEO of Addition Financial; Mark Norato 鈥�91, vice president of North American Partners in Anesthesia; Michael O鈥橠onnell 鈥�09, founder and CEO of MOD Ventures LLC; John Paccione 鈥�95, president of Red Horse Ventures; and Edward Schons, former president of the Florida High Tech Corridor and assistant vice president for University Relations at UCF.

Advancing beyond a roster of 16 semifinalists, here are the four teams competing in the Joust finals:

CyberColosseum Solutions

Team members: Harrison Keating, Noah Magill and Joshua Walsworth

CyberColosseum is a dynamic training platform that immerses information security teams in realistic cyber warfare scenarios. Facing simulations of real-world threat actors like those behind major breaches, a team can hone their skills in a custom environment that mirrors their company’s infrastructure. Unlike static content that quickly becomes outdated, this platform delivers up-to-date threats in a high-stakes practice setting. The mission: equip teams to defend against cyber threats and safeguard companies from becoming the next victim.

Emergency Insights

Team members: Aref Abdala, Sonia Alvarez, Javier Arocha and Julio Wall Chirinos

Emergency Insights revolutionizes hazard risk mitigation by providing precise assessments for both individuals and counties. For users, it offers insights into property risks, aiding in informed decisions about purchases and disaster preparedness. The annual hazard reports assist counties in strategic planning and resource allocation. Unlike existing solutions, Emergency Insights will provide up-to-date data, comprehensive coverage and user-friendly accessibility at an affordable price.

Unbound Disability Claims

Team members: Samson Lachman, Amanda McDonald and Alyssa Wilbanks

Imagine facing a shocking cancer diagnosis after seeking treatment for stomach pain, leading to job loss and financial strain. Applying for Social Security Disability (SSD) becomes a daunting task, taking hours to complete online only to be denied after months of waiting. Appeals bring no relief as savings dwindle, debts mount and health deteriorates. This struggle is all too common for 62% of SSD applicants. The solution: the Disability Claim Builder, which streamlines the process to secure faster approvals and much-needed benefits, much like what TurboTax does for people filing their taxes.

ZuLeris Interactive

Team members: Liam Etan, Jacob Noel and Zackary Zuniga

ZuLeris creates interactive electromagnetic warfare virtual training environments (VTE) to supplement live learning systems. In this constructive VTE, users can educate, train, and rehearse scenarios to accelerate learning and achieve superiority in their field.

New research led by suggests that engaging in recovery may help entrepreneurs reduce the negative impact of stress.

鈥淓ntrepreneurs who work really hard and grind on their business and who most need to recover, don鈥檛 take a break,鈥� says Gish, who also has studied how lack of sleep impacted entrepreneurs鈥� decision-making ability. 鈥淭hat incessant grind, fueled by the autonomy that accompanies self-employment, hinders or hampers them from taking time to recover. This creates a tension between the good and bad associated with entrepreneurial careers, which leads to strange well-being outcomes. We鈥檙e trying to fix that.鈥�

Gish builds on his previous research that documented the link between entrepreneurial well-being and the stressors that affect it. In this study, which was recently published in the scholarly journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Gish proposes recovery interventions to enhance entrepreneurial well-being.

To help entrepreneurs recover, Gish and his co-authors recommend three recovery-intervention categories they鈥檝e dubbed the 3 Rs: Respite, Reappraisal and Regimen.

鈥淩espite is just taking a break or pushing 鈥榩ause鈥� on work. Reappraisal is changing how you think about stress,鈥� says Gish, noting that writing in a journal can help someone understand how they look at stress or failure and then reframe it. 鈥淎nd the last one is regimen, just adding structure to respite and reappraisal.鈥�

Gish recommends setting work aside, even for just a few minutes, to take a walk, listen to music or engage in other non-work-related activities. The study notes that even micro-breaks, which may span just 5-10 minutes, can provide physical and mental relief from stress, aid in recovery and boost productivity.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e always working and always on, that can impair recovery and eventually harm a host of well-being outcomes,鈥� he says.

The study, a comprehensive review of the literature around entrepreneur well-being, stressors and their effects, also offers guidance on how entrepreneurs can reframe how they look at self-care and recovery, and then how to build it into their routines.

Gish joined 聽in 2019. Co-authors for the research are Amanda Jasmine Williamson, lecturer in Innovation and Strategy at University of Waikato in New Zealand; and Ute Stephan, professor of entrepreneurship, King鈥檚 College London, and Technische Universit盲t Dresden.

