Known as the UF & Sport Collaborative, the five-part project has received $2.5 million in support from UF President Ben Sasse's Strategic Funding Initiative.  

"UF is a national leader in sports performance and health care, and we're ready to showcase our offerings and strengthen our partnerships on a much larger scale. The UF & Sport Collaborative will help take our sports reputation to the next level and greatly enhance our already outstanding athletics," said Sasse. 

In partnership with the University Athletic Association (UAA), five UF units (the College of Health and Human Performance, the Warrington College of Business, the College of Journalism and Communications, the College of Medicine, and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering) are working together to launch the following projects as part of the comprehensive initiative: 

Leaders in Sport and Health: A new certificate programme from the College of Health and Human Performance that will enhance students' understanding of athletes and the factors that influence their well-being. Courses available include Personal and Family Health, Athlete Health and Wellbeing, Athlete Career Management, and Worksite and Health Promotion.

Gator AccelerAItor for Sports Analytics: The College of Health and Human Performance and the Warrington College of Business will work with the UF men's basketball team to improve recruiting, player evaluation, scouting, and game strategy using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The project will also develop a master's programme in AI and sports analytics, providing students with a real-world laboratory to work directly with teams and athletes. 

AI-Powered Athletics: The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, the College of Health and Human Performance, and the UAA will build an infrastructure to enable AI-powered athletics based on the wearable sensor and health data of student-athletes. Funded projects may generate pilot data and early publications leading to large-scale research proposals. 

Transforming Sport Science Research for Everybody: The College of Medicine will help expand the analytical capacity of the UF Health Sports Performance Center, making it a hub for research and testing for athletes and para-athletes of all ages and fitness levels. The centre will advance precision care, performance training, and research integrity for athletes. 

Gator Nation Gameday Live: The College of Journalism and Communications will offer students the opportunity to produce a live, one-hour sports preview show modelled after ESPN's "College GameDay" program. Students will gain experience in hosting, reporting, producing, and directing. The show will air live across multiple platforms on the Saturday mornings of Gator home football games, beginning in the autumn of 2024 

"The College of Journalism and Communications has one of the top sports education programs in the country, from sports reporting and play-by-play announcing to sports production and sports marketing. This strategic funding will help our students use data to create more in-depth sports stories and analysis about Gator football, and provide new insights for Gator Nation," stated Hub Brown, dean of the College of Journalism and Communications, about the Gameday Live project. 

Of the Gator AccelerAItor for Sports Analytics project, Warrington College of Business Dean Saby Mitra said the initiative will "combine the AI and analytics expertise of Warrington faculty and students, the world-class sports management programmes in the College of Health and Human Performance, and the power of Gator Athletics." 

Forrest J. Masters, interim dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, said the AI-Powered Athletics project will be an incredible resource for UF. "Bringing together engineering, computer science, and the UAA to harness AI, wearable sensor technology, and advanced data analytics will help our student-athletes live their best lives on and off the field," Masters said. 

Michael Reid, Dean of the College of Health and Human Performance, agreed and also spotlighted the Sports and Health Leaders project. "Gator Nation has a rich athletic history. I'm excited to see the UF faculty from five colleges come together to tackle some of the biggest challenges in the field. The results are sure to innovate sports, strengthen related industries and help drive Florida's economy," commented Reid. 

The Transforming Sport Science Research for Everybody project will have an impact on all athletes, said Interim Dean of the College of Medicine, Jennifer Hunt. "This project will help expand our robust research and clinical expertise in biometric testing and analysis to improve sports performance and safety for athletes and para-athletes of all experience levels. The team aims to better predict specific sports-related injuries and the response to medical treatment after injury while developing new training programmes for students in sports medicine research," explained Hunt. 

Support for the UF & Sport Collaborative comes from the $130 million in new funding that UF received from the Florida Legislature this year. Sasse noted that, for the first time, more than half of the funding will be directed to units for special strategic projects. A total of $24 million was given to deans to report back on their use of the funds, and another $50 million was made available to all colleges and administrative units. UF received more than 250 applications, and 40 proposals were selected - all aimed at improving the student experience and advancing interdisciplinary scholarship.