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UCF-led Consortium to Manage Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico
By Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala The observatory’s radar system gathers information about planets, moons, asteroids and comets. (Image courtesy of Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF) The largest fully operational radio telescope on the planet – the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico – will soon be under new management. A consortium led by the University […]
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Mining for Moon Water
by Zenaida Kotala UCF’s Phil Metzger and Julie Brisset from the Florida Space Institute recently landed a contract to develop a model to mine the moon for water. Data suggests the moon has water locked away in its icy soil, especially at the moon’s poles. The challenge is finding an effective and inexpensive way to […]
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UCF Chemistry Professor Goes Viral
UCF Chemistry Assistant Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo has gone viral. A story featuring his published research from April 2017 has been viewed more than 898,848 times on the global science news website, EurekAlert! Romo-Uribe found a way to trigger the process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into clean air and producing energy all […]
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National Coastal Center Launches at UCF
UCF has launched a national research center focused on finding big-picture solutions to threats facing coastal communities. In 2017, federal and local governments in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico spent more than $284 billion to deal with the impact of hurricanes and flooding, according to NOAA. “There’s a perfect storm coming,” said Graham Worthy, UCF biologist […]
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Faculty Inducted into the National Academy of Inventors
By Barbara Abney Twenty-seven university faculty members were inducted into the UCF Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors at the second-annual gala on campus Thursday, Nov. 30. The scientists, who represent a cross section of the university, including engineering, optics, biomedical, energy, nanoscience, advanced materials and chemistry, cumulatively hold 127 of the 990 patents […]
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First Confirmed Object From Other Star System
by Zenaida Kotala A cigar-shaped asteroid making its way through our solar system to an unknown destination is capturing the imagination of scientists around the globe. This is this first confirmed object from another star system, which is what got University of Central Florida Associate Professor Yan Fernandez fired up and calling up friends to […]
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The Lost Years of Sea Turtles
by Barbara Abney University of Central Florida biologist whose groundbreaking work tracking the movements of sea turtle yearlings in the North Atlantic Ocean attracted international attention has completed a similar study in the South Atlantic with surprising results. South Atlantic sea turtles do not passively ride prevailing currents as historically assumed, but instead actively swim […]
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Researcher Works to Explain Mars Clay
by Zenaida Kotala A study published today in Nature provides a new explanation for how clay formed on Mars, which could help scientists and engineers figure out how to unlock the early climate history of the planet. “The basic recipe for making clay is you take rock and you add heat and water,” said Kevin […]
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Professor’s Work Highlighted by the Department of Energy
Madhab Neupane, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, uses light to eject electrons out of materials revealing the states of electrons occupy inside the material. He does so by using a technique known as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). He employs very intense (but finely controlled) light beams to illuminate a sample, extract […]
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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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Where Turtles Eat Unlocks New Conservation Areas
by Allison Hurtado UCF alumna Simona Ceriani published a new study that finds sea turtles are what they eat – but where they eat may be even more important. Ceriani, who is a tenured research scientist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, collaborated with three UCF Department of Biology researchers on the study, published […]
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New Zika Test is Hitting the Market
by Zenaida Kotala A new diagnostic test that can detect a Zika viral infection within 30 minutes could be headed to hospitals in the next year thanks to a partnership between the University of Central Florida and Orlando-based biotechnology startup Nano Discovery Inc. Qun Treen Huo, a faculty member at UCF’s Department of Chemistry and […]
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Team Works to Understand Social Behavior
by Mark Schlueb The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a combined $12.5 million in federal contracts to two UCF research teams to develop models and massive simulations to help understand online social behavior and predict the spread of information in online social networks. DARPA awarded $6.3 million to a team led by Associate […]
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14 Faculty Awarded for International Impact
UCF recognized 45 faculty members Wednesday during the university’s inaugural Luminary Award presentations for making an impact on the world. Fourteen of the recipients are College of Sciences faculty members. The event, themed like Oscar night, honored those who are academic leaders in their field and are making contributions to the world that are having […]
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Imaging Device to Be Used in Anthropology Research
By Mark Schlueb Due to the collaborative nature of UCF’s faculty, the National Science Foundation has awarded the university a grant that will help fund the purchase of a $900,000 imaging device that will do everything from design nanoparticles of the future to delve into our civilization’s past. The NSF approved the funding request because […]
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UCF Anthropologist’s Research is Changing Lives
John Starbuck, Ph.D., thought studying anthropology might lead him to a career in a museum, but it’s done more than he could’ve imagined – his research and discoveries are changing the lives of people affected by Down syndrome and those with cleft lip or palate. Growing up, Starbuck wasn’t interested in college. His mother worked […]
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UCF College of Sciences Receives $16M For Research
By Barbara Abney UCF faculty brought in $136 million in research funding in 2017, a year that was also marked by national recognition for the number of patents issued to UCF, tech transfer excellence and overall innovation. The College of Engineering and Computer Science garnered the largest proportion of the total with $33 million, followed […]