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7 UCF Student Graduating this Week Say Limbitless Solutions Changed Their Lives
Seven students graduating from the University of Central Florida this week say their college experience would not have been complete without the time spent at Limbitless Solutions. The students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Sciences, and the College of Arts and Humanities, all interned at Limbitless Solutions, a UCF-based engineering […]
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UCF Scientist to Complete 100+ Hours of Research on James Webb Space Telescope
When the James Webb Space Telescope launches later this year, UCF researcher Noemi Pinilla Alonso will be among a select group of scientists worldwide who will have more than 100 hours of observation time awarded to conduct her work. The JWST telescope, which has been described as NASA’s next great space telescope, is a hot […]
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Ph.D. Grad Uses Grit and Determination to Forge Own Path to Medical Residency
Mahboob Ur-Rehman often heard “no” on the journey to his doctorate degree, but the physics student has a knack for opening closed doors. Ur-Rehman adds Ph.D. to his name at the end of this semester, a remarkable achievement for someone who left school during the 10th grade. A brief attempt at becoming an […]
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138 Faculty Promoted Across the University
After going through a rigorous evaluation process, 138 UCF faculty have been promoted and 45 have been awarded tenure for the 2020-2021 cycle. The process for promotion and tenure takes nearly an entire academic year as faculty are evaluated on three main areas: research, teaching and service. At UCF there are many types of faculty […]
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Reach for the Stars Honorees Pushing the Boundaries of Earth and Space
This year’s Reach for the Stars honorees really live up to the award name. They are tackling some huge problems and are conducting research that betters society and improves the possibilities of the human race. The five honorees are: making space travel safer to expand our species’ reach into the galaxy; figuring out how to […]
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2021 Founder’s Day Honorees
BY ALLISON HURTADO ’12 The Founders’ Day Awards celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of our faculty members and students. As we recognize these achievements, we remember the efforts of those women and men who made this university a reality, and we prepare for the accomplishments of the future. In an extraordinary time, our faculty and […]
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National Goldwater Scholarships Go to Four UCF STEM Students
Four UCF STEM students were selected from a pool of 1,256 nominees across the nation and will receive 2020-21 Goldwater Scholarship Awards. Only 410 college students were selected after a rigorous screening process. Universities are only allowed to nominate four students, five if one of them is transfer student. According to the award website, the […]
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A First-of-its-Kind Camera to Investigate the Moon’s South Pole
A thermal infrared camera aboard a lunar lander scheduled to head to the moon as early as 2022 could help determine which regions on the lunar surface have water trapped in them. Assistant Professor of Physics Kerri Donaldson Hanna is working with University of Colorado Boulder Professor Paul Hayne on NASA’s Lunar Compact InfraRed Imaging […]
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2021 Women’s History Month Honorees
Each March, Faculty Excellence honors 31 women for their impact on students and UCF’s campus community. This year, as we continue to charge on during a pandemic, our women faculty have not wavered in their commitments as mentors, role models, friends, researchers and teachers. This blog post will be updated daily during the month of […]
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UCF Funds Second Round of $1 million SEED Initiative to Support Faculty Research
Thirty-seven UCF teams will split $1 million in UCF SEED funding to conduct preliminary research the university hopes will lead to bigger individual grants from other agencies and breakthroughs in a variety of fields. The Office of Research and the Provost Office began the pilot SEED program with $1 million last year. Those recipients will […]
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UCF Hosts Spring Graduation Celebration, April 30 to May 9
UCF is excited to offer spring graduates and their families the opportunity to choose one of two in-person options to celebrate their achievements. Recognitions of graduates will occur April 30 to May 9. Spring 2021 graduates will have the option of either participating in UCF’s Grad Walk or their college’s in-person commencement. Both recognitions will […]
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Toy Telescope Launches Career Hunting for Life on Exoplanets
It all started with an inexpensive toy telescope Theodora Karalidi’s father gave her when she was 5 years old. “I looked through it and I was wowed,” says Karalidi, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Central Florida. “To five-year-old me, it was like millions of sparkling stars and I was hooked. Of […]
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Pegasus Professor Chosen For Fellowship in American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science will induct Pegasus Professor Talat Rahman, Ph.D., as a fellow in an official ceremony this weekend. The storied society traces its history back to the mid-19th century; Rahman shares her fellow status with scientists as varied as Thomas Edison, sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois and anthropologist Margaret Mead. […]
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Pegasus Professor Accepted Into National Academy of Engineering
More than 30 years in the lab advancing our understanding of lasers recently earned Pegasus Professor Peter Delfyett, Ph.D., one of the highest recognitions in his industry: membership in the National Academy of Engineering. While there are other NAE members on UCF’s faculty, this is the first membership earned from work completed at the university […]
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NASA Selects UCF Honeybee-inspired Spacesuit Material Design for Further Development
NASA has selected a University of Central Florida nanotechnology team as one of seven university groups from around the country tasked with developing ways to stop the negative effects of moon dust during lunar missions. The selection, which was announced recently, is part of a year-long initiative known as the Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, […]
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A UCF Aerospace Engineering Student Has Out-of-This World Dreams
