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UCF Planetary Scientists Join Star-Studded MegaCon Guest List
University of Central Florida researchers will be putting the “sci” in “sci-fi” for the MegaCon science fiction and pop culture convention Aug. 12 through 15 at the Orlando County Convention Center. With a line-up that includes guests like Star Trek’s William Shatner and George Takei, MegaCon is the Southeast’s largest comics, sci-fi, horror, anime and […]
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UCF Space Experts Work with School Teachers to Bring University Research Alive in Classrooms
When children return to school next week, students at four Central Florida schools will have new hands-on space science activities to look forward to, thanks to a collaboration with space experts at UCF. This past summer, teachers from East River High School, Wekiva High School, South Creek Middle School, and Mollie Ray Elementary spent time […]
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Summer 2021 Graduates Head Out With New College of Sciences Degrees
UCF’S newest College of Sciences graduates crossed the stage Saturday at Summer 2021 Commencement. Among them was Nahla Turner, a psychology graduate who not only battled pandemic challenges in 2020, but a cancer diagnosis. A clean bill of health in October 2020 brought her to Saturday’s academic finish line and a new starting line pursuing […]
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Congratulations to the Summer 2021 Doctoral Graduates
Biology Jordan Dowell, Ph.D., faculty advisor, Chase Mason, Ph.D. and Pedro Quintana-Ascencio, Ph.D. Dissertation: “Genetics and Evolution of Specialized Metabolism In Wild and Cultivated Helianthus.” Christopher Long, Ph.D., faculty advisor, Katherine Mansfield, Ph.D. Dissertation: “Long-Term Changes in Juvenile Green Turtle Abundance and Foraging Ecology in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida.” Chemistry Sajia Afrin, Ph.D., faculty […]
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UCF College of Sciences Researchers Join Project to Fight Animal-borne Diseases
Two University of Central Florida College of Sciences researchers have been selected by a national philanthropic foundation as research fellows to help fight the threat of animal-borne diseases. Laurene Tetard, an associate professor in UCF’s Department of Physics, and Xiaohu Xia, an assistant professor in UCF’s Department of Chemistry, were selected as fellows by the […]
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UCF College of Sciences Researchers Join Project to Fight Animal-borne Diseases
Two University of Central Florida College of Sciences researchers have been selected by a national philanthropic foundation as research fellows to help fight the threat of animal-borne diseases. Laurene Tetard, an associate professor in UCF’s Department of Physics, and Xiaohu Xia, an assistant professor in UCF’s Department of Chemistry, were selected as fellows by the […]
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UCF Physics Bridge Program Produces 2nd and 3rd Graduates
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL The UCF Physics Bridge Program continues to produce successful graduates, with two of its Ph.D. students becoming the second and third UCF participants to graduate from the American Physics Society (APS) Bridge Program. Fernand Torres-Davila and Brian Zamarripa Roman walk the stage at the end of the summer semester. The Physics Department […]
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12 UCF Researchers Honored with Asteroids Named after Them
A dozen University of Central Florida space researchers were honored recently when planetary bodies were named after them. This brings the total number of current UCF researchers whose names are attached to asteroids to 19, along with another 12 former researchers. The honor comes just in time for today’s International Asteroid Day, which was started […]
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UCF Advocacy Leads To Bump In Physics Enrollment at Jones High School
A competitive advantage was offered to Jones High School seniors this past year when they were automatically enrolled in physics. Administration for the high school in the heart of Orlando did so at the urging of UCF leadership and Department of Physics, which recognizes that a full year of physics prepares students to be four […]
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UCF 25th Among Public Universities in the Nation and 60th in the World for Producing Patents
UCF ranked 25th among public universities in the nation for producing patents and 60th in the world, according to a new report released today. The National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association ranks institutions every year based on the number of patents received and filed through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. […]
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First-of-its-Kind Study Finds Lightning Impacts Edge of Space in Ways not Previously Observed
A team of researchers working with data collected by the Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) at the Arecibo Observatory, satellites, and lightning detectors in Puerto Rico have for the first time examined the simultaneous impacts of thunderstorms and solar flares on the ionospheric D-region (often referred to as the edge of space). In the first of […]
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Florida Python Hunters May Have a New Tool Thanks to Optics Research at UCF
Just as the governor announced the start of python hunting season in Florida this month, researchers at the University of Central Florida have published a first- of-its-kind study that shows that near-infrared (NIR) spectrum cameras can help hunters more effectively track down these invasive snakes, especially at night. The snakes, which can reach 26 feet […]
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19 UCF Students Living the Dream, Working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
For 19 UCF students, the dream of working for NASA came true this past semester as they completed internships at Kennedy Space Center through NASA’s Pathways Program. The program gives qualifying university students an opportunity to work at the space agency, where every semester UCF has students working in everything from engineering to accounting. The students […]
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UCF Research Flies Three-for-Three on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity
University of Central Florida research has now flown on the first three flights of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, with Saturday’s successful launch and landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico. “It was exhilarating and moving to share the experience with the large group of family and friends of Virgin Galactic employees on hand for […]
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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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OSIRIS-REx Mission to Take a Few More Pictures Before Heading Home
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that collected a sample from an asteroid 200 million miles from Earth in October, is going to take one final look at the collection site before heading home. In April, the spacecraft will focus its cameras on the site it disturbed when it removed a sample of asteroid Bennu’s soil. The images […]
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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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From Lighting Shows at Universal to Supporting Space Launches at KSC, UCF Grad Shines
Like many Central Florida teens, Jonathan Kessluk ’20 got a summer job at one of Universal’s theme parks in 2014. Little did he know that a job working lights for some of the park’s shows, would lead him to a UCF engineering degree and a job at Kennedy Space Center. Kessluk, who graduated in August […]
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Delfyett to be Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering
When Peter Delfyett first fell in love with science during elementary school, he imagined he would grow up to be a paleontologist. Instead, the Pegasus Professor of optics and photonics has spent his career developing futuristic technology. From lasers that are used to cut Gorilla Glass for Samsung phones to fiber-optic cable technology that allows […]
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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. […]