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Breaking Down the Stigma of Physics with Free Camp
Story by Jacob Rosenfarb & Zenaida Kotala While many teenagers enjoy their summer break on the beach or at theme parks, a small group of high school students spent a week at the University of Central Florida getting over their fear of physics. UCF held its free one-week physics camp in June to help […]
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Maps, Apps and Drones
University of Central Florida professors of geographic information systems and biology teamed up Wednesday to take GIS technology and drones into Florida classrooms for 5th grade through high school. In the geospatial technology training workshop for Florida teachers, 15 teachers were shown customizable lesson plans that use GIS, mapping and drone technologies. Tim Hawthorne, GIS assistant […]
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GOLD Mission: Step Toward Never-Before-Seen Space Images
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala An instrument that will provide unprecedented imaging of the Earth’s upper atmosphere has been successfully installed on a commercial satellite that will carry it into geostationary orbit some 22,000 miles above the planet. The GOLD instrument, which is short for Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, is expected to […]
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Physics’ Vertex Model for Speedy Solutions
Story by Mark Schlueb A well-known computational problem seeks to find the most efficient route for a traveling salesman to visit clients in a number of cities. Seemingly simple, it’s actually surprisingly complex and much studied, with implications in fields as wide-ranging as manufacturing and air-traffic control. Researchers from the University of Central Florida and […]
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Lunar Knights Compete in NASA Robotic Competition
By Rachel Williams University of Central Florida students who make up the Lunar Knights Mining Club will compete this month in NASA’s national Robotic Mining Competition that was developed to help in the exploration of Mars. The eighth annual competition is May 22-26 at Kennedy Space Center. About 50 student teams from across the country […]
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Bacon and Bots
By Jenna Marina With a name like Exploding Bacon, it’s hard to believe that the moniker was the second choice for a local youth robotics team led by UCF alumna Elise Cronin-Hurley ’90 ’94 MPA. Organized Chaos was voted as the winner – conceptualized by a random name generator – but when the mother of the lead […]
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Student’s Award-Winning Restoration Research
Conservation genetics research conducted by Shelly Gaynor, a University of Central Florida biology student, has earned her awards at multiple events. Gaynor was recently awarded for her research presentations at Eureka: Student Research Talks and the American Society of Plant Biologist (ASPB) Southern Sectional conference. Her research evaluates the impact of current shoreline restoration efforts […]
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Advocating for Women in STEM
A first generation Mexican American and University of Central Florida student seeks to give voice to an underrepresented population. UCF physics doctoral student Brian Zamarripa just won a National Science Foundation to fund his proposed research on gender disparity in the field of physics. With parents hailing from Mexico, Zamarripa is part of a minority […]
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UCF Chemistry Professor Discovers Energy Breakthrough
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today A chemistry professor in Florida has just found a way to trigger the process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into clean air and producing energy all at the same time. The process has great potential for creating a technology that could significantly reduce greenhouse […]
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COS Undergrads Shine at Showcase
Every year, the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence, presented by the Division of Teaching and Learning, celebrates undergraduate research and creativity across the curriculum. The showcase gave University of Central Florida undergraduate students the opportunity to present their research and creative projects to the university community. Students from all fields and disciplines gathered at […]
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Service Learning Educates and Connects
University of Central Florida students presented marine biology displays for kindergarten through eighth grade students at the 14th Annual Service-Learning Showcase. The Office of Experiential Learning sponsored the showcase held on April 13, 2017 in the UCF student union. Students from Pegasus Professor Linda Walters’, Ph.D., Principles of Marine Biology course presented their work at […]
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Student’s Research Earns Unique Experience
Heidi Waite, a University of Central Florida biology senior, has been accepted as a Frost Scholar and awarded the Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Award for May 2017. Waite graduates in May 2017 and has an exciting and unique road ahead of her. The Frost Scholarship Programme is an extremely competitive program available only to students attending […]
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UCF’s Conservation Efforts Highlighted by SeaWatch
Research conducted by University of Central Florida Department of Biology Pegasus Professor Linda Walters, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Melinda Donnelly, Ph.D., and Winter Springs High School teacher Paul Sacks, Ph.D., was recognized in the Coastal Conservation Association’s (CCA) spring 2017 publication of SeaWatch. Walters has been an advocate for marine conservation for many years. She is […]
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COS Students Shine at Graduate Research Forum
The UCF Pegasus Ballroom was packed Tuesday, April 5 with graduate students sharing their innovative, original research and creative projects at 14th Annual Graduate Research Forum. More than 200 students and 80 faculty judges participated in the event and over $16,000 in awards was presented for Best in Category presentations. Additionally, first place winners are […]
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COS Professor Honored with Reach for the Stars Award
Kate Mansfield, Ph.D., is one of five of the University of Central Florida’s brightest early career professors. She was honored for her cutting-edge research, including her internationally recognized study of sea turtle migration. She received the Reach for the Stars Award as part of the celebration of Founders’ Day on April 5, 2017. President John C. […]
