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Student Coaching Project Earns Marchioli Award
An ongoing project to boost classroom student engagement through high-impact practices (HIP) recently earned one of UCF’s highest internal awards. Called HIP Coaches, the project uses student coaches to mentor and guide fellow students through high-impact learning experiences, such as collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, cultural competency, community-based learning and internships. The idea is […]
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Alumna Builds Career Around Studying Bones
Fingerprints get a lot of credit in the forensics world, but Brittany Walter, ’12MA, knows bones tell a story, too. Inspired from a young age by a forensic anthropology series written by Kathy Reichs, Walter traces her passion for forensics all the way back to middle school. Today she uses that passion as a full-time […]
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COS Dean Named Interim Provost
By INTERIM PRESIDENT THAD SEYMOUR JR. I am extremely grateful for Jana Jasinski stepping in as acting provost during the past week and a half, while also continuing as vice provost for Faculty Excellence. I appreciate her leadership and the stability she provided the Academic Affairs team. Jana was named acting provost after I asked Provost Elizabeth […]
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Grad Student Launches Winter Coat Drive for Children
It might feel tropical this week, but colder weather is coming to Florida — and that spells trouble for the kids without protection from the elements. Sociology graduate student Sonya Spence is working to correct that by holding a gently used coat drive for children from pre-K to high school. She was inspired by her […]
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Attorney Brings Experience Fighting Human Trafficking to UCF
The Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at UCF has recently recruited the talents of lawyer Shilpa Finnerty to serve as its senior fellow and community advisor. Through Finnerty’s experience in human rights and trafficking advocacy, the center hopes to expand their presence in the Orlando area. “The work that we […]
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UCF Research Provides Tools for Prosecuting Domestic Violence
New, potentially life-saving research from the Department of Sociology is reshaping the way law enforcement approaches domestic violence. Specifically, an associate professor and doctorate students are working alongside investigators with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office to identify signs of strangulation and collect valuable forensic medical evidence to corroborate the potentially lethal attacks. The risk of […]
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Preparing for Extreme Sea Levels Depends on Location, Time, UCF Study Finds
By ROBERT WELLS Sometimes to understand the present, it takes looking to the past. That’s the approach University of Central Florida coastal researchers are taking to pinpoint the causes of extreme sea level changes. Using historical data from tide gauges that line U.S. coasts, the researchers created an extreme sea level indicator that identifies how […]
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Grad Makes ‘Intelligent’ Choice With Lockheed Career
Everything from the precision of military strikes to global money markets hinges on timely, accurate information, or, as it’s known in the trade, “intelligence.” Alanna Fulk ’16, M.A. ’19, is keenly aware of that now as an intelligence analyst for one of the most prestigious intelligence and security corporations in the world, Lockheed Martin. But […]
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New Scholarship Funds Student Study of Sea Turtles
Three students with big ambitions to curb the dwindling sea turtle population will benefit from a new scholarship started by the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation. The foundation chose to partner with UCF in recognition of the work conducted by Kate Mansfield, Ph.D., who leads the Marine Turtle Research Group (MTRG). Mansfield is a […]
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New Research Technique May Shed Light On Baby Sea Turtle Journey
By ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA A team of Florida researchers and their collaborators created a first-of-its-kind computer model that tracks where sea turtle hatchlings go after they leave Florida’s shores, giving scientists a new tool to figure out where young turtles spend their “lost years.” Nathan Putman, a biologist with LGL Ecological Research Assoc. based in […]
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Nicholson Grads Reunite on Set of ‘Shark Tank’
There is no one path to success. Neither Jen Rosen ’09 nor Kelly Nader ’16 pictured themselves in casting and production when they began Radio-Television classes at the Nicholson School of Communication and Media. And both took different career routes after graduation. But in the funny way life works, the UCF grads crossed paths on […]
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RISE Conference Returns For Second Year of Puerto Rico Awareness
The RISE 2019 conference, focused on raising the awareness around displaced communities in the wake of natural disaster, successfully wrapped up their second annual meeting in Albany, New York, drawing in a crowd of more than 400 people. Professor Fernando Rivera, Ph.D, director of the Puerto Rico Research Hub at UCF, is pleased to see […]
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New Alumni Reflect on Journey That Brought Them to Fall ’19 Graduation
As he adjusted his black gown, a yellow tassel dangling out of the corner of his eye, Bepsy Omar Aguasvivas thought about his father’s words: “The hardest thing to do is be born. Everything else is simply a step ahead.” That advice carried Aguasvivas through his academic experience at UCF all the way to Saturday, […]
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OSIRIS REx Target on Asteroid Bennu Revealed, Next Step – Touch-and-Go in 2020
By ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The OSIRIS-REx team announced today, the selection of two sites on asteroid Bennu that they will target for sample collection next year. The selection of the two spots nicknamed Nightingale and Osprey sites represents a milestone in NASA’s first mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and bring it back […]
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Agreement Opens New Research Opportunity at State Park
A first-of-its-kind agreement between a Florida state park and a public university opens new research opportunities for students and faculty of disciplines ranging from biology to engineering. The agreement between UCF and Florida Park Service centers on a building in Econfina River State Park in rural Taylor County, about an hour southeast of Tallahassee. A […]
