The National Leader in Emergency and Crisis Management

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ earned the No. 1 Homeland/National Security and Emergency Management Graduate Program ranking in the nation for the  third consecutive year.

At the forefront of this year’s ranking is the College of Community Innovation and Education (CCIE)’s online emergency and crisis management program, signaling Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s long-standing leadership in programs that keep people safe from disasters of all kinds.

“To maintain the U.S. News No. 1 ranking of graduate programs in homeland security and emergency management is truly a team endeavor,” Associate Professor of Public Administration Yue ‘Gurt’ Ge says. “It reflects our nationally and internationally renowned faculty in education and research, our stellar students and alumni — who have become the backbone of the emergency management profession in Florida and beyond — and our signature staff members and advisory board representing government, nonprofit, and business sectors across Central Florida.”

That strong connection to practice is central to the program’s success. Faculty research influences policy nationwide, while students gain real-world insight through close partnerships with emergency managers at the local, state and federal levels. Graduates leave prepared to respond to complex crises, from natural disasters to public health emergencies, at a time when the need for highly trained professionals continues to grow.

A Top-10 School Preparing Student Counselors

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s College of Community Innovation and Education also earned the No. 9 ranking for Student Counseling and Personnel Services Graduate Programs in the nation.

Recognition for CCIE’s student counseling  graduate program reflects Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s high-touch faculty mentorship model and its emphasis on integrating research, service, and professional preparation.

For Benoit Aubin, a first-year doctoral student in counselor education, that support has been transformative. A former firefighter and medic, Aubin now works as a mental health clinician for his former fire station while serving as a graduate research assistant with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Marriage and Family Research Institute (MFRI).

With guidance from Department of Counselor Education and School Psychology Chair and MFRI Executive Director Sejal Barden, Aubin has conducted clinical research focused on trauma and relationship stress among first-responder couples. His work has already contributed to a funded grant, conference presentations, a published book and the development of a training program — achievements he credits to a highly supportive learning environment.

“Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ knows how to prepare us to compete professionally,” Aubin says.

A 34-Spot Rise in Advanced Nursing Education

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s College of Nursing jumped  34 spots to No. 37 for Doctor of Nursing Practice Graduate Programs in the nation — the highest ranking in the college’s history.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program (DNP) improved ranking reflects a continued investment in academic rigor, faculty expertise and hands-on clinical training designed to address the nation’s growing need for nurse practitioners.

Graduates from the DNP program consistently outperform national first-time pass rates on nurse practitioner certification exams. They also often receive job offers before they even complete their degrees, according to Christopher Blackwell ’00 ’01MSN ’05PhD, director of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner program. All full-time faculty hold at least one doctoral degree, more than half remain actively practicing clinicians and many are nationally recognized fellows. Through partnerships with healthcare organizations across Central Florida students gain applied experience alongside expert preceptors in varied clinical settings.

“The incredible amount of support I’ve received from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s nursing professors and the opportunities to make an impact through my research and clinical practice solidified that I made the best choice in my graduate degree,” says Mimi Alliance ’21, a family nurse practitioner doctoral student who provides care and conducts research on the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Mobile Health Clinic.

Some of that training is anchored in the college’s Helene Fuld Health Trust STIM Center, an internationally recognized simulation facility that strengthens clinical skills and decision-making before students enter patient-care environments. The STIM Center, as well as Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s nursing programs, are housed in the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion, which opened in Lake Nona in Fall 2025 thanks to generous state and industry support — a proof point of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s ability to solve real-world issues.

Building on a Legacy of Aerospace Engineering Excellence

As Florida’s Technological University, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ continues to build on our strength in technology-driven fields by ranking No. 38 for Aerospace Engineering Graduate Programs in the nation.

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ College of Engineering and Computer Sciences‘ aerospace engineering graduate program ranking reinforces the university’s legacy in a field deeply tied to Florida’s Space Coast and NASA’s recent Artemis II launch.

“It is gratifying to see the hard work and exciting research of our faculty and students recognized by our peers,” says Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Jeffrey Kauffman, noting that since launching the aerospace engineering doctoral program in 2019, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ has steadily climbed in rankings while program enrollment has grown to more than 100 doctoral students.

