David “Jamie” Poissant kicked off UCF’s third Authors Celebration with a story about how he hated reading as a child and eventually became an associate professor of English and published author. Poissant was one of 47 honorees at the celebration Tuesday, March 1, at the Live Oak Room on main campus. The celebration, held every […]
Associate Professor Robert Jones has more than 50 productions to his name as a filmmaker —and he’s not content to keep all that experience to himself. Jones moved to Los Angeles in 1991 like so many before him with big dreams to become a famous director. And, like so many others, Jones found himself looking […]
A chemistry faculty member’s passion toward offering affordable course materials recently earned her the inaugural AIM High Student Nomination award. Lecturer Julie Donnelly, Ph.D., was nominated by a student for the AIM Knight’s Choice Award, which recognizes UCF faculty members that help reduce curriculum costs. “Students shouldn’t face barriers to getting the information they need […]
The four-year project is a collaboration between the laboratory of Michael Leuenberger at UCF and the laboratory of Dirk R. Englund ˙at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It’s funded by a $1.1 million-dollar grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “The goggles that currently exist in the field are too heavy and bulky,” […]
A collaboration between the Florida Supervisors of Elections and UCF’s Lou Frey Institute will leave first-time voters feeling a little less overwhelmed when stepping up to the poll. The videos stem from a law passed July 1, 2021 by the Florida legislature requiring students to show competency in understanding the state’s uniform ballot system. That […]
Thanks to a trio of donors with a passion for supporting the state’s marine life , the new boat debuting this spring replaces a 1976 craft reaching the end of its lifespan. “I always joke our bimonthly team building exercise is fixing something on the boats,” says Kate Mansfield, an associate professor and director of […]
By ASHLEY CULLINS UCF Alumni has announced its annual 30 Under 30 Award winners. They are inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, athletes, academics, teachers and nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic, and more. Each member of the 2022 class has demonstrated great professional success, a commitment to helping others, and a track record of giving back […]
UCF was recently tapped to participate in a national training program that strengthens the capacity for data-based research among historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs). This initiative builds evidence-based research through data analysis to promote the success of Black and Latino students in postsecondary education. The Leveraging Big Data to […]
Politics has always been a point of passion for graduate Craig Wilding, M.S.’21, who is using his background in the computer sciences to make an impact on the local political landscape. Wilding recently won the Maps Across America “Redistricting Contest,” where he was tasked with redistributing a population of over 21.6 million people in a […]
By Kassidy Menk On Jan. 28, 2022, the India Center at UCF in collaboration with the Indian Student Association (ISA) hosted a Republic Day celebration. Republic Day in India is a national holiday celebrating the day the Indian Constitution came into effect on Jan. 26, 1950. The event featured a poetry reading by Vidhu Aggarwal, […]
Beginning this summer 10 undergraduate students from across the nation will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience working with UCF biologists to see how they conserve, restore, and communicate what they do and why it matters. The U.S. National Science Foundation has recently awarded UCF $369,000 over three years to run the new program. […]
Kathleen Loftin ’89 ’00MS ’09PhD is in her happy place on a Saturday morning: pulling weeds in her garden. The work is peaceful, filthy, and as down to earth as you can possibly be. “Papayas grow without much effort,” Loftin says, sounding more like a wonder-struck gardener than the center chief technologist at Kennedy Space […]
Innovation at UCF is not an exception; It is the expectation. In 2021, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Central Florida as the 15th most innovative university in the United States — of the top 30, it was also the youngest. The classification drew from a survey of top college administrators, asking […]
Fiber optics and other communications channels continue to evolve toward faster speeds through the work of physicists like John Beetar, ’20, who was recently nominated for the Carl E. Anderson Division of Laser Science Dissertation Award. “The goal for the research was to take industrial laser technology and find a way to employ it for […]
The new associate provost for UCF Downtown is a seasoned academic leader and distinguished criminal justice scholar who helped launch the campus in Fall 2019. The appointment of Ross Wolf ’88 ’91MPA ’98EdD by Michael D. Johnson, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, elevates his role from assistant provost for UCF Downtown that […]
