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New Scholarship Honors Legacy of Faculty Pioneer John T. Washington
A notable figure from UCF’s past is the inspiration behind a new scholarship created to help students build a brighter future. The name John T. Washington is probably familiar to campus visitors walking through the breezeway named in his honor, but his connection to UCF less so. Washington, Ph.D., was one of the first African […]
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New Grant Program for Grad Students Launched to Fund Research Fighting Social Injustice
Graduate students interested in developing social justice research projects have a new funding source through Citizen Science GIS in the Department of Sociology. The new initiative splits proposals into two areas: Amplify Knight Voices and Broaden Community Connections. Amplify Knight Voices funds projects that address “educational or environmental inequality; oppression; anti-racist practices and systems; and/or […]
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Broken Cable Damages Arecibo Observatory
One of the auxiliary cables that helps support a metal platform in place above the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, broke on Monday (Aug. 10) causing a 100-foot-long gash on the telescope’s reflector dish. Operations at the UCF-managed observatory are stopped until repairs can be made. The break occurred about 2:45 a.m. When the three-inch […]
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Alumna Blends Medicine and PoliSci To Create World-Changing Impact
At the intersection of political science and medicine sits the passion of Kezia Domond ’20, a recent UCF political science graduate with a calling to help those in underrepresented and underprivileged communities throughout the world. This upcoming fall, Domond takes a seat in Boston University’s Masters of Public Health program, where her hope is to […]
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Focus On Active Learning Improves Drop Rate for Calculus Classes
By ALLY FRIEDMAN A shift from rote memorization to active learning is producing measurable, positive results for students taking Calculus I. The Fall 2019 drop/add rate fell from UCF’s historical 54% to 18-22% across all calculus courses after Professor Eduardo Teixeira, Ph.D., deployed a technique called meaningful learning theory. The statistical majority grade also rose […]
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National Program Opens Door for More Underrepresented Students in Physics
When Taylor Douglas fell in love with physics and began to pursue it in college, she started to feel like an outsider. Most of her classmates were men and white. After earning her bachelor’s degree at Rowan University in New Jersey, she applied to several institutions to pursue a master’s degree, something only 6 percent […]
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Arecibo Observatory Returns from Tropical Storm Isaias Lockdown to Track Asteroid for NASA
The Earth has one less asteroid to worry about thanks to the research of an international team of scientists at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Asteroid 2020 NK1 was spotted in early July by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey team at the University of Hawaii. Little was known about the asteroid, […]
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UCF Preps Alumna For Career In International Relations
It was the second semester of her freshman year when Andrea de la Camara ’13 stumbled upon the political science department at the University of Central Florida. An aspiring veterinarian at the time, de la Camara didn’t know that she’d soon be an ambitious graduate with a budding career in the field of political […]
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Fellowship Opens Opportunity for Biology Grad Students to Test Drive Teaching
A new fellowship offered by the Department of Biology gives doctoral students the chance to experience what it’s like to be in charge of the classroom. The doctoral teaching fellowship debuts this fall, and walks Ph.D. candidates through the process of designing and teaching their own courses. Matthew Atkinson is one of the first to […]
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UCF Faculty Member Appointed to Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
By ALEXANDRA SHIMALLA “I have desks all over the place,” laughed Eric Merriam. “I think I have four right now. I spend a lot of time at those desks.” Merriam is an associate professor, with a joint appointment to the Department of Legal Studies and the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at UCF. […]
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COVID-19 Cases to Decline Beginning Next Month, UCF Research Finds
COVID-19 infection rates may be peaking in Orange County later this month and trending down toward December, according to new projections by data scientists at the University of Central Florida. The researchers from the Departments of Statistics and Data Science and Computer Science caution, however, that their projections — built using the latest artificial intelligence […]
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UCF Experts Weigh in as Coronavirus Captures Headlines
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to dominate daily news cycles, UCF experts in areas ranging from hospitality, tourism, economics and student health services are helping shape the conversation surrounding the effects of the virus on various industries and the community as a whole. Kenneth Adams, professor — Ph.D. in criminal justice from State University of […]
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Research Team turns to Nanotechnology for Chemical Reaction Promoters
Noble metals, such as platinum, palladium, and rhodium are among the most versatile and efficient industrial catalysts for a large number of reactions, ranging from the purification of poisonous pollutants emitted by vehicle engines to the generation of commodity chemicals or clean energy resource, which benefits the environment and our society. But there’s a limited supply of noble […]
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New Study Reveals How Frogs Use Bile and Bruise Color for Camouflage
Researchers have discovered, for the first time, how frogs use the chemical responsible for the color of bile and bruises for their own camouflage coloring. The mechanism the frogs use to turn what is essentially a waste product into a part of their protection is detailed in a new study published this month in the […]
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Genes Responsible for Protecting Frogs May Play Role in Death from Global Disease
For frogs dying of the invasive chytridiomycosis disease, the leading cause of amphibian deaths worldwide, the genes responsible for protecting them may actually be leading to their demise, according to a new study published today in the journal Molecular Ecology by University of Central Florida and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) researchers. The lowland […]