Fueling that growth are advances in hypersonic flight, space exploration and defense research, with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s HyperSpace Center serving as a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaboration. Faculty success in securing competitive federal research funding has strengthened infrastructure and expanded opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students.

The result is a vibrant research environment where students engage directly in cutting-edge projects and build industry connections well before entering the workforce.

Across disciplines, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s growth in the U.S. News & World Report’s graduate rankings reflects a shared commitment to student success — driven by faculty who mentor closely, curricula that align with real-world needs and an institutional culture focused on impact. As Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s graduate programs continue to climb, they reinforce the university’s role as a national leader preparing professionals to tackle society’s most urgent challenges.

Project Harmony, a grant-funded research project initially funded and launched at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2015, helps couples connect and strengthen their relationships by equipping them with skills for improving communication and resolving conflict. It uses Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), an established evidence-based relationship intervention curriculum, to teach core skills but also offers a personalized approach through tailored programming and relationship coaching.

Participants learn strategies for effective communication, hone active listening and conflict management skills, and gain tools for coping with stressful situations — all taught in a group format with flexible scheduling options to accommodate participants, who also receive free childcare, meals and gift cards to help mitigate barriers to participation.

“We talk about what healthy relationships look like, the communication pitfalls we can fall into when we feel invalidated or unheard, and understanding love languages and styles,” says , professor of counselor education and Project Harmony’s principal investigator. “Ultimately, it leaves couples with a new curiosity for what their needs are and how to meet their partner’s needs with consideration for who and where they are now. By knowing that relationships are constantly evolving, they can use these skills to position themselves to evolve together as opposed to growing apart.”

Meeting a Need in the Community

Funded by a five-year, $6.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Project Harmony builds on decades of relationship education research through the MFRI. Couples will be placed in one of three subgroups tailored to their needs: Unite in Harmony for general relationship education, Shield in Harmony for first responders and their partners, or Raise in Harmony for couples who are also parents.

Barden says the tailored programming stems from both research and prior feedback indicating a need for relational support based on specific stressors unique to couples in these subgroups. All couples participate in the core PREP curriculum, but those in the Shield and Raise groups will engage in four to five hours of their own unique curriculum — something that is being developed with input from members of the first responder community and parenting experts, respectively.

For first responders and their partners, relationship stressors can be more nuanced due to the nature of the job. These can include varying shift schedules, occupational hazards and the stress that often accompanies them. Barden’s team is currently conducting focus groups with Central Florida-area firefighters, law enforcement officers and paramedics, as well as their partners, to learn more about their experiences.

“I don’t think we can underestimate the impact of the occupational demands of being a first responder, not only on the individual but on the family dynamic at home,” Barden says. “They keep our communities safe, so the least we can do is provide a service back to them.”

Designed With a First Responder for First Responders

It’s a group that Benoit Aubin, a first-year student in the counselor education doctoral program, is particularly passionate about. A former medic in the U.S. Navy and firefighter/paramedic, Aubin found himself assisting with the peer support team while in the fire service — an experience that inspired him to pursue further education and a career in clinical mental health counseling.

Now a mental health clinician for the District Fire Department that services the Walt Disney World Resort area, Aubin is not only working on his doctorate, he’s also a graduate research assistant helping to build the curriculum for Shield in Harmony. He has facilitated outreach and recruitment of focus group members, fostered connections between fire service leadership and MFRI staff, analyzed prior research and educated colleagues on the fire service culture.

“A lot of what I’m hearing from participants is that they didn’t know other first responders were having the same issues regarding the mental health crisis and relationships,” he says. “There’s a powerful stigma with mental health among first responders, but I didn’t know it was to that extent. It showed me how important this is and fuels me to spend countless hours assisting in curriculum development.”

Under Barden’s mentorship, Aubin is gaining hands-on experience in synthesizing and incorporating what he’s hearing in focus groups to ensure the training modules are addressing real experiences in alignment with the core content. For example, he’s creating a module focused on empowering first responder couples to help their partners decompress after coming home from a stressful shift. He also tailors the language to first responders while being mindful of stigmatizations and other barriers that prevent them from accessing mental health services.

