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UCF Planetary Scientist’s Expertise Informs New Method for Terraforming Mars
Mars remains in humanity’s crosshairs as a promising planet to colonize due to its great potential in becoming habitable someday. With this in mind, UCF Planetary Scientist Ramses Ramirez, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University analyzed Martian climate models to study the possibility of using Mars-based nanoparticles to warm […]
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UCF Scientists Study Starship Launchpad in Preparation for Future NASA Lunar Missions
Scientists at UCF are gathering valuable data for humanity’s next venture back to the moon and even for potential lunar settlements. UCF physics doctoral candidate Brandon Dotson and Florida Space Institute planetary scientist Phil Metzger ’00MS ’05PhD analyzed rock samples from the first SpaceX Starship rocket launch in April 2023 that triggered a unique reaction […]
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UCF Student’s Primitive Asteroids Work Provides Context for Further Research, Future NASA Missions
The primitive asteroids that UCF physics doctoral student Brittany Harvison studies carry with them traces of their origins and billions of years of our solar system’s history. Harvison recently pored through a library of infrared telescope data to analyze the spectral composition of 25 members of the Erigone family of primitive asteroids and help fill […]
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Researchers Named Rising Stars of Science
Two researchers in the College of Sciences were named Rising Stars of Science by the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL). Assistant Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Xiaohou Xia, Ph.D., will present their research and receive the honor at the annual ASEMFL conference in early November. Donaldson Hanna is […]
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UCF Is Leading Comprehensive Study of Centaurs and Jupiter-family Comets
A UCF researcher is working on a new, NASA-funded project that will gather the most comprehensive collection of data on active centaurs and distantly-active Jupiter-family comets to date. The work will inform research into the origins of the solar system, as these bodies contain materials from the dawn of its formation. Centaurs and Jupiter-family comets […]
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Awardees Announced for 2023 Founders’ Day Faculty Honors Celebration
UCF will showcase more than 200 faculty members for academic excellence and service Wednesday at the Founders’ Day Faculty Honors Celebration in the Student Union’s Pegasus Ballroom. The celebration runs 3-5 p.m. and includes a reception after the formal program. Highlighted are recipients of the Pegasus Professors award, UCF’s highest faculty honor; recipients of the Reach […]
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UCF’s Robinson Observatory Gets a Futuristic Facelift
Recent updates to one of UCF’s most groundbreaking research and education facilities brings the Robinson Observatory into the 21st century, including robotics for remote viewing and a state-of-the-art weather protection system. The new telescope inside UCF’s Robinson Observatory The refurbishment returns the observatory to full functionality after six years. Supply shortages and the large scope […]
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What’s Ahead for 2023: COS Faculty Projections
Faculty at UCF share predictions and upcoming milestones for 2023. Politics Associate Professor Aubrey Jewett Ph.D., Assistant Director, School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs “For 2023 in U.S. politics, I expect the battle lines to sharpen for the Republican nomination for president. So far, it looks like former President Trump will be the frontrunner, […]
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2022 College of Sciences Year in Review
A glimpse at another year of exploration, innovation and scholarship in the College of Sciences. Over the course of the year, College of Sciences faculty, staff, and students worked hard to accomplish great things. At the heart of their accomplishments is a desire to create a greater tomorrow and a stronger community. Follow along to […]
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New Study of Comets Provides Insight into Chemical Composition of Early Solar System
A new study from the University of Central Florida has found strong support that the outgassing of molecules from comets could be the result of the composition from the beginning of our solar system. The results were published today in The Planetary Science Journal. The study was led by Olga Harrington Pinto, a doctoral candidate […]
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UCF Knights Are Part of NASA’s Artemis Program to Return to the Moon
As the nation looks on this week to see the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft blast into space on its test flight, UCF faculty, students and alumni will only momentarily pause to watch the historic milestone before returning to what they do best — scientific discovery and developing the next generation of technology […]
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James Webb Space Telescope Detects Carbon Dioxide on Planet Outside Solar System
A University of Central Florida researcher is part of an international team that has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to capture definitive evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a gas-giant planet orbiting a sun-like star 700 light-years away. The finding was published online today and will appear in the journal Nature. […]
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UCF Researchers Eagerly Awaiting First James Webb Space Telescope Images
UCF physics graduate student Olga Harrington Pinto is counting down the minutes until July 12. She is one of eight UCF researchers and one alumna who will be using the world’s mightiest space telescope as soon as NASA gives the go-ahead on Thursday. That’s when final checks on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) should […]
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UCF Student Summer Project: Getting an Early Start on Space Rover Design
Catherine Millwater has been dreaming of space long before arriving at UCF. In 2018, the eager 17-year-old reached out to UCF’s Planetary Sciences Group in hopes they had room for a high school student willing to learn how to be a researcher. Spoiler alert: They did. Millwater, who expects to graduate from UCF in May […]
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Arecibo Observatory Scientists Help Unravel Surprise Asteroid Mystery
