Focus on Bilingual approaches through National Science Foundation grant expand accessibility for learning across diverse student groups By: Emily Dougherty I October 4, 2024 Dr. Erin Saitta, Assistant Professor in the UCF Department of Chemistry, and doctoral student (Chemistry), Kathleen Lugo Charriez, have recognized the array of difficulties that undergraduate chemistry and other STEM students […]
A newly awarded grant will unlock some new opportunities for ten promising science and engineering students at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Talat Rahman and Dr. Mihai Vaida were recently awarded an NSF REU Site grant entitled “Research in materials for energy applications”. The $427,000, three-year grant will provide ten undergraduate students opportunities to […]
Department of Psychology Professor Mindy Shoss, Ph.D. presented at a recent American Psychological Association webinar on AI titled: “Artificial Intelligence: The Role of Psychology and How to Navigate Change.” She was also cited in an APA press release on AI and ethics. Over 1,500 people registered for the webinar on this timely topic. We spoke […]
In a recent article published by a Stanford research group, six faculty from the Department of Mathematics were included in their list of the top two percent of researchers in the world. Variables including the number of papers authored, total citations and the impact of published research were considered. Department of Mathematics Chair Professor Xin […]
New findings from a study published in Nature and led by UCF’s School of Politics, Security and International Affairs Assistant Professor Kevin Aslett shed light on the ways that conducting your own online research can be misleading. Aslett worked with a team of fellow researchers from New York University and Stanford University over a span […]
Most folks recognize the image of scientists tagging birds and animals to study wildlife patterns and habits. What’s less familiar is what happens with that data after they’re released back into the wild, and how researchers use that information to steer conservation work. That’s the expertise of Assistant Professor Christen Fleming, Ph.D., a new faculty […]
Sociology Professor Shannon Carter researches various topics in the healthcare industry that have a true impact on peoples’ lives. Read what she has to say about her research and learn what you can do with a Sociology degree. Can you please describe your research areas? My research focuses on health practices among different groups […]
Chemistry Ph.D. student Zach Murphy studied nuclear waste storage during an internship with Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). His faculty advisor Assistant Professor Vasileios Anagnostopoulos, Ph.D. sees the immense value in internships for UCF Chemistry students. “Internships are a great opportunity for students to get hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology that is not available in […]
Psychology Assistant Professor Chelsea LeNoble, Ph.D. is spearheading a research project on the well-being of prescribed fire practitioners. LeNoble shared, “Prescribed fire is a tool that can prevent more catastrophic wildfires. It helps by reducing fuels (e.g., sticks, leaves, fallen trees) in a controlled way and maintaining the health of the natural ecosystems that rely […]
Integrative and Conservation Biology Ph.D. candidates Davide Dal Pos and Alessandra Pandolfi were honored with awards at the Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting in Maryland. Dal Pos earned the first place award in the Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity (SysEB): Morphology 2 section for his presentation titled, “A revised terminology for male genitalia in Hymenoptera […]
Talk of AI is all around. Whether discussed in the context of education, the workforce or everyday life, it is certainly making a large impact. According to the program’s website, UCF’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative (Aii) aims to hire close to 30 new AI faculty members from across five different colleges: College of Sciences, College of […]
Department of Sociology Associate Professor Amy Donley works closely with social inequality and the homeless community. Her work truly makes an impact in the lives of others and society. Take a look at what she has to say about her work below. Please describe your research and the impact of this research. I am an […]
Associate Lecturer Martha Hubertz in the Department of Psychology was recognized for her work in online teaching with the Excellence in Instructional Teaching Practice from the Online Learning Consortium. Her work in online instruction has made important strides in flexible learning options that provide more options for learners of different lifestyles. We spoke with Hubertz […]
Anthropology MA student Emily Tyler has invested significant time in her thesis studying pottery from the Burns Site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Professor Sarah Barber, Ph.D. shared, “Emily has had the opportunity to learn a wide range of analytical techniques as part of her research, which will be valuable to her as she moves forward […]