“When I started recruiting and telling people about a free relationship education program that’s being created with a first responder for first responders, people were so enthusiastic about it,” Aubin says. “I think of and picture the people that this will help, hold onto those images, and that gives me the motivation to do this because it’s something that we know is so needed.”

Life-Changing Education

For couples who are also parents, the work lies in not just learning to connect and communicate with each other but also with their children, including navigating how to parent adolescents through the prevalence of social media. This curriculum is being developed through focus groups with parents and feedback from parenting experts around the country.

“We want to ensure parents have the tools for connecting with each other through the more challenging chapters in life and in parenthood.” — Sejal Barden, MFRI’s executive director

“We want to ensure parents have the tools for connecting with each other through the more challenging chapters in life and in parenthood, which includes helping them translate these skills into building stronger relationships with their children,” Barden says.

Barden and her team hope to begin enrolling couples in the Unite group in the spring, with Raise and Shield to follow shortly after. Although word of mouth is their top source of referral, the MFRI team will also be out in the community recruiting participants at fire stations, police stations, libraries, health departments and wellness events.

“Learning that we can change the trajectory of a couple’s life and their connection with a short amount of education and intervention is life-changing,” Barden says. “If we know that this works, how could we not do it? It feels like a calling and commitment I couldn’t imagine not being a part of.”

Researcher Credentials

Barden received her Ph.D. in counseling and education development from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and both her master’s and education specialist degrees in marriage and family therapy from the University of Florida. She joined , part of the , in 2011, and has served as MFRI’s executive director and the principal investigator of Project Harmony since 2015.

Barden, who serves as chair of the College of Community Innovation and Education’s , recently received the 2025 Exemplary Research Practices Award from the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC).

An organization within the American Counseling Association, the AARC works to promote and recognize excellence in assessment, research and evaluation in counseling. The Exemplary Research Practices Award honors AARC members who have helped to advance the field of counseling through impactful publications, rigorous research projects and the use of innovative research methods.

The professor of counselor education says that while she is honored to receive the award, she also dedicates it to the many collaborators and research participants who have helped advance her work.

“It’s great to be recognized personally, but there are so many people behind the scenes who contribute to the success of my research,” Barden says. “This award isn’t just for me — it’s for the hundreds of people who have helped serve our community throughout the years.”

This is the second time Barden has been recognized by AARC. She first received the Exemplary Research Practices Award in 2016 for her scholarship related to couples, families and counseling. Barden says her research is rooted in AARC’s goals of fostering community engagement and improving people’s lives.

“All my work stems from identifying the community’s needs and finding how I, as a relational researcher, can help meet those needs,” Barden says. “Providing that support to couples and families who don’t typically have access to interventions and psychoeducation to strengthen their relationships is what I’m passionate about.”

Barden is among the top 20 most-published scholars in her field, according to a 2023 review of over 20 counseling journals. She has led over $20 million in large-scale, federally supported research initiatives. That includes Project Harmony 2.0,  a randomized control trial investigating how a relationship education intervention can improve relationship satisfaction, emotional regulation and more.

“As a researcher, I’m always asking myself how I can keep my work innovative and make an impact,” Barden says. “My work focuses on expanding what we know and tackling the unanswered questions that limit the translation of research into community impact.”

Barden conducts her research through Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s , where she serves as executive director. The MFRI was founded in 2003 to support and strengthen healthy relationships for individuals, couples and families. Barden says the institute provides the ideal research environment for the work she leads.

“Community-engaged research always brings new challenges, so it’s important to stay flexible to meet the community’s needs while upholding federal standards,” Barden says. “For me, balancing those factors means surrounding yourself with a passionate team of skilled professionals. At the MFRI, we all complement each other as we work together to make our projects the best they can be. I’m very grateful to the team.”

In addition to her research, Barden’s award also commemorates her extensive devotion to mentorship. She has guided students through more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, and her mentees have received over a dozen national and regional research awards. She says her mission is to help budding scholars feel more comfortable using data and conducting intensive analysis.