Jillian Gloria of Orlando has always been inspired by space exploration, and as a junior pursuing aerospace engineering at UCF she has held multiple research positions and worked with industry as she prepares to someday become an astronaut. Her most recent project came out of her involvement with UCF physics Assistant Professor William Kaden’s Research […]
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UCF Society of Physics Students Awarded the 2019-2020 Outstanding Chapter
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL UCF’s Society of Physics Students (SPS) Chapter has received the 2019-2020 Outstanding Chapter — the highest possible distinction. The Outstanding Chapter Award recognizes high levels of outreach, as well as unique approaches to fulfilling the mission of SPS: “help students transform themselves into contributing members of the professional community.” “SPS has […]
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UCF Satellite Launches Successfully into Space from Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne Rocket
University of Central Florida planetary science continues its ascent as a leader in space research with another high-profile flight, this time aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne, which was blasted into orbit Sunday from the company’s 747 carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl. The launch took place at 10:50 a.m. at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. […]
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UCF Faculty Collaborate to Provide Students Free Course Materials
Textbooks and other required course materials can add significantly to the cost of a college degree, and UCF faculty are doing what they can to help. During the Fall 2020 semester, at least 31 faculty members provided their required course materials at no cost to students through the use of open educational resources (OER). These […]
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UCF Developed Sensor Passes First Test, On Track for Future Moon Missions
A prototype sensor that detects Moon dust by shooting lasers through the sky has successfully completed its first hurdle. That means UCF is one step closer to building the real instrument that could fly to the moon on a future mission. UCF researchers designed the Ejecta STORM instrument to scan the area around a lunar […]
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Rare Bethlehem Star, Geminids and More Delight Stargazers this Month
Stargazers are in for a very rare treat on Monday. If the clouds cooperate, they’ll be able to see the “Bethlehem Star” — an event that hasn’t been seen in about 800 years. The moniker applies to the Christian description of the “Bethlehem” or “Christmas Star” that was said to have appeared in the night […]
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UCF Researchers Earn Top Spots in Their Fields in New Ranking of Scientific Impact
Three University of Central Florida researchers are among the world’s top 25 scholars in their field, and 100 are in the top 2%, according to a new study ranking career-long scientific impact of researchers from around the globe. The study, which appeared recently in the journal PLOS Biology, used a composite indicator based on six […]
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Research Paves the Way for Next Generation of High-Speed Wireless Communication
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL While the rest of the world is preparing devices for the advent of ultrafast, 5G wireless service, one UCF physicist has already set his sights on 10G. Today’s network speeds have evolved at an incredible pace, but they’re still grounded in the same fundamental radio wave technology that was used, for instance, […]
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Founder of UCF Nanoscience Center Inducted Into National Academy of Inventors
Founding Director and Professor of the UCF Nanoscience Technology Center, James J. Hickman, Ph.D., has been honored as an inductee of the National Academy of Inventors for his outstanding contributions in the fields of both biological and non-biological nanoscience. UCF recruited Hickman in 2004 to establish the NanoScience Technology Center following recognition for his work […]
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President Cartwright Returns For Second Tour of Department of Physics
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL UCF President Alexander Cartwright, Ph.D., and First Lady Melinda Cartwright recently toured the Department of Physics for a second time, with a focus on the research laboratories. Leading the Nov. 13 tour was Department Chair Eduardo Mucciolo, Ph.D., along with students and faculty who shared details of their research with the Cartwrights. […]
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New Book Provides Lifeline for Students Learning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL Students interested in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) now have another good reference book to help them get started: the Fundamentals of Recoupling and Decoupling Techniques in Solid-State NMR. The book by Physics Associate Professor Physics faculty Bo Chen, Ph.D., was just published by the American Institute of Physics, LLC (AIP). The book […]
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UCF Researcher Part of New NASA Mission to Map Water on Moon
NASA today gave a team of researchers the green light to begin building instruments that will be launched on a satellite to scan and create high-resolution maps of water on the moon. In June 2019, NASA selected the Lunar Trailblazer mission, along with three other proposed missions, for further study under its Small Innovative Missions […]
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Arecibo Observatory’s Telescope Collapses
The instrument platform of the 305-meter telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico fell at approximately 7:55 a.m. Puerto Rico time today, Dec. 1. No injuries were reported as a result of the collapse, but it caused damage to the observatory dish and surrounding facilities. Extent of the damage is being assessed. “Safety of personnel […]
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Research Takes Early Steps Toward Handheld Cancer-Scanning Device
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL A handheld device that could allow individuals to screen themselves for cancer is one potential outcome of ongoing research into the power of terahertz lasers. The work comes from the lab of Richard Klemm, Ph.D.,in collaboration with the Kadowaki-Kashiwagi-Tsujimoto and Minami groups at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. They recently published […]
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Arecibo Observatory Telescope to be Decommissioned After Second Cable Break
Following a review of engineering assessments, the U.S. National Science Foundation today announced it will begin planning the controlled decommissioning of the 1,000-foot-wide telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The observatory, which UCF manages for NSF under a cooperative agreement, has for 57 years served as a world-class resource for radio astronomy and […]