Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Meet UCF Professor Stella Sung

ORLANDO, Fla. — May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Eyewitness News is celebrating outstanding Central Floridians.

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Channel 9’s Christian Bruey recently visited a UCF professor who continues to reinvent herself while helping the local community.

Stella Sung’s work has been performed all over the world.

Her most recent composition — Oceania — was performed at The Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando.

It’s one of the first symphonies in the world to be accompanied by virtual reality.

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“We developed a virtual reality experience as well as an interactive experience using the HoloLens 2,” Sung explained. “The quest here was to try to see if we could enhance the live music experience with technology.”

Stella, who is first generation Chinese, said her love for music began at a young age.

She began playing piano at age 8.

“By the time I was 12 or 13, I pretty much knew that music was what I wanted to know.”

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Armed with musical degrees from the universities of Michigan, Florida and Texas, she started work as a music professor at UCF in 1985, while continuing her original compositions.

In addition to being a professor, Sung also serves as the director for “CREATE” at UCF Downtown.

CREATE stands for Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and Entertainment.

“We’ve got state-of-the-art technology, we use professional grade equipment,” Sung boasted.

But it’s not for UCF students. CREATE offers after-school programs and summer camps to local children.

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“We’ve been working here for many years,” Sung explained. “So we’ve gotten to know the community members, schools and several of the organizations that serve the community.”

For more information on the UCF CREATE after-school and summer programs, click here.

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