“Many students feel intimidated when they hear about research and statistics,” Barden says. “I love breaking down what research really is and helping [students] find their passion and purpose. I find that when we slow down and they get excited about a topic, their curiosity naturally flows. It’s fun to be in that space with them, and to see them grow in their confidence and efficacy as researchers.”

As she reflects on her recent recognition, Barden remains steadfast in her dedication to research that continues to instill healthy, long-lasting relational habits in couples and families who need it most.

“My work always has and always will be about the people,” Barden says. “I believe real change happens at the local level, and what’s important to me is doing the best we can at that level. That’s my life’s purpose.”

Name: Sejal Mehta Barden

Position(s): Professor of counselor education and school psychology; executive director of the Marriage and Family Research Institute (MFRI)

Why are you interested in this research?
I am deeply passionate about helping others and making a difference through my research on healthy relationships for both couples and individuals. Strong relationships are the foundation of thriving communities, and when families are healthy, children grow up with the support they need to succeed. The good news is that building strong relationships doesn’t have to be complicated — simple lessons can make a big difference. When we feel loved and understood, our mental and physical health are at their best, and I am committed to sharing this knowledge to create lasting, positive change.

Who inspires you to conduct your research?
My inspiration for this work comes from witnessing the real, lasting impact it has on people’s lives. Seeing individuals and couples return months or even a year later, sharing how learning relationship skills saved their partnership, strengthened their bond with their children and even inspired them to pay it forward, is incredibly rewarding. These stories remind me that small, intentional changes can create a ripple effect — transforming not just relationships, but entire families and communities. Knowing that our work provides hope and practical tools for lasting connection is what drives my passion every day.

How does Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ empower you to do your research?
Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ is an incredible university in the heart of one of the greatest cities in the country — Orlando. I am proud to be part of an institution that leads in innovation, impact and community-engaged research. The support from the College of Community Innovation and Education, along with strong administrative leadership, has allowed me to conduct meaningful research that directly benefits the communities we serve. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s commitment to making a real difference isn’t just a vision — it’s a reality, and I am grateful to contribute to the university’s mission of creating lasting impact.

What major grants and honors have you earned to support your research?
To date, I have secured over $20 million in federally funded research, highlighting my ability to attract funding for projects that improve relationship outcomes. The true impact of my work lies in the lives we have touched, offering hope and support to individuals and families during challenging times.

In 2020, I received a five-year, $7.5 million research grant from the Office of Family Assistance to study the impact of relationship interventions for low-income couples. This study is the first national comparison of in-person and online relationship education. Concurrently, I completed a previous five-year, $9.6 million grant, leading a clinical trial on relationship interventions for economically disadvantaged couples, enrolling over 4,800 participants in Central Florida.

In 2021, my research team was awarded $2.77 million by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to adapt an online couples’ communication program for Latina breast cancer survivors and their partners. Reviewers commended our interdisciplinary team’s innovation and research rigor.

My research has been nationally recognized with awards from the Association for Assessment in Research and Counseling, and the Association for Specialists in Group Work. Regionally, I have received awards from the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. At Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, my contributions have been honored with the Women of Distinction Award, Research Incentive Awards, Excellence in Research Award, and Reach for the Stars Award.

Why is this research important?
The MFRI is committed to strengthening relationships and empowering economically vulnerable individuals and families. Our work focuses on teaching essential skills like healthy communication, conflict resolution  and relationship-building — tools that not only transform couples and individuals but also create lasting positive effects for their children and communities.

With over 8,000 individuals and couples served in the Orlando area — one of the fastest-growing minority metropolitan regions — we prioritize inclusivity by offering bilingual services, addressing barriers like transportation and childcare, and ensuring every participant feels safe and supported. For many, this may be the only intervention they seek, making our work even more critical.

In recognition of this work, the MFRI received a national award from the American Counseling Association, underscoring our dedication to strengthening families and communities.