A physics Ph.D. student will travel to California next year to conduct research in attosecond physics through a U.S. Department of Energy program. The program allows Chris Lantigua to continue his research into ultrashort pulses of light, which he currently pursues in the laboratory of Associate Professor Michael Chini, Ph.D. Through the DOE’s Science Graduate […]
Biology student Stefannia Tasayco recently had the opportunity to attend the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans (SACNAS) 2023 National Diversity in STEM Conference in Portland, Oregon. She was selected for the Outstanding Research Presentation award for her research poster on seagrass and living shoreline restoration. Read what she had to say about […]
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 […]
Outbreaks of violence and instability in global hotspots like the Middle East can seem unpredictable, but data science proves otherwise. That was the premise behind a statistics and deep learning hybrid model that earned Associate Professor Hsin-Hsiung “Bill” Huang, Ph.D., and a team of students from the Department of Statistics and Data Science their third […]
Say “Waffle House” and you’ll probably picture late-night brawls shared on social media or stand-up comedy material. But the same qualities that make us laugh also make the restaurant the perfect subject of study by cultural anthropologists like Professor Ty Matejowsky, Ph.D. Matejowsky specializes in how food shapes and informs a culture, with past […]
UCF’s Coastal & Estuarine Ecology Laboratory (CEELAB) continues to grow and expand its influence with an investment from Disney and a research project attracting top science talent from across the U.S. The achievement came in the form of $100,000 to Pegasus Professor of Biology Linda Walters and integrative coastal biology doctoral student Katherine Harris ’18 […]
A chemistry doctoral student gained valuable research experience this summer with Ocean Spray Cranberries. Edwin Davidson Barahona was tapped by the farmer cooperative to work in research and development by supporting production improvements and quality measurements for cranberry products. “The idea of working for a vibrant company with a reputable background, and an […]
A community in Belize and students and teachers from UCF and across the U.S. benefited from a seven-week research project hosted by Citizen Science GIS this summer. This was the sixth year Associate Professor of Geographic Information Systems Timothy Hawthorne, Ph.D. led 10 students and two teachers to Hopkins Village, Belize in Central America […]
The University of Central Florida Office of Research has announced the appointment of Joseph Harrington, a Pegasus Professor in the Department of Physics and UCF’s Florida Space Institute, as the interim associate vice president for research and scholarship. In this role, Harrington’s duties will include overseeing UCF’s institutes and centers and research strategy councils; participating […]
University of Central Florida researchers have achieved new record-setting power density for ethanol fuel cells, helping advance the technology as a competitor to fossil fuels and electric car batteries. Ethanol fuel cells offer cleaner emissions than fossil fuels and no charging times compared to electric vehicle batteries. In recent studies published in the journals Nature […]
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals. Election as a fellow is a lifetime honor and considered one of the most distinguished recognitions within the scientific community. UCF professors Peter Delfyett and Ronald DeMara are […]
The College of Sciences saw a record $43.6 million in research awards this past year — up from $25 million in 2021–22. This is the first year that the college has ranked first in funding across the university. “This is a tremendous accomplishment by our research faculty and students,” said Associate Dean and Pegasus Professor […]
Two transfer students recently took advantage of a special program to scratch their itch for learning research skills. Mosquitos and their vulnerability to pesticides was the focus of research by Biology students Holly Monroe and Kathleen Velez. Both took advantage of the Transfer Student Research Integration Program (TRIP) to help acclimate to campus and begin […]
Two recent grants elevate the national profile of UCF’s radiochemistry program. The first connects the university with a $25 million consortium funded by the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) in nuclear forensics. The consortium — comprised of 15 academic institutions and seven national labs —trains students on topics related to national security and nuclear non-proliferation. […]
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 […]
New research recasts the narrative on the earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia, pushing back the presence of humans in that part of the world by at least 20,000 years and a human presence in the region for at least 56,000 years. The findings are based on analysis of bones excavated from deep […]