While consumer spending shrank by 3.9 percent in 2020 amid the recession, the institute鈥檚 first-quarter U.S. forecast predicts spending will accelerate to an increase of 5.4 percent this year and slow to an increase of 2.6 percent by 2024. CARES Act funding and the COVID-19 vaccine are quelling fear of the pandemic, prompting consumers to open their wallets and businesses to hire new employees. Snaith maintains a positive outlook on the months ahead, but it could take until 2022 for unemployment to fall back to pre-pandemic levels.

鈥淐onsumers are powering this recovery, and as the effects of the pandemic fade, consumer confidence will rise in tow.鈥�

鈥淛ob growth will help ease the damage to the labor market from the lockdown, but the road to recovery will take at least another year,鈥� Snaith says. 鈥淐onsumers are powering this recovery, and as the effects of the pandemic fade, consumer confidence will rise in tow.鈥�

• Job growth will continue. The growth rate will reach 3.9 percent in 2021, before slowing to 3.1 percent in 2022, 0.8 percent in 2023 and 0.5 percent in 2024.
• Unemployment will decline to 4.2 percent by 2023.
• The housing market will continue to progress and improve through 2021 鈥撯�擭ew-home construction will rise from 1.38 million in 2020 to 1.56 million in 2021, then decelerate to 1.24 million by 2024.
• Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will accelerate from its historic 2020 low to 5.4 percent in 2021, before easing to 4 percent in 2022, 2.5 percent in 2023 and 2.4 percent in 2024.

With economic policy measures largely at a standstill in Washington D.C., public health initiatives will likely drive the speed of the nation鈥檚 economic recovery. The looming possibility of future lockdowns, vaccine distribution concerns and the nation鈥檚 understanding of the COVID-19 virus will have the greatest effect on the strength of the rebound.

Interest rates are similarly projected to remain near zero until mid-2024, when the Federal Reserve will slowly begin reversing the rate cuts made during the COVID-19 recession. The Fed鈥檚 delay to increase interest rates will help fuel investment growth once the pandemic subsides.

鈥淭his is all uncharted territory for monetary policy,鈥� Snaith says. 鈥淲ashington D.C. has been focused on politics more so than the economy and there is no previous playbook on how best to carry policy forward.鈥�

For the complete U.S. report from the Institute for Economic Forecasting, visit .

The Institute for Economic Forecasting strives to provide complete, accurate and timely national, state and regional forecasts and economic analyses.

Snaith is a national expert in economics, forecasting, market sizing and economic analysis who authors quarterly reports about the state of the economy. Bloomberg News has named Snaith as one of the country鈥檚 most accurate forecasters for his predictions about the Federal Reserve鈥檚 benchmark interest rate, the Federal Funds rate.

鈥淓ven being across the world in Ecuador, attending a virtual networking event was a great chance to learn something new,鈥� Pacheco says. 鈥淎fter learning about all these virtual events, I found networking simple and advantageous. In the business world, it is extremely important to build connections and I was able to do just that.鈥�

What started as a networking obstacle has become a new means to connect with students, employers and campus partners all over the world.

While career fairs and in-person interviews are no longer an option, faculty and staff are utilizing online alternatives that provide more interaction than a typical Zoom call. This semester, the College of Business launched a series of virtual networking events powered by Career Fair Plus, an online platform for job fairs, events and employer interviews. Similar to an in-person career fair, students can visit multiple 鈥渂ooths鈥� by dropping in and out of virtual meeting rooms hosted by employers and student organizations.

On Sept. 3, the college鈥檚 Professional Selling Program hosted a 鈥渞everse job fair鈥� where nearly 50 employees connected with 40 sales students. This interactive platform also hosted hundreds of students for a 鈥淰irtual RSO Speed Networking鈥� event. Business students visited virtual booths hosted by 31 registered student organizations, campus partners, employers and sponsors. Tiffany Hughes, chief of operations for the college, 聽says engagement continues to be a central part of the student experience.

鈥淒uring a normal semester, the College of Business usually hosts more than 50 events involving students, alumni and friends of the college,鈥� Hughes says. 鈥淲e are thrilled to be able to continue this culture of engagement in an online setting thanks to the strong relationships we have with our corporate partners and student organizations.鈥�

What started as a networking obstacle has become a new means to connect with students, employers and campus partners all over the world. Later this semester, the college will hold the 鈥淔all 2020 Virtual Invitational: An Online Event for Internships, Externships and Jobs.鈥� Using Career Fair Plus, corporate partners will host virtual booths to promote career opportunities to hundreds more students in a variety of fields, including accounting, economics, finance, integrated business, management, marketing, real estate and sports business.

鈥淲e are incredibly thankful for the partnerships we have in our Central Florida business community and UCF student organizations. We couldn’t provide these resources and opportunities to our students without their unwavering support,鈥� Hughes says.