Recently featured on the Knights Do That podcast, Barden is an associate professor of and executive director of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s . She is also the principal investigator for , a five year federally supported research grant that originally launched in 2015 to provide a successful relationship education program to help Central Florida families. In 2020, the project entered a second phase, Harmony 2.0, with a $7.5 million, five-year U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant to continue its face-to-face sessions and expand to virtual services. She also recently joined a project to study couples-based intervention for Latina breast cancer survivors.

Here Barden discusses love languages, its importance in all types of relationships and how to balance different love language preferences with your partner.

Alex Cumming: Can you explain what love languages are and break each one down?

Sejal Barden: Love languages fundamentally are the ways that we give and receive love. And there’s not one — there’s five of them.

Usually, you have some interest in all of the love languages, but we each have priorities in the ways that we have most availability to feeling love. So, we can typically rank order these from one to five, with one and two being the areas that you would want your partner to put most of their effort in because that’s really how you feel loved when they do these things.

One of them is words of affirmations, saying positive things to your partner or receiving positive kind of words such as compliments and words of appreciation. Another love language is quality time — one of my personal favorites. It’s founded spending quality time together away from distractions, times where you can really connect to fill your bucket, either through meaningful conversations or doing something fun together. Then there are acts of service, which is really taking care of the household responsibilities, filling gas in somebody’s car and doing the dishes to taking out the trash, picking up the kids from school or taking them to football practice. And so really engaging in service-oriented actions that make us feel loved. Another one of them is gifts, receiving and giving gifts. So being surprised by small things, like notes or flowers, and maybe larger presents, but really that idea that when you buy things or do things that are surprising so someone really feels loved and cared for. And then physical touch is one of the love languages too. From handholding to kissing, hugging and intimate experiences.

AC: How do you determine your love languages and your partner’s?

SJ: So there’s actually some great assessments or surveys that are free and online that you can take. They may take five minutes or so, but you basically respond to a series of questions and tally up your scores and it’ll show you how it relates to the five love languages.

I think that the thing to pay the most attention to, with any type of survey about love languages is if your partner’s are relatively similar with yours, maybe varying by a point or two, but you should know that those are all kind of your (collective) predominant love languages. So, I like to pay attention to those as an overall kind of picture. Was there one or two languages that were really trailing and were there  one or two languages that felt really predominant from the surveys?

AC: How important or beneficial is it to know your love language and the love language of your loved ones? How is being aware of love language is important in even non-romantic relationships?

SJ: I think love languages are really important. I think in the world that we live in today, where time is limited, we’re working longer hours and we just have less time together, if you’re going to spend time, might as well get more bang for your buck, right? Making efforts to show love in a way that your partner can really receive it.

I think that matters for individuals too. Love languages really applies to families. It absolutely applies to children. If you have a child whose love language is quality time, that would motivate a parent to say let me spend 10 minutes of one-on-one time with that child. Versus, if you have a family member — a mother, a sibling, a partner — whose love language was really acts of service, like that would probably be motivating to just grab that bag of trash on my way out of the door because that’s going mean something to them. So, I think it’s a really helpful schema for how we organize our time and know that the time that we’re putting in is well received by the person that we’re trying to help feel our love and care and concern.

AC: The love language someone may use to communicate their love may be different than the one they prefer to receive. Can you tell us how people can balance different love languages in their relationship?

SJ: I think oftentimes our love languages are different from our partner’s. And so, I think the way to kind of balance that is to have the conversation, right? So (sharing) the knowledge of what is your love language is because without knowing that we don’t really know how to negotiate our time together. And so, a classic example might be one of the partners has quality time as a love language and another partner has physical touch as a primary love language. You can easily put both of those together of having quality time, watching a movie, and making sure that you’re not sitting on separate chairs, but you’re choosing to sit on a sofa where you can also have physical touch associated together.

I’ve also seen couples organize their weekends really using love languages as a way to schedule their time. And so let’s say quality time and acts of service, where the two of them are like, “What’s one thing this weekend that we can do that will be quality time related? What’s one act of service, one household thing that’s really been on like the to-do list that we can knock out?” Maybe they do it together. Maybe they do it separately. But at the end of the weekend, they would both have said they invested some time in areas that are meaningful to both of them in the relationship. So I think if there’s intentionality behind the way that you spend your time, then it shouldn’t really be too much of a challenge for couples to compromise and navigate that.