A new advanced virtual reality system in the Department of Psychology expands the experimental capabilities of researchers studying human behavior. Virtual reality is prized for its capacity to recreate immersive real-world environments without compromising safety or the high costs linked to building and maintaining physical sets. It also offers the flexibility to quickly change parameters […]
Story by Jheff Mathis The India Center and the Indian Student Association held an event to celebrate India’s Republic Day at the College of Sciences on Friday, 28, 2022. The event featured special guests, such as Dr. Vidhu Aggarwal, who read poems from her book, and Pandit Nandkishor Muley, an Indian Music professor at […]
The India Center and the Indian Student Association collaborated on Friday to celebrate India’s Republic Day. India celebrated its 73rd constitution anniversary on Wednesday, and the Indian community at UCF did not let this date go unnoticed. They commemorated this historic and memorable day with traditional food, live Indian music and a special guest who […]
A group of six University of Central Florida students and alums from a range of fields designed and won the Best Technical Poster award as finalists in NASA’s recent Lunar Dust Challenge. They received the honor after NASA’s 2021 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge Virtual Forum in November 2021. As part of NASA’s […]
BY RACHEL WILLIAMS ’15 ’20MA UCF’s high-quality online programs were recognized today by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked the university No. 7 in the country for Best Online Bachelor’s Programs. Those rankings include UCF Online’s Psychology Bachelor’s Degree, which reached No. 6. This year’s overall ranking is up seven spots from No. 14 just last […]
A beloved psychology faculty member who was often the first introduction to UCF for new students passed away over the 2021-2022 Winter Break. Associate Lecturer Paula Reynoso, Ph.D., began teaching at UCF in 2003, primarily at the Valencia West (Metrowest) campus. Her broad range of courses were primarily for undergraduates, giving her the privilege and […]
A former UCF film student’s viral videos recently landed him a dream gig producing a dark comedy TV series narrated by comedian Bill Burr. UCF alumnus Tyler Falbo, BFA ’14, created, wrote and directed the series, then collaborated with Burr and comedian Bobby Lee to bring “Immoral Compass” to life. The stories are often crude […]
Planetary Scientist Noemi Pinilla-Alonso has become addicted to NASA TV because of its live feeds of the James Webb Space Telescope mission. The telescope, more than 20 years in the making and after multiple delays, launched on Dec. 25, 2021. The telescope is traveling quickly to reach its destination — 900,000 miles away from Earth […]
By Kassidy Menk A discussion of sustainability efforts by Indian states was led Nov. 18, 2021, by Neelima Jain of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. UCF’s Naveen Eluru, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, moderated the event by facilitating a discussion and prompting audience questions. Jain explained […]
A University of Central Florida researcher will be leading a new project to use nanotechnology to advance research in the detection and mitigation of emerging animal-borne infectious diseases. The project is funded by a $50,000 grant from national philanthropic foundation Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funding is part […]
Eight doctorate graduates were given a warm congratulations and sendoff Thursday in a continuation of a longstanding College of Sciences’ tradition. The final toast was led by new COS Dean Maggy Tomova. Click here to see the full gallery of photos. Below is the full list of Ph.D. graduates for Fall 2021. Security Studies Tutku […]
Whether it’s solving the world’s biggest problems or investigating the potential of novel discoveries, researchers at UCF are on the edge scientific breakthroughs that aim to make an impact. Through the Research in 60 Seconds series, student and faculty researchers condense their complex studies into bite-sized summaries so you can know how and why Knights […]
The educational and career journey often looks different for those who chose military service. Meet three student veterans — Bryce Frase, Margarita Figueroa and Craig Plummer — who all served our country and are now preparing to graduate from UCF. Despite their different ages, careers, service branches and learning modalities, they’ve found a home and […]
A team from UCF has developed the world’s first optical oscilloscope, an instrument that is able to measure the electric field of light. The device converts light oscillations into electrical signals, much like hospital monitors convert a patient’s heartbeat into electrical oscillation. Until now, reading the electric field of light has been a challenge because […]
UCF research stories were everywhere in 2021 from Smithsonian magazine to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The most popular research stories of 2021 focused on threats to our survival and opportunities to advance our species — from the impact of sea rise to technology that promises to propel our exploration of the solar system. […]