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UCF Alumna’s Outstanding Environmental Work
Jane Provancha ’78 is an environmental enthusiast, a University of Central Florida alumna and the Department of Biology’s 2017 Outstanding AlumKnight. Provancha received her award at the College of Sciences Outstanding AlumKnight award ceremony on March 2, 2017. The award will add to Provancha’s long list of impressive achievements. From a UCF student to the Environmental […]
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Meet the 2017 COS Order of Pegasus Recipients
UCF has named 21 students as recipients of the Order of Pegasus, the university’s most prestigious student award. Eleven of these recipients are students of the UCF College of Sciences. Get to know them below. CHRISTOPHER CLEMENTE: Tampa, FL About: Christopher Clemente, College of Arts and Humanities and College of Sciences, is majoring in history and […]
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UCF Physics Team Finds Solution for Celestial Radiation
University of Central Florida Department of Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., and UCF planetary sciences doctoral student Leos Pohl believe there is an alternative to battling radiation in space. Research of the UCF scientists was recently featured in a New Scientist article, ‘Asteroid clay is a better space radiation shield than aluminium,’ published March 14, […]
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Robots and Trust Issues
The expertise of Florian Jentsch, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida, was recently cited in an article on the Inverse web site. Jentsch, a psychology professor at UCF with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Simulation and Training, specializes in human-automation […]
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UCF STEMS Throughout Florida Education
The University of Central Florida’s Center for Initiatives in STEM hosted the 12th annual Florida Engineering Education Conference on March 3, 2017. Over 200 teachers and professionals from all over Florida flocked to UCF’s Student Union to discuss teaching science, technology, engineering and math. The College of Engineering and Computer Science started the conference in […]
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UCF Chemistry Students Judge at Science Competition
University of Central Florida’s Uknighted Chemistry Graduate Student Association volunteered at an Orlando Science Center competition on March 11, 2017. The members of Uknighted Chemistry Graduate Student Association served as volunteer judges at the Science Challenge competition. Although the organization volunteers in the community often, this particular event was a first for the 3-year-old organization. […]
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Archaeologist Uses Satellites to Protect Ancient Sites
Story by Mark Schlueb, UCF Today University of Central Florida archaeologist Scott Branting, Ph.D., has gotten his hands dirty on plenty of digs, but some of his most important work now involves satellites instead of shovels. Since 2014, Branting has been a principal investigator on a U.S. Department of State project meant to track damage […]
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UCF’s Crime Lab Combats Human Trafficking Through Research
UCF Department of Sociology’s “crime lab,” a team of faculty and students, is trying to help police and nonprofit agencies better understand human trafficking in hopes of stopping it. While human trafficking is the latest crime the UCF team is tackling, it has been working with all sorts of crime data. The team works with […]
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NCFS Hosts Laser Ablation Workshop
University of Central Florida researchers Matthieu Baudelet, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, and Mauro Martinez, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate at the National Center for Forensic Science, presented at a workshop on Laser Ablation for Forensic Science Applications. The event was hosted by UCF’s National Center for Forensic Science on Feb. 8 and 9, 2017. The event, […]
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UCF Health’s Integrated Service Makes Headlines
Two University of Central Florida and UCF Health faculty are making headlines for their work and development of an integrated behavioral health service. News segments on WNDU in Indiana and KIMT in Iowa and Minnesota aired featuring Cerissa Blaney, Ph.D., and Maria Cannarozzi, M.D. The segments highlighted how the integrated system helped one of their […]
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COS Students to Receive University’s Highest Honor
Story by Mark Schlueb, UCF Today UCF has named 21 students as recipients of the Order of Pegasus, the university’s most prestigious student award. Eleven of these recipients are students of the UCF College of Sciences. The 2017 recipients were selected from a pool of 65 nominations. The 2017 class includes eight LEAD Scholars, eight President’s Leadership […]
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Anthropology Student Seeks Degree to Thank Mom, Dig Up Latin American Roots
Story by Rachel Williams, UCF Today Kimberly Batres was too young to remember, but her mother often went hungry. As a single mother living in Guatemala with daughters 7 and 3 years old, Alison Batres earned just enough money working in a family-owned bakery to pay rent and feed her children. Fed up and in […]
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Open Reef Drones Take on Environmental Conservation
Geographic information systems (GIS), and related geospatial technologies like drones, are being used to do wonders for our planet. With the growing issue of climate change and over-development, University of Central Florida researchers have taken the initiative to protect the areas with the greatest risks: islands and coastal areas. UCF Assistant Professor of GIS in […]
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Anthropology Student Aims to Make a Difference
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today Elizabeth “Beth” Chance served eight years in the U.S. Army, among many assignments handling classified mail in Iraq. When she came home, she became a classroom teacher. But she’d always dreamed of becoming an archeologist. “I had watched a PBS special on the discovery of ‘Lucy,’” said the […]
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UCF Gets $1.3 million to Fight Zika
University of Central Florida scientists, including three Department of Chemistry faculty members, received a total of nearly $1.3 million in state funds Wednesday to research the Zika virus with the goal of understanding its effects on human health and developing a vaccine for the mosquito-borne illness. The funding was part of Gov. Rick Scott’s authorization of $25 […]