AC: I liked that idea, planning out various ways of using love languages as dates. It’d be fun to spin a wheel and plan a date based on which love language it falls on.

SJ: And you really can’t lose in that because, again, we all really have all five of the love languages, there’s just different preferences for each of them. You could spin a wheel and just make sure that you were engaging in all of them, or slightly tipped the wheel to have multiple quality times, or your preferred love language.

I would reference Gary Chapman’s book in that there are several love languages for couples and for children. So there are many variations of love languages, and I think all of them are relatively related and important to the context in which we’re talking about.

Barden earned her doctoral degree in counselor education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and completed her master’s and education specialist degree in marriage and family therapy from the University of Florida. To learn more about her work with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Marriage and Family Research Institute, visit .

±«°äąó’sĚý was founded in 2003 on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s campus and is open to anyone over the age of 18 in the Orlando community. Run by trained professionals, the institute’s services are supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, so its resources are offered free to the public.

In October, researchers at the institute were awarded a $7.5 million, five-year grant to continue their work to help keep couples in the Orlando area together through relationship counseling. The program, Project Harmony 2.0 which starts in early April, focuses on improving couple relationships through a that teaches better ways to communicate and manage conflict while emphasizing the importance of spending quality time together.

Sejal Barden, an associate professor of counselor education and executive director of the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Marriage and Family Research Institute, offers these date night ideas for you and your partner.

Drive-in movie

If you’re up for a mini road trip, this is a great option for a once-in-a-while experience. These three theaters are all within 90 miles of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝: Lakeland’s Silver Moon Drive-in Theatre, Ocala Drive-in, and Dade City’s Joy-Lan Drive-in & Swap Shop.

“Anything in the Fridge” Game

Without shopping for anything new, use what you have in your fridge and pantry and compete to decide who made the better meal.

Complete the 16 Personalities Myers Briggs assessment

This can start a really good conversation about your similarities or differences, or you can discuss about how inaccurate it may be.

“ROLL” Dating Game

Choose a movie, dinner, snack or beverage of choice. Write and number 15 items that correspond with each category. Ask Google or Siri to pick a number between 1 and 15. Whatever she rolls is whatever you do.

“Reminded me of you” game

You and your partner go to a store of your choosing (e.g. Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree) and look for different items that remind you of each other. Consider different categories: Favorite snack, favorite drink, something their favorite color, something they need, something that reminds you of them, something you want them to try, something you need for the house, *bonus: movie you want to watch.

Airbnb Virtual Experience

Since traveling is a bit difficult during the pandemic, Airbnb offers a variety of experiences without ever having to leave your home. Some include ravioli making with an Italian chef or meditation and yoga sessions with an instructor in Spain.

Enjoy a picnic

Bring a blanket or tailgate chairs to your favorite outdoor spot. If you’re in Orlando, check out some of the City Beautiful’s parks or gardens, many of which are free.

Tour a museum or attraction virtually

Immerse yourself in museums, such as The Louvre, the Guggenheim, the San Diego Zoo and many more around the world, that are offering free virtual tours of their facilities during the pandemic.

Game night

This could be fun to also do as a virtual double date. You can pick your favorite game and play with your partner or play via Zoom as a double date with other friends and family. The app Houseparty is also group friendly.

Stargaze and s’mores night

Cozy up by a firepit and indulge in toasted marshmallows or s’mores. Pro tip: consider peanut butter cups, other chocolate candies or Nutella when building your s’mores.

Dance in the living room

Learn some new moves by watching YouTube videos, or cue up a slow-dancing playlist.

Have an at-home spa day

Treat yourself to some pampering and offer to give each other massages.

“We go to school to learn science and math and English and history, but we don’t learn how to be in a relationship with others, and it’s absolutely a teachable, trainable skill,” says Sejal Barden, an associate professor of counselor education and executive director of the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Marriage and Family Research Institute.

