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Fighting Inequality with GIS
Representing the UCF Department of Sociology is Yingru Li, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). With a family background deeply rooted in geography, it was no surprise that Dr. Li went to pursue her master’s degree in GIS and Ph.D. in Geography. “My father is a geologist,” explained Dr. Li. “When I was […]
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For the Love of Halley’s Comet
The beauty of Halley’s Comet streaking through the night sky in 1986 is responsible for launching Yan Fernandez, Ph.D.’s, career, which next month puts him smack in the middle of a historic NASA mission to explore a nearby asteroid. The University of Central Florida associate professor of physics is one of the scientists working on the […]
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Political Science Junior Law School Bound
In just a few weeks, Rodney Ulysse is heading to the Florida State University (FSU) College of Law. He will be the only University of Central Florida (UCF) senior and first-year FSU law student in his class. The UCF Political Science major was admitted through FSU’s highly competitive 3+3 program. It provides qualifying students from […]
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Outstanding Physics AlumKnight
UCF Physics alumnus Howard Bender, Ph.D., ’98, has stayed connected to his alma mater in more ways than one. Most recently he was recognized as a 2016 College of Sciences Outstanding AlumKnight as well as founded an endowed scholarship in the UCF College of Nursing. Dr. Bender graduated from UCF in 1998 with a doctorate […]
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Physics Faculty Lead Conference
UCF Physics professor Daniel Britt, Ph.D., who was recently selected to take part in the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) New Horizons extended mission, continues to make waves in the world of physics. Most recently, he assisted in organizing the International Conference on the Exploration of Phobos and Deimos hosted by NASA […]
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Big Win for Ad/PR Alumnus
Story by Tommiea Jackson, Nicholson News Washington, D.C. is more than 850 miles away, but it isn’t too far for a Knight to travel to make his or her presence known. Steven Torres, ’16, a 2016 College of Sciences advertising-public relations graduate, traveled to the nation’s capital in June and brought home the top prize. […]
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NSC Partners with Latin American Studies
Story by Tommiea Jackson, Nicholson News For college students, choosing a major takes a great deal of consideration. With a little more planning with academic advisors, many Knights can walk away from college with two bachelor’s degrees by earning not more than the 120 credit hours required for one degree. Faculty and administrators at the […]
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A Summer of STEM
This summer, UCF hosted its STEM Summer Institute (SI) camps for Central Florida middle and high school students. The STEM Summer Institute (SI) offers a mix of activities designed to maximize learning through hands-on, individualized instruction in an effort to provide science, technology, and math related summer opportunities to students. The SI currently offers camps in […]
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Dog Days of Summer Graduation
Story by Jenna Marina, UCF Alumni ORLANDO, Fla. — Soon to be UCF Psychology alumna, Amanda Overend takes pride in propagating what has become a life motto: “Help is a four-legged word.” The Orlando native associates her college experience with volunteering – a passion she found five years ago. Her most recent philanthropic endeavor has […]
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UCF Professor Dives into Marine Ecology
With an appreciation for biology and oceanography, UCF Department of Biology assistant professor Geoffrey Cook, Ph.D., found the field of marine ecology to be a perfect fit. In 2005, Cook was admitted into the Biological Oceanography doctoral program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) where he received a Marine Biodiversity and Conservation NSF-IGERT graduate student fellowship […]
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Communication Alumna Conquers Nonprofit Career
Story by Tommiea Jackson, Nicholson News Tallahassee, Fla. – The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has named UCF Nicholson School of Communication alumna Fonda Anderson, ’84, as chief of staff. In this role, Anderson serves as a key member of the senior leadership team, providing strategic oversight for programs, communication, development and planning processes to […]
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Dirt in Space
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today As NASA and private space companies look to explore other planets, they are turning to one of the world’s best dirt experts – UCF’s Phil Metzger. Metzger, who works at UCF’s Florida Space Institute, knows his dirt. He has wall to ceiling spice rack shelves in his office that […]
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Arboretum Goes Pokémon
If you’ve walked around UCF campus recently you probably have noticed students glued to their phones playing the popular game, Pokémon GO. The UCF campus is full of ‘trainers’ catching Pokémon and visiting ‘Poke Stops’ spread throughout campus. One Poke Stop in particular hopes to lure UCF students in for a special event. The UCF […]
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Political Science Alumnus Lays Down the Law
UCF Political Science alumnus Peter Strand, ’08, attributes his successful law practices to the instrumental faculty and work ethic acquired during his time at UCF. When the former army veteran decided to make the move to Florida to take care of a family member, he considered several Florida universities to pursue his degree. Ultimately, UCF’s faculty sparked […]
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First Students to Secure Ph.D.