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Students Share Who They’re Grateful For This Thanksgiving
There’s a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. So we asked College of Sciences students to narrow it down to a person that influenced their decision to pursue sciences as a career. Psalmiyah Barber Psychology Sophomore There was no hesitation in Psalmiyah Barber’s answer when asked what she was most thankful for this […]
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UCF Instructional Video Nominated For Regional Emmy Award
A powerful video detailing a journalist’s approach to her work has earned a Suncoast Regional Emmy Award nomination for the UCF team that produced it. The project, titled “Ethics in Journalism: A Morning with Nancy Alvarez,” explores the decisions the Channel 9 anchor made approaching news coverage of two major Orlando stories: the Pulse nightclub […]
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Physics Education Produces Twelve Teachers in Two Years
Adam LaMee has always had a passion for showing others the wonder of physics. So when UCF recruited him from his small, high school classroom to teach in their Physics Teacher Education (PhysTEC) program, it was a no-brainer. Now on its eighth year, LaMee’s passion has led PhysTEC to hit a major milestone: the 5+ […]
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NASA Funds 2 UCF Projects Focused on Returning to the Moon
By ROBERT WELLS Two new University of Central Florida projects will test innovative technologies designed to help astronauts return safely to the moon. NASA recently funded the projects that will help scientists better understand the nature of lunar dust so that its potentially damaging effects to equipment and spacecraft during lunar landings can be minimized. […]
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UCF Professor Part of Team Awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke Award
By ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA NASA’s New Horizons Mission Team, which includes UCF physics Professor Dan Britt, Thursday was awarded the 2019 Sir Arthur Clarke Award, one of the most prestigious space-exploration awards in the world. The award recognizes teams and individuals that have made notable or outstanding achievements in space activities in the past year. […]
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GIS Day 2019 Introduces New Careers to Central Florida K-12 Students
The Pegasus Ballroom was buzzing with drones and excited conversations Thursday for GIS Day 2019. GIS Day presents students with hands-on activities that teach them about GIS (geographic information system) mapping, drones and coding for apps. “Students use these apps and services every day, but they don’t realize that they are using GIS. We’re using […]
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Alumna Goes To Washington With PoliSci Degree
In the nine years after graduating from UCF, Nathalia Martins ’10 ’12MA has crossed paths with Washington D.C. movers and shakers, held a job with the Brazilian ambassador and started a new career path in public relations. Not bad for someone who didn’t have a clear plan when she arrived in college. “When I […]
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Grant Offers Mobility for Psychology Researchers
Almost $600,000 in new funding from the U.S. Department of Defense allows researchers studying human behavior to escape the limits of the laboratory. Specifically, the grant funds tools that offer the freedom and mobility to study how people interact with their environments in real time. These include augmented and virtual reality devices, and tools that […]
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Hamann Named A Vice President of American Political Science Association
Pegasus Professor Kerstin Hamann, Ph.D., director of the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, was recently named a vice president of the American Political Science Association. The APSA, founded in 1903, is the leading professional organization in the field of political science with over 11,000 members in more than 100 countries. APSA’s mission extends to […]
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Director Named to Lead Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery
Professor Roberto “Hugh” Potter, Ph.D., was appointed this week to lead UCF’s Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery. The center answers several needs in an area of Florida particularly vulnerable to human trafficking because of its agricultural and hospitality industries. Affiliated faculty conduct research and provide consulting expertise to professions that […]
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Egyptian Exchange Student Soaks Up American Culture
Norhan Abdeldeyem was a bundle of nerves and excitement when an opportunity to study abroad presented itself. This was Abdeldeyem’s first time leaving Egypt, let alone entering the U.S. But she’s found a home at UCF, where she is studying actuarial science through the Department of Statistics and Data Science, with a double minor in […]
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Class Spotlight: Mummies: Life After Death
Note: Answers have been edited for length. Associate Lecturer of Anthropology Sandra Wheeler, Ph.D., has been teaching at the University of Central Florida since 2010, with a specialty in bioarchaeology. Her course, called Mummies: Life After Death (ANT 4027), is a big hit among anthropological and non-anthropological majors alike. College of Sciences: How did […]
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Civic Education Champion Lou Frey Passes
Champion of civic education and former Congressman Lou Frey Jr., the namesake of UCF’s Lou Frey Institute, passed away Monday in Winter Springs. He was 85. Frey leaves a long legacy of service to the U.S. and Central Florida; he had a hand in both establishing Kennedy Space Center as the home of the space […]
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$1 Million Gift Brings India Center Endowed Chair Closer to Reality
An endowed chair position for UCF’s India Center continues its march toward reality with a new $1 million pledge. The pledge comes from Raj Toleti, ‘93MS, and family, including his wife, Aparna Toleti, ‘95MS, and brings the total for the fund to $2 million of a $5 million goal. Their generous commitment to the success […]
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Lifelong Impact of Professor Inspires Scholarship Fund
In a hectic world, it pays to pause and say “thank you.” That’s the philosophy of Chris Lombardo, who was struck not too long ago about his own inattention to showing gratefulness. More specifically, he realized the impact that longtime Political Science professor Roger Handberg, Ph.D., had on Lombardo’s career as an attorney. “The foundational […]