The was founded in 2003 on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s campus and is open to anyone over the age of 18 in the Orlando community. Run by trained professionals, the institute’s services are supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, so its resources are offered free to the public.

It runs workshops daily — complete with childcare for those who need it — for couples or individuals who want to learn skills and techniques to strengthen their relationships.

“Our initial results are promising. We have shown to improve relationship satisfaction, their well-being and their levels of perceived stress,” Barden says.

Barden shares insight from her research at the institute that you can start applying to your own life this Valentine’s Day.

Today’s world seems to be constantly in motion. What can couples do to stay connected to one another?

If you can set aside 10-20 minutes a day of protected time with one another, you can really strengthen your relationship. It’s similar to a garden. What makes flowers grow? They don’t need endless amounts of water and sunlight. They just need a little bit of love and care every single day. But you can’t ignore them for six months and hope they are going to live. Just a daily dose of some sunshine and water can make a garden really flourish, and relationships are really no different.

What are some daily actions that can help boost the health of your relationship?

Quality time is at the center of everything. It can be as simple as waking up 10 minutes earlier than you normally do so you can have a cup of coffee together instead of running out the door with it.

Physical touch is also very important, so embrace and hug. Sometimes we’re too busy and it’s just “Bye, see you later!” So, have a reunion when you come home at the end of the day. Take 10 seconds to share in an embrace. It’s amazing what that can do for mind and body physiologically.

Create date nights and prioritize having fun together. It doesn’t have to be extravagant. All a date night means is it’s protected time when you won’t be distracted by technology and life’s demands.

What contributes to a lasting relationship?

There are many aisles in bookstores written on this topic, right? Fundamentally, I think it becomes friendship. I think if you fall in love or stay committed to your best friend, your friendship can ride you through the tough times. Historically, we maybe thought if a person has a certain education level or if you came from similar family origins or if you have the same ideas of the number of children you wanted — but those things are more tenuous. They don’t last over time. Allowing ourselves to be fluid and grow as friends are some of the key pieces of what keep people together.

What are some keys to resolving conflict?

The art of listening is becoming lost. Laptops and cell phones need to be off. Oftentimes, we’re just waiting for the other person to stop talking just so we can get our point across. When we fight fair, we take the opportunity to validate and listen. You can diffuse conflict quickly if you can just listen to what your partner has to say and validate his or her feelings. You don’t have to agree with it or like it, but it’s real for them, and they want to be understood.

One of the most critical questions that we sometimes don’t ask each other when we’ve created conflict or hurt our partner, is “How can I make this up to you?” We do OK with “I’m sorry,” and asking for forgiveness, but we also need to ask, “How do I make this better? What do you need from me right now?” And that can be really enlightening.

What is one thing you should tell your partner every day?

It’s an open-ended sentence: “I appreciate you because … .”

Share one appreciation every day that’s something small and specific so your partner feels you notice them and acknowledge things they have done for you.

What would you recommend couples do this Valentine’s Day?

In an ideal world, every day we would celebrate our love. But what is Valentine’s Day really intended to do? It’s to carve out a little bit of time to celebrate your story and your love. Take that time to talk about previous memories that are joyful and happy. Really appreciate and admire one another for all you have been through and everything that person contributes to your life. Come up with one wish, hope or dream that you have for the future.

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Marriage and Family Research Institute offers new workshops every month, and all services are provided in English and Spanish. They can be contacted at 407-823-1748 or through their website, .

The professors will be given Reach for the Stars awards as part of the celebration of Founders’ Day. President John C. Hitt selects the winners based on faculty members’ past four years of work. Recipients must be an assistant or associate professor and have attained significant research work during their early career. Many winners have already received National Science Foundation CAREER Awards recognizing their potential.

The Reach for the Stars winners get a $10,000 annual research grant for three years, which can be renewed based on their promising work. This is the third year Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ has given Reach for the Stars Awards at Founders’ Day.

Those interested are invited to attend the Founders’ Day Honors Convocation from 3-5 p.m. on April 5. A reception will follow.

