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Students Travel to Iraq For Kurdish Studies
By Doreen Horschig, doctoral candidate of Security Studies. Two students affiliated with UCF’s Kurdish Political Studies Program (KPSP) conducted research in Kurdistan over this summer. Tutku Ayhan, a doctoral candidate in Security Studies program at the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at UCF and Jenna Dovydaitis, a senior of the UCF Burnett Honors […]
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Ph.D. Student Heads Home to Guatamala To Study Maya Civilization
Mapping and excavating Maya ruins this summer not only fulfilled a lifelong dream for Rodrigo Guzman, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology, but connected him with his roots. Guzman spent the month of July excavating an ancient site in northeast Guatemala called Holtun. Working in conjunction with the Anthropology Department, Guzman uncovered 32 […]
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Nicholson Students Spotlight Indian Caste System in New Documentary
BY LISA MILLS, PH.D. A non-governmental organization (NGO) that fights caste discrimination with education is the subject of a new documentary directed by Lisa Mills, Ph.D., associate professor of film in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media. The NGO, Movement for Scavenger Community (MSC), was founded by Vimal Kumar, a doctoral candidate at the […]
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Summer ’19 Ph.D. Grads Honored At Reception
The Summer ’19 doctorate degree students were recognized Friday at a special reception. Graduates celebrated their achievement with their faculty advisors, family, College of Sciences Dean Michael Johnson, Ph.D. and a special champagne toast. Click here to see the full gallery of photos. Chemistry Anuradha Akmeemana, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor: Michael E. Sigman, Ph.D. Dissertation: […]
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Biology Master’s Student Chosen For Prestigious Pew Fellowship
A biology master’s student’s research just received a big endorsement from the prestigious Pew Charitable Trusts and the Florida Wildlife Commission. The national and state organizations are funding the research of Michelle Shaffer, ’16, who has spent the past five years studying the ecosystems and wildlife in the Indian River Lagoon in conjunction with the […]
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Medieval Bones Reveal Diet Secrets
Jane Holmstrom doesn’t speak medieval French, but that hasn’t stopped her from learning from the long-dead residents of Saint-Jean-de-Todon in Laudun, France. The bioarchaeology doctorate student traveled at the beginning of May to an archaeological site about 90 minutes northwest of the Mediterranean city of Marseilles. The site sits on a hill just above […]
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Students Head To Belize For GIS Mapping and Teaching
BY TIM HAWTHORNE, Ph.D. Opening up one’s worldview. Exploring foreign landscapes. Interacting with new cultures. Engaging in research with communities. These are just some of the things that a group of 11 UCF students did this May with the UCF Participatory Geographic Information Systems (GIS) study abroad class in Belize. The class is part […]
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Army Officers Return To Duty With Doctorate Degrees
Research that could shape the U.S. military’s combat readiness in the world theater was the outcome of two high-ranking officers pursuing their doctorates in Security Studies. U.S. Army Col. Joseph Funderburke and U.S. Army Col. David Raugh were both hooded today during the College of Sciences’ commencement ceremony. “Dave and Joe have been […]
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Nine COS Students Receive Prestigious Order of Pegasus
Nine students from the College of Sciences are recipients of Order of Pegasus, the university’s most prestigious student award. The 2019 recipients were selected from a pool of 77 nominations. Undergraduate students are chosen for Order of Pegasus each year based on their outstanding achievement in the areas of academic achievement, university involvement, leadership and community […]
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Student Lands 1st Place Conference Finish
A Physics graduate student won first prize recently for his poster at the American Physical Society Bridge Program and National Mentoring Community Conference. Brian Zamarripa’s project was entitled “Success is a puzzle: sorting out the pieces with metaphor analysis” and focused on characterizing success in Physics from the perspective of women. “This award means to […]
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UCF Class Spotlight: Political Psychology
BY JENNA MARINA LEE Class Name POS 4206 – Political Psychology Description The psychological analysis of political behavior, with emphasis on the individual rather than the political system; includes political attitudes and communication, leadership and personality influences on politics. When is it offered? Occasionally. How many students are in a class? Capacity of 50 Prerequisites None […]
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UCF Selling Experimental Martian Dirt — $20 a Kilogram, Plus Shipping
The University of Central Florida is selling Martian dirt, $20 a kilogram plus shipping. This is not fake news. A team of UCF astrophysicists has developed a scientifically based, standardized method for creating Martian and asteroid soil known as simulants. The team published its findings this month in the journal Icarus. “The simulant is useful […]
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Security Studies Student Wins Best Paper Award
Sandor Fabian, a first-year Ph.D. student in the Security Studies program, is the winner of the March 2018 Florida Political Science Association’s (FPSA) Best Graduate Paper Award. His paper was titled “Why does David sometimes defeat Goliath? The effects of military culture on the outcome of asymmetric wars,” and examines why the weak can sometimes […]
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Physics Ph.D. Student Promotes Inclusion
UCF is one of six universities paving the way for underrepresented minority students to earn graduate physics degrees. According to an article published in the journal Nature, African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans make up about one-third of university-age citizens in the United States, however, less than 11 percent of bachelor’s degrees are awarded […]
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Researching the Ever-Changing Tampa Bay
Jaime Rogers, a master’s anthropology student, received $1,700 in grants from the Florida Anthropological Society and the Florida Archaeological Council to fund his research. “I am grateful that my research was recognized as being interesting enough to fund,” Rogers said. “There are some great research projects going on in Florida archaeology right now, and that […]
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From Italy to UCF, Student Finds Success
Helin Yıldız traveled from Italy after being accepted by the Kurdish Political Studies Program to continue her master’s education abroad. During her time in Orlando, Yıldız attended courses at UCF, interacted with professors and students about her research and intellectual interests, participated in KPSP events and made trips to Washington, D.C. to conduct interviews. Yıldız […]
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Industry Partners Invest in Statistics Students
From developing predictive models to interpreting data, UCF graduate students had the chance to put their data analytics skills to the test, as CFE Federal Credit Union launched its inaugural Lending Analytics Competition with the UCF Department of Statistics. From October 2017 to January 2018, student teams used data sets to predict lending risks facing […]
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Congratulations, Spring 2018 Ph.D. Graduates!
