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GIS Mapping Research Benefits Coastal Village, Teachers, Students
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 […]
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UCF Names Joseph Harrington as Interim Associate Vice President for Research and Scholarship
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 […]
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New Ethanol Fuel Cell Technology Rivals Fossil Fuels and Electric Car Batteries
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 […]
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2 UCF Professors Honored as Fellows in the World’s Largest Scientific Society
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 […]
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College of Sciences Sets New Research Funding Record
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 […]
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Two Transfer Students Find Belonging at UCF Through Research
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 […]
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Grants Elevate National Profile of Radiochemistry Program
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. […]
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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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Human Migration Timeline Redrawn by Fresh Fossil Analysis
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 […]
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UCF Researchers Are Contributing to World Oceans Day
One of Florida’s most precious resources is its water from the aquifer to the 8,436 miles of coastline, boarded by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida, and the Atlantic Ocean. Water is also a major player in the state’s economy, contributing $56 billion to the economy and generating 900,000 jobs according to a […]
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Underground Carbon Deposits Unlock Climate Change Insights
The amount of carbon stored in soils across UCF’s campus is equivalent to removing 68,200 cars from the roads for a year. That’s according to newly published research from Aquatic Biogeochemistry Lab Supervisor and Associate Professor of Biology, Lisa Chambers, Ph.D., and Jennifer Bennett ’20. The research is the product of intensive soil sampling across […]
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New Grad Heads to Paris For Doctoral Degree
Recent physics graduate Christian Cabello ’23 says bonjour to a new life in Paris this fall, where he’ll take advantage of a full scholarship to pursue a doctorate degree at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP). The new adventure not only brings him to Europe for the first time but opens access to rare equipment […]
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CEELAB Marks 25 Years of Coastal Restoration
Twenty-five years of work by CEELAB (Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab) — celebrated in May 2023 — can be split into both tangible and intangible achievements. For instance, over the span of 17 years, 66,000 volunteers have participated in one of the longest-running oyster reef restoration projects in the U.S. and restored close to four […]
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Childhood Chasing Frogs Leads to Wetlands PhD Pursuit
A childhood chasing frogs in America’s heartland has led Anthony Mirabito to the cusp of a career saving wetlands. Today, Mirabito mixes classwork from the third year of his doctoral studies in Integrative and Conservation Biology with hands-on work in the Aquatic Biogeochemistry Lab at UCF led by Associate Professor Lisa Chambers Ph.D. Mirabito pursues […]
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UCF Uses 6-Foot ‘Test Tubes’ to Study Red Tide
A potential treatment for Florida’s devastating red tides took another step toward widespread deployment after successful testing in Sarasota Bay. Additional detailed data analysis is required to confirm results, but UCF Assistant Professor of Biology Kristy Lewis is encouraged by the large-scale test of a red tide mitigation technology called clay flocculation that was performed […]
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UCF Research in 60 Seconds: Studying Culture Through Food
Whether it’s solving the world’s biggest problems or investigating the potential of novel discoveries, researchers at UCF are on the edge scientific breakthroughs that aim to make an impact. Through the Research in 60 Seconds series, student and faculty researchers condense their complex studies into bite-sized summaries so you can know how and why Knights […]
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Innovative VR Therapy Helps Patients Overcome PTSD Caused by Hospital Stays
Exceptional medical care from first responders, nurses and doctors routinely saves the lives of patients with critical illnesses. But many of those patients will suffer from anxiety, depression and PTSD after they return home. A team of UCF researchers is confident that exposure therapy featuring virtual reality with real sounds and smells, all mimicking the […]
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UCF Researchers Uncover Key Mechanisms for Sustainable Ammonia Production
A University of Central Florida research team with collaborators at Virginia Tech have published critical findings about the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia, advancing sustainable fertilizer research and thus aiding global food safety efforts. Ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, is an essential ingredient in many fertilizers for food production. However, its primary method of […]
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UCF Researchers Work to Reduce the Amount of Precious Metals in Catalytic Converters
The precious metals, such as platinum, palladium and rhodium, in catalytic converters make the vehicle devices attractive to thieves, but University of Central Florida researchers are working to reduce the amount of precious metals needed in them — down to single atoms — while still maximizing their effectiveness. Catalytic converters, which were widely introduced in […]
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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 $1.25 Million Research Project Will Map Materials at the Nanoscale
A University of Central Florida researcher will lead a recently announced $1.25 million project to map and manipulate materials at the nanoscale. The project’s funding is through the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a philanthropic foundation established by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and his wife Betty Moore to support scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care […]
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New NASA-funded Study Hopes to Put Risks of Space Junk on People’s Radar
Space may seem infinite but the real estate in Earth’s orbit is filling up fast with junk. The debris orbiting the Earth consists of human-made objects that no longer serve a purpose and range from fragments of metal to nonfunctioning spacecraft and abandoned rocket stages. This space junk can endanger spacecraft and damage satellites that […]
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Decades-Old Moon Samples Inform Modern Return to Moon
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL Exploring an area in the Moon that was never visited before? That’s one of the tasks that Department of Physics planetary scientist and Assistant Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna, Ph.D., has assisted NASA with since 2013. Donaldson Hanna and her team play a vital role in studying samples collected by the Apollo astronauts […]
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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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UCF Doctoral Candidate Works to Create a ‘Bioassessment Toolkit’
Dedicated to preserving ocean life at every scale, UCF doctoral candidate Ashley Reaume is working to create an efficient and cost-effective “bioassessment toolkit” that can be used to evaluate the impact of water quality on plankton communities. “Both plankton and estuaries play important roles in sustaining human life, providing us with ecosystem services like nutrient […]
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Genetic Rescue of Florida Panthers May Have Had Unintended Consequences
The introduction of Texas pumas to Florida in the 1990s as part of a genetic rescue may have helped save Florida panthers from extinction, but it also brought some harmful mutations with it along the way. In a new study led by UCF, researchers show that nearly half of the harmful mutations found in recent […]
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Annual Belize Trip Trains Students, Assists International Community
Traveling to Hopkins Village, Belize, feels like a homecoming for Citizen Science GIS after six years of research and community work. Each summer brings a surprise, though. A new degree of urgency was injected into this year’s projects when Associate Professor Timothy Hawthorne, Ph.D., and the student team saw just how badly the beach had […]
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UCF Researchers Are Contributing to World Oceans Day
One of Florida’s most precious resources is its water from the aquifer to the 8,436 miles of coastline, boarded by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida, and the Atlantic Ocean. Water is also a major player in the state’s economy, contributing $56 billion to the economy and generating 900,000 jobs according to a […]
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Artificial Intelligence Holds Promise to Revolutionize Pottery Reconstruction
The time-consuming process of piecing together broken pottery vessels found during archaeological excavations is getting a boost from artificial intelligence. Pottery provides key insights into how ancient people lived, but most archaeological sites uncover pottery in broken sherds. To use this evidence to its full potential requires piecing them back together like a jigsaw puzzle […]
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NASA Selects UCF for $35 Million Mission to the Moon’s Mysterious Gruithuisen Domes
NASA today tapped UCF’s dynamic duo, planetary scientists Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Adrienne Dove, to lead a $35 million science mission that will land a spacecraft on a part of the moon never visited before — the Gruithuisen Domes. The domes, located in the western portion of the Imbrium basin rim, remain a mystery to […]