The 2017 winners are:

Sejal Mehta Barden, an assistant professor in the Counselor Education Program in the College of Education & Human Performance’s Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences, who came to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2011. Barden is the principal investigator for Project Harmony, a research project to gauge the effectiveness of relationship counseling among a predominantly low-income, Hispanic population. The project is federally funded in the amount of $9.6 million over five years, or $1.9 million per year. The grant will provide funding for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Marriage and Family Research Institute serving low-income couples; Barden is the institute’s executive director. During the past five years, she has published 31 peer-reviewed scholarly articles and delivered more than 40 national/international peer-reviewed presentations. Barden accepted invitations to co-author three book chapters, and serves on the American Counseling Association’s research committee and international committee. At the same time, she maintains a busy teaching schedule, teaching three graduate- and doctoral-level courses each fall and spring.

Mercedeh Khajavikhan, an assistant professor in CREOL, the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, one of the research centers in the College of Optics & Photonics, who came to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2012. Her research has been published in 22 peer-reviewed journals and more than 40 conference papers, and she has delivered 20 invited talks. Khajavikhan has received more than $1.5 million in research grants as principal investigator. She has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award, both of which are prestigious and competitive. Khajavikhan teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and helped build the college’s new bachelor’s degree in photonic science and engineering. She supervises five doctoral students and welcomes several undergrads in her lab. While a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, Khajavikhan led the effort to set the record for the smallest room-temperature and continuous-wave laser, for the first time demonstrating “thresholdless” lasing. The work was published in Nature and opened up new opportunities for ultrafast light sources. At Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, she has examined the quantum nature of nanolaser emissions. She is currently working on demonstrating ultra-small and efficient electrically pumped nanolasers.

Mingjie Lin, who came to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2011, is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering within the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Lin’s research focuses on the fundamental study on integrated circuit architecture and the understanding of large-scale, error-resilient system design. Lin intends to leverage the computer power of emerging device technologies to improve the performance of new applications, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence, computer vision and robotics. He received a 2016 National Science Foundation CAREER award, and has been awarded six other grants totaling $1.1 million. He has published more than 20 journal and more than 40 conference papers in the area of integrated circuits and computing. Of those, 11 journal papers and 18 conference papers were published since coming to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝. In the classroom, Lin has redesigned two courses offered by his department. He received Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Teaching Incentive Program award in 2016. Lin also has partnered with the Orlando Science Center and Carillon Elementary School to stimulate interest in STEM education in computing, including exhibits and lectures.

Kate Mansfield, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology within the College of Sciences, who came to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2013. Mansfield’s research, teaching and scientific advisory service focuses on sea turtle biology, ecology and conservation. She is also a vocal advocate for STEM fields, conservation and women in science, and speaks at numerous public and scientific events. Her deployment of GPS tags on juvenile sea turtles drew international attention and shed light on nestlings’ first year at sea, a time that previously had been a mystery to biologists. She has worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ to establish a permanent sea turtle research station on the on the beaches of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in southern Brevard County. Mansfield played a leading role in collaborative efforts to understand

impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill on marine turtles. Mansfield is well published in top peer-reviewed journals – 11 peer-reviewed papers, a book chapter and an invited review – and is a sought-after speaker, having given four keynote talks and 26 invited talks.

Shadab Siddiqi, an associate professor in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine. Siddiqi came to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2009 and was promoted to associate professor in 2015. Siddiqi’s research focuses on identifying novel therapeutic targets for controlling LDL-cholesterol levels in the blood that cause cardiovascular disease. His work has been continuously funded by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health; his NIH funding totals more than $2.5 million. Last year, Siddiqi discovered that an acid found in red meat and butter activates a liver protein that causes high LDL levels. The finding was the cover story in The Journal of Biological Chemistry and was covered by more than 30 national and international media outlets. He has published more than 24 scholarly papers and authored 27 presentations/posters. In 2014, he was awarded both a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Research Incentive Award and an Outstanding Faculty Member award. He developed and teaches a popular graduate-level course on obesity. In addition to research and teaching, Siddiqi mentors undergraduate and graduate students, and trains postdoctoral fellows in his lab.