When asteroid 2019 OK suddenly appeared barreling toward Earth on July 25, 2019, Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin and the team at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico jumped into action. After getting an alert, the radar scientists zoned in on the asteroid, which was coming from Earth’s blind spot — solar opposition. Zambrano-Marin and the team […]
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Spring ’22 Doctorate Graduates Honored At Special Reception
Thirteen doctorate graduates were given a warm congratulations and sendoff Friday in a continuation of a longstanding College of Sciences’ tradition. The final toast was led by College of Sciences Dean Maggy Tomova, Ph.D. Click here to see the full gallery of photos. Below is the full list of Ph.D. graduates for Spring 2022. Big […]
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Florida Space Institute Scientist Recognized as 2022 Orange County Distinguished Resident
UCF planetary scientist Noemí Pinilla-Alonso was recognized as Orange County’s Distinguished Resident for 2022 during a surprise ceremony on March 28. The county says the award aims to spotlight individuals who “with their work or their actions, exemplify collaboration, innovation and inclusion.” Pinilla-Alonso became a resident of Orange County in 2015 — when she joined […]
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UCF Experimental Space Dirt Used by NASA, Private Companies to Advance Space Exploration
An ingenious idea born out of a research lab at the University of Central Florida has led to a growing operation that is having a direct impact on space exploration. Chances are that some of the equipment landing on the moon and the methods that will be used to grow food or build shelter, will […]
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UCF Student Nanotech Team Designs Space Suit Material for NASA Competition
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 […]
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UCF Scientist with Stake in James Webb Space Telescope Closely Monitoring Unfolding Mission
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 […]
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NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission Launching Today Aided by Arecibo Observatory
NASA’s mission to test out a technique to deflect asteroids is headed to a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) that the Arecibo Observatory helped identify. UCF manages the U.S. National Science Foundation facility under a cooperative agreement. Despite the telescope’s collapse in 2020, the data collected from Arecibo has played an invaluable role in past and ongoing […]
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UCF, Leading Research Institutions Receive HPCwire Readers’ Choice Award
Today, a broad coalition of collaborators including UCF received the HPCwire Readers’ Choice award for Best High Performance Computing (HPC) Collaboration across academia, government, and industry. UCF was recognized at the 2021 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis alongside partners Arecibo Observatory, the NSF Cyberinfrastructure the Center of Excellence Pilot (CICoE), […]
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UCF is the Place to Be to View the Longest Partial Lunar Eclipse of the Century
Central Floridians will have a chance to see the longest partial lunar eclipse of the century early Friday morning and it promises to put on quite the show. The best viewing opportunity in Orlando — weather permitting — will be between 3 and 4:30 am. The University of Central Florida will have telescopes out on […]
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UCF Physics Professor Named Jefferson Science Fellow
UCF Physics Professor Humberto Campins has been named a Jefferson Science Fellow and will report to Washington D.C. beginning Nov. 21 to spend a year advising the U.S. Department of State. Campins is an international expert on asteroids. He is part of NASA’s historic OSIRIS REx mission, which is headed back to Earth with a […]
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2021 Another Record Year – Five Consecutive Years of Rising Research Funding
Despite a pandemic that slowed the economy; delayed or derailed some federal and private agencies’ spending plans; and frustrated supply chains, UCF generated $212.9 million in research awards — up more than $8 million from 2020. The total doesn’t include any CARES nor Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds, which the federal government provided in response […]
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Maggy Tomova Joins the College of Sciences Today as Dean
Maggy Tomova, Ph.D., officially joins the University of Central Florida today as dean of the College of Sciences. Tomova, 44, brings deep research and leadership experience to the role, most recently as associate dean for the 18 departments that fall under the Natural, Mathematical, and Social Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences […]
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UCF Part of NASA Mission Launching Saturday to Explore Trojan Asteroids
UCF Physics Professor Dan Britt is counting down to Saturday morning when NASA’s Lucy mission is set to blast off from the Space Coast. Britt, a physicist and geologist, is part of the science team that will analyze the data Lucy collects from the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. This area of the solar system is […]
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UCF Grad Student Leaves No Stone Unturned to Advance Space Exploration
This Knight leaves no stone unturned, not even on the moon. Autumn Shackelford is a physics doctoral student studying planetary bodies without atmospheres. Specifically, she is looking at the surface composition of the moon and Mercury. Being the first in her family to pursue the sciences, the Tennessee native was deeply influenced by science museums […]
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Neptune Celebrates 175th Birthday, Still a Mystery Worth Solving
Students and community members got a nice view of the planet Neptune and its biggest moon Triton during one of September’s Knights Under the Stars events hosted at UCF’s Robinson Observatory. It was an early look at the planet, which today celebrates its 175th birthday. “I did a Neptune project all the way back in […]
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New Dean Named for UCF’s College of Sciences
Maggy Tomova will become the next dean of UCF’s College of Sciences on Oct. 18. She joins UCF from the University of Iowa, where she currently serves as the associate dean for the Natural, Mathematical, and Social Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Her appointment by Michael D. Johnson, interim provost and […]