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College of Sciences Celebrates Summer 2020 Ph.D. Grads
A doctorate degree represents one of the highest honors in academia. The 2020 Summer term’s Ph.D. graduates not only earned this honor, they did so with the extra stress of doing their work remotely. The College of Science recognizes and applauds the hard work applied to receive this degree. Chemistry Ziyang Huang, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor: […]
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Renewed Funding Keeps ICCAE Inspiring Intelligence Students for Five More Years
UCF students pursuing careers in intelligence will continue to receive competitive advantages thanks to renewed federal funding for UCF’s Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (ICCAE). The five-year funding from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is particularly helpful for minority students, who are historically underrepresented in intelligence careers. ICCAE Director Tom Dolan […]
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UCF Chooses Sociology Admin for Employee of the Month
A woman described as the “glue that holds the Sociology Department together” recently earned UCF’s Employee of the Month award for July. Shannon Cajigas has spent five years in Sociology as an administrative assistant, primarily splitting her time between human resources duties and facilitating travel for staff and faculty. It’s the former that she likes […]
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Indian Viewpoints on Conflict Resolution Focus of Two New Books
The enduring legacy of non-violent conflict resolution championed by two prominent Indian thinkers is the focus of two new books by Adjunct Professor Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. The first is titled “Gandhi and the World,” and it explores the question: “Is it possible to generate Gandhian optimism in nonviolent methods to address conflicts in the […]
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UCF Infrared Emission Research Gets $2.5 Million Boost from Department of Defense
A University of Central Florida researcher has received a $2.5 million U.S. Department of Defense grant to continue his research to conceal and manipulate the energy that materials emit. The work has implications in creating nighttime camouflage that conceals objects from infrared vision, as well as in methods for anticounterfeiting, tagging and energy management. “Any […]
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UCF Planetary Scientist Receives NASA Funding for Asteroid Research
UCF planetary scientist Adrienne Dove and a team of students have teamed up with NASA’s Johnson Space Center to examine data on an asteroid experiment years in the making. The work is funded by a recently announced $200,000 grant from NASA’s Physical Sciences Research Program. Dove’s research group is one of only five recipients to […]
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Tallahassee Internship Gives In-Depth Picture of Florida Politics
Jessica Caruso was unsure what she would find when she headed to Tallahassee this spring for a legislative internship, but that uncertainty quickly disappeared. Now with the experience as a UCF Legislative Scholar, Caruso has returned home more passionate about politics than ever before. “A lot of people worry that when they take on an […]
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UCF Experts Partner for Virtual Black Lives Teach-In July 2
UCF faculty members will host a virtual event July 2 to discuss the critical issues of racism in American history. The Black Lives: Racism and the Struggle for Justice in the American Democracy teach-in will include historical lessons about local, national and global racial injustices and systemic racism that Black people have been subjected to […]
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UCF is Developing New Nanotech to Detect Food Fraud
A University of Central Florida researcher is developing new technology to make sure people are getting the food they think they’re eating. The work is funded by a recent $490,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant to create an easy-to-use and highly sensitive device to […]
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Indian Visitors Stranded By Pandemic Find Ally In India Center Partner
A community thrives off unity. This is the philosophy lived by Kannan Srinivasan ’96 MS, CEO of Global KTech and an affiliate of the UCF India Center. When the global pandemic left Indian citizens stranded in Florida, Srinivasan did not hesitate to help them return home safely. “We had multiple organizations and wonderful leaders from […]
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NSCM Alumna Creates Positive Online Environment With New Venture
In a world that’s increasingly divided, the one thing everyone can agree on is the need for more unity. That’s the spark behind a new business venture by Sadie Higgins ‘06, an entrepreneur and alumna of the Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Higgins recently launched a website that allows users to create a virtual […]
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UCF Scientists Study Method to Combat Florida Red Tide
An inexpensive, natural countermeasure to curb the devastating economic and ecological impacts of Florida red tide is now under study at UCF. The study focuses on spraying a clay solution to sink the cells (flocculate) of Karenia brevis (known commonly as Florida red tide) to the bottom sediments. Florida red tide is the algae responsible […]
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The Department of Energy Selects UCF Physicist for Career Award
The Department of Energy has awarded UCF physicist and assistant professor Li Fang a career grant of $785,000. The award is part of the DOE’s Office of Science’s Early Career Research Program, which recognizes researchers for their promising work, early on in their careers. This year, only 76 awards were made to scientists at private […]
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National Asteroid Day: A Celebration of Mysterious Small Bodies
Imagine a celestial body larger than the Statue of Liberty skyrocketing past Earth with enough energy to flatten a city. Since 2011 this has only happened once, and it occurred earlier this month. Asteroids are small bodies, often made up of rock, that exist in the solar system. Where did they come from? Scientists speculate […]
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Degrees Launch Career of Service for 30 Under 30 Winners
Two alumni from the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs are recipients of the UCF 30 Under 30 Class of 2020 award. Kristina Merritt ’12 and Brandon Fair ’13 are being celebrated for their achievements and service in their respective careers. Merritt, a dual major in psychology and political science, uses her background from […]