This summer Manar Elkhaldi and Marcos Degaut will be the first students to graduate from the UCF Political Science Department‘s Security Studies Ph.D. program. The Security Studies doctoral program prepares graduates looking to work in military and other governmental and international agencies as well as the private sector that deal with security. It also prepares students for academic careers. The curriculum […]
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Sociology Professor Fights Senior Hunger
James Wright, Ph.D., Pegasus Professor and Provost Distinguished Research Professor in the UCF Sociology Department is making strides for the senior community with the Table Sixty initiative. Table Sixty is an effort led by a group of about 50 local community leaders to address the issue of senior food insecurity in Orange County. As Chairman […]
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Biology Students Study in the Tropics
UCF Biology and Pegasus Professor Linda Walters, Ph.D., took a group of UCF students to the tropics in Belize this summer as part of her Tropical Marine Biology study abroad course. Offered every two years, this program gives undergraduate UCF biology students the opportunity to spend one week on an island to study marine ecosystems […]
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Permanent Home for Sea Turtle Research
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today The University of Central Florida and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a historic agreement that will establish a permanent conservation research facility along the Brevard County coastline. UCF has run a sea turtle monitoring and research program on the beaches of the Archie Carr National Wildlife […]
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UCF in CLASS of Its Own Studying Space
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today UCF has diligently and methodically been making a name for itself in the world of planetary exploration, and it’s beginning to pay off in big ways. Not only are two UCF professors part of the upcoming NASA OSIRIS-REx mission to collect asteroid samples – a first for the United […]
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Grad Students Lead Science Summer Camps
The UCF Department of Biology and the Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA) have collaborated with the UCF Chemistry Department and the Uknighted Chemistry Graduate Student Association (UCGSA) for the second annual Biology Integrated Orlando Training and Enrichment Camp (BIOTEC) and fifth annual Orlando Chemistry Tutoring, Enrichment and Training Camp (OCTET). BIOTEC, held June 27 – July 2, and OCTET, held […]
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Political Science Student Spreads Intelligence
UCF Political Science doctoral student, Jason Christensen, was recently awarded the Florida Satellite Chapter Award by the Melbourne Chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). AFIO is a national organization that centers on education and public outreach to build a broad constituency for intelligence as a profession. This scholarship recognizes two scholars each year […]
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UCF and the Next Space Frontier: Making the Case for Mars
Story by UCF Today Many feared the United States’ role in space exploration was over after an accident took the lives of a second space shuttle crew in 2003. After another long grounding of the shuttle fleet, flights restarted briefly but by 2011 the program was retired and no manned missions were on the horizon. […]
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UCF Led Team Discovers New Venomous Snake
Story by UCF Today An international team of scientists has solved a case of mistaken identity and discovered a new species of venomous snake. The newly discovered Talamancan Palm-Pitviper is a striking green-and-black snake living in some of the most remote regions of Costa Rica. The coloring is a characteristic it shares with its close […]
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Biology Student Receives Golden Opportunity
The UCF Department of Biology is pleased to announce that Shelly Gaynor has been named as the winner of the 2016 Golden Opportunity Scholars Award by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America. Shelly is a junior majoring in Biology and has been involved in undergraduate research […]
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COS Online Degree Programs are On Top
Several departments within the UCF College of Sciences have been named as some of the best online degree programs, charting top lists on four different websites. For online graduate programs, GraduatePrograms.com ranks the top graduate programs across 35 subjects. UCF’s Sociology Graduate Program takes the #2 ranking for top online graduate sociology programs and UCF’s Psychology Graduate Program is […]
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Knights in Space
In the latest issue of UCF’s magazine, Pegasus, there are many stories focusing on UCF’s involvement with space. Many of these stories feature researchers from the UCF Physics Department. In the page One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for UCF, a timeline traces UCF’s history with space. From Citronaut, UCF’s first mascot in […]
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NSC Alumnus Makes Documentary Dream a Reality
UCF Nicholson School of Communication alumnus, Presley Adamson, ’10, believes that deciding to attend UCF was his first step toward achieving his dream of becoming a documentary film maker. Adamson graduated in 2010 with a B.A. in Radio Television, in the production track. In addition to being president of the National Broadcasting Society UCF Chapter […]
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Ph.D. Candidates’ Paper Wins Award
Rebecca Schiel and Gary Smith, both Ph.D. Candidates in the Security Studies Program, presented a paper at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology in July 2015. The paper, “Leadership Psychology and Regime Repressive Behavior: Using Leadership Trait Analysis to Determine Leadership Characteristics Associated with Regime Use of Repression,” explored how the psychological […]
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Remembering Christopher “Drew” Leinonen
Remembering Christopher Andrew “Drew” Leinonen, ’07, ’09 Alumnus of the University of Central Florida B.A. in psychology in 2007 M.S. in clinical psychology in 2009 A TRIBUTE FROM UCF College of Sciences UCF Psychology Department UCF Classmates & Friends On June 12, Orlando was attacked. This is a tragedy for the University of Central Florida, […]
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Biology Student’s Research Seeds Success
UCF Biology student, Michelle Shaffer, has been awarded the July 2016 Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Award (DURA) for her ecological research. This award recognizes UCF undergraduate students who demonstate exemplary academic research in their field. Under the guidance of a mentor, the student’s research is submitted for review by the Student Undergraduate Research Council. Shaffer’s award-wining research, […]