The College of Sciences celebrated its new Ph.D. graduates in a reception hosted by Dean Michael Johnson, Ph.D. Twelve students were recognized at the ceremony with their family members and faculty advisors by their side. Associate Dean Jana Jasinski, Ph.D., honored each student individually by presenting their research and a brief description of their dissertation. Afterward, […]
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Declining Bee Population to get Helping Hand
Bees are going to get a helping hand next year when a UCF biologist launches her nationwide Bee Wild project. Funded by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Barbara Sharanowski will coordinate a nationwide team of citizen scientists who will convert lawns into native wildflower havens especially designed to attract native bees and other […]
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Opioid Misuse Isn’t White or Black Issue
Although the opioid epidemic has been portrayed in the media as a largely “white” epidemic, a UCF study finds this drug doesn’t discriminate. The abuse of opioids affects whites and blacks almost equally, according to a study led by sociology doctoral student Harvey Nicholson. His findings were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Drug and Alcohol […]
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Chemistry Grad Student Cracks Code for Colorblind Tests
Tatiana Fedotava-Molden, a first-year Ph.D. student in the department of Chemistry, has already had her first research breakthrough and publication in one of the most prestigious international chemistry journals. For a chemistry Ph.D. student, Molden had an interesting start. When she lived in Russia, she went to school for journalism and found herself at movie […]
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Citizen Science GIS Team Unites Community Using Drones
UCF’s Citizen Science GIS team has spent the last few years using drone technology to map the coastline and local island communities of Belize. Led by UCF’s assistant professor, Timothy L. Hawthorne, Ph.D., the Citizen Science GIS team aims to strengthen the connections between science and society through geographic information systems and drones. As an […]
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Nicholson Grad Student Named 40 Under 40
Orlando Business Journal (OBJ) named UCF graduate student Libby Champion one of the community’s 40 Under 40 honorees. She was recognized for her work in bringing school communication into the digital world, particularly in her role as the Director of Communications at Montverde Academy. Champion redesigned the school’s biannual magazine “The Tower” and produced engaging […]
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Students Shift Goals to Help Others
Milka Derisma and her team, Cynthia Nnagboro and Kelly Merrill Jr., are all completing their master’s degrees in the Nicholson School of Communication, while simultaneously working to enact change in their community—starting with local college students. They created an initiative, BYG (Build Your Goals) Shift, focused on helping students transfer from two-year community colleges to […]
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Determination Leads to Improved Zika Test
Four years ago, Ph.D. candidate Tianyu Zheng arrived in America for the first time. After joining the Ph.D. program in the Department of Chemistry at UCF, he was determined to pursue an upper-level chemistry education. Now, one year out from finishing his doctoral degree at UCF, he’s been awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student award by […]
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Ph.D. Candidate Closing the Health Gap
Selected as a Health Policy Research Scholar, sociology Ph.D. candidate Harvey Nicholson works to close the gap in health disparities throughout the United States. Out of 295 applicants, Nicholson was one of 40 chosen to be a part of this national leadership program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nicholson’s research focuses on the […]
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Student Published in the Washington Post
Peyman Asadzade, UCF student pursuing a doctorate degree in security studies, recently published a blog post in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, which is a leading political blog with national exposure. His piece focused on public opinion and Iran’s involvement in the Syrian civil war. It discusses Iranian public response to Iran’s growing military presence […]
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Physics Takes a Student to France
UCF Physics’ Ph.D. student Chi Hong (Isaac) Yuen received a Chateaubriand fellowship to pursue research in France. He is spending eight months overseas to study the destruction of carbon dioxide molecules and the formation of the ozone molecule in collaboration with the Ecole Centrale de Paris, the University of Le Havre and the University of […]
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Silent Guns: Examining the Two-Year Absence of Coups in Africa
Rebecca Schiel, PhD Candidate in Security Studies, and Jonathan Powell, Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department, recently published a blog post in Political Violence at a Glance examining the two-year absence of Coups d’état in Africa. The blog post addresses the two-year anniversary of the coup in Burkina Faso and the subsequent two-year […]
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A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success
Melissa Gomez attended small private schools until fall 2000, when she found herself a freshman film major at one of the nation’s largest universities. She came to the conclusion all of the students knew what they wanted out of life and she did not yet. She chose to leave UCF, believing she was wasting her time. […]